Last week, the U.S. Embassy made an unusually bold move: it began posting social media cards refuting the government’s anti-American propaganda and alerting citizens about the consequences of its anti-democratic moves. The pro-Western bubble, long calling for sanctions against oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, cheered the demise of diplomatic niceties. But the government’s media mouthpiece, already clamoring against what they see as “foreign interference in the elections,” pounced on the embassy’s campaign to twist it into fresh anti-American propaganda.
In this Talk On Air, Gigi guides you through POSTV, the government’s propaganda machine.
But before we switch to POSTV, few things you must know about its co-founder and frontman, Shalva Ramishvili (and forget everything you know about journalistic ethics). An odious TV face accused of sexual harassment by several women, a pro-Russian “peace advocate,” and the propaganda mastermind behind the ruling party’s anti-Western narratives (or so he likes to think) – Ramishvili is possibly running a troll factory, too…The list goes on, but most tragically, this is a man whose own son publicly confessed, being ashamed of. Yet, Shalva took it in a stride as his two yes-boy sidekicks, Bacho Odisharia and Guri Sultanishvili, nodded him onwards.
Ramishvili was not always perceived as a villain: he was once one of the faces (or, rather, voices) in a Radio 105 humoristic collective, pumping out droll and politically astute jungles in the early 2000s that are partially credited with hastening the end of Shevardnadze-era corrupt stagnation. But public notoriety did not agree with Ramishvili – at odds with the new government after 2003, he was caught red-handed blackmailing an MP with a compromising story in 2005. Many think it was a sting operation, but whatever it is worth, Ramishvili never denied he extorted and took the money. He served the jail term, and things went downhill from there, ethics-wise. Career-wise, his hack business flourished, with POSTV considered one of the best (that is, worst) tabloid broadcasters in GD service.
Card 1
For Bidzina Ivanishvili, October 1 – the day the Georgian Dream came to power – symbolizes Georgia’s independence. But 12 years ago, few expected him to put personal wealth ahead of state interests, and even fewer expected the U.S. Embassy to say so publicly. But on this anniversary, which we no longer wish to celebrate, it did just that.
POSTV anchors, on the verge of apoplexy, fantasized about 12 more years of Georgian Dream rule but offered little response to the U.S. Embassy. “Come on, people! You control everything when you want to,” Shalva Ramishvili wailed, suggesting that even European media, not to mention courts in Bermuda or Swiss banks, are controlled by the U.S.
In the following days, Ramishvili rectified that Ivanishvili may have won his court cases but still hadn’t gotten his money back and blamed the U.S. “Is it really inconceivable to anyone that Swiss banks are under the heel of the U.S. and the U.S. dollar?!” riffed POSTV patron to Ivanishvili’s tired Global War Party tune.
Card 2
In the 2020 elections, ISFED, a key election observer, discovered—and later corrected—a statistical formula mistake made by the external consultant in parallel vote tabulation. The GD, which somehow got the whiff of the error before ISFED went public — claimed the U.S.-backed NGO engineered that mistake and covered it up, aiming to foster the “revolution.” The U.S. Embassy rectified that story in its second card, asking a very logical question.
Shalva Ramishvili channeled a sneer for the POSTV viewers. He portrayed the U.S. Embassy as a sore loser and a crybaby, interpreting their card loosely as (with a dollop of vulgarity): “Why don’t you stop nagging us and breaking our b*alls for that little mistake! It’s been four years already!” Then, shifting the register to the thug-life “principles” (“ponyatiya” in Russian, something that Mr. Putin loves to refer to) he continued, “It’s the deed that counts, not the percentages,” meaning that the U.S. has slipped up in its relations with Godfather Ivanishvili and has to pay the price. Oh, how the chorus of Bacho and Guri laughed…
Card 3
On the third day, the Embassy ramped up the game by saying GD’s isolationist stance hurts Geortgian people..
Ramishvili’s comeback? “Iran will show them how countries can develop (in isolation),” followed by the rave about America’s global woes, abandoning allies and isolating countries that, in the end, still manage to develop. “I can’t say any more, f*ck it,” concluded the anchor, but a wink is as good as a nudge to a POSTV aficionado; Ramishvili knows more about Ivanishivli’s cunning plans that he can let transpire.
The rest of the week, Shalva and his two yes-men, Bacho and Guri, briefly mocked the U.S. Embassy while continuing their usual attacks on the opposition and America’s failures.
Card 4
The central premise of the GD is to ban the collective UNM, i.e., all opposition parties. The latest card from the embassy last week simply said: “Democracies do not ban the opposition.”
Since it was Friday night and the embassy’s social media manager was about to clock out for the weekend, Shalva took control of his show, Conservatoire. “The U.S. Embassy helping the opposition with cards is just another level of masturbation,” he said cryptically.
Of course, POSTV couldn’t resist some anti-Ukrainian commentary. “Don’t they have Zelensky, the cool democrat who banned everything oppositional?!” Shalva sneered, adding that Moldova’s Maia Sandu did the same, banning opposition and critical media. (Obviously, not bothering to explain that the banned parties there were pro-Russian stooges).
With a sleight of hand, he dismissed the embassy’s posts as “laughable and crazy.” He insisted they wouldn’t have any impact apart from proving that the U.S. is deeply involved in the election campaign on the opposition’s side.
Nika Kobuladze, who POSTV presents as an “analyst,” chimed in, painting the U.S. as a serial moralist. “On U.S. orders, there have been dozens and hundreds of military coups in South America, banning not just opposition parties but anyone with a different opinion,” he thundered, adding that Georgia should be grateful (to Ivanishvili?) that it has to only deal with harmless social media cards. Shalva couldn’t resist bringing up Ukraine’s Maidan protests, blaming the U.S. for orchestrating it.
The third host (where are the guests, by the way?), Nukri Shoshiashvili, billed as a historian, boldly declared that “the opposition is not conducting the pre-election campaign” and that “it is the U.S. Embassy that is doing it instead.” In a bizarre twist, he reached back to the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) to somehow blame the chaos in Ukraine and the Middle East on U.S. interference in the 21st century. With an equally startling – but predictable – leap to ancient Rome, he warned of America’s imminent decline, which he claimed was already evidenced by the latest Hollywood dramas around Sean Diddy. No, we can’t draw you causal links there. Three-dimensional space won’t do it justice.
Next up was Otar Chulukhadze, a “philosopher” who – as befits his title – took the absurdity even further. Quoting Marxist theory, he declared Hollywood a “superstructure” that manifests America’s rotting from within. While at it, he threw in some conspirational whataboutism: “They’re the ones killing the presidential candidate and blocking their Twitter account,” with what right are they lecturing Georgia on democracy?
Shalva, ever the opportunist, seized the moment to sprinkle in some holier-than-thou glitter, reminding his faithful viewers that arrogance (a mortal sin in Christianity) defines the U.S. character, ergo – their Hollywood dramas.
And finally, lawyer Zaza Maridashvili planted the shocker of the U.S. being “the first government that declares transgenders being the soul of our country.” We honestly could not get the reference, but he was possibly referring to the words of the Democratic presidential candidate. The lawyer posited that obviously, “the relationship of any self-respecting Georgian government with them (the U.S.) is unimaginable.” After launching into the tirade of how Japan is occupied by the U.S., the good barrister concluded, “It’s the country that punishes people with the death penalty. They shoot presidents and teach us democracy.” Deplorable, truly.
A new week has begun and still no new cards from the US Embassy. Maybe their social media presence will go back to posting job openings for gardeners and painters. Better yet, some people are teetering on the edge of insanity with all these poisonous conspiracies.