Georgia, Russia and Trump
The Tuesday before last, the world’s curiosity was so piqued to know what would happen at the end that it made the clearest impression that the world’s president – not just America’s – was going to be elected. The planet was glued to television screens, and Facebook was bursting with commentary on the subject. After all, why should it make such a difference which nominee turned out lucky enough to serve as America’s chief executive for the next four years?
The world has not known a political show of that caliber in a long time. There should probably be some outstanding significance to the whole American event, turned international, and not only because America is the world’s biggest economy and money maker, or the greatest military power in the universe: it should also be the US’ overall image, including spiritual and cultural, which has such a huge influence on Mankind.
Wise philosophy apart, suffice to say that America is the culture that has clad the entire world in jeans and T-shirts and has made us all listen to jazz, saying nothing about the fast-food habit imposed on every mouth and stomach around the world. Part of that world is angry with America and irritated by the way it handles the global processes, but we still want to watch American movies, relocate to the States, squeeze into American citizenship and become part of the American dream, which, by the way, is still very much alive and kicking. The world simply believes that the kind of person the next American president is can change their lifestyle and standard of living.
Georgia was truly part of that excited world, with citizens reacting to every piece of news on the US presidential elections in such a way any local presidential candidate here in Georgia might die of envy at the attention given to the fate of the American presidency. You can qualify it as a natural inclusion in the process – nothing like that meager popular turnout during our local elections a couple of weeks ago. The interest towards America is so keen here that one might think we are all ready to pay dues to the world’s feeder and policeman rather that into our own state’s treasury. And there are many, many Georgian families living and trying to survive over there- their kids having no idea what Georgia is all about and how much their former motherland needs their economic and demographic assistance. The mix of cultures, minds and souls has become nowadays unusually commonplace, and Georgians have no way to avoid the trend for this is just part of the current world order.
And world orders have a habit of coming and going every once in a while, a process usually defined as the distribution of power and authority among the political actors on the global stage. The so called New World Order we are enjoying right now has been in place since President Woodrow Wilson’s reign in the White House some 100 years ago.
The latest American president-elect’s campaign rhetoric purported so many radical alterations within the US that the connected presumable change of the world order should almost be at the doorstep with those new Trumpesque ideas and principles. And who would guess what it might have to the benefit of Georgia?
Just imagine: The new American president and Russia’s big boys fall in love and pal up. This is followed by Trump’s attempt to lend his powerful hand to our frail Georgia, and asking Putin to get off our case… for a price of course: Maybe Trump will promise Vova something that Russia badly needs in return.
I said imagine!
Nugzar B. Ruhadze