The author is writing about the nation of Georgia, not the State of Georgia. That’s why I put (Not that Georgia) in the headline.
Friedman seemed to be complaining that we should be spending money on our own Georgia instead of the one currently being kicked by Russia. I was trying to point out the pointlessness of paying ourselves with our own money. I didn't check out the whole article to see if he stuck with that theme from the first few paragraphs posted or if he dropped it later on.