Only after more than 30 years, the "eternally surrounded by enemies" Kremlin is beginning to lose control over the so-called post-Soviet space and its "colonies" in Africa and South America. A new problem has appeared on the agenda of Putin's regime, i.e. public protests and demonstrations - in Russia and elsewhere - against the Kremlin's order of things.
In 2014, Putin's propaganda machine was scaring the Russian nation by asking "you want the same horrors as in Kiev and Paris?" Now, there are uprisings and protests within and surrounding Russia, but the Kremlin is no longer able to paint these as being colored revolutions organized by the Americans.
The Kremlin understands this and no longer knows what lies it should feed to its people, because after the fairytales of a crisis and the 2014 horrors in Ukraine no one in Russia really believes what the Kremlin says. This propaganda topic has been depleted and people don't respond to it. Additionally, for seven years now Russia has been savoring the sanctions imposed against it and sinking deeper into misery, and the Russian people are aware of this, they don't like it and they finally understand the meaning of "the crisis of capitalism" which was described by Karl Marx already in 1848.
People have also stopped believing stories about the old boogeyman George Soros who, if we trust the Kremlin's media and Aldis Gobzems, has staged more revolutions that Lenin, Mao, Che and all of the African revolutionaries together. Even some of those previously yelling "Crimea is ours" are now willing to return Crimea to Ukraine so they can once again receive their Ukrainian pensions. If Soros were to suddenly die, would the revolutions finally end? And when they wouldn't, who would then be blamed?
We see that people are protesting against their regimes outside the post-Soviet space as well, i.e. in pro-Kremlin African and South Americans states. It seems that the little world created by communists and chekists is finally crumbling.
In 2019, Putin's gang hadn't completely recovered from the 2018 unrest in Armenia, where everything initially seemed under control - just like in Belarus - and they didn't get to celebrate saving Maduro, when they were forced to say goodbye to Morales. In Bolivia too everything seemed fine, and that's why no one believed when they saw Morales running for Mexico to save his life. Everyone knew that the election results would be falsified, but no one expected that Morales would be forced to flee.
Then came 2020, bringing mayhem to Kyrgyzstan and Belarus, as well as protests in Khabarovsk, which is located so far from Moscow that no one really considers it being part of Russia. Part of the Russian society liken the protests in Khabarovsk to those in Hong-Kong. In late October, a wave of protests erupted in Georgia, as was expected, and quite recently Putin's friend and hardened communist Igor Dodon failed to become reelected as the president of Moldova.
Why wouldn't there be protests if the communists and other pro-Kremlin autocrats refuse to peacefully give up the power they had acquired by deceit? They would have no problem of handing over power if they had been able to forbid any other parties and cancel all elections, as it was done in the "great" USSR and other sultanates where proletarian revolutions could be staged.
Of course, for the communists and chekists democracy in the post-Soviet space poses a huge problem. Some have been able to solve this problem by falsifying election results - if it's impossible to cancel elections, then their results must be falsified. The most prominent recent examples of this is the constitutional referendum in Russia and the presidential election in Belarus, not to mention the miraculous abilities of Putin and Lukashenko to remain in their posts forever.
Returning to Georgia, I must admit that Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream are no exceptions. Ivanishvili would rather drink tea with Novichok than give up power. Even if the poor Ivanishvili were to break and let power slip from his hands, the Kremlin's dreamers will not allow him to do so. The Kremlin will send troops to Georgia, if such a move is required. Georgia is crucially important to the Kremlin, even more important than Belarus. If the Georgian Dream leaves, the Kremlin - considering the "pleasant" situation in Nagorno-Karabakh - can lose influence not only in Georgia, but Armenia as well.
Then a chain reaction could follow with numerous protests and unrests in the Caucasus region that could result in several North Caucasus republics withdrawing from the Russian Federation. Essentially, this is only a matter of time, therefore Georgia is imperative to the Kremlin.
Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream had time to learn from Lukashenko's mistakes in falsifying elections, hence they decided to give themselves only 63% of the vote. But the Georgian people, along with the remaining political parties, including the openly pro-Kremlin Alliance of Patriots, didn't believe it to be true.
When the vote count began and more and more results poured in from polling stations, it became unmistakably evident that the Georgian Dream had cheated because in some precincts it received more votes than the actual turnout of voters.
Fortunately, the public and opposition parties immediately pressured Ivanishvili and demanded that repeat elections be held. The protests are still ongoing. I am no longer surprised by the fact that "former" communists are being caught falsifying elections by using state funds. These people will never change, regardless of what beautiful and inspiring names they give to their political parties.
In Ukraine, the public began waking up to the fact that the communists and chekists are screwing them over only ten years ago, when the court reversed a 2004 reform that restricted presidential powers. This brought Ukraine closer to the "good old times", while pushing it away from democracy and Western values. What was the result of this? Currently, Ukraine is essentially at war with Putin's regime.
Make no mistake, Russia's turn will come as well - perhaps in September 2021 when parliamentary elections are to take place. Considering that protests are erupting and quieting down all over Russia, it is more than likely. Moreover, the US presidential election has also provided impetus to these very unpleasant for the Kremlin processes around Russia, as well as in Africa and South America.
