It's called the Russian Law, although according to Russian expert, Anneke De Laaf, it was first adopted in America.
Georgian parliament approves divisive 'foreign agents' bill after final reading
The Georgian parliament on Tuesday approved in the third and final reading a divisive bill that sparked weeks of mass protests, with critics seeing it as a threat to democratic freedoms and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union.
Issued on:
The bill requires media and nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofits to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
The government says the bill is necessary to stem what it deems as harmful foreign influence over the country’s politics and to prevent unspecified foreign actors from trying to destabilize it.
The opposition has denounced the bill as “the Russian law,” because Moscow uses similar legislation to crack down on independent news media, nonprofits and activists critical of the Kremlin.
It seems to me that it would not crack down on "Independent" news, but news that is 'dependent' of foreign powers, most of which have been duped by NATO and the USA into declaring Russia to be an enemy.
Mass protests against the law in recent weeks have swept the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million.
The size of the protests in this matter is probably an indication of the powerful influence foreign powers already have on Georgians, rather than what Georgians are genuinely interested in.
European Council President Charles Michel on Tuesday spoke of Georgia in Copenhagen, at a conference on democracy, and said that “if they want to join the EU, they have to respect the fundamental principles of the rule of law and the democratic principles.”
The bill is nearly identical to one that the governing Georgian Dream party was pressured to withdraw last year after street protests. Renewed demonstrations have rocked Georgia for weeks, with demonstrators scuffling with police, who used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with the governing party, has vowed to veto the law, but Georgian Dream has a majority sufficient to override a presidential veto.
As the lawmakers began debating the bill on Tuesday, a large crowd of demonstrators gathered in front of the parliament to protest once again, with a heavy presence of riot police at the site. Over the weekend, thousands poured into the streets of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, and many stayed in front of the parliament until Monday morning.
Inside the parliament, the debate was interrupted by a brawl. Georgian Dream MP Dimitry Samkharadze was seen charging toward Levan Khabeishvili, the chairman of main opposition party United National Movement, after Khabeishvili accused him of organizing mobs to beat up opposition supporters.
In recent days, several protesters and opposition members have been beaten up. The opposition linked the incidents to the protests.
Another Georgian Dream lawmaker, Archil Talakvadze, accused in his speech on Tuesday “the radical and anti-national political opposition united by political vendetta” of using the protests for their own political purpose and “hoping for events to take a radical turn.”
“But nothing and nobody can stop the development of our country,” Talakvadze said.
Ana Tsitlidze, a member of the United National Movement, said the protests showed how unified Georgia was “in fighting for its European future,” adding that “today, saying no to the Russian law equals saying no to the Russian regime.”
And saying 'yes' to the EU, NATO, and the USA. Look at Germany, they have just surrendered control of their military to NATO (read USA).
After the debate, 84 lawmakers out of 116 attending Tuesday’s session voted in favor of the law, and 30 voted against. It will now be sent to Zourabichvili, the president, and she has 14 days to either veto or approve it.
(AP)
Anneke de Laaf
Isn’t transparency for citizens a good thing? To know that Mr. A is sponsored by Beijing, Mrs. B by Moscow, Mr. C by Washington and Mrs. D by the EU? Or does Brussels prefer that Georgians do not know when it is sponsoring Georgian politicians and NGOs? Or are they objecting on behalf of their masters in Washington, who were the first country to have such a law but who are dead set against other nations passing the same legislation?
EU adopts major overhaul of asylum,
migration system
May 14 (UPI) -- European Union member states on Tuesday adopted landmark reform of the bloc's migration and asylum system with new rules designed to process arrivals in an orderly and efficient way, standardize procedures and relieve pressure on front-line nations.
It would have made a real difference had this happened 10 years ago. It appears to be a good step in the right direction with still a long road ahead. Nothing here appears to address the deportation of already existing migrants who are clearly criminals.
The 10 new laws adopted by a European Council meeting in Brussels include triaging of arrivals at the border, enhanced data collection to inform policy and get migration under control, a standard asylum procedure for quick initial assessments, a new mandatory border procedure for well-defined cases together with a return procedure regulation to send back people whose application is rejected, the council said in a news release.
Significantly, a new asylum and migration management regulation determining which member state is responsible for international protection claims will for the first time see responsibility for asylum seekers shared equitably among EU states.
At least, that's the plan!
Where previously support for member states dealing with major influxes of migrants -- Greece and Italy have been particularly impacted -- was discretionary, the so-called "solidarity" rule makes contributing to the responsibility mandatory, although there is leeway on the nature of the help provided.
These can be relocations, financial assistance, providing border guards or helping build reception facilities.
Good moves to avoid confrontations with Hungary and other sane countries who refuse any more Muslim migrants.
The council said that new homogenous criteria for granting international protection and standards for asylum seekers should also help to tackle secondary movements where people fail to make a claim in the first EU country in which they set foot, instead moving on to countries seen as more desirable in the bloc, and beyond.
A resettlement regulation deals with legal and safe routes to the EU by establishing common rules for resettlement and admission on humanitarian grounds.
The reforms also include a mechanism for coping with crises sparked by mass arrivals, the weaponization of migrants and force majeure, with rules member states are permitted to breach ranging from deadlines for registering asylum applicants and the duration of the border procedure.
Its use, subject to Council authorization, is only in exceptional circumstances and for the time strictly necessary to address situations of crisis or force majeure.
The council did not mention that Poland and Hungary voted against the legislation in Tuesday's vote while the Czech Republic and Slovakia abstained.
Belgium's Migration and Asylum Secretary Nicole de Moor hailed the reform package, pledging that the EU would work with partners in Africa, the Middle East and beyond to deal with the issues that cause people to migrate.
Like the USA and Latin America, this issue started in the 19th century, if not earlier, with colonizers raping countries of their natural resources and leaving them in poverty. It seems like a wealthy man raping a poor girl then leaving her a few pennies as though she were an extremely cheap prostitute. It's an insult, not a payment. The wealth transfer from African and Latin American countries has now resulted in the mass migration problem in Europe and America.
"The asylum and migration pact will ensure a fairer and stronger migration system that makes a concrete difference on the ground. These new rules will make the European asylum system more effective and increase solidarity between member states," she said.
"The European Union will also continue its close cooperation with third countries to tackle the root causes of irregular migration. Only jointly can we find responses to the global migration challenge."
However, Amnesty International said the pact represented the worst of all worlds by both making it more difficult for those fleeing war and persecution to get to safety while not doing enough to support countries bearing the brunt of arrivals to Europe, including Italy, Spain and Greece.
"This agreement will set back European asylum law for decades to come. Its likely outcome is a surge in suffering on every step of a person's journey to seek asylum in the EU," said Amnesty International European Institutions Office director Eve Geddie.
"From the way they are treated by countries outside the EU, their access to asylum and legal support at Europe's border, to their reception within the EU, this agreement is designed to make it harder for people to access safety."
Would you throw open the borders to allow millions of migrants to enter at will? Do you want Europe to be an Islamic continent? Are you OK with your granddaughters wearing hijabs and being uneducated and invisible?
Geddie also said the new rules would almost certainly see more people placed in de facto detention at EU borders -- including families with children and the vulnerable due to more people being channeled through "substandard border asylum procedures, rather than receiving a fair and full assessment of their asylum claims."
Amnesty also attacked the opt-outs permitted during crises saying they set a dangerous precedent for the right to asylum around the world through the normalizing of disproportionate emergency measures at European borders and exposing people to the risk of severe human rights violations.
The pact comes five months after the council and the European Parliament reached a deal to deliver on a promise to resolve long-running rows over which EU member state is responsible for handling an asylum application, inter-state cooperation and how to handle crises, including the use of migrants for hybrid attacks.
Member states have two years to implement the new laws with the help of a common implementation plan being drawn up by the European Commission to assist with the process.
It will be interesting to see Giorgia Meloni's reaction to this plan. Will it resolve some of the issues with the extraordinary migration into Italy?
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