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Radio War Nerd EP #369 — Georgia Protests & NGO Colonialism, feat. Sopo Japaridze (Patreon)

Published:
2023-03-12 03:28:57
Imported:
2026-06
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Guest: Sopo Japaridze, labor activist & podcaster 

Recorded: March 10, 2023

We talk to Georgia-based labor activist Sopo Japaridze about the recent mass protests, backed by the West, against proposed new laws to regulate foreign-funded NGOs. We also discuss the sorry state of post-Soviet politics in Georgia, and the power of the western-funded NGO comprador class.

First — the Nerd & Ames discuss the 8-month long battle for Bakhmut & attritional warfare.

At 34:20 — Sopo Japaridze joins us to discuss Georgia protests & politics.

Check out Sopo's podcast Reimagining Soviet Georgia.Support the Solidarity Network - Workers' Center.Follow Sopo on Twitter.

*Glasgow Alert! Last minute call for the RWN Glasgow meetup: Sunday, March 12, 2pm at the Bell Jar.

Total time: 1:57:34

Direct link to this episode's mp3 here 

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Comments

Anatoly Kir

My two patreon favorites comin together - love to see it!

Anil Nair

So this is going to be an interesting listen. The radio war nerd guys think it's western backed and the protesters are claiming the new NGO laws are russian influenced.

Adam Smeltzer

Mark: [referring to Georgians' desire for maidan event] "Look at how great Ukraine is doing today, I mean Jesus"... Pretty disgusting. But typical from him

JBS

Cry louder

a clash of purple

Can't both be true? "The West" and "Russia" aren't monolithic entities, and it's not like there aren't powerful factions in Russia whose interests, at least in certain areas, happen to coincide with powerful factions in the West. Even in a place like Syria, Russia and Assad will cooperate with U.S.-backed anti-Assad forces against DAESH and the wacko militias.

Smerinka

Great talk! Is there any chance I can hear or read that interview of Kakha Bendukidze?

William

Wtf are you even talking about

William

Bakhmut seems to be about as important as Bastogne - both were regional crossroads for roads (5in and out of Bakhmut) and I think railroads too. Important for political purposes too, but Bakhmut also seems to have been fortified as a hub for the “Zelensky line” of defense, which appears to be crumbling

Of course

You could have made your point more effectively if you had one of those NAFO dog pictures.

Benke

Mark is a Russophile - Russian wife and all - that's why he was so blindsided by the Russian invasion. But hey, everyone has his biases and that's what one has to deal with in life.

Ander Pierce

Benke, what's your wife's nationality? Just want to get an idea for what your blindsides are given that that's the new metric xD

Ander Pierce

My wife is southern, so I guess that means I'm a neoconfederate :(

Ander Pierce

Regarding how well Maidan turned out for Ukraine, it's wild that when you expel a democratically elected incumbent, disenfranchise a large portion of the population who had elected that incumbent (mostly along ethnic lines) and in doing it piss off your large ornery neighbor, things go poorly. Real disgusting to point out the obvious I would agree. We should write the War Nerds, and let them know not to say the obvious. They should stick with the palatable, truth be damned

Benke

Ander, Russians have a saying: Muzh, Zhana, adina satana (husband or wife, both the same devils). Given that Mark mentioned many times how he was a russophile and how the invasion cought him off-guard I believe I didn't say anything new. No need to be so defensive mate. And the remark was pretty distasteful.

Ander Pierce

You didn't answer my question RE: your wife's nationality. What kind of devil are you?

Benjamin Cheney

David Thewlis (Lebowski, Naked, and a whole bunch of other stuff) is indeed a very great and extremely overlooked actor

Of course

We all need a laugh, so I present to you a headline from The Telegraph (March 12, 2023): "Worse than Stalingrad": Ukraine troops battle Wagner fighters in Bakhmut metal works.

Breakaway

Great episode, one of the best in awhile. I’d say even though the Georgian NGOs lean right, a lot of what Sopa said rings true for the liberal non-profit world in the West, ie poorly treated lower level employees, bending over backwards to please donors, etc.

Breakaway

Also, I’m going to start using the phrase “grant eaters.”

SB

Great interview with brave Sopo! It's sad to hear how Georgia may be plunged into a major crisis because the elites there are so impoverished that they would support such an event just to sustain their grants and per diems. Re: casualty numbers. MoA again explained it in plain and simple arithmetic (https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/03/ukraine-is-lying-about-casualty-ratios-to-justify-holding-of-bakhmut.html). >Artillery and mortar fire together accounted for 65 percent of the total casualties in the European and Mediterranean theaters, 64.0 and 69.1, respectively. In the Pacific, they accounted for 47.0 percent. >Data from the European Commission, quoted by El Pais, says that Russia has a 10:1 advantage in artillery >The total ratio may well be 7 to 1 but it will certainly be to the advantage of the Russian forces side. This is before accounting for air force, fixed wing and rotary, missiles, cruise and ballistic, and generally much poorer medevac capabilities on the Ukrainian side.

Jake Palmer

On what Mark said about Chartism. Chartism's influence is seen as the "fourth pillar of Marxism" by some. Most of their demands have been met these days, though subsequently watered down by additional measures of control. The only one that hasn't been met still is annual elections. Chartism was actually born moreso in South Wales but did take off and have its first big moments elsewhere including Glasgow. Wales also had the Newport Rising.

Arielle Curtin

“some guys are saying…” that Bakhmut is largest battle of 21st century… that guy would be Brian Berletic of the New Atlas. Credit where credit is due.

Demented Avenger

NGO Man is a black comedy script waiting to be written.

Sam Zeng

All this NGO talk makes me really wonder what happened in Afghanistan. I think we need a 3 part series on that topic.

Matthias Höck

It is really weird that an organisation that is mainly funded by a government can call itself "non-governmental"

Eric Snow

I was going to add to the comments about Mike Leigh's Naked. The scene Mark was talking about with the weird guy screaming on the corner - that's Spud (Ewan Bremner) from Trainspotting.

Jacob Vardy

Roy is well worth reading. I understand she has found it difficult to publish under BJP governments.

James Evans

I ran the start of the audio through an AI autotranscription program: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Radial Warner. Today. Today is March 10th, 2023, and this is episode 369. I'm the Ghost Mark Games coming to you in from Rochester, New York, where winter finally arrived in March, weirdly enough. And, uh, you're listening to Radio Warner. Subscribe to us at patreon.com/radio Warner. And I'm on the line, of course, with the Warner himself. Gary Butcher, a k a John Dolan.

Brandon

I mean… he has a point.

Stefan

Sopo’s description of the NGO-ization of leftist activists who fall in line and embrace the trappings of the international NGO lifestyle is right on target…have unfortunately seen it so many times.

David Andrews

Sorry guys. Too much time spent on a subject that isn't that interesting or current.

Jim Vail

Good interview. I'm sure Mark and John remember how upset Soros was after his foundation democracy money couldn't buy him an interest in the telecom privatization.

Jakob Stenfalk

There's a snarky response to that and a formalist response to it. The formalist response is that they're notionally funded through arms-length grants or open, competitive funding rounds. The practical response is that if you rule that they are non-governmental, they are no longer subject to open records rules.

Ilya Fishman

Is now really the time to focus on "russophobia"? Perhaps it has something to do with ruZZia's colonial policy and genocidal propaganda rhetoric on ALL their channels? Nah. Its all US/NATO. You guys.....

Mark Ames

Hey Benke, cite the "many times" I allegedly "mentioned I'm a russophile", I'd like to see it myself. As for accusing me of dual loyalties because of my wife's ethnicity, I can see why you're hiding yourself behind anonymity, classic pig move.

Doug Cartel

this frigging war in ukraine would not have happened if literally anybody in the state department had bothered doing any diplomacy at all, but the very fact that they overthrew the ukrainian government in 2014 - that fact by itself is proof enough that they wanted this war because they hoped to turn it into Afghanistan 2 for them. Everyone in the state dept who helped make this happen should be thrown out of a C130 over the war zone, but if it were me flying the plane then they'd have to buy their own parachutes.

Doug Cartel

ukrainian soldiers tell western press that russians are using human wave tactics, but for the size of the russian forces and wager, that's an insane notion. The soldiers talking to the Kyiv Independent say they mainly use small recon groups to spot artillery targets. That sounds more plausible and it's not in Russia's interests to spend soldiers like cheap fodder since the US wants that to happen anyways, so I think that's probably more accurate. if the story russian media is telling is accurate, one potential flash point that could change the course of the war is the SBU trying to shut down that Orthodox Church in Kyiv. It probably depends on how big the explosion of public anger is *if* this blows up in the govt's face. I'm probably just reading too much into it though.