Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to VK
Recently the information agency Regnum published an interesting article by Vigen Akopyan http://regnum.ru/news/polit/1520817.html “Different policies – different polls: American manipulation in Armenia and Georgia.” It is always interesting to comment on an article which has many remarkable aspects. The author analyses the activity of American institutes of “soft power” in Georgia and Armenia and comes to a conclusion: “In Georgia, “sociologists” from the NDI knock down opponents of Saakashvili. In Armenia they present strategic targets of the authorities as nonsense and impossible to reach. What relations do the USA and the authorities of Georgia and Armenia have and what targets will the USA fulfil here? A reader can guess himself.” Thus, according to the author, the USA through the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and other instruments of soft power support the Georgian authorities, while in Armenia they prepare a new color revolution.
It is not understandable why the US provides such a strategy toward Armenia that has a powerful resource of a multi-million diaspora in America. It is only one question appearing after reading the article by Akopyan. I think the other problem is more interesting: are public opinion polls conducted by American institutes objective? Do they distort the true picture for providing Washington’s plans?
It is high time to refer to Occam’s Razor principle (other things being equal, a simpler explanation is better than a more complex one). In other words, the simplest explanation of a problem is right and sufficient. We can discuss why American NDI fixed a fall in Bidzina Ivanishvili’s rating. Is it because Washington decided not to launch a smashing mechanism of a color revolution in Georgia, while different variants are possible for Armenia?!
All these schemes are failing, if we admit that the experienced respectful American organization fixed objective reality – the rating is falling. But why? Vigen Akopyan and his Georgian colleagues give a complicated answer – because there is an order to pressure the opponent of the authorities. That is why these polls are unreliable.
However, there is the next question: is the suppression of the opposition in Georgia and pressure on the Armenian authorities so important for the USA that they are ready to sacrifice the reputation of the NDI (and its partners, including Gallup) for achieving an up-to-the-minute objective in the region? I think the point is not in the evil plans of the NDI, but in the suitability of the methods of public opinion polls used in Western countries, with their firm democratic traditions, to the post-Soviet area.
