As tensions mount between Washington and Tbilisi, a clumsy U.S. diplomatic push in recent weeks to pressure the Georgian Dream party founder into taking political responsibility for Georgia’s independent foreign policy has failed—spectacularly.

With both official and unofficial sanctions hanging over him, Ivanishvili has publicly rebuffed a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Robin Dunnigan, citing personal blackmail and diplomatic impropriety. The MEGOBARI Act, looming sanctions, and a reset proposal floated by Trump’s team have only deepened widespread mistrust of US good intentions.

The BIGGER picture?

Georgia is pushing back against its role as a disposable pawn in U.S. regional strategy—one that’s seen it lose territory, lives, and sovereignty. With Secretary of State Marco Rubio leading a hardline approach, Georgia is being asked to choose: bend to a fading U.S. empire, or stake its future on multipolar alliances like BRICS.

In this high-stakes geopolitical standoff, the U.S. may find that its old tools—pressure, sanctions, and backroom diplomacy—no longer work on a country that’s learned, the hard way, that being America’s friend can come at an unbearable cost.

Adding insult to injury, making those in the US State Department and various Washington-basedthink tanks eat crow is the fallout from recent developments around the so-called MEGOBARI act, and the Georgian government’s desire to have a reset in relations with the US, based on their hope that US president Donald Trump will understand that Georgia is struggling against the same Deep State that he claims to be, it is rather surprising to see the US embassy in Georgia release the following statement on May 28th:

Bidzina Ivanishvili has refused to meet with Ambassador Dunnigan to hear a message from the Trump Administration. At Secretary Rubio’s request, on May 22 Ambassador Dunnigan asked for a meeting with Bidzina Ivanishvili to communicate a message from the Administration and to again relay specific steps the Georgian government can take to show it is serious about resetting its relationship with the United States. It is our hope........

© New Eastern Outlook