Interview by Will Cathcart and Vazha Tavberidze
Addison Graves “Joe” Wilson Sr. is an American politician and attorney representing South Carolina’s 2nd congressional district since 2001. A Republican, he previously served in the South Carolina state senate from 1985 to 2001. Wilson is part of the House Republican Policy Committee and serves as an assistant Republican whip. Radio Free Europe/RL’s Georgian Service spoke to Congressman Wilson ahead of Georgia’s elections.
“These elections are important, to show that the people of Georgia do want to fully associate with the European Union, to associate with their friends in NATO,’ Wilson says. “And I’ve had the opportunity to see Georgian troops working with the NATO alliance and how mutually beneficial it is not just to the people of Georgia, but mutually beneficial for security. And all of us are trying so hard to provide peace through strength.
“With the weakness we’ve seen that’s resulted in war criminal Putin invading and conducting mass murder in Ukraine, with the occupation of portions of Georgia itself, the continued occupation of Transnistria and Moldova, it’s really, sadly clear that what war criminal Putin is doing is trying to recreate the failed Soviet Union. The Soviet Union did not work. It was a totalitarian state that held back so many different countries that now exist.
“I’ve had the wonderful opportunity again to visit Georgia, to see how incredible the people are. But then I’ve also had wonderful opportunities to visit Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; countries that are so dynamic, Georgian among them,” Wilson tells us.
How is the Georgian Dream leadership seen from the US, and the narratives that are being peddled by them?
Well, it’s perceived as very bizarre. The last thing on earth that we could think of is to encourage Georgia to get into a war with the Russian Federation. There’s something of a distinct difference in size. And so that would be inconceivable.
The people of Georgia should be protected from war criminal Putin’s subversive activities, that have been fulfilled, sadly, in the Republic of Georgia. And over and over again, we support what the people of Georgia are doing – it’s very positive.”
When you mentioned President Putin’s subversive activities, do you think Georgian Dream is partial to it? That it’s one cog in the big Kremlin machine?
Yes, sadly. War criminal Putin is conducting subversive activities [to affect the elections] not just in Georgia. We know that there was an effort in Moldova. It failed there, and that’s an example that his intrusion can fail. We know that there was a really dumb effort by war criminal Putin to impact the American elections. It failed. People acted of their own accord. And so I believe that the people of the nation of Georgia will vote to preserve their independence
War criminal Putin is claiming that he wants to recreate the failed Soviet Union, and he will do so through the oppression of the people of Russia, the oppression of the people of all of the former Soviet republics, the oppression of the Warsaw Pact countries. It’s not going to happen, because people now see freedom. They see the benefits of freedom and democracy, particularly the young people. They want a bright future, and a bright future is with the European Union. It’s with association with the NATO allies.
There are growing fears that the election results might be tampered with. What should we expect from the West and particularly the United States if the elections are rigged?
Well, I’m confident that there are international election observers who will be present in the nation of Georgia. And I look forward to their report and analyses. I look forward to the reports of the monitors. It’s so critical to be able to observe, to monitor, to make sure that the voting lists are accurate and correct, that the people who are voting are actually identified over and over again.
Let’s take a scenario where Georgian Dream claims victory and continues doing what it’s doing. What kind of response should we expect from the West and the United States?
It would be very important for the American people not to interfere, but to back up the freedom and aspirations of the people of the nation of Georgia.
Should we expect more individual sanctions? And if so, against whom, and what would they look like?
This would be where the State Department and our officials would be investigating, determining who is acting in a corrupt manner, who has been subverted to not support the interests of the people of Georgia, but to actually promote war criminal Putin over and over again. Every effort would be made to identify and then sanction them, and sanction their businesses, because they should not be rewarded for betraying the people of the nation of Georgia.
Would a certain individual by the name of Bidzina Ivanishvili be at, or near, the top of that list?
We will ask for a very authoritative, thorough, fair analysis of the conduct of any citizen in the nation of Georgia who are not acting in the interests of the people of Georgia, but acting at the behest to promote war criminal Putin and his absurd effort to recreate the Soviet Union, to dissolve the nation of Ukraine, to overcome the freedom of the people of Moldova and Georgia.
Would an election victory make Georgian Dream and its policy legitimate? Suppose people go and vote, the elections are recognized as fair – would that mean that Georgian people suddenly don’t want Europe and the West? What does it say about Georgia?
I just can’t fathom that.
