The Washington Times: "Why the Senate must act on the Republic of Georgia"

The United States Senate should approve a range of measures to support Georgia in the wake of the October 31 parliamentary elections in the country, a new opinion piece for The Washington Times argues.

In the piece, Janusz Bugajski, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation policy institute in Washington, D.C., makes a case for the legislative body to adopt the Georgia Support Act and ensure the trend of deepening cooperation between the two states continues.

The act underscores U.S. commitments to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and specifies arenas in which the two countries can collaborate."

One key arena that can generate practical cooperation is cyber security, whereby both partners can profit from sharing tools and expertise to counter Russian cyberattacks," Bugajski says in the article.

The analysis outlines international observers' conclusions on "competitive" parliamentary elections in which "fundamental freedoms were respected" and underscores the importance of pre-election agreement between the Georgian government and opposition on an amended electoral format.

Georgia's strategic location and importance both for regional stability and international energy transit is also mentioned in the opinion piece, along with brief overview of the security situation post-2008 war between Russia and Georgia.

Bugajski concludes his article by arguing that the higher degree of support for Georgia would send "a positive message to other U.S. allies and partners determined to defend their sovereignty."

Read the full story here.