Opinion: Trump’s South Caucasus diplomacy revives sanctions question over Georgia
On relations between Georgia and the US
According to security expert Giorgi Shaishmelashvili, the demonstrative lack of interest in Georgia shown by the administration of US President Donald Trump indicates that Washington does not view the country as a potential partner. More than that, he says the United States sees Georgia as being “in the enemy camp” and could well return to the issue of sanctions.
The expert draws this conclusion, among other things, from the fact that the US vice-president does not plan to visit Georgia during his trip to the South Caucasus.
In February this year, US Vice-President J. D. Vance is set to visit Armenia and Azerbaijan, but will not travel to Georgia. The visit is aimed at promoting the project known as “Trump’s Road to International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP).
Giorgi Shaishmelashvili said: “The Helsinki Commission is preparing to hold a second hearing on Georgia. The first focused on Georgia’s foreign policy positioning — our ties with China, Iran and Russia, the so-called axis of evil that is among the United States’ strategic adversaries. It appears that the next session of the Helsinki Commission will focus on the deteriorating human rights situation and democratic standards.
“It has now been a year since the Georgian Dream party promised to reset and stabilise relations with the administration of President Trump. Over that year, relations between Georgia and the United States have not been normalised, and Georgia was not even included in the ‘Peace Council’ created by the Trump administration — a body that includes many states whose governments violate human rights and display authoritarian tendencies.”
This means only one thing: in today’s world, partners are chosen not on the basis of their record on human rights, but according to their “geopolitical value”. From that perspective, Georgian Dream holds little interest for the West. More than that, the West — including the Trump administration — believes that Georgian Dream is aligned with its adversaries.
Georgia is increasingly viewed as an extension of the Russian Federation, a proxy rather than an independent actor.
Until now, Georgian Dream had convinced itself that the US administration was simply not interested in the South Caucasus as a region, and that its priorities lay in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific. However, Trump’s peace initiative in Azerbaijan and Armenia, the so-called “Trump path”, the planned visit by the US vice-president to those countries, and his decision not to travel to Georgia, all serve as indirect indications that the issue of US sanctions against Georgia is likely to return to the agenda.
On relations between Georgia and the US
