[Sound of fireworks] HOST (VICTOR SWEZEY) It’s New Year’s Eve. People fill the streets wrapped in scarves and puffer jackets, blowing on mittened fingers — wall to wall for blocks. Fireworks bloom overhead. [Fireworks continue, corn horn sounds] In Georgia, the countdown to midnight is normally a family affair, featuring toast after toast around the supra table. But this is not a normal New Years Eve — tonight Tbilisi has brought its feast into the streets. [Georgian folk music] For half a mile down the road, card tables are lined up end to end, covered in red tablecloth. There are plates of pickles, Khachapuri — Georgia’s world-famous cheese bread — and of course, lots and lots of wine. I’m meeting a friend. Yo Sandro, Sandro! Hi, What’s up? Nice to see you. SANDRO Let’s go. HOST Yeah, yeah. We’re just in time for midnight. SANDRO One minute, guys! HOST Sandro, what’s your vibe for the New Year? What’s your wish for Georgia? SANDRO Liberty, democracy, justice. Equality. I could go on. HOST Together with a hundred thousand Georgians wishing for those same things, we ring in the New Year. [Countdown in Georgian language: Ekfsi, xuti, otxi, sami, ori, erti. Wooooo!] HOST It’s an overwhelming, euphoric moment — the kind of spectacle Georgians love to put on. Everyone’s kissing each other on the cheek, cheering and clinking their paper cups. Happy New Year! CELEBRATOR Hey, happy New Year! HOST Haha, happy New Year. Nice to see you. But they’re also chanting the same things they have been for the last month. [In Georgian language: Saqartvelo! Saqartvelo!] The holiday has become an act of civil disobedience. Or the protest has temporarily given way to a celebration. Take your pick. Yet tonight is different from those first few days of rage. There are no barricades or leaping bonfires. The days when the crowds were in control — when anything felt possible — are over. The riot police are gone, along the with tear gas. The government isn’t fighting in the street anymore. Now, it’s a calculated crackdown. I’m Victor Swezey. You’re listening to “The Land in Between,” a five-part podcast about a pivotal moment in Georgia’s history, and what it tells us about the future of our world order. This is the final episode: Aftermath. In the new year, crowds still gather every night. The same dedicated activists are there, in the same places on the city’s central Rustaveli Avenue. The opposition parties take the strategy of boycotting parliament, on the grounds that they refuse to recognize the illegitimate election. It starts to feel like a new status quo. NEWSREADER Attention in Georgia continues to focus on the political stalemate between the Georgian Dream-dominated government and its opponents… HOST As the protests lose steam, the government starts tightening its grip. With no opposition present, parliament passes a law banning fireworks, laser pointers, and face masks at all protests. Then graffiti and unlicensed posters become grounds for arrest. And then the government starts coming after journalists. Mzia Amaghlobeli, the founder of two respected independent newspapers, is arrested at a protest for the new crime of sticking a flyer up on a wall. The pretenses of her arrest are so flimsy that she’s released soon afterward. But later that night, police push her to the ground, and — in a fit of anger — she slaps the city’s police chief in the face. [Sound of Amaghlobeli confrontation with police] Her news outlet posts a video of the incident. It’s moments like this that give authoritarian governments the excuse they need. [Sound of Amaghlobeli arrest] Amaghlobeli is arrested again and placed in solitary confinement, facing up to seven years in prison for assaulting a police officer. Reports emerge that she’s being beaten and denied medical care. She goes on hunger strike for 38 days. NEWSREADER Mzia is not just a journalist. She is a symbol — a symbol of resistance, of dignity, and of the fight for press freedom in Georgia and beyond. HOST Alright, so we just parked in Batsumi. I travel to the city of Batumi on the Black Sea coast — where she’s being held— to witness the reading of her verdict. Just to introduce myself, my name is Victor, I’m a journalist also from the US. Before heading to the courthouse, I stop by Amaghlobeli’s newsroom. Seems like people are busy The mood among her staff is gloomy, but defiant. FRIEND OF AMAGHLOBELI We are trying not to keep our expectations too high, because it's disappointment every time is really hard. It leaves no sense of justice, no sense of democracy, no sense of perspective of this country. And of people living in this country. HOST For them, the trial has become about more than the future of their colleague, their newsroom, or even Georgia’s independent media. Here’s Irma Dimitradze, a longtime mentee of Amaghlobeli: IRMA DIMITRADZE This injustice and this attack on her also symbolizes what's happening to Georgia, how Georgia is attacked, how Georgia is deprived of its independence, of its democracy, of its role in the region and so on and so on. [Sound of crowd outside courthouse] HOST When I arrive at the courthouse, a crowd of 50 or so protesters have gathered. Everyone’s packed into the lobby, chanting and jostling to get to the front. [Chanting in Georgian language: “Tsetskhli oligarkia”] “Tsetskhli oligarkia!” they say. “Burn the oligarchy.” [Sounds of people in the courtroom] I am sitting here on the bench. The courtroom in kind of filling up with people. They let the media in first, so I just got in. But we’ll have to see if other people get in too… [Camera shutter sounds] Guards bring Amaghlobeli in, gaunt from her hunger strike, her hair chopped down to a shaggy buzzcut. At a podium in front of the courtroom, the judge reads the verdict. [Judge reading verdict in Georgian language] It’s what everyone was expecting. PROTESTOR So, they fined her, and they found her guilty… HOST Amaghlobeli is led back out of the courtroom and into a police van to be transported back to the jail. But the van heads straight into traffic — the standstill that overtakes every Georgian city at rush hour. [Chanting, car horns, whistles] The protesters surround the van as it crawls down the street. They chant Amaghlobeli’s name, and curse out the police and the government. I push to the front of the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of her face. But all I can see is her handprint, pressed up against the glass of a tinted window. The court later sentences her to two years in prison. She’s still there today. Meanwhile, the world outside keeps turning. In January 2025, the US gets a new president. DONALD TRUMP INAUGURATION SPEECH 2025 IN NEWS CLIP The golden age of America begins right now. [Applause] From this day forward, our country will flourish… HOST Georgians have an affection for the US. To a great extent, they don’t really care who’s in charge. America is their most powerful ally, the unstoppable force standing between them and Russia. After Trump’s inauguration, some Georgians even lead a march congratulating him. [Sound of Pro-American march from news clip] It feels like a long time ago now. But this is the beginning of the era we live in today. Trump brought with him a new vision of America’s role in the world. NEWSREADER The US Agency for International Development has officially wrapped up its operations more than 60 years since it was founded. President Donald Trump began dismantling the agency soon after taking office in January, part of his plan to reduce government spending. HOST For Georgia’s civil society, the cuts to international aid were another blow. Election watchdogs, independent,independent media outlets, and cultural centers here have long been dependent on foreign money, especially from the US. DONALD TRUMP INAUGURATION SPEECH 2025 IN NEWS CLIP During every single day of the Trump administration, I will, very simply, put America first. HOST Support for Ukraine was next on the chopping block. Trump wanted the war to end as quickly as possible. And he didn’t care what price Ukraine was asked to pay. NEWSREADER Donald Trump has blamed Volodymyr Zelenskyy for starting the war with Russia… DONALD TRUMP IN 2025 NEWSCLIP When you start a war, you got to know that you can win the war, right? You don’t start a war against someone that is 20 times your size. HOST On February 24, thousands of demonstrators turn up outside the Ukrainian embassy to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Protesters unfurl a giant yellow and blue flag in the middle of the street. A speaker blasts patriotic music. [Ukraini Slava song] PROTESTOR 1 I'm here today to express my support toward the Ukrainian people, because we have one enemy, and their fight is our fight. HOST But a lot of the Georgians here seem to be in denial. For them, the idea that the US could cut off its support for Ukraine — let alone side with Russia — is simply inconceivable. PROTESTOR 2 They cannot abandon Ukraine this I'm not it cannot happen, or Europe will force them also to not give up on this military or financial support to Ukraine. PROTESTOR 3 It's impossible to be more friendly with Putin. Yes, Putin is dictator. Putin is war criminal. And how can we be more friendly with Putin? [Host: I mean if the US…] No! It’s impossible, I think so. It’s impossible, it’s impossible. HOST For others, the reality is sinking in. PROTESTOR 1 US policy, it’s shameful, exactly like our government’s, so-called government’s policy and like their rhetoric toward Ukrainians and their government. So they are repeating Russian narratives and Russian propaganda. HOST A few days later, it goes from bad to worse. Ukrainian President Volodymyrr Zelenskyy makes his first visit to the White House since Trump took office. DONALD TRUMP AND VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY IN 2025 AT THE OVAL OFFICE From the very beginning of the war… TRUMP You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards. ZELENSKYY I’m not playing cards. I'm very serious, Mr. President. I'm very serious. TRUMP You're playing cards. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III. HOST My Georgian friends express disbelief, and then outrage. If there’s one country in which they see themselves, it’s Ukraine. While the world is distracted, the Georgian government’s repression machine only accelerates. It sets up a kangaroo court supposedly tasked with investigating the crimes of previous governments. When the leaders of the major opposition parties refuse to testify, they're detained, one after another. You might remember Giorgi Vashadze. I'm here at the headquarters of Giorgi Vashadze’s party… He’s the opposition leader I rode along with on the campaign bus, back in episode 2. Yesterday, the two leaders of the Lelo party were arrested at their office. And today is the day of Vashadze’s hearing, but he didn't attend, along with all the other opposition leaders. And so he's now waiting in his office to potentially be arrested. I catch Vashadze just as the court a few blocks away reaches the same verdict they did for the journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli: guilty. So just tell me, how are you feeling right now? GIORGI VASHADZE You know, I'm expecting to be arrested, not because of crime that I committed, because I love my… because I love my country, because we're fighting for the freedom in this country. We're fighting for Georgia's European future. I'm one of 1000s of people and 10s of 1000s of people who are fighting for Georgia's European perspective, and we will definitely get rid of Russian regime. HOST Forty-five minutes later, police burst through the front of the door of the building, drag Vashadze out of his office, and stuff him into the backseat of a waiting car. The crackdown on protesters continues to accelerate. AI-powered cameras appear on Rustaveli Avenue, equipped with state-of-the-art facial recognition software. Parliament escalates its crackdown on NGOs, giving the government complete control over organizations receiving foreign grants. Insulting government officials becomes a criminal offense. So does blocking a road, and then even a sidewalk. Here’s Irma Dimitradze again: IRMA DIMITRADZE It didn't even take a year for Georgian Dream to implement everything that Russia did, from 2012 to 2022 so it's like 10 years fit in a year. Everything happened very quickly. You couldn't even blink, and things are, yeah, out of hand. HOST So I just touched down in Tbilisi — again. It’s January 17th, about 5 in the morning. I’m in the taxi. Earlier this year, I went back to Georgia. I was looking forward to catching up with my Georgian friends, but a lot of them have left the country. Including Helena Bedwell, the veteran journalist you’ve heard from throughout the podcast. She’s in London now. So I give her a call. Why do you think the protests haven't, haven't succeeded in changing the government, changing Georgia's path. What do you think happened? HELENA BEDWELL Despite so many damages done. Public is not taking things to the streets anymore as they should. There is no plan. There is no action. They get tired easily. They get cold. Everyone goes home. They get, you know, some idea, then they come back to the streets. There's no consistency. HOST But Helena doesn’t really blame the protesters. HELENA I don't think that you know that everyone is happy. No, people are not happy. It's just they've been let down so many times by politicians and by victories and revolutions and something. They're fatigued. People are very fatigued. And then look at the Western situation. Now, look at Trump. Look at the global situation is also not on your side. Nobody cares about Georgia anymore. Who is going to come and save you? No one. The boss is Bidzina. HOST We in America also have a billionaire leader who has his cult of personality, lives in a big, fancy house, respects Putin and is trying to erase the domain of politics from our society. So I guess, what would you… what do you think people listening in the US or in other parts of the West Could, could, could take away from, from Georgia's experience with Bidzina Ivanishvili, and from what's happened with the protests over the last year or so? HELENA Yeah, well, you know, you guys are in a worse situation than we are [laughs]. And what I feel that rich people like Bidzina, rich people like Bezos, Trump, and, you know, they suddenly believe that they can rule the world. I know how to rule the world. I know how to rule the country I know how. And in reality, it's been now going on for years now, they completely failed at it. They show their real colors that most of them are racist, xenophobic, homophobic, and they have terrible flaws. They are simply humans with just lot of money. HOST My conversation with Helena made me think about why I came to Georgia in the first place. I was here to report on a country faced with a choice between Russia and the European Union. But things have changed so much since then, both in Georgia, and in the rest of the world. And I’m not sure that binary choice makes as much sense anymore. That dream you heard about over the past five episodes, the one with the blue flag and the circle of yellow stars, the one that will usher in democracy, and protect Georgia from Russian aggression? That dream is in jeopardy. Far-right parties pushing nationalist agendas continue to gain support across Europe, calling into question the very values at the core of the EU. And as for the West? Well, what does it mean to be pro-Western in a world where the US threatens to invade its own NATO ally, Greenland? What does it mean to be anti-Western in a world where Trump sees eye to eye with Vladimir Putin on Ukraine? What is the rules-based international order when the US can flagrantly topple leaders from Venezuela to Iran? It seems like the world is being divided into spheres of influence, with the lands in between left to suffer the consequences. As that binary choice makes less and less sense, what are we left with? No matter which way Georgia has tilted over the past decade, one thing has remained consistent: the person pulling the strings was the country’s richest man, Bidzina Ivanishvili. And like Helena says, we in the West are learning what it’s like when billionaires call the shots. It’s January 24th, the 423rd day of continuous protest since the government suspended Georgia's bid to join the EU. Nowadays, these demonstrations are pretty small most nights. But on Saturdays, thousands of people still march down Rustaveli to parliament. [Sound of drumming] [Loudspeaker in Georgian language] And after the protest, they still go to Tbilisi’s nightclubs, where the music is blasting, the chacha is flowing, and the dream of a European future is still alive. [Mdevari by Skazz live performance] “The Land in Between” was produced, reported, and written by me, Victor Swezey. It’s a production of the Global Reporting Centre. Our editors were Andrea Crossan and Britney Dennison. Music by Irakli Margishvili. Translator and production assistant: Sandro Gudiashvili. Fact-checking by Sharon Nadeem. Digital support by Andrew Munroe. Credit song is Mdevari, by Skazz, performed live at Mtkvarze in Tbilisi. Art by Mariam Katcharava. Thanks to the Soviet Past Research Laboratory and the Fulbright Program. Special shoutout to Guga Chomakhidze and Sandro Saghliani for all your help along the way. Irakli Khvadagiani from SovLab. Charles Gorrivan, my reporting partner during the election. Jay Kogler for the cover photo. My professor Yuri Shevchuk who introduced me to the film that brought me to Georgia. And my parents Stuart and Melissa, my grandmother Ellen, my friends in Tbilisi, and everyone else who has made this project possible.