Resistance is not futile yet It may feel as if half the U.S. has been hit with a Cordyceps brain infection that mindlessly seeks to spread submission to autocracy. But take heart. Pockets of resistance remain. In the former Soviet republic of Georgia, for instance (BBC): Riot police in Georgia used pepper spray and water cannon against protesters who turned out on the streets of Tbilisi after the government suspended moves to join the European Union. Forty-three people were arrested at the demonstrations in the capital on Thursday night, the government said. Crowds turned out after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said his government would drop its pursuit of EU membership “until the end of 2028” – a move criticised by more than 100 diplomats on Friday as “unconstitutional”. Kobakhidze had accused the bloc of “blackmail” after EU legislators called for last month’s parliamentary elections in Georgia to be re-run. They cited “significant irregularities”. And in Romania (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty): Protests against the rise of pro-Russian politician Calin Georgescu spread beyond Bucharest to other Romanian cities on November 26 after his surprise victory in the first round of a presidential election over the weekend. Protests opposing Georgescu took place on the evening of November 26 in Bucharest, Timisoara, Iasi, Brasov, and Sibiu. Georgescu faces a runoff against pro-Western center-right candidate Elena Lasconi on December 8 after winning 22.94 percent of the vote in the first round of balloting on November 24 in the EU and NATO member state. About 1,000 people turned…