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POLITICS
GEORGIA TODAY
JULY 30 - AUGUST 5, 2021
The Georgian Orthodox Church is Undermining Georgia’s Secular Democracy OP-ED BY WILL CATHCART, FOR THE DAILY BEAST
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hile dozens of journalists were getting brutally attacked by a lynch mob of religious anti-LGBTQ extremists on July 5, the Georgian Orthodox Church was churning out Kremlinesque nationalist propaganda to galvanize an already violent mob. “Forget about no violence. You are obligated to be violent. For your homeland. For your country. For holiness,” a priest from the church roared at a crowd gathered in front of the parliament building in Georgia’s capital city of Tbilisi, where a protest against Pride celebrations was taking place. This was nothing short of a battle cry. The Georgian republic was founded on “Western” aspirations, and year after year, support for Georgia’s EU and NATO aspirations polls around 75%. But at the same time, trust in the Georgian Orthodox Church polls just as well, despite fanatical bishops vying for the throne of the 88-year-old patriarch miring the Church in scandals and intrigue, including allegations of sexual abuse and a murder plot involving cyanide. This is where Moscow sees an opportunity. Though Russia continues to consume Georgian territory, the 2008 war was a relative failure. So, the Kremlin has pivoted to information warfare, and the Georgian Orthodox Church and its followers are a prime target. Russian disinformation campaigns have long been carried out through proxy Georgian language outlets and public figures masquerading as the sole guardians of Georgian traditional values, spirituality, and patriotism. Their goal? To create panic that the US and EU are waging a war against Orthodox Christianity, and that only Putin can guarantee
Georgia's territorial integrity and national identity. The messaging of these campaigns is often as revealing as it is bizarre. Take the claims that people who live under dictatorial regimes like that of Syria are happier, that NATO-member Turkey is the real threat to Georgian territory, that life was better during the Soviet Union, that Russia has a new superweapon which gives it military superiority, and that “experimental vaccines are tested on Georgians,” in the US-run Luger Lab, a fixation of Russian media as well. It’s no wonder that Georgians are confused and angry. Facts, such as Russia’s creeping annexation of Georgian territory, have been dismissed as arbitrary and irrelevant. The controversial “journalist” Jaba Khubua made a claim in the AsavalDasavali newspaper in 2018 that sums up the Kremlin’s disinformation messaging in Georgia: “During the tenure of [US] Ambassador Ian Kelly in Georgia, the propaganda of anti-national, liberast, homosexual ideology and pro-drug abuse movement reached unimaginable scales, pursuing the ultimate aim of moral and physical genocide of the Georgian nation.” When the mob of Orthodox “Christians” tore down the EU flag in front of Parliament and stabbed a Polish tourist on July 5, it became evident that this was about more than media freedom and LGBTQ+ rights. The same increasingly fundamentalist religious order that claims to defend Georgia’s national identity had undermined its secular democracy, and the efficacy of those Russian disinformation campaigns was on full display. But something else was as well. The Georgian Orthodox church has successfully exploited the anger and desperation of those hurting most from Georgia’s faltering economy, particularly in the wake of COVID-19. Georgia is now ranked 20th globally in cases per million. The church has converted rage from Georgia's economic woes into the same creed of
ultra-nationalism and “family purity” that Alexander Dugin brought to the Kremlin. The Kremlin calls it Eurasianism. The message is as simple as it is historically absurd: Pan-Europeanism and Christianity are mutually exclusive, and as such, the EU is exporting homosexuality. With this false dichotomy, the Georgian government has been conned, and is now systematically refusing to protect minorities or to rein in the religious leaders who call for violence against them. It is a repeating cycle that has only grown worse. On July 11, one of the battered journalists, cameraman Aleksandre Lashkarava, died. Thousands poured into the streets. They gathered in front of the same parliament building where the EU flag had been torn down the week before and demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili. He refused. Soon after, US State Department spokesman Ned Price announced that they were monitoring the situation closely and confirmed that sanctions “for human rights abuses” were a possibility. For a country that is often lauded as a beacon of democratic leadership and reform in the region, this is an astonishing setback. On the day of the mob attacks, PM Garibashvili made the conscious decision that a minority of his constituents were not worth protecting, despite being provided the capability to do so by the US. Instead, the Prime Minister belligerently claimed without evidence that Pride was organized by the “radical opposition,” along with the former Georgian president. The Georgian people are fiercely independent. Their country has been invaded by every empire worth its salt. Georgia’s spirit of independence is the reason that it remains free. This is the great irony of the events on July 5: Those attempting to defend Georgia's national identity and freedom do the bidding of those who want to take it away. First published on The Daily Beast.
OPINION, Photo by Vano Shlamov/Getty
Does the Current Training Really Prepare the Georgian Army for War? emulating their Taliban counterparts and less their traditional NATO allies. Barbarous as it may be, it will most assuredly be the only strategy to ensure a future for a free Georgia. One particular book, The Other Side of the Mountain; Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War, written by Mujahideen commander Ali Ahmad Jalali and retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Lester Grau and published in 1995, is a resource providing exceptionally valuable insight for Georgian commanders to explore these tactics.
OP-ED BY MICHAEL GODWIN
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t’s no secret that peacetime, while greatly desired, leads to an atrophied and often complacent military force. The endless garrison duties and training exercises are important but can lead to the ever present foe of monotony. Prior to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, many Western militaries had been on a low operational tempo, only occasionally broken up by low-tempo deployments such as the KFOR mission in Kosovo. With the severe reduction of NATO security forces on their missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, these armies will once again return to their barracks and firing ranges. Georgia, with its last contingent having returned to the homeland, will have to begin ensuring that the next inevitable conflict will not catch them unprepared, this being something easier said than done. However, this does not simply mean more time spent marching and camping in the field. Rather, it will necessitate a deep examination of what their next conflict will look like, and what they will need to do to win. Broadly, these most likely can be separated into two categories: defense against Russia and the next foreign NATO operation.
RUSSIA With increased aggression and internal military movements, as well as new brigades being raised, it’s clear the bear is not sleeping. Given Putin’s lust for expansionism, it’s only a matter of time until they return to not just seize their Black Sea mistress, but also end the growing
NATO
Photo by Pfc. Lloyd Villanueva/U.S. Army
NATO presence in the Caucasus. Strategically, they have the positioning to allow a rapid influx of forces to arrive behind the existing troops in the occupied territories. From as close as Vladikavkaz, Grozny, and Stavropol, a multitude of divisions can be in the deployment zone in hours, not days. Since 2008, the Russian military has seen a series of reforms and nearly uncountable equipment upgrades. Should they come, they will be the same force Georgia faced before, and far more prepared to finish what they started 13 years ago. From individual and vehicle weapon systems to advanced Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) technologies, Georgia will see fighting in streets, the sky, and most importantly in cyberspace. Electronic Warfare (EW) systems have been added to even Russian company and battalion level units,
adding to the complexity commanders will face in the field. To face this new advanced threat, Georgia has to revise its entire battle plan. Conducting force-on-force training exercises with a near-enemy force will not suffice. The recent NATO-led events have been designed to fit this Cold War model of fighting. Georgia will have to take pages from their former enemies in Afghanistan and Iraq to fight the enemy in a way they may never have done so before. Light, asymmetric, and irregular combat training will need to become essential for Georgian servicemembers, particularly to defeat ISR and EW operations. Sabotage, raid, ambush, and information warfare will become the watchwords for the Georgians operating in this environment. Warfighters will need to be prepared for fighting a very different style,
Georgia’s commitment to NATO and its future ascension is imperative not only for its own sovereignty, but also essential as a partner for global security. As a part of this force for good, Georgia will need to anticipate the next NATO operation, its environment, and its technical and tactical requirements. Planning for this can be difficult, but examining the global threat elements show a need for CounterInsurgency (COIN) and aggressive peacekeeping operations that draw the need for both regular and irregular tactics. Having units that are ready to operate perpendicular to standard battle drills and use a combination of civil affairs and Unconventional Warfare (UW) tactics will be much more valuable in future operations. This flexibility will pay dividends in future conflicts, as the majority of the adversaries will be non-state actors and insurgent groups led by a fluid leadership element. The traditional strategy of cutting the head off the proverbial snake does not work anymore when that head regenerates somewhere else. The old symptoms of victory and defeat
no longer apply. There is no grand parade in the capital city of the enemy, with pomp and flair, and crowds of jubilant liberated civilians. Long-term hybrid conflicts with the aim of stability, peacekeeping and peacemaking, as well as ensuring negative foreign actors (Russia and China) are blocked out from their influence. Infrastructure projects and humanitarian assistance packages will take the place of large-scale waves of soldiers and tanks. Georgia, in its NATO involvement, will need to become more sensitive to these subjects. Georgia’s military has undoubtedly advanced leaps and bounds in the past decade. However, their lessons learned and experiences on the ground in NATO missions should not be left to the wayside. Days and nights spent in the field are valuable, but should not outweigh classroom time spent on the nuances of UW, EF, COIN, and counter-ISR strategy. Whether NATO knows it or not, they need nations like Georgia and Ukraine in their campaign against not only the Russian threat, but for the future of Central Asian diplomacy. The Georgian Army should advance its education of UW and these other tactics, as this is rapidly becoming the norm. Not just for its special operations elements, but for its regular officer and non-commissioned officer corps as well. Whether fighting an insurgent group in Africa, or against a hybrid Russian force in their homeland, learning to fight like the Mujahideen did in Afghanistan in the 1980s will be essential to undermining their enemies’ ability to operate effectively and keep any hold on the battle space. As the old military adage says, “the regular forces have the watches, but the irregular forces have all the time.”
