You seem very fixated on this one individual but there are larger forces at play and there is a bigger geopolitical context that this fits into.

There is literally no player larger than ivanishvili in the region… He has controlled Georgian politics for the last 30 years. Which is why it is so academically dishonest to leave him out of the article, especially when the author was blaming his cronies for Georgia’s contemporary issues.

bourgeois interests that once supported Georgia’s submission to US diktat and aggressive anti-Russian policies are now turning in a different direction and in doing so are daring to draw the ire of the US empire that is a sign of which way the geopolitical winds are blowing.

Right, but we’ve already gone through this before with ivanishvili. He has a long established history of supporting whatever side further empowers his grip over Georgian politics and economics. He funded the rose revolution, then threw the leaders of the rose revolution under the bus, and then established his own neolib political party. Jumping between supporting Russia and the west as it suits his interest.

He is never going to detach himself from western interest, this recent shift is just a bartering chip. He is hoping that if he can scare the west into thinking he is aligning with Russia that they will allow him to do whatever he wants in Georgia.