Kakha Kaladze, the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party and Tbilisi Mayor, on Thursday criticized the US President Trump administration, claiming “while it frequently speaks about its fight against the ‘Deep State,’ concrete actions have yet to materialize.”
“There are a lot of questions, for example – the Biden administration sanctioned Bidzina Ivanishvili [the founder and honorary chair of the GD] because he allegedly had some kind of relationship with Russia.
And what do we see today? The newly elected President Donald Trump, with his administration, is directly conducting negotiations with Russia, talking about resetting relations, deepening trade ties, and at the same time, Ivanishvili is still sanctioned,” Kaladze said.
He also pointed to sanctions against Georgia’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Vakhtang Gomelauri, who remains on the Magnitsky list.
“No one has lifted these sanctions. This is not happening only in relation to us. Look at what is happening in Romania… The head of the administration of the Hungarian Prime Minister is sanctioned and these sanctions have not been lifted,” he added.
Kaladze emphasized that the Georgian government had been discussing alleged influence of the “Deep State” for years, long before it gained wider traction. “We started talking about the ‘Deep State’ three years ago, when no one else dared to do so, and we sincerely expected that the Trump administration would thank us for it.”
The ruling Georgian Dream party has recently shifted its terminology, replacing the phrase “Global War Party” with “Deep State” in its rhetoric. Initially, the party distinguished between the two concepts, portraying the Deep State as an instrument of the Global War Party. However, according to its latest stance, the Deep State and the Global War Party are now considered one and the same.
Kaladze reiterated his belief that Trump’s administration was indeed battling the Deep State. “Today, the fact is that Trump is fighting the ‘Deep State’ – this is not our invention. When Trump became president, the whole world learned that there is a ‘Deep State’ – a shadow power that rules the world. Today, we are in a waiting mode,” he said.
Kaladze’s comment came following the US criticism on the GD policies and its approach to opponents the previous day.
