“Norland rules the country today,” Georgian politician on America’s “destructive influence”

“Georgian soldiers cannot die all the time. You cannot sacrifice your country’s people to McCain’s whims. “

“Spiritual occupation is more dangerous than annexation. There are 3 to 5 thousands of people who try to brainwash Georgians. Their goal is to make us forsake our national values. They want us to expunge the word “patriot” from our memories and forget its meaning once and for all; they want the Georgian people to become weak …and even if one fine day, a chance to retrieve the breakaway region of Abkhazia falls in our hands, it will easily be lost. Precisely this is the reason why I claim that annexation is less dangerous than spiritual occupation,” – this statement from Gia Burjanadze, an actor and a leader of the “Public Assembly” has triggered a massive countrywide backlash.

Ambebi.ge contacted the actor.

- As you stated, Georgia is faced with the fatal threat of annexation as well some other form of occupation. What did you mean?

- Tell me, what is spiritual occupation? Spiritual occupation is when you forget your own mother. This has nearly happened in Georgia. Georgians have forgotten their mothers.

We must be immensely thankful to those countries standing with us in these trying times, when we are strongly determined to pursue our non-recognition policy.

Today we are in desperate need of a good specialist who knows the ins and outs of foreign policy perfectly well. We cannot only give; we must obviously get something in return too. We cannot trust other countries blindly; we cannot let them control our spiritual life.

I remember how first secretary of the Central Union of Consumer Cooperation was always Russian; however, the Russians held back from meddling in the country’s spiritual life or in any way controlling it.

We obviously cannot say the same about the U.S. Ambassador Richard Norland, who, in fact, rules our country. They and only they are key decision makers here today.

Thus, a spiritually occupied man does not care about anything and he will always remain occupied; however, a physically occupied inpidual always has a chance of being liberated.

Simply imagine Russian troops stationed on one bank of Enguri, while NATO military forces are stationed on the other. Obviously, in this immensely turbulent situation, if something goes wrong, Georgia will disappear from the face of the earth.

- How can Georgians be led out of this critical situation?

- We must continue participating in the ISIS mission under any circumstances. We can easily send a platoon for this mission – a platoon, not an endless stream of soldiers!

Georgian boys cannot die all the time. You cannot sacrifice your country’s people to McCain’s whims. We cannot push the country into the arms of those self-seekers who are always on the make and follow their own interests only. I am short on money too; however, I refused to get involved in politics since I am not a politician.

You know what? If an orthodox Muslim leader emerges in our political scene out of the blue and expresses a desire to finance different NGOs, their representatives who babble about European values around the clock will instantly forget them and will set to propagating the Wahhabi movement and ideology.

How can poverty be endemic in Georgia? It can’t; they are doing this deliberately. How can unemployment remain our key problem for 20 years? Are we an uneducated nation today! The reforms that were passed over the last 20 years have only served to drag us backwards.

An uneducated, illiterate and destitute nation is easy to mislead! Controlling a young man today is a piece of cake. Anyone can do this. Give somebody 700 GEL per month and he/she will submit meekly to orders and instructions.

They have typecast me as Putin’s adherent. However, only Putin’s followers can attach this label to me.

This way or that, one thing is clear – it does not matter whose follower one is; if you ignore

your country’s interests to pursue those of another, you are nothing more than an agent.

Giorgi Kharshiladze