Georgia's Nightmare for the West

Ruling party Georgian Dream has raised fears that the once-aspiring NATO country is aligning more closely with Russia

- MATTHEW TOSTEVIN

ACROSS THE COUNTRY OF GEORGIA, THE GOLDstarred blue flags of the European Union fly above everything from government ministries to tiny local police stations and seem almost as ubiquitous as the red and white national flag with its cross of St. George.

But despite the enduring pro-Western symbolism and overwhelming popular support for joining the EU and NATO, it is President Vladimir Putin's Russia that is in the ascendant as the Georgian government's relationship with the United States and other Western powers goes downhill. While Western countries have trumpeted the way Russia's war in Ukraine has strengthened solidarity and brought Finland and Sweden into the NATO camp, once-aspiring member Georgia appears headed in the other direction.

Georgia's population of 3.7 million is only one-third that of its namesake U.S. state, and the Caucasus is not at the top of U.S. concerns at a time of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. But the region is strategically important. It lies on the southern border of Russia and to the north of Iran as well as being a transit route for energy pipelines. Whether the West is able to keep Georgia within its own zone of influence is being closely watched by countries weighing their options in a world in which the U.S. has lost the dominance it held at the end of the Cold War.

Pro-Western opponents of Georgia's government describe what they believe is a hybrid war for control by Russia and fear that an election in October could be the last chance to reverse the shift.

"We already have been part of the Soviet Union, and we know what it means," opposition politician Giorgi Vashadze told Newsweek. "We are calling this election the geopolitical election for Georgia."