00:00Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I hope that with the leadership of Chairman Roger Wicker that the people of the world actually see that we have bicameral, that's Senate and House, support for the people of Ukraine.
00:14Remarkably enough, Republican and Democrat support for the people of Ukraine, and so this hearing should be very important from that perspective.
00:22And then I really agree with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and that is that we're in a conflict we did not choose.
00:30And that is of dictators with rule of gun invading democracies with rule of law.
00:34And that means we need to stand with the people of Ukraine, with the people of Israel, with the people of Taiwan to ultimately achieve, and can be done, peace through strength.
00:44I was grateful that President Donald Trump has acknowledged that war criminals' delusional goal of resurrecting the failed Soviet Union has got to be recognized and stopped.
00:55In 2008, war criminal Putin invaded Georgia and continues to occupy a third of the country, being South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
01:06The Chinese Communist Party has subverted the Georgian Dream Party that currently is over the people of Georgia.
01:14It seeks the CCP to own the Republic of Georgia, an entire middle corridor, including access to Central Asian critical minerals.
01:26American companies have already been pushed out of the region.
01:29And additionally, the Black Sea port of Georgia has been stolen by the Chinese Communist Party.
01:36The Georgian Dream runs 24-hour anti-American propaganda.
01:41The courageous Georgian people have risked their life and limb marching in the streets for over 200 days, draped in American flags, in defense of freedom and sovereign borders.
01:51In the last week, the Georgian Dream has locked up and illegally arrested nearly every opposition leader, so time is of the essence.
01:59The House of Representatives has already voted, with 90 percent support, a remarkable vote, for the Megabari bill, H.R. 36, and it's now calendar item 70, ready for immediate Senate consideration.
02:15And Dr. Kampaglia, how urgent is it that we now take the effort to stop the anti-American Chinese Communist takeover of Georgia,
02:25which benefits, obviously, working with Putin?
02:35Dr. Kampaglia, I'll take the question.
02:38Thank you for the question, Coach Chairman.
02:41So, fundamentally, what we have seen in the South Caucus, as you noted, is an attempt by China to establish its influence in the region.
02:48And we have seen China sign a strategic partnership with Georgia, and China sign a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan,
02:56while Armenia rejected that and signed a strategic partnership with the United States.
03:01And we have seen sort of the growing dichotomy between preferences of authoritarian leadership in the region
03:06and the preference of democratic leadership in the region.
03:10But to your point, absolutely.
03:11A regional fracture becomes conducive to the growth of authoritarianism, which is precisely what Russia prefers.
03:17And sadly, we have seen Azerbaijan be part of that same process, where the same way Russia occupies Ukrainian territory,
03:25the same way Russia occupies Georgian territory, Azerbaijan now occupies Armenian territory.
03:30So we are seeing nascent democracies that are trying to transition and consolidate being attacked by their authoritarian neighbors.
03:38And this creates fracturing instability and thus diminishes or harms the consolidation process.
03:44Georgia's situation, right, is byproduct of regional fracture.
03:49And so what we saw from the Rose Revolution a continuous democratic growth, as the region became more fractured,
03:56as Russia initiated more destabilization, Georgia's domestic politics was also influenced by this.
04:04And so an important strategic endeavor of the United States, and one that I would commend the administration
04:09of having done an excellent job on this, is trying to introduce peace in the region.
04:14So if you have peace in the South Caucasus, it creates stability and it allows for democratic growth.
04:20And it also allows for a re-concentration of efforts in Georgia to basically stop the backsliding.
04:26So in the confluence of these developments, we need to see the relationship between regional fracture,
04:32Russia's role in that, and the need to basically diminish Russia's influence in creating instability.
04:42And indeed, I'd like to welcome back our alumnus, Michael Ciceri here, and any comment that you would like to make?
04:51Thank you, Co-Chairman Wilson.
04:54With regard to Georgia, I think it's evident that what we've seen in the country as what is unfolding before our eyes
05:02over the last few days, and certainly over the past few months and years, has been a tragedy for the country,
05:07as well as a tragedy for U.S.-Georgia bilateral relations.
05:11In terms of the directions it's taking, specifically,
05:16there seems to be in the Georgian Dream Party a calculation that its foreign policy is one that can
05:26both have a particular kind of relationship, a close relationship, with the Russian Federation,
05:37with Beijing, with other unsavory regimes, while also continuing to gain from the succor and support
05:47of the United States and the European Union.
05:49And that has been, I think, a tragic error on their part, and one that they have found over the past few months
05:57to be particularly problematic for their own internal propaganda purposes, as well as for their foreign policy prospects.
06:07I think there needs to be a real understanding of the ways by which Georgian Dream has sought to insert itself
06:15as a player in the region without necessarily being willing to be responsive to the United States,
06:24to our interests, while also seeking to gain from that relationship, as they have in the past,
06:30when they were seen as a reliable, responsive, and responsible partner.
06:36Again, thank you, and I'm grateful for President Salome Zershowitzvili's courage and the people of Georgia.
