The former advisor to a NATO combat unit in Afghanistan is truly expecting Georgians to swallow a camel on this one, while her own nation is suffering under the incubus of an FBI/CIA/Operation Mockingbird/one-party totalitarian news blackout and propaganda total war.

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Civil Georgia
March 25, 2023

Ambassador Degnan: We see the Narrowing of Media Environment in Georgia

Speaking to journalists today, US Ambassador Kelly Degnan said: “We are seeing the narrowing of the media environment in Georgia”. Asked about the possibility of President [Salome] Zurabishvili [U.S.-controlled opposition chieftess] pardoning Mtavari TV director Nika Gvaramia, which the President did not rule out in yesterday’s interview with TV Pirveli, Kelly Degnan noted that this is a decision for the President to make, adding: “…but we all know that media freedom is very important to a democracy and here in Georgia where we’ve seen a narrowing of the media environment, it sends an important message that independent media is supported.” She further noted: “As we see the environment narrow here, I think there’s a real risk that people are not being exposed to a range of views and that makes it hard for them to make informed decisions”

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“We saw this just a week ago or so, when over 100 000 Georgians in Tbilisi and other cities peacefully expressed their choice for [a] European future.” She noted that Georgia ‘s candidate status depends on Georgia’s meeting the EU’s 12 conditions. She stressed the need to involve all stakeholders, including…civil society….

…She stressed: “We saw that people of Georgia are committed and firm in their pro-European choice. We hope government will listen to people of Georgia and take the necessary steps.”

Ambassador Degnan made comments while on a trip to Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia where she attended the annual civic teachers fair, which recognizes the civic education teachers in Georgia.

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Degnan near the Afghan-Pakistani border in 2009 while advisor to the U.S. permanent representative to NATO/U.S. mission to NATO in Brussels and to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. “One of the reasons I went to Medill [School of Journalism at Northwestern University, north of Chicago] was that I really wanted to be a foreign correspondent, that was my dream. In a way that’s what I’m doing now. It’s just that the audience is a bit different, and more specialized than working for the Chicago Tribune or something like that. It was very good training – the skills a journalist.”

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The Messenger
March 27, 2023

US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan Says Georgia’s EU Path Depends on Georgian People

“What I have seen in this country is that decision-making depends on the people of Georgia. I think we saw this about a week ago, when about 100,000 citizens of Georgia took to the streets to peacefully express their decision and their choice regarding the European future.”

As Degnan noted, the decision-makers are those citizens who came out all over Georgia to protect the European perspective.

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“This is what the member states of the European Union are waiting for, to see if Georgia is committed to democracy, if Georgia is strong for the building of democracy, and that the population of Georgia is also committed to it. This is what they want to see. And I hope that the government will listen to them, listen to its own people and take the necessary steps,” said Degnan.