Employees of a hedge fund founded by the king of the Institutional Left, billionaire and Democratic Party mega-donor George Soros, donated tens of thousands of dollars to top Republicans who fought against President Donald Trump in 2016, donation records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics show.
Soros Fund Management, a former hedge fund that serves now as an investment management firm, was founded by progressive billionaire George Soros in 1969. It has risen to become one of the most profitable hedge funds in the industry. Employees of the firm are heavily involved in backing political candidates giving millions upon millions to groups that were supporting failed 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton for the presidency.
But more importantly, perhaps, than the unsurprising giant lump sums of cash funneled into Democratic Party and Clinton coffers is the revelation thanks to the Center for Responsive Politics that employees of the Soros firm—now run by his son Robert Soros—pumped tens of thousands of dollars into the campaigns of top anti-Trump Republicans over the course of 2016.
In total, executives with the Soros-founded company pushed $36,800 into the coffers of these GOP candidates just this past cycle. That does not include Super PACs or campaign committees, which saw tens of thousands of dollars more. While these numbers for Republicans pale in comparison to the millions upon millions poured into Democratic groups, causes, and candidates, it is significant that Soros executives are making a play inside the GOP. Perhaps even more significant is the type of Republican they aim to prop up: pro-amnesty, pro-open borders on trade, and generally speaking anti-Trump. A pattern emerges when looking at the policies of the Republicans that these Soros Fund Management executives support financially.
The biggest recipient of Soros-connected cash in the GOP was none other than House Speaker Paul Ryan, who repeatedly attempted to undermine Trump over the course of the election. According to the records available online, the Soros firm’s workers gave $10,800 to Ryan. Included in that are two separateMay 2, 2016, donations from David Rogers, a then-employee of Soros Fund Management who lives in New York City. Rogers left the Soros Fund Management firm right around that time.
Bloomberg reported in late April 2016, just before these two separate donations to Ryan;
David Rogers and Joshua Donfeld, two portfolio managers at billionaire George Soros’s family office, are leaving the firm over disagreements with its new chief investment officer about the direction of global markets, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Rogers, a protege of Soros’s former chief investment strategist Stan Druckenmiller, managed a portfolio of about $3 billion at the $28 billion Soros Fund Management, said the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Rogers, 38, made his name as a commodities trader, while Donfeld, 40, focuses on stock investing, said the people, adding that both men are expected to leave the family office next month.
Another two separatedonations to Ryan came from Donfeld, both on May 2, 2016 and totaling $2,700 each. In total, that adds up to $10,800—between both Rogers and Donfeld, who were working for Soros Fund Management at the time—that they gave to Paul Ryan.
Ryan’s chief spokesman, Brendan Buck, has not responded to a Breitbart News’s inquiry about the donations from the Soros firm’s employees. But Ryan’s support for open borders when it comes to immigration and trade, and his backing of so-called “criminal justice reform” legislation, is in line with Soros’ worldview—and he regularly bashed Trump over the course of the 2016 election.
But he was hardly the only anti-Trump Republican who received cash from Soros Fund Management employees over the course of 2016. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a failed presidential candidate, received $3,500 from the firm’s employees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics data. That includes a $1,500 donation from Soros Fund Management executive Scott Bessent. Bessent has since left the firm to work at a different hedge fund, but “oversaw George Soros’s $30 billion fortune for the last four years” according to an early January 2016 article in Bloomberg. The other two donations to Graham from the firm’s employees—both worth $1,000, with one on March 17, 2015, and the other on July 29, 2015—came from Alexander Cohen, an executive with Soros Fund Management.
Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop argues that since Soros himself didn’t give Graham money that this is not controversial.
“George Soros has never given a penny to Lindsey Graham,” Bishop said in an email. “George Soros Fund Management has never given a penny to Lindsey Graham. These are donations from individuals who are employed by Soros Fund Management.”
Bishop compared this to an employee for Amway or for the Trump Organization making a donation to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign in 2016, something that would mean that employee–not Amway owners like the DeVos family or President Trump or his family–is the one making the donation. But Bishop does not deny that Graham did take a donation from Soros Fund Management employees.
Fellow failed presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) raked in $2,700, while other failed GOP presidential candidates Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also received $2,700 apiece from employees of the Soros firm.
Rubio’s $2,700 donation came from the aforementioned Los Angeles-based Donfeld on Jan. 22, 2016, a few months before, as Bloomberg reported, he and Rogers left the firm. Kasich’s $2,700 donation came from Bessent on Oct. 24, 2015. Bush’s $2,700 donation came on July 24, 2015, from David Murphy of Soros Fund Management. Murphy, according to his LinkedIN page, is a current “portfolio manager” at the firm.
Kasich’s spokesman Chris Schrimpf did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Bush’s spokeswoman Kristy Campbell.
A spokesman for Rubio, Matt Wolking, vociferously defended the senator, calling this story in Breitbart News—without having read it because it wasn’t written until long after he responded to inquiries about this matter—a “fake” story since Rubio didn’t get donations directly from George Soros himself and since hedge funds as companies cannot make donations to federal candidates. Breitbart News never alleged that Rubio did get donations directly from George Soros himself, but was inquiring with Rubio’s staff if the senator had a comment on why he did take donations from an executive at George Soros’s hedge fund. That fact, that Rubio did take cash from a Soros Fund Management executive—and that that fund was founded by George Soros—is not something Wolking, on Rubio’s behalf, challenges. So what his team is doing is creating a straw man argument to falsely claim this story is “fake.”
“This story is a fake,” Wolking told Breitbart News. “Senator Rubio has never received any contribution from George Soros. And he has never received any contribution from the Soros company because, among other things, companies can’t donate to federal candidates.”
But more importantly, a Rubio spokesman did admit that the FEC filing is correct—that Rubio took a $2,700 donation from Donfeld. The Rubio spokesman argues that Donfeld donated “almost exclusively” to GOP candidates over the years—which is mostly true, as Donfeld has given to people like Ryan, Rubio, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), and 2012 GOP Ohio Senate nominee Josh Mandel, among others. But Donfeld, whom the Rubio spokesman points out and as Breitbart News mentioned earlier in this piece, left the Soros firm after making this donation to Rubio, has donated to Democrats like Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), and a failed Democratic congressional candidate in Arizona’s 9th congressional district in 2012, Andrei Cherny.
Anti-Trump Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a failed one-time GOP presidential nominee from 2008, got $2,500 from an executive at the Soros firm, while Boehner—who resigned amid a coup from conservatives—raked in $2,600 from an executive at the Soros firm.
McCain’s $2,500 this cycle came from Donfeld of Soros Fund Management on Sept. 23, 2015. In previous cycles, McCain has taken cash directly from George Soros himself—a $1,000 donation on June 2, 1999—and from others with the firm, including a $1,000 donation from Bessent on March 13, 2000, a $2,300 donation from Soros Fund Management’s Michael Au on Dec. 27, 2007, a $1,000 donation from Duncan Hennes of Soros Fund Management on March 13, 2000, and a $2,300 donation from Soros Fund Management’s Joshua Berkowitz on Jan. 15, 2008. McCain’s spokeswoman, Julie Tarallo, has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Breitbart News.
Boehner’s $2,600 donation this cycle came from Bessent of Soros Fund Management on Feb. 12, 2015. The media relations department at Reynolds American, the tobacco company of which Boehner joined the board after resigning from Congress in 2015, has not responded to a request for comment on his behalf.
Now former Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV), the 2016 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Nevada who lost his election after he withdrew his endorsement of Trump in the general election, also received $2,500 from an executive at Soros Fund Management, while Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL)—a “Never Trump” congressman who voted for a third-party candidate because he refused to support the GOP nominee for president—received $1,000 from an executive at the Soros family firm.
Heck’s $2,500 donation on Sept. 29, 2016, came from Soros Fund Management’s Sender Cohen. According to the Israel on Campus Coalition, another organization for which Sender Cohen serves as director, he is a “Portfolio Manager, the Director of Research and member of the Management Committee at Soros Fund Management.” Heck’s spokesman from the campaign has not responded to a request for comment on Monday.
Curbelo’s $1,000 donation came on June 5, 2015, from Paul Sohn, a former executive with Soros Fund Management. Sohn had already left the firm earlier in the year, as it was reported on CNBC in January 2015 that Sohn had left Soros Fund Management after his involvement in a controversial investment. That is months before he reported on this June 2015 Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing for this Curbelo donation that his employer was Soros Fund Management. A Curbelo spokeswoman has not responded to a request for comment.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), the House GOP conference chairwoman, got $1,000 from an official with Soros Fund Management. She is responsible for unleashing the independent and wildly unsuccessful general election candidate Evan McMullin—whom Trump has called “McMuffin” in jest after his failure—upon the world. McMullin, who turned out to fail fantastically on election day despite media fanfare about his candidacy, was previously a McMorris Rodgers staffer as chief policy director for nearly two years in the House GOP conference before his whimsical bid at the presidency that went nowhere and had essentially zero impact on the race. Rodgers’ $1,000 donation this cycle came from Alexander Cohen of Soros Fund Management on March 13, 2015. A spokesman for McMorris Rodgers has not responded to a request for comment on this matter.
The only few Republicans who received Soros Fund Management cash but did support Trump were Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY), and Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA). Royce received $2,500 from the firm, Johnson and Grassley each received $1,000, and Donovan received $300. Johnson’s $1,000 donation came on April 15, 2016, from Alexander Cohen of Soros Fund Management, as did Grassley’s, which came on Oct. 13, 2015. Donovan’s $300 donation came from Christopher Rich of Soros Fund Management on April 20, 2015.
Royce’s $2,500 donation came from Sender Cohen of Soros Fund Management on March 31, 2016. Spokespersons for Johnson, Grassley, Donovan and Royce have not responded to Breitbart News’s requests for comment.
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Re: Soros's Progressive Cabal with Democrats to Weaken America
Soros: ‘I Will Take Down President Trump'
February 09, 2017
A battle cry has been issued against our new president by arguably the world’s most evil villain: billionaire financier George Soros. At a recent meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Soros told a crowd of wealthy politicians and corporate heads that he plans to “take down President Trump” in order to usher in a “financial armageddon” that fits his plans for a New World Order.
One of the big backers of failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Soros has been on a mission to destroy Trump since long before he was elected president. But after losing nearly $1 billion in the stock market, which made a big rally after Trump’s victory, Soros is more determined than ever to stop the agenda of President Trump, which in large part involves rolling back globalism and bringing jobs back to the United States.
Reports indicate that Soros instructed many of the top dogs of various large, multinational corporations who attended the meeting to immediately stop doing business in the U.S. until President Trump’s agenda is halted. If these companies continue to do business in the U.S., Soros warned, they will most certainly face serious consequences, economic and otherwise.
“I’d keep as far away from it as I can,” Soros stated in cryptic fashion to his audience of listeners. (RELATED: Follow the happenings of Donald Trump’s presidency at Trump.news)
Soros a ‘wounded beast’ that is ‘hell bent on revenge,’ say Wall Street analysts
In Soros’ view, all of the promises President Trump is making, from his pledges to cut taxes and reduce regulations to bringing outsourced jobs back to the states, are not going to happen. Even if they appear to at first, he claims, it will not be long before they all fail. Within 24 hours of Trump taking office, Soros stated, “reality will prevail.”
Soros has hardly been shy in making his views known about President Trump. The Jewish Nazi collaborator is on the record as having called the president a dictator, for instance, adding that the president “won’t be able to get away with” some of the things he is doing to upset the plans of the globalist cabal.
Soros’ fury has been so pronounced over the past several months that Wall Street analysts actually likened him to a “wounded beast” that is “hell bent on revenge,” presumably a reference to the biblical prophecies of the Book of Revelation. In the meantime, many observers, including many conservative Republicans, are wondering what other nefarious tricks Soros might have hiding up his sleeve.
One idea is the financial armageddon and the “unleashing of hell” that some media sources claim Soros is hatching as a Plan B. Again making reference to biblical prophecy, the plan, some say, is for Soros to crash the world financial markets in order to create chaos. This act would put the U.S. on the brink of financial ruin, and in the midst of that, the phoenix will rise and usher in a New World Order.
Whether or not this actually happens remains to be seen, and only time will tell. But it is certain that the globalists do not plan to give up without a fight. And the fight they have planned could result in some major tumult for our country and for much of the rest of the world, which is directly affected by market and financial volatility here in the states.
“The way Soros broke the Bank of England and ruined the Malaysian economy, these will one day just be seen as warm ups for his full scale tilt at global financial armageddon,” a Wall Street analyst is quoted as saying.
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Soros has repeatedly backed left-wing district attorney candidates with massive donations typically only seen in gubernatorial, congressional or presidential campaigns. Soros spent more than $8 million on local DA races in 2015-2017 alone, allowing the New York resident to influence local criminal justice policies all across the country.
Justice & Public Safety PAC’s spending on behalf of Morales (known as “in-kind” contributions) included more than $82,000 on polling, media advertisements and direct mail leaflets in the crucial last two weeks of the campaign. The PAC did not return The Daily Caller’s request for comment.
Soros’s financial backing of Morales gave her an enormous fundraising edge over her challenger, Portsmouth attorney T.J. Wright. The $106,000 Soros spent on Morales’s behalf single-handedly more than doubled all contributions to Wright’s campaign, according to Wright’s campaign filings.
Morales first won the seat in a special election in 2015, taking 48 percent of the vote. Her Soros-funded campaign did far better than her first campaign and won 63 percent of the vote — despite Morales losing three of her most influential backers in July.
Soros’s efforts to tilt local contests have often become campaign issues — when they’ve become public. But Soros’s support for Morales never became public during the campaign, possibly because Morales filed her campaign finance reports on paper, rather than online, making it more difficult for reporters to scrutinize the filings.
Reports that are filed online are uploaded into a statewide data base of campaign finance reports, making them easily discoverable. Manually filed reports, on the other hand, require either personally visiting the city registrar or requesting them via mail.
Smartmatic, a UK based company, is a George Soros linked company that has provided voting technology in 16 states including battleground zones like Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The company was formed in 2000 and a Chavez campaign adviser was placed on the board as well.
The chairman of Smartmatic is Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, who sits in the British House of Lords and on the board of George Soros’s Open Society Foundations. He was formerly the vice-chairman of Soros’s Investment Funds and even the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations when he worked as chief of staff to Kofi Annan.
According to Wikileaks documents Smartmatic machines were used to rig the 2004 Venezuela elections in favor of Marxist candidate Hugo Chavez.
More from Wikileaks: Smartmatic is a riddle. The company came out of nowhere to snatch a multli-million dollar contract in an electoral process that ultimately reaffirmed Chavez’ mandate and all-but destroyed his political opposition.
Joseph Stalin famously said: “Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.”
Following a recent Daily Caller report Smartmatic updated its website to remove the flow chart and declare that “Smartmatic will not be deploying its technology in any U.S. county for the upcoming 2016 U.S. Presidential elections.”
Investigations by Italian authorities and others have found that NGOs funded by among others George Soros, are actively financing private ships to smuggle tens of thousands of illegal North African refugees into the EU via Southern Italy. The human trafficking is reportedly linked to ISIS smuggling networks. If confirmed by authorities, it could potentially open the NGOs to criminal charges .
Carmelo Zuccaro, the Chief Prosecutor of Catania, Sicily, has testified to a committee of the Italian Parliament in March that an official investigation into the funding of a fleet of modern refugee boats in the Mediterranean by private NGOs is warranted. He cited evidence that the human traffic smugglers in Libya and other North African coastal states, often reportedly linked to ISIS or other criminal bands, were coordinating the traffic into Italy of tens of thousands of illegal refugees. Zuccaro reported evidence that the human traffickers either on land, or on board smaller migrant boats, call the larger NGO-financed rescue vessels directly to arrange transfer of refugees. That implies a very close level of coordination between the human smuggler bands and the NGO-funded fleet of ships.
Zuccaro announced that his office is investigating what he called the “abnormal” amount of funds that allows even small agencies to hire ships. Italian authorities have so far uncovered at least ten private Non-Governmental Organizations involved, among them several NGOs financed by US hedge fund speculator George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. Zuccaro also told Italian press that, “the facilitation of illegal immigration is a punishable offense regardless of the intention.” He said that Italy was also investigating Islamic radicalization occurring in prisons and camps where immigrants are hired, illegally or off the books. European Immigration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos stated that some 80% of the North African migrants arriving in Italy had no legal right to asylum. Many were reportedly from criminal gangs that sprang up after the 2011 US-backed bombing of Libya and killing of Gaddafi that threw the country into anarchy.
Over the course of the past year as the refugee human trafficking route through Greece has been all but closed down, the route into the EU from North Africa has shifted to southern Italy and to use of modern chartered vessels to carry the thousands of refugees to Sicily and other parts of Southern Italy. In the first two months of 2017 illegal refugee inflows from Libya into southern Italy have risen by as much as 40% over the same period a year earlier.
NGO Human Trafficking
The official EU European Border and Coast Guard Agency, FRONTEX, in its 2017 Risk Analysis report, states that “the Central Mediterranean has become the main route for African migrants to the EU and it is very likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Specifically, 89% of migrants arrived from Libya.”
The FRONTEX report went on to note a dramatic shift in 2016 from 2015. Earlier the major migration flow went from Turkey into Greece and the Balkan states on to Germany and other EU states: “NGO rescue operations (into southern Italy-w.e.) rose significantly to more than 40% of all incidents. Since June 2016, a significant number of boats were intercepted or rescued by NGO vessels without any prior distress call and without official information as to the rescue location.”
Frontex raised the possibility that traffickers were putting migrants out to sea in a prearranged collusion with the private NGO ships that recover them and then bring them to Italy “like taxis.” What the EU agency described is a human smuggling operation, in effect, operations of international criminal organizations including ISIS, being run by ships chartered or owned by various Non-Governmental Organizations among them Soros-financed NGOs.
Italian admiral Enrico Credendino, commander of the EU’s anti-trafficking Operation Sophia, said the NGOs’ ships come close to the Libyan shore to attract migrant boats in the dark. “At night they use large floodlights; the traffickers see them and send the dinghies (carrying migrants) towards the lights,” he stated. Then they are taken aboard the larger NGO ships for the journey to Italy.
Soros NGOs working with ISIS?
If the Italian investigations into the NGO funding of the fleet of charter ships are confirmed, this would suggest that the NGOs, several of them linked to foundations or organizations financied or controlled by George Soros, are colluding illegally with human trafficker bands, in many cases bands controlled by ISIS in Libya.
A 2017 report by Quilliam, a private UK think-tank, claims that ISIS or the Islamic State (IS) is involved in the human trafficking operations into Italy. Their report states: “While some refugees may have to pay smugglers up to $560 for passage towards the Mediterranean coast, IS, capitalising on this route, offer free passage to those willing to join IS…To those reaching the Mediterranean coast, IS offer potential recruits up to $1,000 to join the organisation. ” Not exactly humanitarian.
US human rights investigator and lawyer William Craddick has discovered that several of the NGOs chartering the human smuggling boats ware linked to financial patronage of George Soros and his Open Society Foundations including avaaz.org of the Soros-funded Moveon.org; Save the Children, and Médicins Sans Frontiéres (MSF) which charters a Mediterranean ship called Aquarius.
International Migration Initiative
Soros’ Open Society Foundations, which also has been reported to receive money from the US Government through the CIA-linked USAID, also funds something it calls the International Migration Initiative, an NGO Soros’ Open Society Foundations set up in 2010. Clearly the idea behind creation of Soros’ IMI was done with an eye to what would soon unfold in Europe as well as the USA refugee crises. The website of the Soros International Migration Initiative openly states that it has a “strategic corridor approach, facilitating coordinated action in countries of origin, transit, and destination.” The same website identifies what it terms three strategic migration corridors: Asia/Middle East, Central America/Mexico, and Eurasia, which centers on Central Asia into Russia. That almost sounds like a geopolitical grand design of someone.
In September 2016 the same George Soros announced he was “donating” $500 million to the European and US refugee cause. He declined to say where and how the money would be used. Was part of that earmarked for financing the fleet of modern NGO ships that bring tens of thousands of refugees from Libya? A relevant question to be sure for the Italian and other investigations.
In August, 2016 DCLeaks, a US website similar to Wikileaks, released 2,576 files predominately related to George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. One memo by the Soros foundation dated May 10, 2016, argued that Europe’s refugee crisis should be accepted as a “new normal,” and that the crisis means, “new opportunities” for Soros’ foundations to influence immigration policies on a global scale.
Soros and the ‘Merkel Plan’
The pawprints of Soros’ foundations are all over the EU refugee crisis that is upending social and economic stability across Europe since August 2015 when German Chancellor Angela Merkel surprised many even in her own party by declaring in a comment since become infamous, “we can do it,” followed by her decision on September 5, 2015 to accept thousands of refugees who had set out to walk from Keleti Station in Budapest to Germany, announcing that all refugees were welcome with open arms, no questions asked, no limit set. More than one million refugees, not only from Syria, flooded into Germany and other EU countries. As domestic opposition mounted against Merkel, in late 2015 Merkel went on a popular German TV talk show where she announced, “I have a plan.”
Indeed she did. It was even named by its architects, “The Merkel Plan.”
The plan was drawn up by a think tank with offices in Berlin, Brussels and Istanbul by the name The European Stability Initiative (ESI). Under that Merkel Plan, in addition to the over 1 million refugees of 2015, in 2016 Germany should, “agree to grant asylum to 500,000 Syrian refugees registered in Turkey over the coming 12 months.”
The Merkel Plan for accepting hundreds of thousands of refugees without question into Germany and other EU states with no number limit, “the new normal,” the term used by Soros’ International Migration Initiative website, was a product of the Soros networks as well. The author of the Merkel Plan and head of the ESI is an Austrian sociologist, Gerald Knaus.
Knaus is a member of the George Soros-financed European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), and an Soros’ Open Society Fellow. Knaus’ European Stability Initiative was financed, according to the German Die Zeit, by among others the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Washington-based German Marshall Fund, as well as Soros’ Open Society Foundations.
Rome on brink of War
The recent explosion of illegal refugees into Southern Italy, aided by a fleet of ships chartered by NGOs linked to Soros and others, is no innocent humanitarian good samaritan deed. In December 2016 Virginia Raggi, the Mayor of Rome, said that the city was on the verge of a “war” between migrants and poor Italians. In southern Italy, the Sicilian Cosa Nostra had declared a “war on migrants” in 2016 amid reports that the Italian mafia had begun fighting with North African crime gangs who entered the EU among migrant populations.
The allegations of Soros NGO financing of a fleet of boats to illegally smuggle refugees or other migrants from North Africa into the EU suggested at the very least that the Washington-tied Soros networks were doing more than charity. It suggested that his NGOs were at least indirectly complicit in projects that were destroying the social stability of the EU much as Soros’ NGOs did in Ukraine in 2014 and before.
The impression is difficult to avoid that the entire current mass refugee phenomenon, together with the NATO wars that trigger them in places like Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, is part of a far larger and far more sinister design and that the money of George Soros, the character behind virtually every US State Department and CIA-backed Color Revolution since the 2000 toppling of Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade, is right in the middle of it.
Little wonder that the foundations and operations of “philanthropist” Soros are increasingly under attack around the world, including in Viktor Orban’s Hungary, Soros’ country of birth.
George SorosOrganizations that, in recent years, have received direct funding and assistance from George Soros and his Open Society Foundations (OSF) include the following. These include some well known organizations and of particular importance are organizations that impact sportsmen, the environment and wildlife. These are noted with a brief description.
Soros was not a large donor to U.S. political causes until the 2004 presidential election, but according to the Center for Responsive Politics, during the 2003–04 election cycle, Soros donated $23,581,000 to various 527 Groups (tax-exempt groups under the United States tax code, 26 U.S.C. § 527). The groups aimed to defeat President Bush. After Bush’s re-election Soros and other donors backed a new political fundraising group called Democracy Alliance, which supports progressive causes and the formation of a stronger progressive infrastructure in America.
In August 2009, Soros donated $35 million to the state of New York to be earmarked for underprivileged children and given to parents who had benefit cards at the rate of $200 per child aged 3 through 17, with no limit as to the number of children that qualified. An additional $140 million was put into the fund by the state of New York from money they had received from the 2009 federal recovery act. In the United States, Soros donated a large amount of money in an unsuccessful effort to defeat President George W. Bush’s bid for re-election in 2004.
He was an initial donor to the Center for American Progress, and he continues to support the organization through the Open Society Foundations.
n October 2011, a Reuters story, “Soros: not a funder of Wall Street protests,” was published after several commentators pointed out errors in an earlier Reuters story headlined “Who’s behind the Wall St. protests?” with a lede stating that the Occupy Wall Street movement “may have benefited indirectly from the largesse of one of the world’s richest men [Soros].” Reuters’ follow-up article also reported a Soros spokesman and Adbusters’ co-founder Kalle Lasn both saying that Adbusters—the reputed catalyst for the first Occupy Wall Street protests—had never received any contributions from Soros, contrary to Reuters’ earlier story that reported that “indirect financial links” existed between the two as late as 2010.
On September 27, 2012, Soros announced that he was donating $1 million to the super PAC backing President Barack Obama’s reelection Priorities USA Action.
In October 2013, Soros donated $25,000 to Ready for Hillary, becoming a co-chairman of the super PAC’s national finance committee. In June 2015, he donated $1 million to the Super PAC Priorities USA Action, which supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. He donated $6 million to the PAC in December 2015 and $2.5 million in August 2016.
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Key Organizations Funded by George Soros
American Civil Liberties Union: This group opposes virtually all post-9/11 national security measures enacted by the U.S. government. It supports open borders, has rushed to the defense of suspected terrorists and their abettors, and appointed former New Left terrorist Bernardine Dohrn to its Advisory Board.
Amnesty International: This organization directs a grossly disproportionate share of its criticism for human rights violations at the United States and Israel.
Bill of Rights Defense Committee: This group provides a detailed blueprint for activists interested in getting their local towns, cities, and even college campuses to publicly declare their opposition to the Patriot Act, and to designate themselves “Civil Liberties Safe Zones.” The organization also came to the defense of self-described radical attorney Lynne Stewart, who was convicted in 2005 of providing material support for terrorism.
Brookings Institution: This organization has been involved with a variety of internationalist and state-sponsored programs, including one that aspires to facilitate the establishment of a U.N.-dominated world government. Brookings Fellows have also called for additional global collaboration on trade and banking; the expansion of the Kyoto Protocol; and nationalized health insurance for children. Nine Brookings economists signed a petition opposing President Bush’s tax cuts in 2003.
Campus Progress: A project of the Soros-bankrolled Center for American Progress, this group seeks to “strengthen progressive voices on college and university campuses, counter the growing influence of right-wing groups on campus, and empower new generations of progressive leaders.”
Center for American Progress: This leftist think tank is headed by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, works closely with Hillary Clinton, and employs numerous former Clinton administration staffers. It is committed to “developing a long-term vision of a progressive America” and “providing a forum to generate new progressive ideas and policy proposals.”
Center for Community Change: This group recruits and trains activists to spearhead leftist “political issue campaigns.” Promoting increased funding for social welfare programs by bringing “attention to major national issues related to poverty,” the Center bases its training programs on the techniques taught by the famed radical organizer Saul Alinsky.
Center for Economic and Policy Research: This group opposed welfare reform, supports “living wage” laws, rejects tax cuts, and consistently lauds the professed achievements of socialist regimes, most notably Venezuela.
Color Of Change: This organization was founded to combat what it viewed as the systemic racism pervading America generally and conservatism in particular.
Constitution Project: This organization seeks to challenge the legality of military commissions; end the detainment of “enemy combatants”; condemn government surveillance of terrorists; and limit the President’s executive privileges.
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund: Defenders of Wildlife opposes oil exploration in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It condemns logging, ranching, mining, and even the use of recreational motorized vehicles as activities that are destructive to the environment.
Democracy Alliance: This self-described “liberal organization” aims to raise $200 million to develop a funding clearinghouse for leftist groups. Soros is a major donor to this group.
Democracy 21: This group is a staunch supporter of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, also known as the McCain-Feingold Act.
Democratic Party: Soros’ funding activities are devoted largely to helping the Democratic Party solidify its power base. In a November 2003 interview, Soros stated that defeating President Bush in 2004 “is the central focus of my life” … “a matter of life and death.” He pledged to raise $75 million to defeat Bush, and personally donated nearly a third of that amount to anti-Bush organizations. “America under Bush,” he said, “is a danger to the world, and I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is.”
Soros the GodfatherDrum Major Institute: This group describes itself as “a non-partisan, non-profit think tank generating the ideas that fuel the progressive movement,” with the ultimate aim of persuading “policymakers and opinion-leaders” to take steps that advance its vision of “social and economic justice.”
Earthjustice: This group seeks to place severe restrictions on how U.S. land and waterways may be used. It opposes most mining and logging initiatives, commercial fishing businesses, and the use of motorized vehicles in undeveloped areas.
Free Exchange on Campus: This organization was created solely to oppose the efforts of one individual, David Horowitz, and his campaign to have universities adopt an “Academic Bill of Rights,” as well as todenounce Horowitz’s 2006 book The Professors. Member organizations of FEC include Campus Progress (a project of the Center for American Progress); the American Association of University Professors; the American Civil Liberties Union; People For the American Way; the United States Student Association; the Center for Campus Free Speech; the American Library Association; Free Press; and the National Association of State Public Interest Research Groups.
Gamaliel Foundation: Modeling its tactics on those of the radical Sixties activist Saul Alinsky, this group takes a strong stand against current homeland security measures and immigration restrictions.
Green For All: This group was created by Van Jones to lobby for federal climate, energy, and economic policy initiatives.
Human Rights Campaign: The largest “lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender” lobbying group in the United States, HRC supports political candidates and legislation that will advance the LGBT agenda. Historically, HRC has most vigorously championed HIV/AIDS-related legislation, “hate crime” laws, the abrogation of
the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, and the legalization of gay marriage.
I’lam: This anti-Israel NGO seeks “to develop and empower the Arab media and to give voice to Palestinian issues.”
Independent Media Center: This Internet-based, news and events bulletin board represents an invariably leftist, anti-capitalist perspective and serves as a mouthpiece for anti-globalization/anti-America themes.
Independent Media Institute: IMI administers the SPIN Project (Strategic Press Information Network), which provides leftist organizations with “accessible and affordable strategic communications consulting, training, coaching, networking opportunities and concrete tools” to help them “achieve their social justice goals.”
Joint Victory Campaign 2004: Founded by George Soros and Harold Ickes, this group was a major fundraising entity for Democrats during the 2004 election cycle. It collected contributions (including large amounts from Soros personally) and disbursed them to two other groups, America Coming Together and the Media Fund, which also worked on behalf of Democrats.
Media Fund: Soros played a major role in creating this group, whose purpose was to conceptualize, produce, and place political ads on television, radio, print, and the Internet.
Media Matters for America: This organization is a “web-based, not-for-profit … progressive research and information center” seeking to “systematically monitor a cross-section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation.” The group works closely with the Soros-backed Center for American Progress, and is heavily funded by Democracy Alliance, of which Soros is a major financier.
MoveOn.org: This Web-based organization supports Democratic political candidates through fundraising, advertising, and get-out-the-vote drives.
National Abortion Federation: This group opposes any restrictions on abortion at either the state or federal levels, and champions the introduction of unrestricted abortion into developing regions of the world.
National Organization for Women: This group advocates the unfettered right to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand; seeks to “eradicate racism, sexism and homophobia” from American society; attacks Christianity and traditional religious values; and supports gender-based preferences for women.
National Public Radio: Founded in 1970 with 90 public radio stations as charter members, NPR is today a loose network of more than 750 U.S. radio stations across the country, many of which are based on college and university campuses.
Natural Resources Defense Council: One of the most influential environmentalist lobbying groups in the United States, the Council claims a membership of one million people.
NewsCorpWatch: A project of Media Matters For America, NewsCorpWatch was established with the help of a $1 million George Soros grant to Media Matters.
People Improving Communities Through Organizing: This group uses Alinsky-style organizing tactics to advance the doctrines of the religious left.
Planned Parenthood: This group is the largest abortion provider in the United States and advocates taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand.
Project Vote: This is the voter-mobilization arm of the Soros-funded ACORN. A persistent pattern of lawlessness and corruption has followed ACORN/Project Vote activities over the years.
Psychologists for Social Responsibility: This anti-capitalist, anti-corporate, anti-military, anti-American organization “uses psychological knowledge and skills to promote peace with social justice at the community, national and international levels.”
Tides Foundation and Tides Center: Tides is a major funder of the radical Left.
U.S. Public Interest Research Group: This is an umbrella organization of student groups that support leftist agendas.
Affiliates of the George Soros Network
George Soros is WealthyCenter for Progressive Leadership: Funded by the Soros-bankrolled Democracy Alliance, this anti-capitalist organization is dedicated to training future leftist political leaders.
John Adams Project:This project of the American Civil Liberties Union was accused of: (a) having hired investigators to photograph CIA officers thought to have been involved in enhanced interrogations of terror suspects detained in Guantanamo, and then (b) showing the photos to the attorneys of those suspects, some of whom were senior al-Qaeda operatives.
Moving Ideas Network (MIN): This coalition of more than 250 leftwing activist groups is a partner organization of the Soros-backed Center for American Progress. MIN was originally a project of the Soros-backed American Prospect and, as such, received indirect funding from the Open Society Institute. In early 2006, The American Prospect relinquished control of the Moving Ideas Network.
New Organizing Institute: Created by the Soros-funded MoveOn.org, this group “trains young, technology-enabled political organizers to work for progressive campaigns and organizations.”
Think Progress: This “project” of the American Progress Action Fund, which is a “sister advocacy organization”of the Soros-funded Center for American Progress and Campus Progress, seeks to transform “progressive ideas into policy through rapid response communications, legislative action, grassroots organizing and advocacy, and partnerships with other progressive leaders throughout the country and the world.”
Vote for Change: Coordinated by the political action committee of the Soros-funded MoveOn.org, Vote for Change was a group of 41 musicians and bands that performed concerts in several key election “battleground”states during October 2004, to raise money in support of Democrat John Kerry’s presidential bid.
Working Families Party: Created in 1998 to help push the Democratic Party toward the left, this front group for the Soros-funded ACORN functions as a political party that promotes ACORN-friendly candidates.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
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We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
With a hat tip to FreedomOutpost.com, here’s the complete list of the 200 U.S. organisations that have financial ties to Nazi war criminal George Soros. Both George Soros and his Open Society Foundations provide funding directly or indirectly to all these groups, most of which actively seek to overthrow America’s democratic Republic.
s and his Open Society Foundations provide funding directly or indirectly to over 200 US organisations.
Advancement Project: This organisation works to organise “communities of colour” into politically cohesive units while disseminating its leftist world views and values as broadly as possible by way of a sophisticated communications department.
Air America Radio: Now defunct, this was a self-identified “liberal” radio network.
Al-Haq: This NGO produces highly politicised reports, papers, books, and legal analyses regarding alleged Israeli human-rights abuses committed against Palestinians.
All of Us or None: This organisation seeks to change voting laws — which vary from state to state — so as to allow ex-inmates, parolees, and even current inmates to cast their ballots in political elections.
Alliance for Justice: Best known for its activism vis a vis the appointment of federal judges, this group consistently depicts Republican judicial nominees as “extremists.”
America Coming Together: Soros played a major role in creating this group, whose purpose was to coordinate and organise pro-Democrat voter-mobilisation programs.
America Votes: Soros also played a major role in creating this group, whose get-out-the-vote campaigns targeted likely Democratic voters.
America’s Voice: This open-borders group seeks to promote “comprehensive” immigration reform that includes a robust agenda in favour of amnesty for illegal aliens.
American Bar Association Commission on Immigration Policy: This organisation “opposes laws that require employers and persons providing education, health care, or other social services to verify citizenship or immigration status.”
American Bridge 21st Century: This Super PAC conducts opposition research designed to help Democratic political candidates defeat their Republican foes.
American Civil Liberties Union: This group opposes virtually all post-9/11 national security measures enacted by the U.S. government. It supports open borders, has rushed to the defence of suspected terrorists and their abettors, and appointed former New Left terrorist Bernardine Dohrn to its Advisory Board.
American Constitution Society for Law and Policy: This Washington, DC-based think tank seeks to move American jurisprudence to the left by recruiting, indoctrinating, and mobilising young law students, helping them acquire positions of power. It also provides leftist Democrats with a bully pulpit from which to denounce their political adversaries.
American Family Voices: This group creates and coordinates media campaigns charging Republicans with wrongdoing.
American Federation of Teachers: After longtime AFT President Albert Shanker died in in 1997, he was succeeded by Sandra Feldman, who slowly “re-branded” the union, allying it with some of the most powerful left-wing elements of the New Labor Movement. When Feldman died in 2004, Edward McElroy took her place, followed by Randi Weingarten in 2008. All of them kept the union on the leftward course it had adopted in its post-Shanker period.
American Friends Service Committee: This group views the United States as the principal cause of human suffering around the world. As such, it favours America’s unilateral disarmament, the dissolution of American borders, amnesty for illegal aliens, the abolition of the death penalty, and the repeal of the Patriot Act.
American Immigration Council: This non-profit organisation is a prominent member of the open-borders lobby. It advocates expanded rights and amnesty for illegal aliens residing in the U.S.
American Immigration Law Foundation: This group supports amnesty for illegal aliens, on whose behalf it litigates against the U.S. government.
American Institute for Social Justice: AISJ’s goal is to produce skilled community organisers who can “transform poor communities” by agitating for increased government spending on city services, drug interdiction, crime prevention, housing, public-sector jobs, access to healthcare, and public schools.
American Library Association: This group has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s War on Terror — most particularly, Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, which it calls “a present danger to the constitutional rights and privacy rights of library users.”
The American Prospect, Inc.: This corporation trains and mentors young leftwing journalists, and organises strategy meetings for leftist leaders.
Amnesty International: This organisation directs a grossly disproportionate share of its criticism for human rights violations at the United States and Israel.
Applied Research Centre: Viewing the United States as a nation where “structural racism” is deeply “embedded in the fabric of society,” ARC seeks to “build a fair and equal society” by demanding “concrete change from our most powerful institutions.”
Arab American Institute Foundation: The Arab American Institute denounces the purportedly widespread civil liberties violations directed against Arab Americans in the post-9/11 period, and characterises Israel as a brutal oppressor of the Palestinian people.
Aspen Institute: This organisation promotes radical environmentalism and views America as a nation plagued by deep-seated “structural racism.”
Ballot Initiative Strategy Center: This organisation seeks to advance “a national progressive strategy” by means of ballot measures—state-level legislative proposals that pass successfully through a petition (“initiative”) process and are then voted upon by the public.
Bend The Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice: This organisation condemns Voter ID laws as barriers that “make it harder for communities of colour, women, first-time voters, the elderly, and the poor to cast their vote.”
Bill of Rights Defence Committee: This group provides a detailed blueprint for activists interested in getting their local towns, cities, and even college campuses to publicly declare their opposition to the Patriot Act, and to designate themselves “Civil Liberties Safe Zones.” The organisation also came to the defence of self-described radical attorney Lynne Stewart, who was convicted in 2005 of providing material support for terrorism.
Black Alliance for Just Immigration: This organisation seeks to create a unified movement for “social and economic justice” centred on black racial identity.
Blueprint North Carolina: This group seeks to “influence state policy in North Carolina so that residents of the state benefit from more progressive policies such as better access to health care, higher wages, more affordable housing, a safer, cleaner environment, and access to reproductive health services.”
Brennan Centre for Justice: This think tank/legal activist group generates scholarly studies, mounts media campaigns, files amicus briefs, gives pro bono support to activists, and litigates test cases in pursuit of radical “change.”
Brookings Institution: This organisation has been involved with a variety of internationalist and state-sponsored programs, including one that aspires to facilitate the establishment of a U.N.-dominated world government. Brookings Fellows have also called for additional global collaboration on trade and banking; the expansion of the Kyoto Protocol; and nationalised health insurance for children. Nine Brookings economists signed a petition opposing President Bush’s tax cuts in 2003.
Campaign for America’s Future: This group supports tax hikes, socialized medicine, and a dramatic expansion of social welfare programs.
Campaign for Youth Justice: This organisation contends that “transferring juveniles to the adult criminal-justice system leads to higher rates of recidivism, puts incarcerated and detained youth at unnecessary risk, has little deterrence value, and does not increase public safety.”
Campus Progress: A project of the Soros-bankrolled Centre for American Progress, this group seeks to “strengthen progressive voices on college and university campuses, counter the growing influence of right-wing groups on campus, and empower new generations of progressive leaders.”
Casa de Maryland: This organisation aggressively lobbies legislators to vote in favour of policies that promote expanded rights, including amnesty, for illegal aliens currently residing in the United States.
Catalist: This is a for-profit political consultancy that seeks “to help progressive organisations realise measurable increases in civic participation and electoral success by building and operating a robust national voter database of every voting-age American.”
Catholics for Choice: This nominally Catholic organisation supports women’s right to abortion-on-demand.
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good: This political nonprofit group is dedicated to generating support from the Catholic community for leftwing candidates, causes, and legislation.
Centre for American Progress: This leftist think tank is headed by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, works closely with Hillary Clinton, and employs numerous former Clinton administration staffers. It is committed to “developing a long-term vision of a progressive America” and “providing a forum to generate new progressive ideas and policy proposals.”
Center for Community Change: This group recruits and trains activists to spearhead leftist “political issue campaigns.” Promoting increased funding for social welfare programs by bringing “attention to major national issues related to poverty,” the Centre bases its training programs on the techniques taught by the famed radical organiser Saul Alinsky.
Centre for Constitutional Rights: This pro-Castro organisation is a core member of the open borders lobby, has opposed virtually all post-9/11 anti-terrorism measures by the U.S. government, and alleges that American injustice provokes acts of international terrorism.
Centre for Economic and Policy Research: This group opposed welfare reform, supports “living wage” laws, rejects tax cuts, and consistently lauds the professed achievements of socialist regimes, most notably Venezuela.
Centre for International Policy: This organisation uses advocacy, policy research, media outreach, and educational initiatives to promote “transparency and accountability” in U.S. foreign policy and global relations. It generally views America as a disruptive, negative force in the world.
Centre for Reproductive Rights: CRR’s mission is to guarantee safe, affordable contraception and abortion-on-demand for all women, including adolescents. The organisation has filed state and federal lawsuits demanding access to taxpayer-funded abortions (through Medicaid) for low-income women.
Centre for Responsible Lending: This organisation was a major player in the subprime mortgage crisis. According to Phil Kerpen (vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity), CRL “sh[ook] down and harass[ed] banks into making bad loans to unqualified borrowers.” Moreover, CRL negotiated a contract enabling it to operate as a conduit of high-risk loans to Fannie Mae.
Centre for Social Inclusion: This organisation seeks to counteract America’s “structural racism” by means of taxpayer-funded policy initiatives.
Centre on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS): Aiming to redistribute wealth by way of higher taxes imposed on those whose incomes are above average, COWS contends that “it is important that state government be able to harness fair contribution from all parts of society – including corporations and the wealthy.”
Change America Now: Formed in December 2006, Change America Now describes itself as “an independent political organisation created to educate citizens on the failed policies of the Republican Congress and to contrast that record of failure with the promise offered by a Democratic agenda.”
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: This group litigates and brings ethics charges against “government officials who sacrifice the common good to special interests” and “betray the public trust.” Almost all of its targets are Republicans.
Coalition for an International Criminal Court: This group seeks to subordinate American criminal-justice procedures to those of an international court.
Color Of Change: This organisation was founded to combat what it viewed as the systemic racism pervading America generally and conservatism in particular.
Common Cause: This organisation aims to bring about campaign-finance reform, pursue media reform resembling the Fairness Doctrine, and cut military budgets in favor of increased social-welfare and environmental spending.
Constitution Project: This organisation seeks to challenge the legality of military commissions; end the detainment of “enemy combatants”; condemn government surveillance of terrorists; and limit the President’s executive privileges.
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund: Defenders of Wildlife opposes oil exploration in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It condemns logging, ranching, mining, and even the use of recreational motorised vehicles as activities that are destructive to the environment.
Democracy Alliance: This self-described “liberal organisation” aims to raise $200 million to develop a funding clearinghouse for leftist groups. Soros is a major donor to this group.
Democracy 21: This group is a staunch supporter of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, also known as the McCain-Feingold Act.
Democracy Now!: Democracy Now! was created in 1996 by WBAI radio news director Amy Goodman and four partners to provide “perspectives rarely heard in the U.S. corporate-sponsored media,” i.e., the views of radical and foreign journalists, left and labor activists, and ideological foes of capitalism.
Democratic Justice Fund: DJF opposes the Patriot Act and most efforts to restrict or regulate immigration into the United States — particularly from countries designated by the State Department as “terrorist nations.”
Democratic Party: Soros’ funding activities are devoted largely to helping the Democratic Party solidify its power base. In a November 2003 interview, Soros stated that defeating President Bush in 2004 “is the central focus of my life” … “a matter of life and death.” He pledged to raise $75 million to defeat Bush, and personally donated nearly a third of that amount to anti-Bush organisations. “America under Bush,” he said, “is a danger to the world, and I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is.”
Demos: This organisation lobbies federal and state policymakers to “addres[s] the economic insecurity and inequality that characterise American society today”; promotes “ideas for reducing gaps in wealth, income and political influence”; and favours tax hikes for the wealthy.
Drum Major Institute: This group describes itself as “a non-partisan, non-profit think tank generating the ideas that fuel the progressive movement,” with the ultimate aim of persuading “policymakers and opinion-leaders” to take steps that advance its vision of “social and economic justice.”
Earthjustice: This group seeks to place severe restrictions on how U.S. land and waterways may be used. It opposes most mining and logging initiatives, commercial fishing businesses, and the use of motorised vehicles in undeveloped areas.
Economic Policy Institute: This organisation believes that “government must play an active role in protecting the economically vulnerable, ensuring equal opportunity, and improving the well-being of all Americans.”
Electronic Privacy Information Centre: This organisation has been a harsh critic of the USA PATRIOT Act and has joined the American Civil Liberties Union in litigating two cases calling for the FBI “to publicly release or account for thousands of pages of information about the government’s use of PATRIOT Act powers.”
Ella Baker Centre for Human Rights: Co-founded by the revolutionary communist Van Jones, this anti-poverty organisation claims that “decades of disinvestment in our cities” — compounded by “excessive, racist policing and over-incarceration” — have “led to despair and homelessness.”
EMILY’s List: This political network raises money for Democratic female political candidates who support unrestricted access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand.
Energy Action Coalition: Founded in 2004, this group describes itself as “a coalition of 50 youth-led environmental and social justice groups working together to build the youth clean energy and climate movement.” For EAC, this means “dismantling oppression” according to its principles of environmental justice.
Equal Justice USA: This group claims that America’s criminal-justice system is plagued by “significant race and class biases,” and thus seeks to promote major reforms.
Faithful America: This organisation promotes the redistribution of wealth, an end to enhanced interrogation procedures vis a vis prisoners-of-war, the enactment of policies to combat global warming, and the creation of a government-run heath care system.
Families USA: This Washington-based health-care advocacy group favours ever-increasing government control of the American healthcare system.
Feminist Majority: Characterising the United States as an inherently sexist nation, this group focuses on “advancing the legal, social and political equality of women with men, countering the backlash to women’s advancement, and recruiting and training young feminists to encourage future leadership for the feminist movement in the United States.”
Four Freedoms Fund: This organisation was designed to serve as a conduit through which large foundations could fund state-based open-borders organisations more flexibly and quickly.
Funding Exchange: Dedicated to the concept of philanthropy as a vehicle for social change, this organisation pairs leftist donors and foundations with likeminded groups and activists who are dedicated to bringing about their own version of “progressive” change and social justice. Many of these grantees assume that American society is rife with racism, discrimination, exploitation, and inequity and needs to be overhauled via sustained education, activism, and social agitation.
Gamaliel Foundation: Modeling its tactics on those of the radical Sixties activist Saul Alinsky, this group takes a strong stand against current homeland security measures and immigration restrictions.
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: This group contends that when a state proves either unable or unwilling to protect civilians from mass atrocities occurring within its borders, it is the responsibility of the international community to intervene — peacefully if possible, but with military force if necessary.
Global Exchange: Established in 1988 by pro-Castro radical Medea Benjamin, this group consistently condemns America’s foreign policy, business practices, and domestic life. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Global Exchange advised Americans to examine “the root causes of resentment against the United States in the Arab world — from our dependence on Middle Eastern oil to our biased policy towards Israel.”
Grantmakers Without Borders: GWB tends to be very supportive of leftist environmental, anti-war, and civil rights groups. It is also generally hostile to capitalism, which it deems one of the chief “political, economic, and social systems” that give rise to a host of “social ills.”
Green For All: This group was created by Van Jones to lobby for federal climate, energy, and economic policy initiatives.
Health Care for America Now: This group supports a “single payer” model where the federal government would be in charge of financing and administering the entire U.S. healthcare system.
Human Rights Campaign: The largest “lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender” lobbying group in the United States, HRC supports political candidates and legislation that will advance the LGBT agenda. Historically, HRC has most vigorously championed HIV/AIDS-related legislation, “hate crime” laws, the abrogation of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, and the legalisation of gay marriage.
Human Rights First: This group supports open borders and the rights of illegal aliens; charges that the Patriot Act severely erodes Americans’ civil liberties; has filed amicus curiae briefs on behalf of terror suspect Jose Padilla; and deplores the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities.
Human Rights Watch: This group directs a disproportionate share of its criticism at the United States and Israel. It opposes the death penalty in all cases, and supports open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens.
I’lam: This anti-Israel NGO seeks “to develop and empower the Arab media and to give voice to Palestinian issues.”
Immigrant Defence Project: To advance the cause of illegal immigrants, the IDP provides immigration law backup support and counselling to New York defence attorneys and others who represent or assist immigrants in criminal justice and immigration systems, as well as to immigrants themselves.
Immigrant Legal Resource Centre: This group claims to have helped gain amnesty for some three million illegal aliens in the U.S., and in the 1980s was part of the sanctuary movement which sought to grant asylum to refugees from the failed Communist states of Central America.
Immigration Advocates Network: This alliance of immigrant-rights groups seeks to “increase access to justice for low-income immigrants and strengthen the capacity of organisations serving them.”
Immigration Policy Centre: IPC is an advocate of open borders and contends that the massive influx of illegal immigrants into America is due to U.S. government policy, since “the broken immigration system […] spurs unauthorised immigration in the first place.”
Independent Media Centre: This Internet-based, news and events bulletin board represents an invariably leftist, anti-capitalist perspective and serves as a mouthpiece for anti-globalisation/anti-America themes.
Independent Media Institute: IMI administers the SPIN Project (Strategic Press Information Network), which provides leftist organisations with “accessible and affordable strategic communications consulting, training, coaching, networking opportunities and concrete tools” to help them “achieve their social justice goals.”
Institute for America’s Future: IAF supports socialised medicine, increased government funding for education, and the creation of an infrastructure “to ensure that the voice of the progressive majority is heard.”
Institute for New Economic Thinking: Seeking to create a new worldwide “economic paradigm,” this organisation is staffed by numerous individuals who favour government intervention in national economies, and who view capitalism as a flawed system.
Institute for Policy Studies: This think tank has long supported Communist and anti-American causes around the world. Viewing capitalism as a breeding ground for “unrestrained greed,” IPS seeks to provide a corrective to “unrestrained markets and individualism.” Professing an unquestioning faith in the righteousness of the United Nations, it aims to bring American foreign policy under UN control.
Institute for Public Accuracy: This anti-American, anti-capitalist organisation sponsored actor Sean Penn’s celebrated visit to Baghdad in 2002. It also sponsored visits to Iraq by Democratic Congressmen Nick Rahall and former Democrat Senator James Abourezk
Institute for Women’s Policy Research: This group views the U.S. as a nation rife with discrimination against women, and publishes research to draw attention to this alleged state of affairs. It also advocates unrestricted access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand, stating that “access to abortion is essential to the economic well-being of women and girls.”
International Crisis Group: One of this organisation’s leading figures is its Mideast Director, Robert Malley, who was President Bill Clinton’s Special Assistant for Arab-Israeli Affairs. His analysis of the Mideast conflict is markedly pro-Palestinian.
J Street: This anti-Israel group warns that Israel’s choice to take military action to stop Hamas’ terrorist attacks “will prove counter-productive and only deepen the cycle of violence in the region”
Jewish Funds for Justice: This organisation views government intervention and taxpayer funding as crucial components of enlightened social policy. It seeks to redistribute wealth from Jewish donors to low-income communities “to combat the root causes of domestic economic and social injustice.” By JFJ’s reckoning, chief among those root causes are the inherently negative by-products of capitalism – most notably racism and “gross economic inequality.”
Joint Victory Campaign 2004: Founded by George Soros and Harold Ickes, this group was a major fundraising entity for Democrats during the 2004 election cycle. It collected contributions (including large amounts from Soros personally) and disbursed them to two other groups, America Coming Together and the Media Fund, which also worked on behalf of Democrats.
Justice at Stake: This coalition calls for judges to be appointed by nonpartisan, independent commissions in a process known as “merit selection,” rather than elected by the voting public.
LatinoJustice PRLDF: This organisation supports bilingual education, the racial gerrymandering of voting districts, and expanded rights for illegal aliens.
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: This group views America as an unremittingly racist nation; uses the courts to mandate race-based affirmative action preferences in business and academia; has filed briefs against the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to limit the wholesale granting of green cards and to identify potential terrorists; condemns the Patriot Act; and calls on Americans to “recognise the contribution” of illegal aliens.
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights: This organisation views the United States as a nation rife with racism, sexism, and all manner of social injustice; and it uses legislative advocacy to push for “progressive change” that will create “a more open and just society.”
League of United Latin American Citizens: This group views America as a nation plagued by “an alarming increase in xenophobia and anti-Hispanic sentiment”; favours racial preferences; supports the legalisation of illegal Hispanic aliens; opposes military surveillance of U.S. borders; opposes making English America’s official language; favours open borders; and rejects anti-terrorism legislation like the Patriot Act.
League of Women Voters Education Fund: The League supports taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand; supports “motor-voter” registration, which allows anyone with a driver’s license to become a voter, regardless of citizenship status; and supports tax hikes and socialised medicine.
League of Young Voters: This organisation seeks to “empowe[r] young people nationwide” to “participate in the democratic process and create progressive political change on the local, state and national level[s].”
Lynne Stewart Defence Committee: IRS records indicate that Soros’s Open Society Institute made a September 2002 grant of $20,000 to this organisation. Stewart was the criminal-defence attorney who was later convicted for abetting her client, the “blind sheik” Omar Abdel Rahman, in terrorist activities connected with his Islamic Group.
Machsom Watch: This organisation describes itself as “a movement of Israeli women, peace activists from all sectors of Israeli society, who oppose the Israeli occupation and the denial of Palestinians’ rights to move freely in their land.”
MADRE: This international women’s organisation deems Americathe world’s foremost violator of human rights. As such, it seeks to “communicate[e] the real-life impact of U.S. policies on women and families confronting violence, poverty and repression around the world,” and to “demand alternatives to destructive U.S. policies.” It also advocates unrestricted access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand.
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement: This group views the U.S. as a nation replete with racism and discrimination against blacks; seeks to establish an independent black nation in the southeastern United States; and demands reparations for slavery.
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition: This group calls for the expansion of civil rights and liberties for illegal aliens; laments that illegal aliens in America are commonly subjected to “worker exploitation”; supports tuition-assistance programs for illegal aliens attending college; and characterises the Patriot Act as a “very troubling” assault on civil liberties.
Media Fund: Soros played a major role in creating this group, whose purpose was to conceptualise, produce, and place political ads on television, radio, print, and the Internet.
Media Matters for America: This organisation is a “web-based, not-for-profit … progressive research and information centre” seeking to “systematically monitor a cross-section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation.” The group works closely with the Soros-backed Centre for American Progress, and is heavily funded by Democracy Alliance, of which Soros is a major financier.
Mercy Corps: Vis a vis the Arab-Israeli conflict, Mercy Corps places all blame for Palestinian poverty and suffering directly on Israel.
Mexican American Legal Defence and Education Fund: This group advocates open borders, free college tuition for illegal aliens, lowered educational standards to accommodate Hispanics, and voting rights for criminals. In MALDEF’s view, supporters of making English the official language of the United States are “motivated by racism and anti-immigrant sentiments,” while advocates of sanctions against employers reliant on illegal labor seek to discriminate against “brown-skinned people.”
Midwest Academy: This entity trains radical activists in the tactics of direct action, targeting, confrontation, and intimidation.
Migration Policy Institute: This group seeks to create “a North America with gradually disappearing border controls … with permanent migration remaining at moderate levels.”
Military Families Speak Out: This group ascribes the U.S. invasion of Iraq to American imperialism and lust for oil.
MoveOn.org: This Web-based organisation supports Democratic political candidates through fundraising, advertising, and get-out-the-vote drives.
Ms. Foundation for Women: This group laments what it views as the widespread and enduring flaws of American society: racism, sexism, homophobia, and the violation of civil rights and liberties. It focuses its philanthropy on groups that promote affirmative action for women, unfettered access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand, amnesty for illegal aliens, and big government generally.
Muslim Advocates: Opposed to U.S. counter-terrorism strategies that make use of sting operations and informants, MA characterises such tactics as forms of “entrapment” that are inherently discriminatory against Muslims.
NARAL Pro-Choice America: This group supports taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand, and works to elect pro-abortion Democrats.
NAACP Legal Defence and Education Fund: The NAACP supports racial preferences in employment and education, as well as the racial gerrymandering of voting districts. Underpinning its support for race preferences is the fervent belief that white racism in the United States remains an intractable, largely undiminished, phenomenon.
The Nation Institute: This nonprofit entity sponsors leftist conferences, fellowships, awards for radical activists, and journalism internships.
National Abortion Federation: This group opposes any restrictions on abortion at either the state or federal levels, and champions the introduction of unrestricted abortion into developing regions of the world.
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty: This group was established in 1976 as the first “fully staffed national organisation exclusively devoted to abolishing capital punishment.”
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy: This group depicts the United States as a nation in need of dramatic structural change financed by philanthropic organisations. It overwhelmingly promotes grant-makers and grantees with leftist agendas, while criticising their conservative counterparts.
National Committee for Voting Integrity: This group opposes “the implementation of proof of citizenship and photo identification requirements for eligible electors in American elections as the means of assuring election integrity.”
National Council for Research on Women: This group supports big government, high taxes, military spending cuts, increased social welfare spending, and the unrestricted right to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand.
National Council of La Raza: This group lobbies for racial preferences, bilingual education, stricter hate-crime laws, mass immigration, and amnesty for illegal aliens.
National Council of Women’s Organisations: This group views the United States as a nation rife with injustice against girls and women. It advocates high levels of spending for social welfare programs, and supports race and gender preferences for minorities and women in business and academia.
National Immigration Forum: Opposing the enforcement of present immigration laws, this organisation urges the American government to “legalise” en masse all illegal aliens currently in the United States who have no criminal records, and to dramatically increase the number of visas available for those wishing to migrate to the U.S. The Forum is particularly committed to opening the borders to unskilled, low-income workers, and immediately making them eligible for welfare and social service programs.
National Immigration Law Centre: This group seeks to win unrestricted access to government-funded social welfare programs for illegal aliens.
National Lawyers Guild: This group promotes open borders; seeks to weaken America’s intelligence-gathering agencies; condemns the Patriot Act as an assault on civil liberties; rejects capitalism as an unviable economic system; has rushed to the defence of convicted terrorists and their abettors; and generally opposes all U.S. foreign policy positions, just as it did during the Cold War when it sided with the Soviets.
National Organization for Women: This group advocates the unfettered right to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand; seeks to “eradicate racism, sexism and homophobia” from American society; attacks Christianity and traditional religious values; and supports gender-based preferences for women.
National Partnership for Women and Families: This organisation supports race- and sex-based preferences in employment and education. It also advocates for the universal “right” of women to undergo taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand at any stage of pregnancy and for any reason.
National Priorities Project: This group supports government-mandated redistribution of wealth — through higher taxes and greater expenditures on social welfare programs. NPP exhorts the government to redirect a significant portion of its military funding toward public education, universal health insurance, environmentalist projects, and welfare programs.
National Public Radio: Founded in 1970 with 90 public radio stations as charter members, NPR is today a loose network of more than 750 U.S. radio stations across the country, many of which are based on college and university campuses. (source)
National Security Archive Fund: This group collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act to a degree that compromises American national security and the safety of intelligence agents.
National Women’s Law Centre: This group supports taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand; lobbies against conservative judicial appointees; advocates increased welfare spending to help low-income mothers; and favours higher taxes for the purpose of generating more funds for such government programs as Medicaid, food stamps, welfare, foster care, health care, child-support enforcement, and student loans.
Natural Resources Defence Council: One of the most influential environmentalist lobbying groups in the United States, the Council claims a membership of one million people.
New America Foundation: This organisation uses policy papers, media articles, books, and educational events to influence public opinion on such topics as healthcare, environmentalism, energy policy, the Mideast conflict, global governance, and much more.
New Israel Fund: This organisation gives support to NGOs that regularly produce reports accusing Israel of human-rights violations and religious persecution.
NewsCorpWatch: A project of Media Matters For America, NewsCorpWatch was established with the help of a $1 million George Soros grant to Media Matters.
Pacifica Foundation: This entity owns and operates Pacifica Radio, awash from its birth with the socialist-Marxist rhetoric of class warfare and hatred for capitalism.
Peace and Security Funders Group: This is an association of more than 60 foundations that give money to leftist anti-war and environmentalist causes. Its members tend to depict America as the world’s chief source of international conflict, environmental destruction, and economic inequalities.
Peace Development Fund: In PDF’s calculus, the United States needs a massive overhaul of its social and economic institutions. “Recently,” explains PDF, “we have witnessed the negative effects of neo-liberalism and the globalisation of capitalism, the de-industrialisation of the U.S. and the growing gap between the rich and poor …”
People for the American Way: This group opposes the Patriot Act, anti-terrorism measures generally, and the allegedly growing influence of the “religious right.”
Physicians for Human Rights: This group is selectively and disproportionately critical of the United States and Israel in its condemnations of human rights violations.
Planned Parenthood: This group is the largest abortion provider in the United States and advocates taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand.
Ploughshares Fund: This public grant-making foundation opposes America’s development of a missile defence system, and contributes to many organisations that are highly critical of U.S. foreign policies and military ventures.
Prepare New York: This group supported the proposed construction of a Muslim Community Centre near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan – a project known as the Cordoba Initiative, headed by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.
Presidential Climate Action Project: PCAP’s mission is to create a new 21st-century economy, completely carbon-free and based largely on renewable energy. A key advisor to the organisation is the revolutionary communist Van Jones.
Prison Moratorium Project: This initiative was created in 1995 for the express purpose of working for the elimination of all prisons in the United States and the release of all inmates. Reasoning from the premise that incarceration is never an appropriate means of dealing with crime, it deems American society’s inherent inequities the root of all criminal behaviour.
Progressive Change Campaign Committee: This organisation works “to elect bold progressive candidates to federal office and to help [them] and their campaigns save money, work smarter, and win more often.”
Progressive States Network: PSN’s mission is to “pass progressive legislation in all fifty states by providing coordinated research and strategic advocacy tools to forward-thinking state legislators.”
Project Vote: This is the voter-mobilisation arm of the Soros-funded ACORN. A persistent pattern of lawlessness and corruption has followed ACORN/Project Vote activities over the years.
Pro Publica: Claiming that “investigative journalism is at risk,” this group aims to remedy this lacuna in news publishing by “expos[ing] abuses of power and betrayals of the public trust by government, business, and other institutions, using the moral force of investigative journalism to spur reform through the sustained spotlighting of wrongdoing.”
Proteus Fund: This foundation directs its philanthropy toward a number of radical leftwing organisations.
Psychologists for Social Responsibility: This anti-capitalist, anti-corporate, anti-military, anti-American organisation “uses psychological knowledge and skills to promote peace with social justice at the community, national and international levels.”
Public Citizen Foundation: Public Citizen seeks increased government intervention and litigation against corporations — a practice founded on the notion that American corporations, like the capitalist system of which they are a part, are inherently inclined toward corruption.
Public Justice Center: Viewing America as a nation rife with injustice and discrimination, this organisation engages in legislative and policy advocacy to promote “systemic change for the disenfranchised.”
Rebuild and Renew America Now (a.k.a. Unity ’09): Spearheaded by MoveOn.org and overseen by longtime activist Heather Booth, this coalition was formed to facilitate the passage of President Obama’s “historic” $3.5 trillion budget for fiscal year 2010.
Res Publica: Seeking to advance far-left agendas in places all around the world, RP specialises in “E-advocacy,” or web-based movement-building.
Roosevelt Institute: Proceeding from the premise that free-market capitalism is inherently unjust and prone to periodic collapses caused by its own structural flaws, RI currently administers several major projects aimed at reshaping the American economy to more closely resemble a socialist system.
Secretary of State Project: This project was launched in July 2006 as an independent “527” organisation devoted to helping Democrats get elected to the office of Secretary of State in selected swing, or battleground, states.
Sentencing Project: Asserting that prison-sentencing patterns are racially discriminatory, this initiative advocates voting rights for felons.
Social Justice Leadership: This organisation seeks to transform an allegedly inequitable America into a “just society” by means of “a renewed social-justice movement.”
Shadow Democratic Party: This is an elaborate network of non-profit activist groups organised by George Soros and others to mobilise resources — money, get-out-the-vote drives, campaign advertising, and policy initiatives — to elect Democratic candidates and guide the Democratic Party towards the left.
Sojourners: This evangelical Christian ministry preaches radical leftwing politics. During the 1980s it championed Communist revolution in Central America and chastised U.S. policy-makers for their tendency “to assume the very worst about their Soviet counterparts.” More recently, Sojourners has taken up the cause of environmental activism, opposed welfare reform as a “mean-spirited Republican agenda,” and mounted a defence of affirmative action.
Southern Poverty Law Centre: This organisation monitors the activities of what it calls “hate groups” in the United States. It exaggerates the prevalence of white racism directed against American minorities.
State Voices: This coalition helps independent local activist groups in 22 states work collaboratively on a year-round basis, so as to maximise the impact of their efforts.
Talking Transition: This was a two-week project launched in early November 2013 to “help shape the transition” to City Hall for the newly elected Democratic mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio.
Think Progress: This Internet blog “pushes back, daily,” by its own account, against its conservative targets, and seeks to transform “progressive ideas into policy through rapid response communications, legislative action, grassroots organising and advocacy, and partnerships with other progressive leaders throughout the country and the world.”
Urban Institute: This research organisation favours socialised medicine, expansion of the federal welfare bureaucracy, and tax hikes for higher income-earners.
USAction Education Fund: USAction lists its priorities as: “fighting the right wing agenda”; “building grassroots political power”; winning “social, racial and economic justice for all”; supporting a system of taxpayer-funded socialised medicine; reversing “reckless tax cuts for millionaires and corporations” which shield the “wealthy” from paying their “fair share”; advocating for “pro-consumer and environmental regulation of corporate abuse”; “strengthening progressive voices on local, state and national issues”; and working to “register, educate and get out the vote … [to] help progressives get elected at all levels of government.”
Voter Participation Centre: This organisation seeks to increase voter turnout among unmarried women, “people of colour,” and 18-to-29-year-olds — demographics that are heavily pro-Democrat.
Voto Latino: This group seeks to mobilise Latin-Americans to become registered voters and political activists.
We Are America Alliance: This coalition promotes “increased civic participation by immigrants” in the American political process.
Working Families Party: An outgrowth of the socialist New Party, WFP seeks to help push the Democratic Party toward the left.
World Organization Against Torture: This coalition works closely with groups that condemn Israeli security measures against Palestinian terrorism.
YWCA World Office, Switzerland: The YWCA opposes abstinence education; supports universal access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand; and opposes school vouchers.
“Secondary“ or “Indirect“ Affiliates of the George Soros Network
John Adams Project:This project of the American Civil Liberties Union was accused of: (a) having hired investigators to photograph CIA officers thought to have been involved in enhanced interrogations of terror suspects detained in Guantanamo, and then (b) showing the photos to the attorneys of those suspects, some of whom were senior al-Qaeda operatives.
Moving Ideas Network (MIN): This coalition of more than 250 leftwing activist groups is a partner organisation of the Soros-backed Centre for American Progress. MIN was originally a project of the Soros-backed American Prospect and, as such, received indirect funding from the Open Society Institute. In early 2006, The American Prospect relinquished control of the Moving Ideas Network.
New Organising Institute: Created by the Soros-funded MoveOn.org, this group “trains young, technology-enabled political organisers to work for progressive campaigns and organisations.”
Think Progress: This “project” of the American Progress Action Fund, which is a “sister advocacy organisation”of the Soros-funded Centre for American Progress and Campus Progress, seeks to transform “progressive ideas into policy through rapid response communications, legislative action, grassroots organising and advocacy, and partnerships with other progressive leaders throughout the country and the world.”
Vote for Change: Coordinated by the political action committee of the Soros-funded MoveOn.org, Vote for Change was a group of 41 musicians and bands that performed concerts in several key election “battleground” states during October 2004, to raise money in support of Democrat John Kerry‘s presidential bid.
Working Families Party: Created in 1998 to help push the Democratic Party toward the left, this front group for the Soros-funded ACORN functions as a political party that promotes ACORN-friendly candidates.
The list comes from Discover the Networks and needs to be circulated across the nation.
George Soros has admitted to funding an ongoing private Trump-Russia investigation conducted by Fusion GPS and a former FBI agent and staffer for Dianne Feinstein
In February, it emerged that Soros and a group of "mystery donors" had funded a $50 million "war chest" - as revealed in a House Intel Committee report
The former FBI agent and Feinstein staffer, Dan Jones, reportedly claimed to be working with former MI6 agent Christopher Steele as part of the ongoing investigation
An aide to George Soros, Michael Vachon, has confirmed a February report that the left-wing billionaire financier has funded an ongoing effort by Fusion GPS and ex-Feinstein staffer and former FBI agent, Dan Jones, to privately continue the Trump-Russia investigation, according to the Daily Caller's Chuck Ross.
Vachon made the admission to the Washington Post's David Ignatious - who has previously been accused of being a deep-state conduit.
When @IgnatiusPost speaks, Langley's 7th floor lips are moving. Zero disrespect, just a fact.
They are taking traitor Trump out now.
— John Schindler (@20committee) January 13, 2017
Ignatius notes at the end of a Tuesday article downplaying GOP assertions that the Obama administration and Clinton campaign actually colluded with Russia to defeat Trump; "Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson declined to comment for this article. Soros’s spokesman, Michael Vachon, told me that Soros hadn’t funded Fusion GPS directly but had made a grant to the Democracy Integrity Project, which used Fusion GPS as a contractor." Daniel J. Jones The Democracy Integrity Project - according to the Caller, was formed in 2017 by Jones.
The Post column confirms what a Washington, D.C., lawyer named Adam Waldman told The Daily Caller News Foundation about a conversation he had with Jones in March 2017.
Waldman was an attorney for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. He also worked in some capacity for Christopher Steele, according to text messages he exchanged with Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence panel.
In what the Post’s Ignatius noted was an “incestuous” relationship, Steele, a former MI6 officer, has done work for the Kremlin-linked Deripaska in the past.
Waldman told TheDCNF that Jones approached him on March 15, 2017 through text message asking to meet.
“Dan Jones here from the Democracy Integrity Project. Chris wanted us to connect,” he wrote, seemingly referring to Steele. At a meeting two days later, Waldman said that Jones told him that he was working with Steele and Fusion GPS and that their project was being funded by Soros and a group of Silicon Valley billionaires. -Daily Caller
This effort was originally revealed in February and reported on by The Federalist, after a series of leaked text messages between Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and lobbyist Adam Waldmansuggested that Daniel J. Jones - an ex-FBI investigator and former Feinstein staffer, was "intimately involved with ongoing efforts to retroactively validate a series of salacious and unverified memos published by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent, and Fusion GPS."
In short, Jones is working with Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to continue their investigation into Donald Trump, using a $50 million war chest just revealed by the House Intel Committee report.
Jones also runs the Penn Quarter Group - a "research and investigative advisory" firm whose website was registered in April of 2016, days before Steele delivered his first in a series of Trump-Russia memos to Fusion GPS. Jones also began tweeting out articles suggesting illicit ties between the Trump campaign and Russia as early as 2017.
Steele's work during the 2016 election culminated in the salacious and unverified 35-page "Steele dossier" used to obtain a FISA warrant against then-President Trump (which, as we reported on Friday, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapperleaked the details to CNN's Jake Tapper prior to the seemingly coordinated publication by BuzzFeed).
An April House Intel Report notes that in March 2017, Jones told the FBI that he was working with Steele and Fusion GPS, with funding to the tune of $50 million.
“In late March 2017, Jones met with FBI regarding PQG, which he described as ‘exposing foreign influence in Western election,'” reads the House Intel report. “[Redacted] told FBI that PQG was being funded by 7 to 10 wealthy donors located primarily in New York and California, who provided approximately $50 million.”
“[Redacted] further stated that PQG had secured the services of Steele, his associate [redacted], and Fusion GPS to continue exposing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election,” reads the report, which adds that Jones “planned to share the information he obtained with policymakers…and with the press.”
And the Daily Caller's Chuck Ross noted at the time, Jones "also offered to provide PQG's entire holdings to the FBI" according to the report, citing a "FD-302" transcript of the interview he gave to the FBI.
Of note, during Congressional testimony last year when Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) asked Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS, if he was still being paid for work related to the dossier, Simpson refused to answer. And while the dossier came under fire for "salacious and unverified" claims, a January 8 New York Times profile of Glenn Simpson confirmed that dossier-related work continues.
Sean Davis of The Federalist reported in February that Jones' name was mentioned in a list of individuals from a January 25 Congressional letter from Senators Grassley and Graham to various Democratic party leaders who were likely involved in Fusion GPS's 2016 efforts. The letter sought all communications between the Democrats and a list of 40 individuals or entities, of which Jones is one.
Still no word on whether Jones and Fusion GPS - funded by Soros - have been able to find a connection between Trump and Russia, but we're sure they'll keep plugging away.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
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George Soros’ money pays a parent group of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the official organizer of the illegal immigrant Caravan headed to the U.S.-Mexico border. Soros also funds a Pueblo Sin Fronteras spokeswoman’s employer, according to records obtained by Big League Politics courtesy of independent researcher Brian Humphrey.
The group Centro Sin Fronteras, a parent group to caravan organizer Pueblo Sin Fronteras, is reportedly a “mainstay” of the caravan effort. The Centro has received funding from the George Soros-financed National Immigration Forum.
A Pueblo Sin Fronteras spokeswoman and organizer, Viridiana Vidal, is the Nevada state director for America’s Voice, which has been paid consulting fees by the George Soros-funded Immigrant Voters Win PAC. That Soros-funded PAC also pays salaries for America’s Voice’s top executives.
So let’s break down the Soros cash flow, which is somewhat hidden but actually very easy to find if you pull on the threads.
Centro Sin Fronteras
Pueblo Sin Fronteras’ associated group Centro Sin Fronteras, founded by Chicago-based left-wing pastor Emma Lozano, is reportedly the “mainstay” of the illegal immigrant caravans coming to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Centro Sin Fronteras formed the expansion group La Familia Unida, which now reportedly operates Pueblo Sin Fronteras.
Influence Watch reported: “Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, former fugitive from U.S. immigration authorities, and activist for illegal immigrants in the U.S., formed the activist group La Familia Latina Unida (“The United Latin Family”) as an expansion of the Centro Sin Fronteras. [7] La Familia Latina Unida runs Pueblo Sin Fronteras (“People Without Borders”), a group that organizes “migrant caravans” from Mexico and Latin America to cross the U.S. border illegally.[8]”
Centro Sin Fronteras (“Sin Fronteras” for short) makes it clear on its website that it is the parent organization of Familia Latina Unida.
The website states (emphasis added): “Sin Fronteras organized marches every year and fought deportations on a case by case basis through its legal program. Many of these cases involved the separation of families with U.S. citizen children. When Elvira Arellano joined Sin Fronteras afer her arrest in 2001, Sin Fronteras formed Familia Latina Unida which soon grew to include hundreds of families facing separation. Together they testified in the city council, the county board and the state legislature winning formal support from those institutions as well as from the Mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois.”
Interesting! So the George Soros-funded Centro Sin Fronteras is the parent organization of La Familia Latina Unida, which is the parent organization of Pueblo Sin Fronteras.
Capital Research Center reports: “But who is Pueblo Sin Fronteras, anyway? The group appears to be a remnant of the now-defunct 501(c)(4) La Familia Latina Unida (“The United Latin Family”), a Chicago, Illinois-based illegal immigration advocacy group formed in 2001 by illegal immigrant and activist Elvira Arellano. The two groups are regularly listed side-by-side with each other and have overlapping staff. The groups claim to have organized approximately 1,000 economic migrants from Central America to cross the U.S. and Mexican borders illegally since 2010 (prior to most of the caravans). They also share the same Chicago address (2176 W. Division St., Chicago, Illinois, 60622), which is also the same address as the Adalberto Methodist Church in which Arellano once hid from U.S. immigration authorities prior to founding La Familia Latina Unida.”
Centro Sin Fronteras has received funding from the National Immigration Forum, which is financed by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.
Influence Watch reported, citing the Centro’s Form 990’s: “In 2010, the National Immigration Forum reported giving $60,000 to the Center. The Forum, in turn, receives funding from a number of major left-wing grantmaking foundations, including the Open Society Foundations and MacArthur, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations.”
National Immigration Forum has received at least $2.5 million in grant money from Open Society Foundations.
Interesting!
LifeZette reported that Centro, the Soros-funded parent organization, is the “mainstay” of the caravan effort:
“Ludwig told LifeZette that Pueblo Sin Fronteras has to be viewed in connection with a related group, the Centro Sin Fronteras (Center Without Borders), which “is the mainstay behind the illegal immigrant caravans. The nonprofit was founded in Chicago in 1987 by Emma Lozano, a pastor at the city’s Lincoln United Methodist Church.”
The church, Ludwig said, “is a hotspot for left-wing activists and where other pro-illegal immigration groups such as the League of United Latin American Citizens(LULAC) and Make the Road New York have co-hosted events with her to help illegal immigrants register for” the federal government’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
But the link between the two seemingly unconnected Fronteras groups goes even further, according to Ludwig.
“The center appears to coordinate much of the caravan activity through Pueblo Sin Fronteras (“People Without Borders”), a project of the center affiliate La Familia Latina Unida (The United Latin Family).”
“La Familia Latina Unida is a 501(c)(4) activist front created in 2001 by Lozano and the illegal immigrant Elvira Arellano, who is listed as the group’s president. Arellano was deported in 1997; she returned a few days later, and continued working in the U.S. under a fake Social Security number before joining the center around 2001 as a refugee hiding from immigration officials in the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago (a church closely connected to Lozano’s).'”
LifeZette passage ends
Viridiana Vidal
Viridiana Vidal was listed as point of contact on an October 21 Pueblo Sin Fronteras press release.
The Daily Beast reported on October 25: “One of the Pueblo Sin Fronteras organizers, Viridiana Vidal, told The Daily Beast unofficially that by Wednesday night the caravan had grown to 10,000 and “some were still coming across the bridge from Guatemala to Mexico.” The ragged procession stretched for miles. Those at the front were the ones gaining speed and would be the first to reach Mexico City, days ahead of the tail-end of the caravan.”
Vidal was also identified by The Hill as a “representative for Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a group that provides logistical aid to migrant caravans like the one currently traveling north through Mexico…” Vidal told the newspaper about the violence in Honduras driving migration northward.
Who is Viridiana Vidal? She used to work for Telemundo and Univision.
Vidal’s LinkedIn profile lists her as the current Nevada state director for America’s Voice, since 2016.
“As Nevada Director I oversee the implementation of America’s Voice message and strategy through local, state and national media outlets,” Vidal’s LinkedIn profile states.
Vidal’s Twitter bio also lists her as “NV State Director @AmericasVoice.”
Vidal wrote an op-ed in 2016 claiming that President Donald Trump’s supposed racism made her switch from a career in journalism to a career in activism, and identifies her as “the state director for Nevada’s Voice, a project of the national immigration reform organization America’s Voice.”
America’s Voice is funded by George Soros.
Soros gave $3 million to the Immigrant Voters Win PAC, becoming the PAC’s first and primary donor. That PAC has financed America’s Voice through a six-figure consulting re-imbursement and has also funded the top executives at America’s Voice.
The Free Beacon reported: “The PAC disclosed $135,000 in federal operating expenditures, with much of the money going toward salaries to individuals at America’s Voice, an immigration organization that fights for “A direct, fair, and inclusive road to citizenship for immigrants in the United States without papers.” The PAC also disclosed a six-figure reimbursement to the group.
Matt Hildreth, the political director of America’s Voice, first received payments from the Immigrant Voters Win PAC on June 21. On that day, three transactions marked “salary” are shown to his name in the amounts of $8,541, $8,541, and $10,541.
Frank Sharry, the founder and executive director of America’s Voice, also received three payments from the PAC on June 21. Sharry received payments of $2,165, $2,165, and $6,265 from the PAC, according to the documents.
Lynn Tramonte, the third person from America’s Voice who received a salary from the PAC, is the group’s deputy director and also works as deputy director of America’s Voice Education Fund, whichseeks to “educate the public about immigration policy, specifically to advance immigration reform that values citizenship and integration of immigrants mainstream into society.”
Three payments to Tramonte are shown on June 21 in the amounts of $3,025, $3,025, and $8,025.
America’s Voice also received a $120,000 reimbursement from the Immigrant Voters Win PAC for communications consulting services on June 21.”
Free Beacon passage ends
The Soros links don’t stop there.
“In recent years, AV has received substantial financial support from George Soros‘s Open Society Institute,” reports Discover the Networks, an investigative project of David Horowitz.
Open Society Foundations increased its grant funding to America’s Voice Education Fund in 2017, according to a 2018 Grantmakers Concerned With Immigrants and Refugees document on Open Society Foundations:
“In 2017, OSF U.S. Programs deployed a three-pronged funding effort to support this new strategy. First, it made about half a million dollars in rapid response grants to organizations2 tackling refugee and asylum seeker organizing, advocacy, communications, and coordination in the United States. Second, a grant was renewed to a refugee organizer in a large refugee-receiving state and a new grant was made to support impact litigation on the travel ban announced by the Trump administration.3 Third, several existing grantees received additional support to ensure they had the capacity and resources to advocate on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers in addition to immigrants.4”
(The “4” footnote in the document shows America’s Voice Education Fund as one of the groups that received a new round of Open Society funding). Here is America’s Voice Education Fund’s web page, hosted on the website for America’s Voice, which shares staff.
America’s Voice also promotes and celebrates George Soros’ work in the area of immigration.
Billionaire George Soros commits $500 million to help refugees and migrants. https://t.co/n7O8YB3B5j
— America's Voice (@AmericasVoice) September 20, 2016
He’s committed to destroying his presidency by any means necessary.
But now Soros is funding a new plan to remove Trump from office.
George Soros and the Left Move to Rig the 2020 election
But that doesn’t mean Soros was willing to sit idly by and let the chips fall where they may this November.
In addition to donating more than $15 million to Democrat candidates this election cycle, Soros funded groups that set out to rig the midterms.
They aren’t stuffing ballot boxes and manipulating vote totals.
Their plan is far more evil.
Their scheme is far more anti-American.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and five other Soros-funded groups want to meddle in the election by controlling the flow of information.
Other groups involved in this conspiracy are The Center for American Progress, Free Press, National Hispanic Media Coalition, Color of Change, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law.
Soros funds multiple groups in this alliance.
They are pressuring tech companies to crack down on “hate speech.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Soros groups consider any conservative viewpoint “hate speech.”
If you support securing the border you are a racist.
If you believe marriage is between a man and a woman you are a homophobe.
If you believe there are only two genders and you don’t get to pick and choose which one then you are a bigot.
The Left’s Test Case
This is no conspiracy theory.
The left conducted a dry run of this campaign over the summer.
CNN successfully pressured Google, Facebook, and Apple to ban pro-Trump radio host Alex Jones.
The tech companies claimed Jones engaged in “hate speech.”
So they zapped all his accounts and decimated his online presence.
The Southern Poverty Law Center escalated this effort with their “Change the Terms” campaign.
They wrote in a letter released on their website:
Although a free and open internet creates immense social value, it can also be used to engage in hateful activities on a large scale. For example, white supremacist and other organizations that incite hate are using online platforms to organize, fund, recruit supporters for, and normalize racism, sexism, religious bigotry, as well as anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigrant animus, among other activities…
…To ensure that companies are doing their part to help combat hateful conduct on their platforms, the SPLC and other organizations in this campaign will track the progress of major tech companies – especially social media platforms – to adopt and implement these model corporate policies. Then, in the following year, the organizations will provide report cards to those companies on both their policies and their execution of the policies.
They are looking to build on their success in the Alex Jones campaign to silence conservative media outlets – and maybe even ban Trump himself – on social media.
The Trump Campaign Fights Back
The Trump campaign understands tech companies could collude with the left to try and rig the 2020 election.
Campaign manager Brad Parscale refers to them as the Palo Alto mafia.
And he put them on notice.
“I think that when the left found out that Facebook, a tool built by Silicon Valley, helped elect President Trump, they weren’t very happy,” Parscale declared on CBS This Morning.
“And so they want to do everything they can to help prevent conservative voices. And I think that you have multiple platforms I call the ‘Palo Alto mafia’ trying to stop that.”
Conservatives have long accused social media companies of bias.
In 2018, Facebook changed their algorithm to lower the reach for news organizations.
They claimed this affected outlets across the ideological spectrum.
But the only reason they took this step was because journalists claimed Trump only won the election because conservative sites spread misinformation and fake news on social media.
So in response, Facebook nuked the ability of anyone outside of legacy media outlets to share their content to a mass audience.
Facebook caved to this pressure because company executives – led by Mark Zuckerberg – are leftists.
Liberal groups – including those funded by Soros – are hoping to prey on social media’s ideological sympathy for their cause to force them to ban conservative media outlets from their platforms ahead of the 2020 election.
The left bets that if they can control the flow of information they can control the outcome of the election.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
One reason George Soros has been able to be so active in the political arena is that he has received a considerable amount of our tax dollars to fund his activities. It would be interesting to know the full extent of this funding.
Judicial Watch recently filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for records of communications relating to the funding and political activities of the Open Society Foundation – Macedonia. Judicial Watch wants to learn why the Macedonia organization, part of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, received nearly $5 million from USAID from 2012 to 2016. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development).
Both the State Department and USAID failed to respond to a February 16, 2017, FOIA request seeking:
All records related to any grants, contracts, or disbursements of funds by the State Department to the Open Society Foundation – Macedonia and/or any of the Foundation’s subsidiaries. This request includes all related requests for funding, payment authorizations, or similar records, as well as all related records of communication between any official, employee, or representative of the State Department and any official, employee, or representative of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Any records of communication between any official, employee, or representative of the State Department and any officer, employee, or representative of the Open Society Foundation - Macedonia and/or any of the Foundation’s affiliated organizations. This request includes responsive records of communication sent from or directed to U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia Jess L. Baily.
All analyses or similar records regarding the political activities of the Open Society Foundation - Macedonia and/or any of the Foundation’s affiliated organizations.
All messages transmitted via the State Department’s SMART system sent from any U.S. Government employee or contractor operating under the Chief of Mission’s authority at the U.S. Embassy in Skopje that pertain to the Open Society Foundation – Macedonia and/or any of the Foundation’s affiliated organizations.
The USAID website reports that between February 27, 2012, and August 31, 2016, it gave $4,819,125 in taxpayer money to Soros’s Open Society Foundation – Macedonia (FOSM), in partnership with four local “civil society” organizations. The USAID’s website links to www.soros.org.mk, and says the project trained hundreds of young Macedonians “on topics such as freedom of association, youth policies, citizen initiatives, persuasive argumentation and use of new media.”
In February Judicial Watch’s Corruption Chroniclesreported:
"The U.S. government has quietly spent millions of taxpayer dollars to destabilize the democratically elected, center-right government in Macedonia by colluding with leftwing billionaire philanthropist George Soros, records obtained by Judicial Watch show. Barack Obama’s U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia, Jess L. Baily, has worked behind the scenes with Soros’ Open Society Foundation to funnel large sums of American dollars for the cause, constituting an interference of the U.S. ambassador in domestic political affairs in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations."
Here’s how the clandestine operation functions, according to high-level sources in Macedonia and the U.S. that have provided Judicial Watch with records as part of an ongoing investigation. The Open Society Foundation has established and funded dozens of leftwing, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Macedonia to overthrow the conservative government. One Macedonian government official interviewed by Judicial Watch in Washington D.C. recently calls it the “Soros infantry.” The groups organize youth movements, create influential media outlets and organize violent protests to undermine the institutions and policies implemented by the government. One of the Soros’ groups funded the translation and publication of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” into Macedonian. The book is a tactical manual of subversion, provides direct advice for radical street protests and proclaims Lucifer to be the first radical. Thanks to Obama’s ambassador, who has not been replaced by President Trump, Uncle Sam keeps the money flowing so the groups can continue operating and recruiting, sources in Macedonia and the U.S. confirm.
According to a September 2015 article in InsidePhilanthropy.com, Soros’ Open Society Foundation “may be the largest philanthropic organization ever built, with branches in 37 countries. While the Gates Foundation spends more money, OSF has a larger footprint worldwide thanks to its many local offices, including throughout Africa. OSF’s budget will be around $930 million …”
The activities of Ambassador Bailey and USAID’s funding of the Open Society Foundation have recently come under congressional scrutiny. On Jan. 17, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) sent a letter to Baily asking him to explain the State Department’s relationship with Open Society Foundation. On Feb. 24, Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), and others called on the Government Accountability Office to conduct an investigation and audit of the State Department and USAID’s activities in Macedonia, including funding of Open Society Foundation entities and potential interference in domestic Macedonian political affairs in potential violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
It’s clear from what we have already learned that the Obama administration freely used our tax dollars for political purposes, including support of the Soros operation. Let’s hope Trump's State Department and USAID will follow open records laws and disclose the details of the Obama-Soros wellspring.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but we all get excited about getting something for nothing. The internet is full of free stuff and has radically altered the way we engage with each other and is one of the greatest disruptive innovators in history.
Open source software has helped change the way we view software business models. Now open education initiatives promise to do the same thing for education and disrupt things in a major way.
Many people are aware of MIT’s online courses you can learn from for free, and then there’s Apple’s iTunes U project which allows for all kinds of material to study from a wide variety of sources. Other open education initiatives invite contributors to license their content and educators are able to purchase it from them.
So how could open education be a bad thing when sharing knowledge like this seems so wonderful? Knowledge is a wonderful thing. Being able to learn is at the center of human growth and joy. However, when knowledge isn’t true, or when it is used to indoctrinate into a political ideology, there is a great danger to society.
George Soros’ name is well-known. As a billionaire he has used his vast resources to take down the economies of a few countries, fund many leftist organizations such as ACORN, SEIU, MoveOn.org, and the ACLU (and over a hundred others). When he invests his resources, it is because he sees an opportunity to promote his far-left agenda.
Soros’ Open Society Institute recently partnered with the Department of Education to promote a global education initiative. Part of that initiative is to fund the “open education” movement. George Soros doesn’t invest in things he can’t feel a measure of control to advance his agenda.
This is eerily reminiscent of the agreement signed by the Gates Foundation with the United Nations education organization UNESCO in 2004 to create a global education system. The Gates Foundation soon put things in motion to bring about the nationalization of the American education system first, to advance the global education movement. He did this by donating millions of dollars to the National Governor’s Association and the CCSSO (Council of Chief State Superintendents Organization) to create Common Core. Gates then paid the national PTA two million dollars to ignorantly promote it nationwide. Overall, the Gates Foundation has put over $100 million into creating and promoting Common Core.
President Obama’s secretary of education, Arne Duncan, is a big supporter of the Open Education movement and wants teachers to have access to the world’s knowledge. I mean, it’s great that teachers are going to have that access in free resources, but who is going to prepare those materials? Who will review and approve them? (Hopefully not the same people that did the Jordan and Granite math textbooks)
Soros has funded his Open Society organization with $400 million to promote his agenda.
It’s the same agenda that Arne Duncan often talks about and is associated with the United Nations Agenda 21 movement. The big buzzword is “sustainability” and Sec. Duncan is all over it. Sustainability is meant to be the carefully couched word that means everyone needs to recognize we have limited resources and someone a lot smarter (and more powerful) than you should be in control of determining how you live, eat, and breathe. It is part of the United Nations’ and George Soros funded Agenda 21, which is a blueprint for global communism by control of populations and property. It has a variety of paths it advances through, but the green movement is a major part.
In a speech Sec. Duncan gave to the Sustainability Summit in 2010, he opened his views up to the world. I recommend you read his talk if you are interested in the full meal deal, but here are some relevant clips.
“We at the Education Department are energized about joining these leaders in their commitment to preparing today’s students to participate in the green economy, and to be well-educated about the science of sustainability. We must advance the sustainability movement through education.
We need to support activities that provide a variety of educational and training opportunities for teachers and students. A lot of important work is happening at the local levels in states and districts. Maryland is close to adopting a requirement that high school graduates demonstrate environmental literacy before they earn their diploma.
The U.S. Green Building Council is working with school districts and universities to incorporate green technology into schools. These schools not only are good for the environment, they provide a better learning environment for students—and they are cost efficient. The council is bringing together the nation’s strongest advocates for education—representing more than 10 million members across the country to build a national infrastructure of healthy, high-performance schools that are conducive to learning while saving energy, resources and money. I’m especially excited to hear that this fall the coalition will be reaching out to groups beyond education in the private and public sector. There’s a federal role in supporting this work. We fund the National Clearinghouse on School Facilities, which is a national leader in helping K-12 leaders make school facilities green and sustainable.
…But their work goes beyond our infrastructure. The team is working to create policies that support state efforts to prepare students for jobs in the green economy. At the initiative of the green team, the Department recently issued grants to five states to develop career pathways that will support the green economy. These career pathways will define the academic knowledge and vocational skills that students will need to prepare themselves for green jobs in architecture, agriculture, energy, transportation and waste management. The National Research Center for Career and Technical Education is working closely with these states and, where appropriate, with the business community to design the programs of study that will lead to success in the green industry.
…But our commitment has to be about even more than career pathways. It also has to prepare all students with the knowledge they need to be green citizens. In our Blueprint for Reform, the Obama administration is making an unprecedented commitment to promote a well-rounded education for our children. And for the first time, we are proposing that environmental education be part of that well-rounded education.
The Blueprint is our proposal to reauthorize and fix the No Child Left Behind Act. As many of you know, NCLB held schools accountable for student achievement in reading and mathematics. That has led to a narrowing of the curriculum, and no one—teachers, parents, or students—is happy with the state of affairs. We want all students to have access to a well-rounded, world-class curriculum—and that curriculum should include environmental literacy. For the first time ever, the Department of Education will be supporting locally developed models that teach environmental science.”
Isn’t it a little strange that the Obama administration is giving waivers from NCLB for adopting Common Core when 2 years ago he said they were going to reauthorize and fix NCLB? Hmmm, could it be that Common Core, *IS* the re-authorization and fix they were looking for?
Did you notice that Duncan mentions going beyond schools into groups in the private and public sector? That may be part of what’s called 21st Century Schools and Utah is now implementing them through a *FEDERAL GRANT* (ie. strings attached) serving 99 community sites and 21,000 students. What could possibly go wrong with this? Look at page 4 of this document to see the type of indoctrination that is happening.
Some readers will be familiar with John Goodlad from emails I’ve sent out in the past. Goodlad is a prominent national educator and came to BYU in 1983 to help set up the Public School Partnership with surrounding school districts. In 1986 he invited BYU’s Education Department to join his NNER (National Network for Educational Renewal). In time, he fundamentally transformed the education department to almost fully adopt and endorse his agenda. BYU’s Ed dept. even hosted one of his national conferences a few years ago and Goodlad had a conference promoting social justice in the classroom a year ago, and had terrorist/educator Bill Ayers as a keynote speaker at his national conference a year or two ago as well.
Charlotte Iserbyt was a senior policy advisor in the Department of Education during the Reagan administration and she documented the effort to dumb down America by copying documents and publishing a book you can get for free online called, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America. In that book, she calls Goodlad, “America’s premier change agent.” His agenda is to fundamentally transform America through the education system.
Goodlad’s agenda is termed the “Agenda for Education in a Democracy” (AED) and by Democracy he literally means direct Democracy, moral relativism, and not the republican form of government the Constitution guarantees to us. In all of the United States there are 30 Goodlad designated “AED Scholars” who he trusts enough to bestow this honor on. Utah is home to at least 4 of them. There are 2 at BYU in the McKay School of Education, and 2 in Alpine School District’s administration. I could provide many quotes from Goodlad, but here are a few relevant ones that illustrate his agenda.
“Educators must resist the quest for certainty. If there were certainty there would be no scientific advancement. So it is with morals and patriotism.” (Education for Everyone, p. 6.)
“Most youth still hold the same values of their parents…if we do not alter this pattern, if we don’t resocialize, our system will decay.” (Education Innovation, Issue 9.)
–John Goodlad: “Report of Task Force C: Strategies for Change,” Schooling for the Future, a report to the President’s Commission on Schools Finance, Issue #9, 1971.
“[schools] should liberate students from the ways of thinking imposed by religions and other traditions of thought.” -John Goodlad, “Education and Community,” in Democracy, Education, and the Schools, Roger Stone, pg. 92.
“Public education has served as a check on the power of parents, and this is another powerful reason for maintaining it.” – John Goodlad, Developing Democratic Character in the Young, pg. 165
“It is my expectation that Teacher Education for Democracy and Social Justice will become a rich resource for continuing this multi-layered conversation-from democratic belief to democratic action-that is the hallmark of educational renewal.” -John Goodlad’s forward to “Teacher Education for Democracy and Social Justice,” Nicholas Michelli and David Lee Keiser
“Enlightened social engineering is required to face situations that demand global action now… Parents and the general public must be reached also, otherwise, children and youth enrolled in globally oriented programs may find themselves in conflict with values assumed in the home. And then the educational institution frequently comes under scrutiny and must pull back.” – Dr. John I. Goodlad, “Guide to Getting Out Your Message,” National Education Goals Panel Community Action Toolkit: A Do-It-Yourself Kit for Education Renewal (September 1994); 6
Better re-read that last quote. The goal is globally oriented programs like the International Baccalaureate which is a UNESCO partnership program emphasizing sustainability teaching to children and collectivist, socialist indoctrination. Watch the video at the bottom of this page for some very alarming quotes including the anti-family, pantheistic agenda UNESCO espouses.
Another buzzword by educators is a goal of critical thinking training in schools. The purpose of this is to teach and indoctrinate children to think critically about the morals and teachings they have received at home and church. As I have said elsewhere, this doesn’t mean all your children’s teachers in public schools are following this philosophy and trying to indoctrinate them. It just means that they are being fed this philosophy in schools of education and they are susceptible to it and some are passing it on event inadvertently because they trust schools of education where they are told things like “all the studies show this is the best way to teach.” The Texas GOP just added a section to their party platform opposing this indoctrination.
We also see that Goodlad recognizes that when parents wake up to these facts, sometimes they rebel and then it causes the educators to “pull back” for a time. That’s why he says that “parents and the general public must be reached” or else the values they teach children in the home will conflict with the values Goodlad intends to put upon them in the classroom, namely socialism and moral relativism. This is where those 21st Century Schools and Community Learning Centers come in to allow for parents to come and get the steady stream of “sustainability” education.
One of the great misconceptions at BYU’s McKay School of Education is that they can push Goodlad so heavily and not have the negative aspects of his agenda seep through to students, teachers, and administrators. In Alpine school district, at least one school bought and passed out one of Goodlad’s books for every teacher and area legislators a few years ago. They can say they don’t believe *everything* Goodlad teaches when you press them on it, but when you hang his posters in the halls and put up plaques with his quotes on them, and openly praise him, you’re sending an overpowering signal to people that you agree with his humanist, moral relativistic, atheistic, social justice, anti-family philosophies. Goodlad gains nationwide credibility when his organizations show he’s a partner with BYU.
Key to the effort of 21st Century Schools is a cradle to grave database tracking system that will hold data on citizens. One of the requirements of Common Core grant funding was to set up a statewide longitudinal database. In Utah this was called the P20w system for preschool to grade 20 (college graduation) to workforce. This is the same Outcome-Based Education nonsense that was defeated in the 90’s by concerned citizens. Mark Tucker wrote a letter to Hillary Clinton after Bill was elected congratulating her and outlining things he would love to see happen to nationalize education and make schools little more than training centers for society’s central planners to determine at early ages where children should go into the workforce. It’s all happening now. Career aptitude tests are being prepared for kindergarteners and 3rd graders, and under Common Core in Utah, by 7th grade students are placed into a math track that will determine what their top math level will be when they graduate.
So where is the Open Education movement today? In the state of Utah, the State Office of Education has fully embraced Open Education initiatives. In January of 2012, they issued this press release stating:
“The Utah State of Office of Education (USOE) today announced it will develop and support open textbooks in the key curriculum areas of secondary language arts, science, and mathematics. USOE will encourage districts and schools throughout the state to consider adopting these textbooks for use beginning this fall.
Open textbooks are textbooks written and synthesized by experts, vetted by peers, and made available online for free access, downloading, and use by anyone. Open textbooks can also be printed through print-on-demand or other printing services for settings in which online use is impossible or impractical. In earlier pilot programs, open textbooks have been printed and provided to more than 3,800 Utah high school science students at a cost of about $5 per book, compared to an average cost of about $80 for a typical high school science textbook.
…The decision to pursue open textbooks at scale comes after two years of successful open textbook pilots led by David Wiley of Brigham Young University’s David O. McKay School of Education. Each pilot was conducted by the BYU-Public School Partnership in partnership with the Utah State Office of Education. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation provided funding. Mathematics and science textbooks will be based on books originally published by the CK12 Foundation, a not-for-profit organization based in California founded with the mission to produce free and open source K-12 materials aligned to state curriculum.”
Interesting that this is funded by the Hewlett Foundation, a foundation with close ties to George Soros and the Gates Foundation, and has as one of its goals, population reduction through family planning and reproductive services (last 2 paragraphs here).
As noted in the press release, David Wiley at BYU is in charge of Utah’s pilot program and he has listed his resume online. Among his accomplishments he lists the following: Director, USU Center for Open and Sustainable Learning; Founder, Open High School of Utah; and Associate Director of the Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling (or CITES for short). CITES is the Goodlad training center at BYU for teachers and administrators in the BYU Public School Partnership districts to get indoctrinated in the Goodlad educational philosophy before stepping into their roles of shaping our children’s minds. CITES is an organization we have previously written up for not cooperating with an audit that Orem Senator Margaret Dayton was pursuing.
This isn’t to say that David Wiley and all the other people associated with CITES and BYU’s MSE are bad people (David is actually very pleasant in email correspondence I’ve had with him). They’ve just embraced parts of a philosophy that I believe is destructive of American values. No matter how noble some of their goals are like providing open education resources, significant dangers lie ahead. Soros and his education partners are powerful globalists with money and influence looking to push their agenda, and now that the framework is in place, they will pump propaganda into open source materials.
In fact, it appears to have already reached Utah through these types of channels. The recent Granite & Jordan school district math textbook fiasco with textbook problems full of inappropriate leftist propaganda (link 1, link 2, link 3) was a result of copy/pasting math problems from open source materials according to one school board member. People like George Soros know that as schools move toward cheap, open materials, they can insert thousands of propagandizing, social justice type questions which will wind up being thoughtlessly inserted into textbooks for students. No true “critical thinking” skills are required for copy/pasting math problems from one source into another and Utah’s population is as gullible and ready to accept this nonsense as anyone. Even the NCTM has added a new book for teachers on how to teach for Social Justice in the classroom.
Some people will continue to try and dismiss all of this and label it a “conspiracy theory” in the hopes that busy or thoughtless people will ignore it. There is no need to theorize about what is happening in education. It’s plain and simple, out in the open, conspiracy fact. Anyone can research and read exactly what this is all about and I encourage people to read the information in all the links above where it is abundantly clear. In their own words they are moving the national education system into a global system to indoctrinate children. This agenda will be even more obvious in the next article posted to the site.
The chart below illustrates the behemoth that was set up by the federal government and “conspiratorial” partner organizations like the Gates Foundation, PRIOR to them enticing the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State Superintendents Organization with $20 million to get together and create a set of Common Core state standards. They didn’t care what the states developed, they just wanted them all on the same page tied to the same federal strings that would light up this network and be the final piece in the puzzle of nationalizing education. Why has the Gates Foundation put over $100 million into the creation and promotion of Common Core? Because in 2004 they signed an agreement with UNESCO to create a global education system.
As for the open education movement, there is a tremendous amount of good that can come from sharing true knowledge and making it freely available. However, much greater scrutiny must be exercised by schools and districts in selecting materials appropriate for students. Much greater involvement from parents examining their children’s school work must also be attended to. With broad-based submissions in the open education space, comes a serious quality control issue. This can be seen both in instances of propaganda finding its way into Granite and Jordan School District’s, and if Jordan school district really had “unsolvable” problems in their book, clearly the materials they chose to use weren’t vetted well, indicting both the author of those materials, and the individuals selecting the materials to use.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
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We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
Read Top Journalists that Serve on Soros-Funded Boards
On April 8, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi headlined a Boston conference on ''media reform.'' She was joined by four other congressmen, a senator, two FCC commissioners, a Nobel laureate and numerous liberal journalists.
The 2,500-person event was sponsored by a group called Free Press, one of more than 180 different media-related organizations that receives money from liberal billionaire George Soros.
Soros, who first made a name for himself in investing and currency trading, now makes his name in politics and policy. Since the 2004 election, the controversial financier has used his influence and billions to push a laundry list of left-wing causes. Pick an issue and his Open Society Foundations likely fund the liberal position - pro-abortion, pro-illegal immigration, pro-national health care, pro-drug legalization, pro-Big Government, anti-Israel and, ultimately, anti-America.
He spent $27 million trying to defeat President Bush just in 2004. That was a drop in the bucket compared to the $8 billion he has donated just to his Open Society Foundations. Soros followed that presidential failure by earning the well-deserved reputation as one of the top liberal contributors. Soon after the election, ''Soros headlined a meeting of 70 millionaires and billionaires in Scottsdale, Ariz., to discuss how to grow the left's ideological assets,'' explained the Aug. 18, 2005, Christian Science Monitor.
He continued to lead after the meeting was finished. Through his foundation network, Soros has helped numerous left-wing operations either be born or grow. Many of those are either associated with the media - such as Free Press which pushes for media regulation and government-funded journalism - or have media components to their operation.
That has given Soros far more influence than even many of his harshest critics realize. He has managed to insinuate himself and his money into the media culture, making connections with the nation's top publishing organizations. He has direct ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets - including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, CNN and ABC. Each one of those operations has employees, often high-level ones, on the boards of Soros-funded media operations.
It's a connection hard to deny. But Soros does so, blaming the claim on Fox News. ''Another trick is to accuse your opponent of the behavior of which you are guilty, like Fox News accusing me of being the puppet master of a media empire,'' wrote Soros in the introduction to the new book ''The Philanthropy of George Soros.'' That book was written by former New York Times reporter Chuck Sudetic who now works for Soros' Open Society Foundations. It is the second such Soros promotional book written by a Times staffer.
Ties That Bind: Soros and the Top Media Outlets
When Soros gave $1.8 million to National Public Radio, it became part of the firestorm of controversy that jeopardized NPR's federal funding. That gift only hinted at the widespread influence the controversial billionaire has on the mainstream media. Soros has ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets.
Prominent journalists like ABC's Christiane Amanpour and former Washington Post editor and now Vice President Len Downie serve on boards of operations that take Soros cash. This despite the Society of Professional Journalists' ethical code stating: ''avoid all conflicts real or perceived.''
The investigative reporting start-up ProPublica is a prime example. ProPublica, which recently won its second Pulitzer Prize, initially was given millions of dollars from the Sandler Foundation to ''strengthen the progressive infrastructure'' - ''progressive'' being code for very liberal.
In 2010, it also received a two-year contribution of $125,000 each year from the Open Society Foundations. Open Society is Soros' primary foundation and uses the web address www.soros.org. It is a network of more than 30 international foundations, mostly funded by Soros, who has contributed more than $8 billion.
ProPublica stories are thoroughly researched by top-notch staffers who used to work at some of the biggest news outlets in the nation. But the topics are almost laughably left-wing. The site's proud list of ''Our Investigations'' includes attacks on oil companies, gas companies, the health care industry, for-profit schools and more. More than 100 stories on the latest lefty cause: opposition to drilling for natural gas by hydraulic fracking. Another 100 on the evils of the foreclosure industry.
Investigations making the military look bad and one about prisoners at Guantanamo Bay add up to almost the perfect journalism fantasy - a huge budget, lots of major media partners and a liberal agenda unconstrained by advertising.
The operation has one more thing: a 14-person Journalism Advisory Board, stacked with CNN's David Gergen and representatives from top newspapers, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal and the editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster. Several are working journalists, including:
Jill Abramson - New executive editor of The New York Times;
Kerry Smith - The senior vice president for editorial quality of ABC News;
Cynthia A. Tucker - The editor of the editorial page of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
ProPublica is far from the only Soros-funded organization that is stacked with members of the supposedly neutral press.
The Center for Public Integrity is another great example. Its board of directors is filled with working journalists like Amanpour from ABC, right along side blatant liberal media members like Arianna Huffington, of the Huffington Post and now AOL.
Like ProPublica, the CPI board is a veritable Who's Who of journalism and top media organizations, including:
Christiane Amanpour - Anchor of ABC's Sunday morning political affairs program, ''This Week with Christiane Amanpour.'' A reliable lefty, she has called tax cuts ''giveaways,'' the Tea Party ''extreme,'' and Obama ''very Reaganesque;''
Matt Thompson - Editorial product manager at National Public Radio and an adjunct faculty member at the prominent Poynter Institute.
The group's Advisory Council features:
Ben Sherwood - ABC News president and former ''Good Morning America'' executive producer;
Kathleen Hall Jamieson - Author and the Walter H. Annenberg Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication of the University of Pennsylvania;
Michele Norris - Host of NPR's newsmagazine ''All Things Considered,'' public radio's longest-running national program.
Once again, like ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity's investigations are mostly liberal - attacks on the coal industry, payday loans and conservatives like Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. The center is also more open about its politics, including a detailed investigation into conservative funders David and Charles Koch and their ''web of influence.'' According to the center's own 990 tax forms, the Open Society Institute gave it $651,650 in 2009 alone.
The well-known Center for Investigative Reporting follows the same template - important journalists on the board and a liberal editorial agenda. Both the board of directors and the advisory board contain journalists from major news outlets. The board features:
Phil Bronstein, director of content development and editor-at-large for Hearst Newspapers;
David Boardman, The Seattle Times;
Len Downie, former Executive Editor of the Washington Post, now VP;
George Osterkamp, CBS News producer.
Readers of the site are greeted with numerous stories on climate change, illegal immigration and the evils of big companies. It counts among its media partners The Washington Post, Salon, CNN and ABC News. CIR received close to $1 million from Open Society from 2003 to 2009.
Why does it all matter? Journalists constantly claim to be neutral in their reporting. In almost the same breath, many bemoan the influence of money in politics. It is a maxim of both the left and many in the media that conservatives are bought and paid for by business interests. Yet where are the concerns about where their money comes from?
Fred Brown, who recently revised the book ''Journalism Ethics: A Casebook of Professional Conduct for News Media,'' argues journalists need to be ''transparent'' about their connections and ''be up front about your relationship'' with those who fund you.
Unfortunately, that rarely happens. While the nonprofits list who sits on their boards, the news outlets they work for make little or no effort to connect those dots. Amanpour's biography page, for instance, talks about her lengthy career, her time at CNN and her many awards. It makes no mention of her affiliation with the Center for Public Integrity.
$52 Million for Media Is Just the Beginning
It's a scene journalists dream about - a group of coworkers toasting a Pulitzer Prize. For the team at investigative start-up ProPublica, it was the second time their fellow professionals recognized their work for journalism's top honor.
For George Soros and ProPublica's other liberal backers, it was again proof that a strategy of funding journalism was a powerful way to influence the American public.
It's a strategy that Soros has been deploying extensively in media both in the United States and abroad. Since 2003, Soros has spent more than $52 million funding media properties, including the infrastructure of news - journalism schools, investigative journalism and even industry organizations.
And that number is an understatement. It is gleaned from tax forms, news stories and reporting. But Soros funds foundations that fund other foundations in turn, like the Tides Foundation, which then make their own donations. A complete accounting is almost impossible because a media component is part of so many Soros-funded operations.
It turns out that Soros' influence doesn't just include connections to top mainstream news organizations such as NBC, ABC, The New York Times and Washington Post. It's bought him connections to the underpinnings of the news business. The Columbia Journalism Review, which bills itself as ''a watchdog and a friend of the press in all its forms,'' lists several investigative reporting projects funded by one of Soros' foundations.
The ''News Frontier Database'' includes seven different investigative reporting projects funded by Soros' Open Society Institute. Along with ProPublica, there are the Center for Public Integrity, the Center for Investigative Reporting and New Orleans' The Lens. The Columbia School of Journalism, which operates CJR, has received at least $600,000 from Soros, as well.
Imagine if conservative media punching bags David and Charles Koch had this many connections to journalists. Even if the Kochs could find journalists willing to support conservative media, they would be skewered by the left.
For Soros, it's news, but nothing new. As one of the world's richest men (No. 46 on Forbes' list), he gets to indulge his dreams. Since those dreams seem to involve controlling media from the ground up, Soros naturally started supporting Columbia University's School of Journalism. Columbia is headed by President Lee Bollinger, who also sits on the Pulitzer Prize board and the board of directors of The Washington Post.
Bollinger, like some of Soros' other funding recipients, is pushing for journalism to find a new sugar daddy or at least an uncle - Uncle Sam. Bollinger wrote in his book ''Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century'' that government should fund media. A 2009 study by Columbia's journalism program came to the same conclusion, calling for ''a national fund for local news.''
Conveniently, Len Downie, the lead author of that piece, is on both the Post's board and the board of the Center for Investigative Reporting, also funded by Soros.
Soros funds more than just the most famous journalism school in the nation. There are journalism industry associations like:
The National Federation of Community Broadcasters;
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists;
And the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Readers unhappy with Soros' media influence might be tempted to voice concerns to the Organization of News Ombudsmen - a professional group devoted to ''monitoring accuracy, fairness and balance.'' Perhaps they might consider a direct complaint to PBS's Michael Getler, a director of the organization. Unfortunately, that group is also funded by Soros. At the bottom of the Organization of News Ombudsmen's website front page is the line: ''Supported by the Open Society Institute,'' a Soros foundation. It is the only organization so listed.
The group's membership page lists 57 members from around globe and features:
Deirdre Edgar, readers' representative of The Los Angeles Times;
Brent Jones, standards editor, USA Today;
Kelly McBride, ombudsman, ESPN;
Patrick Pexton, ombudsman, The Washington Post.
The site doesn't address whether the OSI money creates a conflict of interest. But then, who could readers complain to anyway?
There's more. The Open Society Institute is one of several foundations funding the Investigative News Network (INN), a collaboration of 53 non-profit news organizations producing what they claim is ''non-partisan investigative news.'' The James L. Knight Foundation also backs the network and is possibly the most-well-known journalism foundation. Knight President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen is on the board of directors for ProPublica.
INN includes the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, the liberal web start-up MinnPost, National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, National Public Radio, and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. The network had included the liberal Huffington Post investigative operation among its grants, but HuffPo investigations merged with the possibly even more left-wing Center for Public Integrity, on whose board Arianna Huffington sits. INN hasn't posted its tax forms yet, but in the meantime ''the Center for Public Integrity is graciously acting as our fiscal agent.''
Liberal academic programs, left-wing investigative journalism and even supposedly neutral news organizations all paid for by a man who spends tens of millions of dollars openly attacking the right. George Soros is teaching journalists that their industry has a future as long as he opens his wallet.
Soros' Lifelong Fascination with Journalism
Media has long been one of the billionaire's interests. According to ''Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire,'' he has been fascinated by media from when he was a boy where early career interests included ''history or journalism or some form of writing.'' He served as ''editor-in-chief, publisher, and news vendor of'' his own paper, ''The Lupa News'' and wrote a wall newspaper in his native Hungary before leaving, wrote author Michael T. Kaufman, a 40-year New York Times veteran. The Communist Party ''encouraged'' such papers.
But journalists weren't always interested in Soros. He avoided any form of publicity until 1981 when he was subject of a cover story in Institutional Investor called ''The World's Greatest Money Manager.'' Even in 1983 when he remarried, The New York Times refused to carry the wedding announcement. They were ''nobodies.'' All that changed when he made $1 billion speculating on the British pound. His profile rose a great deal. He was also criticized in the British tabloids including the Daily Mail in 1992 when he was sued by former house staff in England.
In subsequent years, the Soros connection to journalism has reached all facets of his empire - charity, politics and financial transactions. It might be as sweeping as investments in old media like Times Mirror, new media like AOL or charitable giving like NPR. Or it might be the global reach of Open Society funding journalistic events, awards, grants and travel. Former Times foreign correspondent Michael T. Kaufman, who was later the author of ''Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire,'' discovered Soros had ''paid for airfare'' for a European speaking engagement. He hadn't even known Soros was funding that trip.
Now, Soros underwrites journalists, blogs, books, news outlets, TV and radio stations, online operations, start-ups and investigative journalism. The list of media outlets that Soros has helped support reads like a Who's Who of the left. From 2003 to 2009, OSI gave $52 million to roughly 180 media organizations, including the National Federation of Community Broadcasters and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
A Worldwide Media Powerhouse
The Soros media empire truly spans the globe, but few even realize it because it's decentralized under numerous organizations, funded in turn by more than 30 Open Society Foundations.
Back in 1997, then-Times writer Judith Miller said much of his charity was focused on the media. ''For the past decade, George Soros, the Hungarian-born financier and philanthropist, has spent more than a billion dollars promoting a free press and political pluralism abroad,'' she wrote.
The donations have climbed to $8 billion, but he certainly has continued promoting the press, giving himself global influence in the process. Soros has financed bloggers, journalist travel or education, TV shows, Internet start-ups, investigative journalism and even blogs.
As early as 1994, that empire included ''40 independent radio and television stations and publications'' just in Eastern Europe, according to the March 10, 1994 Jerusalem Report. At the same time, Soros was backing a post-Communist publication called Transitions, but pulled the plug on it in 1999, according to The New York Times.
In 1998, Soros was spending money on Russian media. The Oct. 11, 1998 Times explained that ''Soros gave $10 million toward an $80 million fund he plans to create to help struggling, independent news organizations in Russia ride out the severe economic downturn in that country.''
Soros also made investments in Viacom, College Sports TV, journalism awards even backing events at the Frontline Club in London, what the Times called ''a popular way station for war correspondents.''
The charity work is almost impossible to track, but wherever the Open Society Foundations are, their involvement with journalism is not far behind. The foundation has an entire initiative devoted to the media. Its purported goal is ''to promote independent and viable media and professional, quality journalism in countries undergoing a process of democratization and building functioning media markets.'' The site lists 15 different media program coordinators in nations from Afghanistan to the Ukraine.
In one of its bigger efforts, OSI funded B-92, the Yugoslavia radio network that ''urged young Serbs to avoid the draft'' and spoke out against the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But many operations are smaller. Journalists are chosen to study at Central European University, also funded by Soros. The foundations back the Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny or the Kabul Weekly in Afghanistan.
Soros-Funded Left-Wing Media Reach More Than 300 Million People Every Month
The global reach of the Soros media empire means it reaches millions of people. From nakedly partisan left-wing media like Think Progress, the blog for the Center for American Progress, and a TV show on MSNBC (recently canceled), to the supposedly impartial National Public Radio, Soros has impact on the flow of information worldwide.
It gives him incredible influence. Every month, reporters, writers and bloggers at the many outlets he funds easily reach more than 330 million people around the globe. The U.S. Census estimates the population of the entire United States to be just less than 310 million.
That's roughly the entire population of the United States with the population of Australia thrown in for good measure - every single month.
Just counting 13 prominent operations of the 180 media organizations he has funded equals 332 million people each month. Included in that total are big players like NPR, which received $1.8 million from Soros, as well as the little known Project Syndicate and Public News Service, both of which also claim to reach millions of readers.
And that's really just the beginning. That tally takes into account only a few of the bigger Soros-funded media operations. Many numbers simply aren't available. ''Democracy Now!'' - ''a daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez'' - is known for its left-wing take on global news. Its vitriol ranges from attacks on Blackwater founder Erik Prince and supporters of Andrew Breitbart (whom it calls ''Electronic Brownshirts''), to claims the U.S. is opposed to Arab democracy. Just that one Soros-funded operation is heard ''on over 900 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the United States.'' But it posts no formal audience numbers. Phone calls to ''Democracy Now!'' were not returned.
But Soros wildly understates his own impact. It might be through a ''media reform'' conference with congressmen, a senator, two FCC commissioners, a Nobel laureate and numerous liberal journalists. Or it might be through a radio station in Haiti, which he also supports.
The media reform event was sponsored by a group called Free Press, which has received $1.4 million from Soros. Free Press has two major agenda items - undermining Internet freedom by pushing so-called ''net neutrality,'' and advocating for government-funded media to the tune of $35 billion a year.
Many of those attending or speaking were affiliated with Soros-funded operations.
Free Press is just one of the better funded Soros groups. They also include the Center for American Progress ($7.3 million), which operates the heavily staffed Think Progress blog. That blog ''now has 30 writers and researchers,'' according to Politico. Other well-funded operations include the investigative reporting operations at the Center for Public Integrity ($3.7 million) and Center for Investigative Reporting ($1.1 million), as well as Media Matters ($1.1 million) and the Sundance Institute ($1 million).
That's not all. ''Soros' foundations gave 34 grants from 1997 to 2010 to local NPR member stations and specific programs that have totaled nearly $3.4-million, said the foundations' [spokesperson Maria] Archuleta. Recipients included WNYC and Minnesota Public Radio,'' wrote now former NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard.
In fact, Soros funds nearly every major left-wing media source in the United States. Forty-five of those are financed through his support of the Media Consortium. That organization ''is a network of the country's leading, progressive, independent media outlets.'' The list is predictable - everything from Alternet to the Young Turks, who have since lost their MSNBC show.
A report by the Media Consortium detailed how progressives had created an ''echo chamber'' of outlets ''in which a message pushes the larger public or the mainstream media to acknowledge, respond, and give airtime to progressive ideas because it is repeated many times.'' According to the report called ''The Big Thaw,'' ''if done well, the message within the echo chamber can become the accepted meme, impact political dynamics, shift public opinion and change public policy.''
That mindset plays out in much of what the consortium's members do. Alternet describes itself as an ''award-winning news magazine and online community that creates original journalism and amplifies the best of hundreds of other independent media sources.'' It hates Tea Parties and complains about ''hatemongering'' as the ''ugly side of Evangelical Christianity.'' Each month, the site gets 1.5 million unique visitors to its unique view of the world.
Brave New Films, also funded by the Media Consortium, is run by the same people who run Brave New Foundation. Robert Greenwald and Jim Miller produce and distribute videos attacking businesses and conservatives. The site brags about a 2008 election video ''that exposes John McCain's double talk, for instance, and received 9 million views around the world.'' Their latest effort is yet another attack on Koch Industries, attempting to halt a much-needed pipeline from the Canada to the U.S.
Then there's the Young Turks and MSNBC host Cenk Uygur. In 2010, he was welcomed to the network with a press release detailing his web impact. ''One of YouTube's Top 100 Partners, the irreverent talk show averages over 18 million views per month and has over 320 million views overall on its YouTube Channel.''
The list goes on and on. Project Syndicate calls itself ''the world's pre-eminent source of original op-ed commentaries.'' It has wide reach. ''As of May 2011, Project Syndicate membership included 462 leading newspapers in 150 countries.'' Its monthly circulation is 72,815,528. Naturally, ''support comes from the Open Society Institute,'' the primary Soros foundation.
Project Syndicate's columnist line-up, spread to 462 newspapers, is impressively left-leaning or globalist: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former President Jimmy Carter, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as lefty economists Jeffrey Sachs and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz.
Public News Service describes itself as ''a member-supported news service that advocates journalism in the public interest.'' It is a ''network of state-based news services' in 33 states. It claims it reaches 'a combined national weekly audience of 24 million.'' PNS is proud of its 2010 success. ''Last year the Public News Service produced over 4,000 stories featuring public interest content that were redistributed several hundred thousand times on 6,114 radio stations, 928 print outlets, 133 TV stations and 100s of websites. Nationally, an average of 60 outlets used each story.''
Nearly 30 Soros-funded Media Operations Part of 'War on Fox'
To hear the left tell it, Fox News has a ''history of inciting Islamophobia and racial and ethic animosity'' and tries to ''race bait its viewers.'' One staffer is called a ''hit man,'' while his network is accused of ''attack politics.'' A highly questionable study is hyped by numerous outlets claiming that it ''confirms that Fox News makes you stupid.'' Fox is called simply: ''The Liars' Network.''
Sure, liberals have it in for Fox News, but that deep-seated, anti-Fox agenda isn't just an organic response from the left. It's a George Soros-funded ''echo chamber'' ''in which a message pushes the larger public or the mainstream media to acknowledge, respond, and give airtime to progressive ideas because it is repeated many times.''
The goal is ''Taking Down Fox News,'' as ''Mother Jones,'' a member of the Media Consortium, described it in a headline. That article, about another Soros-funded operation called Color of Change, explained how ''it successfully urged several advertisers, including Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and RadioShack, to pull their ads from Beck's show.'' Liberals even threw a party to celebrate Beck's departure from Fox News, ''drawing hundreds of activists, journalists and political strategists from the nation's capital,'' according to the Huffington Post.
It was all part of an organized effort against Fox. In all, nearly 30 organizations have attacked Fox News in the six months since the beginning of December, 2010.
Think Progress, the heavily Soros-funded blog for the Center for American Progress, slammed Fox more than 30 times in six months. AlterNet, an especially unhinged liberal outlet, went after the network at least 18 times in those months. It is one of 45 organizations aided by Soros' support of the Media Consortium ''a network of the country's leading, progressive, independent media outlets.''
These outlets are all part of Soros' web of media organizations that mirror his view of Fox as their enemy. That's the way he describes it in the new book, ''The Philanthropy of George Soros.'' ''Those in charge of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, have done well in identifying me as their adversary,'' he wrote. ''They have done less well in the methods they used to attack me: Their lies shall not stand and their techniques shall not endure.''
That anti-Fox agenda is reflected in plans by another group in Soros' pocket to target the network specifically. Media Matters founder David Brock said his Soros-funded operation ($1.1 million) will ''focus on [News Corp. CEO Rupert] Murdoch and trying to disrupt his commercial interests.''
The left hating Fox isn't new. But the efforts of the different groups take on an amazing similarity. Take the University of Maryland study that seemed so critical of Fox News. The study itself included this nugget: ''This suggests that misinformation cannot simply be attributed to news sources, but are part of the larger information environment that includes statements by candidates, political ads and so on.'' That didn't stop any of the groups from using it against Fox News. AlterNet, Washington Monthly, Think Progress and The Nation. It quickly moved into the mainstream media from there.
That's just part of Soros' influence. In the case of Robert Greenwald, he's turned attacking Fox into a mini-industry. Greenwald is founder and president of Brave New Films, also part of the Soros-funded Media Consortium. Greenwald was also behind ''OUTFOXED: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism,'' The site for the movie that argues: ''FOX News is on a witch hunt. Fight back.'' The Brave New Films site has an entire section going after Fox called: ''When Fox Attacks.'' It claims: ''Videos from this campaign have been viewed over 8 million times.''
When Soros was criticized by Fox, multiple pieces of the Soros Empire responded. In one case, Jonathan Schell, a fellow at The Nation Institute, another part of the Media Consortium, made Fox News out to be anti-Semitic for criticizing Soros. An opinion piece titled, ''The Protocols of Rupert Murdoch,'' a reference to the infamous anti-Semitic ''Protocols of The Elders of Zion,'' blasted Glenn Beck.
Schell claimed Beck's criticism of ''the financier and philanthropist George Soros'' in effect ''recycles, almost in carbon copy, the tropes of the most virulent anti-Semitic ideologues.'' The column was distributed by another Soros-funded entity, Project Syndicate, which reaches ''462 leading newspapers in 150 countries,'' with a monthly circulation of 72,815,528.
It's that sort of cooperation that makes the Soros-funded ''echo chamber'' successful. Go on AlterNet and find articles from The Nation, a rant by Robert Greenwald or an interview by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! Or go on New America Media's site and find an article from Color Lines.
The content from the 180 media sites that Soros helps support can be linked, cited or reposted, adding to the sense that there is strong interest in any particular ''progressive idea.'' It's just one more way George Soros influences the media.
Conclusion
George Soros is one of the most influential men in the world - in finance, in charity and, yes, in the media. Yet piecing together that influence is difficult because the media are so incurious about his actions.
When journalists become convinced an outlet is conservative, as they are with Fox News, they become enraged. Stories attacking Fox litter the media landscape. But an extensive and well-funded network of liberal media outlets with deep ties to mainstream news results in almost no coverage.
That's both unbelievable and unprofessional. Any individual funding more than 180 media outlets, with ties to dozens more through secondary sources, boards and the like, is the very definition of news.
But journalists don't want to report this story. To do so would mean they would have to be honest about the nature of the profession. They would have to admit:
Reporters and editors often jump from activist liberal media outlets to mainstream organizations and back again;
Many of the new journalism start-ups celebrated by the industry from ProPublica to Huffington Post to dozens of investigative journalism operations are all part of a growing liberal news network;
Prominent journalists at the top outlets in the United States are affiliated with left-wing media outlets and see nothing wrong with such ties.
The whole infrastructure of journalism - education, industry organizations and news organizations - is intertwined with liberal media outlets. Conservative media organizations have no such ties.
Any one of these points proves the argument conservatives have long made - that the mainstream media are liberal from top to bottom. Journalists know this and, as their ties to liberal news organizations show, they just don't care
Recommendations
The Business & Media Institute has some recommendations for the media to better handle their obvious conflicts of interest when it comes to Soros:
Just Say No to Soros Cash: No purportedly ''objective'' journalist should serve on a board or advise any outlet that is financed by Soros. If academics do so, they should be open about their affiliations. But working journalists like Downie, Amanpour and Abramson should divorce themselves from the conflict.
Question Motivations of News Sources: Reporters and editors should be aware when a story is being deliberately hyped by a network of linked organizations. Such times should always have reporters questioning not just the motives, but the facts of the case - whether it's on the right or the left.
Spend Time Investigating the Left: Journalists have no trouble finding incentive to do detailed analysis of conservatives, but spend little time questioning the motives or funding of liberal organizations. Reporters should do a more detailed investigation into the Open Society Foundations and their influence throughout the media.
National Public Radio’s firing of Juan Williams and its acceptance of a $1.8 million gift from left-wing billionaire George Soros’ foundation have put the spotlight on the NPR’s taxpayer subsidy. What is less well known is that Soros’ private foundations also receive millions in taxpayer funds.
Not only that, but the projects that taxpayers fund through Soros’ foundations appear to violate a federal prohibition on the use of taxpayer funds to promote drug use and prostitution. Our efforts to expose this misuse of tax money in 2007 were met with hostility by the State Department and disinterest in Congress.
In October 2007, NLPC asked the Inspector General of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to investigate the possibility that the agency was violating federal law. Our request came in the wake of the publication of our Special Report titled Soros Groups Receive Taxpayer Funds: State Department Collaborates in Skirting of U.S. Law Against Promoting Drug Use and Prostitution. Click here or on the image to download a 12-page pdf version.
NLPC’s obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) showing that between 2001 and 2007 USAID awarded grants totaling $18.3 million to the Open Society Institute, the Soros Foundation Kazakhstan and the Alliance for Open Society International, all Soros-affiliated groups. In addition, USAID and the US State Department have given millions of dollars to Soros’ nonprofits to operate education programs and other “civil society” initiatives in various nations. From 2001 to 2007 USAID and State Department grants to the Soros nonprofit network totaled at least $25.6 million.
USAID was more than defensive about the grants. It took 21 months for the agency to respond to NLPC’s FOIA requests. USAID only turned over the documents after NLPC retained a lawyer and threatened legal action. Our request for an investigation by the USAID Inspector General was ignored.
In 1989, Congress restricted the use of federal funds for the purchase of needles, syringes, and other materials for the purpose of illegal drug use. Despite this prohibition, USAID has awarded millions of dollars in contracts to Soros-affiliated organizations engaged in needle exchange activities.
Grant documents obtained by NLPC acknowledge Congressional intent but seem to rely on an extremely narrow interpretation of federal law that bans funding “to provide individuals with hypodermic needles.”
The documents state that private Soros funds would be used to purchase the needles, while the overhead for the programs would be borne by U.S. taxpayers. This interpretation is particularly clever. Needles cost pennies each. The Soros groups pay the pennies while American taxpayers pay the much more substantial overhead for the programs.
It is not known, nor is it easy to find out, how much taxpayer money has flowed to Soros’ groups since 2007. Because of their close and longstanding relationship with the State Department, it has likely continued.
Soros is a proponent of drug and prostitution legalization. He is free to hold these views, but why is he entitled to a taxpayer subsidy to promote them? It is positively outrageous that taxpayer are forced to fund the political projects of billionaire. The new Congress must investigate and eliminate all funding to Soros’ groups.
Obama’s Organizing for Action Partners with Soros-Linked ‘Indivisible’ to Disrupt Trump’s Agenda
AARON KLEIN
19 Feb 2017
Organizing for Action, the activist group that morphed from Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, has partnered with the newly-formed Indivisible Project for “online trainings” on how to protest President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Last week, Breitbart News extensively reported that Indivisible leaders are openly associated with groups financed by billionaire George Soros.
Politico earlier this month profiled Indivisible in an article titled, “Inside the protest movement that has Republicans reeling.” The news agency not only left out the Soros links, but failed to note that the organizations cited in its article as helping to amplify Indivisible’s message are either financed directly by Soros or have close ties to groups funded by the billionaire, as Breitbart News documented.
Organizing for Action (OFA) is a so-called community organizing project that sprung from Obama’s 2012 campaign organization, Organizing for America, becoming a nonprofit described by the Washington Post as “advocate[ing] for the president’s policies.”
In a recent Facebook post titled, “Take a deep breath. Then take action,” OFA called on constituents to lobby particularly hard between now and February 26, when lawmakers will be in their home districts.
The post included a link to a guide released by Indivisible on how to organize against Trump. “Stay tuned for online trainings and invitations to calls with coalition partners like Indivisible Guide,” the OFA post states.
Paul Sperry, writing at the New York Post, relates:
The manual, published with OFA partner “Indivisible,” advises protesters to go into halls quietly so as not to raise alarms, and “grab seats at the front of the room but do not all sit together.” Rather, spread out in pairs to make it seem like the whole room opposes the Republican host’s positions. “This will help reinforce the impression of broad consensus.” It also urges them to ask “hostile” questions — while keeping “a firm hold on the mic” — and loudly boo the the GOP politician if he isn’t “giving you real answers.”
“Express your concern [to the event’s hosts] they are giving a platform to pro-Trump authoritarianism, racism, and corruption,” it says.
…“Even the safest [Republican] will be deeply alarmed by signs of organized opposition,” the document states, “because these actions create the impression that they’re not connected to their district and not listening to their constituents.”
Sperry reported OFA “plans to stage 400 rallies across 42 states this year to attack Trump and Republicans over ObamaCare’s repeal.”
Earlier this month, NBC News reported on OFA’s new actions and its partnership with Indivisible:
OFA has hired 14 field organizers in states home to key senators as part of its campaign to defend Obama’s signature healthcare law. To run that campaign, the group hired Saumya Narechania — the former national field director at Enroll America, which worked to sign people up for Obamacare — and a deputy campaign manager.
…OFA says more than 1,800 people have applied to its Spring Community Engagement Fellowship, a six-week training program, two-thirds of whom have not previously been involved with OFA.
And the group has teamed up with Indivisible, a buzzy newcomer to the progressive movement, to offer organizing training that began Thursday night with a video conference. A combined 25,000 people have registered to participate in those trainings, OFA said.
Indivisible’s DC branch was implicated in a scuffle last week that reportedly injured a 71-year-old staffer for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) as well as reportedly knocking a 2-year-old to the ground. Protesters claimed they were only delivering Valentine’s Day cards.
Indivisible is a part of a coalition of activist groups slated to hold a massive anti-Trump Tax March in Washington and at least 60 other locations on April 15.
Unreported by the news media is that most of the listed partners and support organizers of the march are openly financed by Soros or have close links to Soros financing, as Breitbart News documented last week.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Politico profiled Indivisible and reported that “conservatives” are “spreading unfounded rumors” that the group is “being driven by wealthy donors like George Soros.”
Politico, however, seemingly failed to do even the most minimal research on the Indivisible leaders cited in the news outlet’s own profile. Some of those personalities are openly associated with groups financed by Soros.
Politico further failed to note that the organizations cited in its article as helping to amplify Indivisible’s message are either financed directly by Soros or have close ties to groups funded by the billionaire.
Citing Angel Padilla, a co-founder of the group, Politico reported:
Dubbed “Indivisible,” the group launched as a way for Padilla and a handful of fellow ex-Democratic aides to channel their post-election heartbreak into a manual for quashing President Donald Trump’s agenda. They drafted a 26-page protest guide for activists, full of pointers on how to bird dog their members of Congress in the language of Capitol insiders.
The manual has since been downloaded over one million times. Indivisible says on its website that over 4,500 local groups across the nation have “signed up to resist the Trump agenda in nearly every congressional district in the country.”
The manual has been utilized to form the basis of a protest movement. The group’s website states: “What’s more, you all are putting the guide into action—showing up en masse to congressional district offices and events, and flooding the congressional phone lines. You’re resisting—and it’s working.”
Politico reported on “unfounded” rumors being spread about Soros’s involvement with Indivisible (emphasis added by this reporter):
Its handful of senior leaders count about 100 contributors to their national organizing work but insist that all are working on a volunteer basis. They know conservatives are spreading unfounded rumors that their success is being driven by wealthy donors like George Soros, which they flatly deny.
That paragraph was followed by the following quote from co-founder Padilla (emphasis again added by this reporter):
“It doesn’t matter who we take money from — we’re always going to get blamed as a Soros group, even if we don’t take money from Soros,” said Padilla, now an analyst with the National Immigration Law Center. “That’s one of the attacks and that’s fine.”
While “Indivisible” has yet to disclose its donors, Politico failed to inform readers that the National Immigration Law Center where the news outlet reported Padilla serves as an analyst is financed by Soros’s Open Society Foundations. The Center has received numerous Open Society grants earmarked for general support.
Also unmentioned by Politico is that Padilla previously served as an immigration policy consultant at the radical National Council of La Raza. Soros is a major La Raza donor.
Politico went on to detail how Indivisible has been aided by MoveOn.org and the ACLU. The news website failed to tell readers that MoveOn.org and the ACLU are both financed by Soros, a relevant tidbit given Politico’s claim about “unfounded rumors” that Indivisibles’ success was being driven by Soros .
The news website reported:
In addition, MoveOn.org and the Working Families Party joined with Indivisible for its first nationwide call on Jan. 22. Nearly 60,000 people phoned in that day, according to Levin and MoveOn organizing director Victoria Kaplan. Indivisible estimates that its second national call, on the impact of Trump’s immigration order with assistance from the ACLU and Padilla’s group, drew 35,000 people.
Politico also missed that, according to its Twitter account, another organizer of the conference call with MoveOn.org was the International Refugee Assistance Project, a project of the Urban Justice Center, another recipient of an Open Society grant.
Taryn Higashi, executive director of the Center’s International Refugee Assistance Project, currently serves on the Advisory Board of the International Migration Initiative of Soros’s Open Society Foundations.
Politico further reported on Indivisible’s ties to the organizers of last month’s anti-Trump Women’s March while failing to mention that Soros reportedly has ties to more than 50 “partners” of that march. Also, this journalist first reported on the march leaders’ own close associations with Soros.
Regarding Indivisible and the Women’s March, Politico reported:
Indivisible is also embracing collaboration with other major anti-Trump protest outlets. Leaders of the group were in communication with Women’s March organizers before their main event on Jan. 21, and that partnership will become official when the March unveils the third in its series of 10 direct actions that attendees have been asked to pursue in their communities.
Another Indivisible leader mentioned in the Politico article is Jeremy Haile. Not reported by Politico is that is Haile served as federal advocacy counsel for the Sentencing Project. The Sentencing Project is reportedly financed by Soros’s Open Society Foundations, which has also hosted the Project to promote its cause.
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
Liberal billionaire gave at least $33 million in one year to groups that emboldened activists
From left, participants including Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis, Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, Rev. Al Sharpton, president of National Action Network, and Phyllis Giles, mother of Michael Giles, march to the Florida Capitol Monday, March 10, 2014, in Tallahassee, Fla. Participants were rallying against the state's "Stand Your Ground" laws. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)
Demonstrators march on Pennsylvania Avenue toward Capitol Hill in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014, during the Justice for All march. More than 10,000 protesters are converging on Washington in an effort to bring attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police. Civil rights organizations are holding a march to the Capitol on Saturday with the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two unarmed black men who died in incidents with white police officers. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Billionaire George Soros has taken an eagle's eye approach to funding the Ferguson activities of Al Sharpton, the "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" campaign and protests linking Michael Brown's and Trayvon Martin's deaths. (Associated Press)
A protester carries a cross with the name of Trayvon Martin during a march to the Ferguson, Mo., police station Monday, Oct. 13, 2014, in Ferguson. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) ** FILE **
Singer and social activist Harry Belafonte Jr. (center) worked with organizations that established the "Heads Up Coalition," funded by George Soros' Tides Foundation, based on later-debunked notions that Michael Brown's hands were up before being shot. (associated press)
By Kelly Riddell -
The Washington Times -
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
There’s a solitary man at the financial center of the Ferguson protest movement. No, it’s not victim Michael Brown or Officer Darren Wilson. It’s not even the Rev. Al Sharpton, despite his ubiquitous campaign on TV and the streets.
Rather, it’s liberal billionaire George Soros, who has built a business empire that dominates across the ocean in Europe while forging a political machine powered by nonprofit foundations that impacts American politics and policy, not unlike what he did with MoveOn.org. Mr. Soros spurred the Ferguson protest movement through years of funding and mobilizing groups across the U.S., according to interviews with key players and financial records reviewed by The Washington Times.
In all, Mr. Soros gave at least $33 million in one year to support already-established groups that emboldened the grass-roots, on-the-ground activists in Ferguson, according to the most recent tax filings of his nonprofit Open Society Foundations.
The financial tether from Mr. Soros to the activist groups gave rise to a combustible protest movement that transformed a one-day criminal event in Missouri into a 24-hour-a-day national cause celebre.
“Our DNA includes a belief that having people participate in government is indispensable to living in a more just, inclusive, democratic society,” said Kenneth Zimmerman, director of Mr. Soros‘ Open Society Foundations’ U.S. programs, in an interview with The Washington Times. “Helping groups combine policy, research [and] data collection with community organizing feels very much the way our society becomes more accountable.”
No strings attached
Mr. Zimmerman said OSF has been giving to these types of groups since its inception in the early ‘90s, and that, although groups involved in the protests have been recipients of Mr. Soros‘ grants, they were in no way directed to protest at the behest of Open Society.
“The incidents, whether in Staten Island, Cleveland or Ferguson, were spontaneous protests — we don’t have the ability to control or dictate what others say or choose to say,” Mr. Zimmerman said. “But these circumstances focused people’s attention — and it became increasingly evident to the social justice groups involved that what a particular incident like Ferguson represents is a lack of accountability and a lack of democratic participation.”
Soros-sponsored organizations helped mobilize protests in Ferguson, building grass-roots coalitions on the ground backed by a nationwide online and social media campaign.
Other Soros-funded groups made it their job to remotely monitor and exploit anything related to the incident that they could portray as a conservative misstep, and to develop academic research and editorials to disseminate to the news media to keep the story alive.
The plethora of organizations involved not only shared Mr. Soros‘ funding, but they also fed off each other, using content and buzzwords developed by one organization on another’s website, referencing each other’s news columns and by creating a social media echo chamber of Facebook “likes” and Twitter hashtags that dominated the mainstream media and personal online newsfeeds.
Buses of activists from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference in Chicago; from the Drug Policy Alliance, Make the Road New York and Equal Justice USA from New York; from Sojourners, the Advancement Project and Center for Community Change in Washington; and networks from the Gamaliel Foundation — all funded in part by Mr. Soros — descended on Ferguson starting in August and later organized protests and gatherings in the city until late last month.
Broaden issue focus
All were aimed at keeping the media’s attention on the city and to widen the scope of the incident to focus on interrelated causes — not just the overpolicing and racial discrimination narratives that were highlighted by the news media in August.
“I went to Ferguson in a quest to be in solidarity and stand with the young organizers and affirm their leadership,” said Kassandra Frederique, policy manager at the Drug Policy Alliance, which was founded by Mr. Soros, and which receives $4 million annually from his foundation. She traveled to Ferguson in October.
“We recognized this movement is similar to the work we’re doing at DPA,” said Ms. Frederique. “The war on drugs has always been to operationalize, institutionalize and criminalize people of color. Protecting personal sovereignty is a cornerstone of the work we do and what this movement is all about.”
Ms. Frederique works with Opal Tometi, co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter — a hashtag that was developed after the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida — and helped promote it on DPA’s news feeds. Ms. Tometi runs the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, a group to which Mr. Soros gave $100,000 in 2011, according to the most recent of his foundation’s tax filings.
“I think #BlackLivesMatter’s success is because of organizing. This was created after Trayvon Martin, and there has been sustained organizing and conversations about police violence since then,” said Ms. Frederique. “Its explosion into the mainstream recently is because it connects all the dots at a time when everyone was lost for words. ‘Black Lives Matter’ is liberating, unapologetic and leaves no room for confusion.”
#BlackLivesMatter
With the backing of national civil rights organizations and Mr. Soros‘ funding, “Black Lives Matter” grew from a hashtag into a social media phenomenon, including a #BlackLivesMatter bus tour and march in September.
“More than 500 of us have traveled from Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Nashville, Portland, Tucson, Washington, D.C., Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and other cities to support the people of Ferguson and help turn a local moment into a national movement,” wrote Akiba Solomon, a journalist at Colorlines, describing the event.
Colorlines is an online news site that focuses on race issues and is published by Race Forward, a group that received $200,000 from Mr. Soros’s foundation in 2011. Colorlines has published tirelessly on the activities in Ferguson and heavily promoted the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag and activities.
At the end of the #BlackLivesMatter march, organizers met with civil rights groups like the Organization for Black Struggle and Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment to strategize their operations moving forward, Ms. Solomon wrote. OBS and MORE are also funded by Mr. Soros.
Mr. Soros gave $5.4 million to Ferguson and Staten Island grass-roots efforts last year to help “further police reform, accountability and public transparency,” the Open Society Foundations said in a blog post in December. About half of those funds were earmarked to Ferguson, with the money primarily going to OBS and MORE, the foundation said.
OBS and MORE, along with the Dream Defenders, established the “Hands Up Coalition” — another so-called “grass-roots” organization in Missouri, whose name was based on now-known-to-be-false claims that Brown had his hands up before being shot. The Defenders were built to rally support and awareness for the Trayvon Martin case and were funded by the Tides Foundation, another recipient of Soros cash.
Hands Up Coalition has made it its mission to recruit and organize youth nationwide to start local events in their communities — trying to take Ferguson nationwide.
Years and weekends of ‘resistance’
Hands Up Coalition has dubbed 2015 as “The Year of Resistance,” and its outreach program strongly resembles how President Obama’s political action committee — Organizing for Action — rallies youth for its causes, complete with a similarly designed Web page and call to action.
Mr. Soros, who made his fortune betting against the British pound during the currency crisis in the early ‘90s, is a well-known supporter of progressive-liberal causes and is a political donor to Mr. Obama’s campaigns. He committed $1 million to Mr. Obama’s super PAC in 2012.
Mr. Soros‘ two largest foundations manage almost $3 billion in assets per year, according to their most recent respective tax returns. The Foundation to Promote Open Society managed $2.2 billion in assets in 2011, and his Open Society Institute managed $685.9 million in 2012.
In comparison, David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers whom liberals often call a threat to democracy — and worse — for their conservative influence, had $308 million tied up in their foundation and institute in 2011.
One of the organizations that Mr. Soros funds, and which fueled the demonstrations in Ferguson, is the Gamaliel Foundation, a network of grass-roots, interreligious and interracial organizations. Mr. Obama started his career as a community organizer at a Gamaliel affiliate in Chicago.
The Rev. Traci Blackmon of Christ the King United Church of Christ in Florissant, Missouri, which is part of the Gamaliel network, said in one of the group’s webinars that clergy involved with Gamaliel must be “protectors of the narrative” of what happened in Ferguson.
The Gamaliel affiliate in St. Louis — Metropolitan Congregations United — organized the “Weekend of Resistance” in October, in which clergy members from around the nation were called to come to Ferguson to protest.
Clergy involvement
Representatives of Sojourners, a national evangelical Christian organization committed “to faith in action for social justice,” attended the weekend. The group received $150,000 from Mr. Soros in 2011.
Clergy representatives from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference, where the Rev. Jeremiah Wright serves as a trustee, also showed up. Mr. Wright was Mr. Obama’s pastor in Chicago before some of his racially charged sermons, including the phrase “God damn America,” forced Mr. Obama to distance himself. SDPC received $250,000 from Mr. Soros in 2011.
During Gamaliel’s weekend protest event, Sunday was deemed “Hands Up Sabbath,” where clergy were asked to speak out about racial issues, using packets and talking points prepared for them by another religion-based community organizing group, PICO.
PICO is also supported by the Open Society Foundations, according to its website.
The weekend concluded Monday, when clergy members were asked to lead in acts of civil disobedience, prompting many of them to go to jail in the hopes of gaining media attention.
It worked, as imagery of clergy members down on their hands and knees in front of police dominated the mainstream news cycle that day — two months after Brown’s shooting.
“After the initial shooting, we were all hit in the face with how blatant racism really is,” said the Rev. Susan Sneed, a Gamaliel organizer who helped stage the October weekend event. “We began quickly hearing from our other affiliates offering support.”
At the end of August, Gamaliel had a large organizational meeting to discuss its Ferguson strategy, Ms. Sneed said.
It had its affiliates in New York and California handling the St. Louis Twitter feed and Facebook page, helped in correcting any inaccurate stories in the press and promoted their events, she said.
“When we started marching down the street, saying, ‘hands up, don’t shoot,’ those images reached all over the world,” said Ms. Sneed, referring to the moment she realized Ferguson was going to become a movement. “The Twitter images, Facebook posts of burning buildings — it’s everywhere, and the imagery is powerful. And the youth — the youth is so engaged. They’ve found a voice in Ferguson.”
National activists descend
Larry Fellows III, 29, a Missouri native, did find his voice in the chaos of Ferguson with the help of outside assistance backed by Mr. Soros.
Mr. Fellows is co-founder of the Millennial Activists United, a key source of video and stories developed in Ferguson by youth activists used to inspire other groups nationally.
Mr. Fellows explained how he started his organization in an interview with the American Civil Liberties Union (another Soros-backed entity that sent national representatives to Missouri) in November.
“Initially, it would just be that we would show up for protests, and the next day we’d clean up the streets. A lot of the same people were out at the protests and going out to lunch and talking about what was happening. That became a cycle until a lot of us figured out we needed to have a strategy,” Mr. Fellows explained to the ACLU, which posted the interview in its blog.
“Then a lot of organizers from across the country started to come in to help us do the planning and do the strategizing. That helped us start doing it on our own and planning out actions and what our narratives were going to be,” he said.
MAU has listed on its website that it has partnered with Gamaliel network churches. They’ve also received training on civil disobedience from the Advancement Project — which was given a $500,000 grant from Mr. Soros in 2013 “to build a fair and just, multi-racial democracy in America through litigation, community organizing support, public policy reform, and strategic communications,” according to the Foundation’s website.
The Advancement Project, based in Washington, also arranged the meeting between community organizers in Ferguson and Mr. Obama last month to brief him on the situation in Ferguson and to set up a task force that examines trust between police and minority communities.
In addition, the Advancement Project has also dedicated some of its staff to lead organizations in Ferguson, like the Don’t Shoot Coalition, another grass-roots group that preaches the same message, links to the same Facebook posts and “likes” the same articles as DPA, ACLU, Hands Up Coalition, OBS, MORE and others.
_______________________________________________
In the Macedonia case, that US tax payers paid for his foreign exploits through the State Dept. I suspect he is using tax money in his US exploits as well (Or the missing $20 trillion Cathereine Austin Fitts and Dr Mark Skidmore discovered.)
Hacked emails also reveal Soros’ machinations with the US Government and the officials of the European Union in a scheme where, if he succeeds, he could win billions in the plunder of Ukraine assets. All, of course, would be at the expense of Ukrainian citizens and of EU taxpayers.
by Mint Press News Desk
June 15th, 2015
Rarely does the world get a true look inside the corrupt world of Western oligarchs and the brazen manipulations they use to enhance their fortunes at the expense of the public good.
The following comes from correspondence of the Hungarian-born billionaire, now naturalized American speculator, George Soros. The hacker group CyberBerkut has published online letters allegedly written by Soros that reveal him not only as puppet master of the US-backed Ukraine regime. They also reveal his machinations with the US Government and the officials of the European Union in a scheme where, if he succeeds, he could win billions in the plunder of Ukraine assets. All, of course, would be at the expense of Ukrainian citizens and of EU taxpayers.
What the three hacked documents reveal is a degree of behind-the-scene manipulation of the most minute details of the Kiev regime by the New York billionaire.
In the longest memo, dated March 15, 2015 and marked “Confidential” Soros outlines a detailed map of actions for the Ukraine regime. Titled, “A short and medium term comprehensive strategy for the new Ukraine,” the memo from Soros calls for steps to “restore the fighting capacity of Ukraine without violating the Minsk agreement.” To do the restoring, Soros blithely notes that “General Wesley Clark, Polish General Skrzypczak and a few specialists under the auspices of the Atlantic Council [emphasis added—f.w.e.] will advise President Poroshenko how to restore the fighting capacity of Ukraine without violating the Minsk agreement.”
Soros also calls for supplying lethal arms to Ukraine and secretly training Ukrainian army personnel in Romania to avoid direct NATO presence inUkraine. The Atlantic Council is a leading Washington pro-NATO think tank.
Notably, Wesley Clark is also a business associate of Soros in BNK Petroleum which does business in Poland.
Clark, some might recall, was the mentally-unstable NATO General in charge of the 1999 bombing of Serbia who ordered NATO soldiers to fire on Russian soldiers guarding the Pristina International Airport. The Russians were there as a part of an agreed joint NATO–Russia peacekeeping operation supposed to police Kosovo. The British Commander, General Mike Jackson refused Clark, retorting, “I’m not going to start the Third World War for you.” Now Clark apparently decided to come out of retirement for the chance to go at Russia directly.
Naked asset grab
In his March 2015 memo Soros further writes that Ukrainian President Poroshenko’s “first priority must be to regain control of financial markets,” which he assures Poroshenko that Soros would be ready to assist in: “I am ready to call Jack Lew of the US Treasury to sound him out about the swap agreement.”
He also calls on the EU to give Ukraine an annual aid sum of €11 billion via a special EU borrowing facility. Soros proposes in effect using the EU’s “AAA” top credit rating to provide a risk insurance for investment into Ukraine.
Whose risk would the EU insure?
Soros details, “I am prepared to invest up to €1 billion in Ukrainian businesses. This is likely to attract the interest of the investment community. As stated above, Ukraine must become an attractive investment destination.” Not to leave any doubt, Soros continues, “The investments will be for-profit but I will pledge to contribute the profits to my foundations. This should allay suspicions that I am advocating policies in search of personal gain. “
For anyone familiar with the history of the Soros Open Society Foundations in Eastern Europe and around the world since the late 1980’s, will know that his supposedly philanthropic “democracy-building” projects in Poland, Russia, or Ukraine in the 1990’s allowed Soros the businessman to literally plunder the former communist countries using Harvard University’s “shock therapy” messiah, and Soros associate, Jeffrey Sachs, to convince the post-Soviet governments to privatize and open to a “free market” at once, rather than gradually.
The example of Soros in Liberia is instructive for understanding the seemingly seamless interplay between Soros the shrewd businessman and Soros the philanthropist. In West Africa George Soros backed a former Open Society employee of his, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, giving her international publicity and through his influence, even arranging a Nobel Peace Prize for her in 2011, insuring her election as president. Before her presidency she had been well-indoctrinated into the Western free market game, studying economics at Harvard and working for the US-controlled World Bank in Washington and the Rockefeller Citibank in Nairobi. Before becoming Liberia’s President, she worked for Soros directly as chair of his Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
Once in office, President Sirleaf opened the doors for Soros to take over major Liberian gold and base metals assets along with his partner, Nathaniel Rothschild. One of her first acts as President was to also invite the Pentagon’s new Africa Command, AFRICOM, into Liberia whose purpose as a Liberian investigation revealed, was to “protect George Soros and Rothschild mining operations in West Africa rather than champion stability and human rights.”
Naftogaz the target
The Soros memo makes clear he has his eyes on the Ukrainian state gas and energy monopoly, Naftogaz. He writes, “The centerpiece of economic reforms will be the reorganization of Naftogaz and the introduction of market pricing for all forms of energy, replacing hidden subsidies…”
In an earlier letter Soros wrote in December 2014 to both President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, Soros openly called for his Shock Therapy: “I want to appeal to you to unite behind the reformers in your government and give your wholehearted support to a radical, ‘big bang’ type of approach. That is to say, administrative controls would be removed and the economy would move to market prices rapidly rather than gradually…Naftogaz needs to be reorganized with a big bang replacing the hiddensubsidies…”
Splitting Naftogaz into separate companies could allow Soros to take control of one of the new branches and essentially privatize its profits. He already suggested that he indirectly brought in US consulting company, McKinsey, to advise Naftogaz on the privatization “big bang.”
The Puppet-Master?
The totality of what is revealed in the three hacked documents show that Soros is effectively the puppet-master pulling most of the strings in Kiev. Soros Foundation’s Ukraine branch, International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) has been involved in Ukraine since 1989. His IRF doled out more than $100 million to Ukrainian NGOs two years before the fall of the Soviet Union, creating the preconditions for Ukraine’s independence from Russia in 1991. Soros also admitted to financing the 2013-2014 Maidan Square protests that brought the current government into power.
Soros’ foundations were also deeply involved in the 2004 Orange Revolution that brought the corrupt but pro-NATO Viktor Yushchenko into power with his American wife who had been in the US State Department. In 2004 just weeks after Soros’ International Renaissance Foundation had succeeded in getting Viktor Yushchenko as President of Ukraine, Michael McFaul wrote an OpEd for the Washington Post. McFaul, a specialist in organizing color revolutions, who later became US Ambassador to Russia, revealed:
Did Americans meddle in the internal affairs of Ukraine? Yes. The American agents of influence would prefer different language to describe their activities — democratic assistance, democracy promotion, civil society support, etc. — but their work, however labeled, seeks to influence political change in Ukraine. The US Agency for International Development, the National Endowment for Democracy and a few other foundations sponsored certain US organizations, including Freedom House, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, the Solidarity Center, the Eurasia Foundation, Internews and several others to provide small grants and technical assistance to Ukrainian civil society. The European Union, individual European countries and the Soros-funded International Renaissance Foundation did the same.
Soros shapes ‘New Ukraine’
Today the CyberBerkut hacked papers show that Soros’ IRF money is behind creation of a National Reform Council, a body organized by presidential decree from Poroshenko which allows the Ukrainian president to push bills through Ukraine’s legislature. Soros writes, “The framework for bringing the various branches of government together has also emerged. The National Reform Council (NRC) brings together the presidential administration, the cabinet of ministers, the Rada and its committees and civil society. The International Renaissance Foundation which is the Ukrainian branch of the Soros Foundations was the sole financial supporter of the NRC until now…”
Soros’ NRC in effect is the vehicle to allow the President to override parliamentary debate to push through “reforms,” with the declared first priority being privatization of Naftogaz and raising gas prices drastically to Ukrainian industry and households, something the bankrupt country can hardly afford.
In his letter to Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk, Soros hints that he played a key role in selection of three key non-Ukrainian ministers—Natalia Jaresko, an American ex- State Department official as Finance Minister; Aivras Abromavicius of Lithuania as Economics Minister, and a health minister from Georgia. Soros in his December 2014 letter, referring to his proposal for a “big bank” privatization of Naftogaz and price rise, states, “You are fortunate to have appointed three ‘new Ukrainian’ ministers and several natives (sic) who are committed to this approach.”
Barack Obama, center, with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, left, and British Prime Minister David Cameron at the NATO summit, Sept. 4, 2014.
Elsewhere Soros speaks about de facto creating the impression within the EU that the current government of Yatsenyuk is finally cleaning out the notorious corruption that has dominated every Kiev regime since 1991. Creating that temporary reform illusion, he remarks, will convince the EU to cough up the €11 billion annual investment insurance fund. His March 2015 paper says that, “It is essential for the government to produce a visible demonstration (sic) during the next three months in order to change the widely prevailing image of Ukraine as an utterly corrupt country.” That he states will open the EU to make the €11 billion insurance guarantee investment fund.
While saying that it is important to show Ukraine as a country that is not corrupt, Soros reveals he has little concern when transparency and proper procedures block his agenda. Talking about his proposals to reform Ukraine’s constitution to enable privatizations and other Soros-friendly moves, he complains, “The process has been slowed down by the insistence of the newly elected Rada on proper procedures and total transparency.”
Soros suggests that he intends to create this “visible demonstration” through his initiatives, such as using the Soros-funded National Reform Council, a body organized by presidential decree which allows the Ukrainian president to push bills through Ukraine’s legislature.
George Soros is also using his new European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank to lobby his Ukraine strategy, with his council members such as Alexander Graf Lambsdorff or Joschka Fischer or Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, not to mention former ECB head, Jean-Claude Trichet no doubt laying a subtle role.
George Soros, now 84, was born in Hungary as a Jew, George Sorosz. Soros once boasted in a TV interview that he posed during the war as a gentile with forged papers, assisting the Horthy government to seize property of other Hungarian Jews who were being shipped to the Nazi death camps. Soros told the TV moderator, “There was no sense that I shouldn’t be there, because that was–well, actually, in a funny way, it’s just like in markets–that if I weren’t there–of course, I wasn’t doing it, but somebody else would.”
This is the same morality apparently behind Soros’ activities in Ukraine today. It seems again to matter not to him that the Ukrainian government he helped bring to power in February 2014 US coup d’etat is riddled with explicit anti-semites and self-proclaimed neo-Nazis from the Svoboda Party and Pravy Sektor. George Soros is clearly a devotee of “public-private-partnership.” Only here the public gets fleeced to enrich private investors like Mr. Soros and friends. Cynically, Soros signs his Ukraine strategy memo, “George Soros–A self-appointed advocate of the new Ukraine, March 12, 2015.”
This article originally appeared in New Eastern Outlook.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that half of its West Bank and Gaza employees will be let go over the next few weeks, and that operations will completely cease by early 2019, according to Haaretz.
The humanitarian agency has been a longstanding presence in the region for nearly 25 years.
The Trump State Department notified USAID last week that they would need to present a list of 60 percent of its employees to be dismissed immediately - with a full shutdown to ensue shortly thereafter.
The U.S. federal government agency handles civilian assistance to various countries around the world. The USAID chapter in the West Bank and Gaza began operating in 1994, focusing mainly on economic issues including water, infrastructure, education and health. USAID has invested about $5.5 billion in the West Bank and Gaza in the construction of roads, schools, clinics and community centers. -Haaretz
The shutdown is thought to be linked to President Trump's funding freeze for various Palestinian relief organizations, as dozens of USAID projects in the West Bank and Gaza were suspended - even those which were partially completed.
In the current budgetary year, the United States was projected to have transferred a total of $250 million in aid to various Palestinian organizations. $35 million of which was supposed to be allocated to the Palestinian Authority security forces and $215 million to economic development, humanitarian assistance and coexistence projects, some through USAID. Last August, the United States announced that the money would be diverted to matters were deemed higher priority to U.S. interests. -Haaretz
Meanwhile, approximately 180 employees operating out of the US Embassy in Israel have yet to receive budgeting for their 2018 and 2019 operations - while leftover funds have been diverted from projects to paying salaries and maintaining the organization. US Ambassador David Friedman has given USAID the cold shoulder over the past few months, according to Haaretz, citing officials involved in the matter, adding that Friedman has not held meetings with USAID officials on various projects.
In March, Fox News reported that USAID gave nearly $15 million to George Soros' Open Society Foundation over Obama's last four years in office alone, which conducts extensive work in the West Bank / Palestine region - however the funding was primarily for Soros operations in Albania and Macedonia.
According to the USAID website, the agency gave over $18 million to an Open Society Institute (OSI) program from 2005 - 2012 operating in the West Bank, which sought to place prospective Palestinian PhD students in United States partner universities with waived or reduced tuition.
These types of programs are coming to an end, however, at least at the US Taxpayer's expense.
Last edited by vector7; November 15th, 2019 at 17:02.
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Strategy Room: David Mercer and Brad Blakeman have a lively debate about the George Soross pull in Macedonia
George Soros' alleged meddling in European politics has caught the attention of Congress.
Concerns about Soros' involvement most recently were raised by the Hungarian prime minister, who last week lashed out at the Soros "empire" and accused it of deploying "tons of money and international heavy artillery."
But days earlier, Republican lawmakers in Washington started asking questions about whether U.S. tax dollars also were being used to fund Soros projects in the small, conservative-led country of Macedonia.
Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., led a group of House lawmakers in writing to Ambassador Jess Baily -- an Obama appointee -- demanding answers. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also expressed concerns about USAID money going to Soros' Open Society Foundations as part of a broader concern that the U.S. Embassy has been taking sides in party politics.
“I have received credible reports that, over the past few years, the US Mission to Macedonia has actively intervened in the party politics of Macedonia, as well as the shaping of its media environment and civil society, often favoring groups of one political persuasion over another,” Lee said in his letter.
Together, the concerns reflect growing conservative pushback against Soros' operations in Europe.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban last week ripped the Hungary-born billionaire's "trans-border empire." Orban has been one of the central European voices speaking out against the push by E.U. leaders to absorb Syrian refugees and has been criticized for his hardline stance.
Soros' Open Society Foundations -- one of the billionaire's biggest groups operating across the globe -- fired back, saying Orban was trying to deflect attention from other issues.
“The Open Society Foundations for over 30 years have supported civil society groups in Hungary who are addressing profound problems in education, health care, media freedom and corruption," Laura Silber, the organization's chief communications officer, said in a statement to The Associated Press. "Any attacks on this work and those groups are solely an attempt to deflect attention from government inability to address these issues."
The group's stated goal is “to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens” but critics claim it's a front for Soros’ hard-left political maneuverings.
Former Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski says Soros has a "decisive influence" on his country’s politics.
“If it were not for George Soros behind it with all the millions he pours into Macedonia, the entire network of NGOs, media, politicians, inside and out ... the economy would be stronger, we would have had more new jobs,” he said in a recent interview with Macedonia’s Republika newspaper.
Macedonia, while small, is a broadly conservative country. It has a flat rate tax of 10 percent, a small-government philosophy and a ruling conservative party (VMRO-DPMNE) that has greeted the election of President Trump warmly and pledged to work with him.
Lee’s staff recently met with Macedonia lawmakers, who also passed on a white paper from a citizen’s initiative called “Stop Operation Soros” which alleges U.S. money has been funding hard-left causes in the country -- including violent riots in the streets, as well as a Macedonian version of Saul Alinsky’s far-left handbook “Rules for Radicals.”
In an extensive 40-page dossier, the group alleges USAID money is being used to fund activists and exclusively left-wing media groups as a way to sway the country’s politics.
The Open Society Foundations did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News.
On the Soros connection, Lee’s letter asked if the Mission has “selected the Open Society Foundations as the major implementer of USAID projects in Macedonia” and if the group has been perceived to have political bias in Macedonia.
In a reply dated Feb. 9, the State Department told Lee that the Mission in the country has worked to advance U.S. interests “in a non-biased, non-partisan, objective and transparent manner.” The letter claimed U.S. government assistance has not funded partisan political activities in Macedonia, but noted that from 2002 to the present, USAID had provided three grants to Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM).
One of these grants is outlined on the USAID website. Between 2012 and 2016, USAID gave almost $5 million in taxpayer cash to FOSM for “The Civil Society Project,” which “aims to empower Macedonian citizens to hold government accountable.” USAID’s website links to www.soros.org.mk, and says the project trained hundreds of young Macedonians “in youth activism and the use of new media instruments.”
The letter from the State Department to Lee said USAID also recently funded a new Civic Engagement Project which partners with four organizations, including FOSM. It was not clear how much this project would cost, but Smith put the figure at $9.5 million.
“The money is very significant, in fact there is still money in the pipeline, from 2017 to 2021, 9.5 million,” Smith said in a recent radio interview with the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins. “It’s one thing to do election monitoring, which is a very noble cause to make sure there’s free and fair elections, but it’s quite another thing to be backing parties that Soros and his gang want to see in control of that country.”
It isn’t the only time Soros has worked with the State Department. Among the emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta released by Wikileaks was one from 2011 in which Soros urged Hillary Clinton to take action in Albania over recent demonstrations in the capital of Tirana.
Soros asked Clinton to “bring the full weight of the international community to bear on Prime Minister Berisha and opposition leader Edi Rama to forestall further public demonstrations and to tone down public pronouncements” and appoint a senior European official as mediator.
Former Macedonian PM Gruevski cited the WikiLeaks emails as proof “[Soros] can go visit top leading American officials whenever he wants to, arranges meetings day in day out and has significant influence.”
While Soros has often been a bogeyman for the American right, the liberal businessman has kept a steady pressure and funding of left-wing causes within America as well.
“This guy is a spider with lots of webs,” GOP strategist Brad Blakeman told Fox News' "Strategy Room." “He controls numerous third-party groups, where he uses his influence. We’ve seen it internally with Black Lives Matter, the demonstrations taken place after the inaugural -- this is what he does.”
After violent left-wing activists rioted at Berkeley in protest of a lecture by Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos, The Daily Caller reported that the main group behind the protests -- Refuse Facism -- was backed by The Alliance for Global Justice -- which in turn is backed by The Tides Foundation, a Soros-funded group.
Soros also has donated to Media Matters and has been a major financial contributor to the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank founded by Podesta.
Obama USAID Used U.S. Taxpayers’ Funds to Back Soros Group’s Effort to Give Albania’s Socialist Government ‘Full Control Over Judiciary’
Washington, DC –-(Ammoland.com)- Judicial Watch obtained 32 pages of records showing the Obama administration sent U.S. taxpayers’ funds to a group backed by billionaire George Soros, which used the money to fund left-wing political activities in Albania, including working with the country’s socialist government to push for highly controversial judicial “reform.” The records also detail how the Soros operation helped the State Department review grant applications from other groups for taxpayer funding.
The records were obtained in a May 26, 2017, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) after both the State Department and USAID failed to respond to March 31, 2017, FOIA requests (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (No. 1:17-cv-01012)). Judicial Watch agreed to dismiss the lawsuit after it received the documents and payment of attorneys’ fees.
The new documents show USAID funds were funneled through that agency’s Civil Society Project to back Soros’s left-wing Open Society Foundations in Albania, particularly the Soros operation efforts to give the socialist government greater control of the judiciary. USAID reportedly gave $9 million in 2016 to the “Justice for All” campaign, which is overseen by Soros’s “East West Management Institute.”
In March 2017, a group of six U.S. Senators led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) sent a letter to then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asking that he investigate charges that the U.S. government was using taxpayer funds to assist Soros in Albania. The letter said, “Foundation Open society-Albania and its experts, with funding from USAID, have created the controversial Strategy Document for Albanian Judicial Reform. Some leaders believe that these ‘reforms’ are ultimately aimed to give the Prime Minister and left-of-center government full control over the judiciary.” In the Albanian parliament, opposition leaders have labeled the Strategy “a Soros-sponsored reform.”
The new records released by Judicial Watch include an April 2016 memo from the U.S. Embassy in Tirana that reveals that the embassy “sponsored” a survey along with Soros’s Open Society Foundation to measure Albanian citizens’ “knowledge, support, and expectations on justice reform.” The Soros group survey reported that “91% of respondents either ‘fully support’ or ‘somewhat support’ the need for judicial reform.” The poll did not specify the type of reform the Soros group was seeking.
Also, records dated February 2017 show that the State Department used taxpayer funds to co-sponsor a second poll with the Open Society Foundation on judicial reforms that would essentially solidify the left’s control of the Albanian government. The report notes that the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section and the Open Society Foundation “each provided funding to a local organization to conduct a public opinion poll on attitudes towards the Judicial Reform effort.”
The records also reveal that the State Department gave the Soros organization direct input for its own program funding reviews in Albania. The February 10, 2017, report on “Engagement with the Open Society Foundation for Albania” notes that “As one of the major assistance providers in Albania, representatives from the Open Society Foundation are frequently asked to participate in technical reviews of application [sic] that we receive for funding.”
The U.S. Ambassador to Albania Donald Lu, a holdover from the Obama administration, has been closely linked to Soros and the socialist government in Albania. In May 2017, Lu helped undermine Albanian opposition party plans to protest the upcoming parliamentary election by declaring that the U.S. would recognize the election results even if opposition parties refused to participate. Lu has been described in the U.S. press as “a driving force behind Albania's judicial reforms.”
“The Obama administration quietly spent at least $9 million in U.S. taxpayers’ dollars in direct collusion with left-wing billionaire George Soros’ backing of a socialist government in Albania. It is particularly outrageous that the State Department allowed the Soros operation to help direct taxpayer funds to other groups,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “George Soros is a billionaire and he shouldn’t be receiving taxpayer support to advance his radical left agenda to undermine freedom here at home and abroad.”
In related cases, Judicial Watch is seeking information regarding Soros’ activities in Macedonia, Romania and Colombia.
Lia Fowler is a columnist for Periodismo Sin Fronteras.
In a recent letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, six U.S. Senators asked for an investigation into whether the United States Agency for International Development was promoting the Open Society Foundations’ left-wing policies abroad.
State Department career officials gave the senators the runaround, but if Tillerson does launch the probe, he need look no further than Colombia.
That South American country offers plenty of evidence that U.S. tax dollars are indeed being used to advance George Soros’ agenda—all under the banner of “peace.”
In November 2016, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a “peace agreement” with the Marxist narco-terrorist group FARC. Though Colombians had earlier rejected the deal in a plebiscite, Santos and the Congress—which his party controls—found a loophole to ratify it, placing it above the Constitution.
The effect of this is that Santos now virtually rules by decree, answering only to an oversight commission—a junta comprised of three terrorists, three Santos cronies, and a few foreign observers.
The separation of powers has been abolished and a new peace tribunal, known as the Jurisdiccion Especial para la Paz has replaced the nation’s courts.
This act to circumvent Colombia’s Constitution was supported by many outside interests, including Scandinavian countries and the Nobel Committee, which awarded Santos the Peace Prize.
Also supportive was the Obama administration—partly through USAID—and Soros-backed nongovernmental organizations, which jointly helped launder the image, atrocities, and fortune of the world’s leading cocaine cartel.
I asked a USAID official last month whether USAID and the Open Society Foundations were coordinating in Colombia. He answered: “USAID is not funding any activities with Open Society in Colombia, directly or through any past or existing mechanism.”
But just scratching the surface of USAID activities tells a different story.
For example, Verdad Abierta, a web-based portal created by Teresa Ronderos, director of the Open Society Program on Independent Journalism, boasts on its website that it receives support from USAID.
Abierta has helped rewrite Colombia’s history, elevating terrorists to the same level as the legitimate police and military forces, and rebranding decades of massacres, kidnappings, child soldiering, and drug trafficking by a criminal syndicate as simply “50 years of armed conflict.”
Fundacion Ideas para la Paz, once led by peace negotiator Sergio Jaramillo, now a member of the oversight “junta,” is funded by the Open Society Foundations and has received more than $200,000 in U.S. tax dollars.
The left-wing news portal La Silla Vacia, another Open Society initiative, also boasts of being a USAID grantee. Its columnist, Rodrigo Uprimny, whose NGO DeJusticia also partners with USAID and Open Society, is considered one of the architects of the peace deal.
Former National Liberation Army terrorist Leon Valencia—Open Society collaborator and grantee—has received at least $1,000,000 in USAID funding through his NGOs Corporacion Nuevo Arco Iris and Paz y Reconciliacion, and left-wing news portal Las Dos Orillas, which he co-founded.
Leon Valencia, director of the Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation and former guerilla member, speaks at a March 2017 press conference to support the “peace agreement” reached between the government and FARC. (Photo: Leonardo Muñoz/Efe/Newscom)
While terrorists are rewarded with unelected seats in Congress and impunity, those who combated them will either confess to crimes they haven’t committed or go to jail.
This leads to Soros’ crowning achievement: Of the five commissioners chosen to select the judges for the new peace tribunal, three are key players in Soros’ network.
Diego Garcia-Sayan is chairman of Open Society’s Global Drug Policy Program, Juan E. Mendez is a 15-year veteran of Soros-funded Human Rights Watch, and Alvaro Gil-Robles collaborated with Open Society on the issue of Roma rights, eventually leading to the creation of the European Roma Institute—a joint initiative of the Open Society Foundations and the Council of Europe.
I recontacted USAID with follow-up questions regarding all the above. The press office declined to answer any of them, but a spokesperson did amend the original statement: “USAID is not funding any activities through Open Society in Colombia.”
Understanding the full scope of USAID and Open Society collaboration requires a government investigation. USAID‘s biggest contracts involve agreements with organizations that aren’t always transparent.
Take Chemonics. This USAID contractor received more than $20 million in 2015 alone. Some of that—USAID declined to say how much—went to formalizing relations between illegal miners in Segovia, Antioquia, and Gran Colombia Gold, the concession holder.
While the sustainability and benefits to the environment of the project are not clear (lawlessness in Segovia has intensified), certainly the company benefitted from a trained workforce not stealing its gold—albeit temporarily—courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.
One of the major shareholders of Gran Colombia Gold just happens to be Frank Giustra, a trustee of the Soros-funded International Crisis Group, along with Soros himself.
The six U.S. senators, then, are right to ask for a full accounting of USAID programs. Start with Colombia, where U.S. assistance should be for the purposes of maintaining and strengthening the gains from Plan Colombia.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
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by Jacob Grandstaff on December 21, 2017
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"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
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Sen. John McCain and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan are both being financially supported by ultra-leftist George Soros. If the creator of the James Bond spy novels, Ian Fleming, were alive and writing a new thriller today, it wouldn’t be a stretch to believe he’d base his diabolical, untouchable villain on the life and activities of George Soros, including allegations of his being a Nazi-sympathizer (see video below).
According to a reliable source, OpenSecrets.org, the list of politicians who accepted cash from multi-billionaire provocateur George Soros includes several Republicans who were already suspected of being RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) or out-and-out liberal-left collaborators or “useful idiots.”
The list includes the who’s-who of the Republican Party “establishment” who campaign as conservatives but legislate or govern as the progressives who are members and who control the Democratic Party lock, stock and barrel.
Besides the names of politicians listed below, Soros — who is believed to be worth about $25 billion — has contributed financing for hundreds of left-wing groups through his so-called “philanthropic groups” the Open Society Foundations.
As a political operative he personally supports environmental activism, disarming of American citizens, increasing the number of Third-World immigrants, and the New World Order movement.
He had openly shown his opposition to voter ID laws and support for anti-police groups like Black Lives Matter. It’s been alleged that Soros spent $33 million to canonize Michael Brown and vilify the police officer who shot the rampaging 6’8″ 300 Lbs. attacker in the city of Ferguson, Missouri. Soros also paid for many of the protesters imported to provide an intense violence and destruction.
One surprising revelation on the below list is the fact that Soros claims he “donated” the same amount to the Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, that he gave to far-left New York Senator Chuck Schumer the new Senate Democrat Minority Leader. Also on the list is the news media’s favorite Republican, Arizona Sen. John McCain, as well as Ohio’s Republican Gov. John Kasich, who remained anti-Trump until the very end.
PICO Action Fund, Center for Popular Democracy, and People's Action set sights on nearly 20 congressional Republicans
Billionaire investor George Soros / Getty Images Joe Schoffstall -
A group financed by liberal billionaire George Soros and an organization approved of the Democracy Alliance, a secretive club of deep-pocketed liberal donors, have identified nearly 20 congressional Republicans that they will target during the 2018 elections, according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The documents, which were obtained at the Democracy Alliance's secretive fall investment conference that took place Nov. 15-18 at the posh La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, Calif., sheds light on the upcoming electoral action plans of a progressive organization in the recommended funding network of the alliance.
The PICO Action Fund, which has an organized presence in 21 states, was incorporated in 2012 as a 501(c)4 social welfare organization to "support and engage people of faith in efforts to eliminate poverty and racism, promote civic engagement and participation, and increase economic opportunity in the United States." It is tied to the PICO National Network, an Oakland, Calif.-based social services group that bills itself as "nonpartisan" organization.
The PICO Action Fund will work in coordination with the Center for Popular Democracy, a New York-based nonprofit that contains old chapters of the controversial and now-defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); and People's Action, a Chicago-based left-wing group that pushes for "structural reform," to target key Republican-held districts during the 2018 elections, according to the fund's civic engagement plan.
Soros, a founding partner of the alliance, has combinedtogive millions from his Open Society Foundations to all three groups.
"Over the next two cycles, the PICO Action Fund will challenge Trump and his dangerous agenda on all fronts—in the streets, in state houses and Congress, and at the ballot box," the group's agenda reads.
"Looking ahead to 2018, the PICO Action Fund is focused on preventing a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate (recognizing that even in the best-case scenario Republicans will maintain control); taking ground in the U.S. House; and especially working to support efforts to elect progressive governors and state legislators who will oversee census and redistricting in 2020-2021," it continues.
Its civic engagement plan talks of prioritizing voters of color, women, millennials, and "breaking dominant norms of the voting industry that has misled Democratic establishment toward a failing strategy of chasing after the ever-elusive white swing voter with moderate messages that turn off the base." The group additionally seeks to "dismantle the arrangement to keep voters marginalized through voter suppression, gerrymandering, and a white-male dominated DC consulting culture that feeds its own coffers at the expense of the effective voter engagement strategy."
The Republicans identified by the group as "Tier 1" targets include: Reps. Jeff Denham (R., Calif.), Steve Knight (R., Calif.), Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), Mike Coffman (R., Colo.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's (R., Fla.) open seat, Erik Paulsen (R., Minn.), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R., N.J.), Ryan Costello (R., Pa.), Pat Meehan (Pa.), and Charlie Dent's (R., Pa.) open seat.
Republicans on their "Tier 2" target list include Reps. David Valadao (Calif.), Ed Royce (Calif.), Mimi Walters (Calif.), Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.), Carlos Curbelo (Fla.), Jason Lewis (Minn.), Steve Pearce's (N.M) open seat, Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), and Pete Sessions (Texas).
The groups are additionally focusing on a number of seats that will be open during the 2018 elections that are currently occupied by Democrats.
The PICO Action Fund and Center for Popular Democracy are both recommended organizations for funding purposes for Democracy Alliance members, as their 2020 vision for the alliance shows.
The PICO Action Fund did not return a request for comment on its 2018 electoral strategy laid out in the memo by press time.
The groups working on the 2018 efforts also have ties to other prominent Soros-funded groups, have been involved in a number of anti-Trump protests, and have direct connections to massive "resistance" networks that will focus on upcoming elections.
The Center for Popular Democracy is closely linked to Make the Road New York, a Latino organizing group that has nearly 19,000 dues-paying members and is also funded by Soros.
The groups teamed up on the "Corporate Backers of Hate" campaign that "named and shamed" companies or groups they said could benefit from President Trump's policies.
Andrew Friedman, now the co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, cofounded Make the Road in 1997. Friedman sits on the board of directors of Make the Road and its action fund.
Ana Maria Archilla, also co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, was the co-executive director of Make the Road before moving to her current position.
Marbre Stahly-Butts, a policy advocate at the Center for Popular Democracy, was a George Soros Justice Fellow before joining the group.
Javier Valdes, the co-executive director of Make the Road, serves as the board chair of the Center for Popular Democracy.
The Center for Popular Democracy and Make the Road passed hundreds of thousands of dollars between each other, the Free Beacon previously reported.
Make the Road was also reported to have been behind the "spontaneous" protests at New York's JFK Airport following Trump's initial Muslim travel ban. The protests, despite being billed as organic, had been planned since the day after the presidential election.
The Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund, the 501(c) 4 sister organization of the Center for Popular Democracy, also leads an $80 million anti-Trump network that was launched earlier this year.
The network, which spans across 32 states and has 48 local partners, seeks to mobilize voters and fight voter identification laws. The effort will also focus on gerrymandering and automatic voter registration programs for the 2018 and 2020 elections.
Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.), the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, has thrown his support behind the multi-million dollar anti-Trump network.
"This national network, led by working class people of color and immigrants, will supply the power and the fight we need to resist the Trump administration's all-out assault on American values," Ellison said of the effort. "I look forward to standing with CPD Action's leaders in the streets and in Congress to win real progressive change."
Last edited by vector7; November 15th, 2019 at 17:15.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
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We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
REVISED AND EXPANDED DRAFT PROPOSAL
TO THE UN-DPI/NGO EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, CONGO &
ALL THE UN ASSOCIATED NGOS FOR A BI-ANNUAL
UN NGO GENERAL ASSEMBLY (UNNGOGA)
By
Bircan ÜNVER, Founding President, and
Permanent Representative to the
Department of the Public Information of the United Nations (UN-DPI/NGO) of
The Light Millennium - http://www.lightmillennium.org
Date: November 26, 2012
ESTIMATED TIMELINE:
First meeting towards formation: In Feb. 2013
Official formation in Fall or Winter 2013.
Launching the very first UN NGO General Assembly in October or November 2014.
“Like my predecessors, I will work with civil society representatives. With notable exceptions, however, we have not yet found an efficient way to draw upon the tremendous capacities of the world’s public policy institutes and think tanks. As President, I intend to launch a number of initiatives to harness their wisdom and experience.”*
- H.E. S.E. M. Vuk Jeremić, President of the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, taken from the “Address to the General Assembly on the occasion" of the opening of its 67th Session on 18 September 2012.
“WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED”
- “To practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
- to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
- to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
- to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.”**
- Preamble, The Charter of the United Nations, 26 June 1945, San Francisco.
A PROPOSAL FOR FORMING A NEW PYRAMID: UNITED NATIONS NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION -
GENERAL ASSEMBLY - UN-NGOGA:
UN-NGOGA is aimed to be formed by the entire DPI associated NGOs and the ECOSOC associated NGOs in order to bring all the UN associated NGOs under one roof and as a representative body within the UN System with an overarching aim working also with the counterpart of the UN-General Assembly. UN-NGOGA will be independent from the DPI-NGO Executive Committee and CONGO, yet aims to transform both capacity and experience, and create a new synergy for global pressing and emerging issues.
KEY COMPONENTS:
1) The Executive Committee of Non-Governmental Organizations Associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI-NGO-EXE-COMM): The Executive Committee was founded to promote a closer working relationship between the UN and NGOs associated with UN DPI, and acts as a liaison between the NGO community and the UN. (Taken from its website: http://ngodpiexecom.org/about/)
2) The Conference of NGOs with Consultative relationship with the United Nations - CONGO: For over 60 years, The Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations has been actively promoting the involvement of NGOs in the working of the United Nations. (Taken from its website: http://www.ngocongo.org/)
The above mentioned two main bodies will jointly form the UN-NGOGA. It will unite both DPI and the ECOSOS-associated NGOs under the roof of the UN-NGOGA in order to work closely with the UN-General Assembly and support UN-GA resolutions and themes as a counter part of the UN-GA towards the implementation of the MDG#8 on the UN-General Assembly level and within the entire UN system as well as world-wide. Also, working closely with the member states, intergovernmental organizations, and private sector at one highest representative level initiative on behalf of the NGOs, it will build-up and present more than 3,500 thousand UN-associated NGOs over the coming years. (Author of this proposal has registered the following domain name for this purpose: http://www.unngoga.org.)
PREFACE:
The initial (11/25/2012), and this revised and expanded draft proposal (11/15-26/2012) for a Bi-Annual UN-NGO GENERAL ASSEMBLY are based on my seven years of observations of the works and practices of the UN-DPI/NGO Executive Committee and NGOs in the UN at large. Based on that experience, I’ve arrived at a conclusion that the DPI/NGO Executive Committee’s structure, works, and practices are mainly power-centered rather than participatory. Despite the way the DPI/NGO Executive Committee operates, its structure might be allegorically considered something similar to the UN-Security Council rather than to the General Assembly! It appears that this is the case for the CONGO as well.The newly envisioned NGO General Assembly’s institutional structure will be inspired, designed, and adopted from the UN-GA; and it could/will be formed as a new initiative in collaboration with the DPI/NGO Executive Committee and CONGO, which will also be in line with the mandate of the DPI and ECOSOC at large.UN-NGOGA will have its own independent governing body from the DPI/NGO Executive Committee and the CONGO, which will be formed by an equal number of representations from both entities. At the same time, it will also operate and practice with interdependent mechanism and principles in conjunction with the UN-GA's overarching goal and mission.It will apply practices for uniting, synergizing, and transforming all UN-associated NGOs through UN-NGOGA for the support of the resolutions, themes, works, and programs of the UN-GA as one single united and empowered body. With equal importance, UN-NGOGA aims to be credited by the UNGA during the UN-GA Annual sessions on the representative level as one voice on behalf of the all NGOs, as well as within the entire UN System as a "true and unified partner, and one of the key active, participatory, effective, and indispensable components." This means that it will be a part of the negotiations and decision making mechanism with a voting capacity, on which "true democracy and freedom" practices depend on.
VISION:
UN-NGOGA aims to be one of the “direct, true, counted, empowered, credited, needed, and indispensable” components and mandatory mechanisms of the UN-GA and UN System at large. It will act as a mirror of the UN to the world as well as devoted advocators on the grassroots level in every corner of the world.
To bring all the United Nations-associated NGOs under one single roof to distinguish them as indispensable components of negotiations, decision making, and voting process within the UN System.
DEFINITION:
Bi-Annual UN-NGO General Assembly formation and gathering is envisioned as a new and independent initiative that will be formed as a joint effort by all the DPI and ECOSOC-associated NGOs to the United Nations with an equal capacity and ground. A "Formation Committee" will be formed, and it will seek the DPI, ECOSOC, and UN-GA’s initial support for its formation process and the implementation of its vision and principles. Consequently, NGO-GA will take a decisive action for channeling its full capacity as one united and synergized body for implementation and realization of the UN Charter, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Millennium Development Goals as well as disseminating relevant resolutions and programs locally and globally.The UN-NGOGA’s envisioned general frame works and references include:
I. The UN NGO General Assembly will consist of all the NGO Members of the United Nations.
II. Each NGO may have up to six representatives (including two youth) in the UN NGO General Assembly. However, each Member NGO will have one vote capacity.
III. "The Formation Committee" will have 20 to 30 NGO reps (such as 10 or 15 DPI & 10 or 15 ECOSOS associated).
IV. The UN-NGOGA aims to work in conjunction with the UN-GA in order to contribute, disseminate, and promote the works, resolutions, and themes of the UN-GA world-wide. V. Will provide a ground for effective collaboration, support, and partnerships in all levels within the UN System, including non-associated CSOs, educational institutions, and private sector.
VI. Aims to create a new mechanism both within the UN System and world-wide towards the implementation of the MDG#8 as a daily basis practice, development, and implementation of "Global Partnerships" in all levels locally, regionally, and internationally.
VII. To seek and develop partnership and direct engagement of educational institutions, including elementary to high schools and universities for developing collaborative programs, projects, and initiatives relevant to this mandate.
VIII. Encouraging Youth involvement and delegating responsibilities in its governing body and related subcommittees will be one of its core tasks , which will also be reflected on the representative level for any undertaken collaborative and supportive work with the UN-GA. IX. Non-associated Civil Society Organizations’ (CSO) involvement will be strongly encouraged through associated NGOs in the form of collaboration, sponsorship and/or partnerships in the works and programs of the UN-NGOGA.
NEED or PROBLEM?
Although NGOs are often indicated as one of the most crucial components of the UN’s Visions, programs, and works since 1948, the NGOs have not been presented at the UN-GA as one entity or under the DPI or ECOSOS-associated NGOs. Despite many levels of indication and references to the NGOs and CSOs in all levels in the UN for several decades, there has not been an effective coordination and unity within the DPI and ECOSOS-associated NGOs, or any encouragement by the UN or Member State levels! Concequently, there has not been a decisive implementation and action plan stating that the NGOs are indispensable stakeholders of all the UN Visions and Programs as an equal partner with the UN, Member States, Intergovernmental organizations, and private sector. If the UN and Member States don't fully encourage it and remove or lessen the obstacles --from smallest to largest, all associated-NGOs within the UN System-- how can the MDG#8: Global Partnership be accomplished, in particular, when the NGOS at large have very limited access, capacity, and/or privilege within the UN System?
PRINCIPLES - A DECISIVE COMMITMENT AND WILL TO:
1. Realization of the principles of the United Nations’ Charter, Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ each and every article, and Millennium Development Goals towards Global Peace Culture;
2. Promote awareness, collaboration, partnerships for global common good; and develop, implement, and set-up examples for solutions;
3. Focus on common goals, similarities, and solutions.
4. Work together as team players, and act promptly in order to provide support for all emerging situation and conditions, such as conflict, violation of human rights, war, natural disasters, etc.;
5. Remove all cultural, religious and political prejudices, understanding and respecting the “other/s”, and promoting cultural diversity through relevant programs throughout the world;
6. Create and/or provide opportunity for every interested NGO (NGO representative) to acquire necessary skills and knowledge towards working on/teaming up for relevant issues and projects;
7. Helping to build up capacity of one another to intertwine and empower partnerships between small and volunteer NGOs and the well-established ones both within the UN System and throughout the world;
8. Promote, encourage, share, and disseminate relevant information for global citizenship through collaborative programs and in all forms of publicity on multiple platforms and in various forms of partnerships and collaboration with educational institutions, private sector, local and international media;
9. Work together and collaborate in all levels for improving and enhancing conditions in the areas in conflict and despair towards advancing peace as well as transforming existing conflicts into peaceful meanings;
10. Developing solutions for eradication of poverty, and promoting development and sustainability through collaboration and partnership in all levels locally, regionally, and internationally;
11. Bring in balance by Global Economy's practices and expansion as the counterpart of the Cultural Globalization.
12. Each member NGO rep. and the UN-NGOGA as a whole, will commit to working towards creating global awareness and seeking collaborations in all levels on the issues, which most of the member states have not touched on so far. They will work to include “stateless” groups, or "special groups", and "underprivileged" peoples who are not granted representation at the UNGA and in major international conventions, conferences, and treaties.
13. Decisively promoting the Article#19 of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights, and working towards making it the #9th Goal of the MDGS or to be included/embedded to each existing as well as newly proposed or near or far future approved goals/resolutions in reference to the next stage of the MDGS. 14. Determined to support it within its full capacity as one of the components to the “overall efforts to revitalize the General Assembly”.15. Determination to working towards and contributing to a ‘Global Peace, Security, and a Sustainable and Healthy Livelihood for ALL’ will be an overarching principle of the UN-NGOGA.
Each NGO representative will take solution-oriented actions as an active and productive team player in any relevant theme and program undertaken, while each NGO will be interdependent.
All interested NGO and NGO reps in order to be a member of the UN-NGOGA will have to undersign the aforementioned required “decisive commitments” to the Principles of the UN-NGOGA.
PURPOSES:
1- Uniting and synergizing all UN-associated NGOs under one umbrella: UN-NGOGA
2- Providing a strong and sustained ground for closer collaboration for all NGOs through UN-NGOGA, namely with the UN-GA, with all other major UN entities, such as UNICEF, UNESCO, UN-WOMEN, UN-Academic Impact, WHO, ILO, UNAOC, member states, and intergovernmental organizations.
3- Making the UN-NGOGA a true indispensable, transparent, and accountable component of the entire UN System.
4- Making the UN-NGOGA a counterpart of the UN-GA as well as within the UN System as the core representative body for implementing and strengthening of the following UN motto and philosophy: "We the peoples… A stronger UN for a better world."
5- Imposing the UN System for taking necessary measures for UN-NGOGA to be included in the “BEYOND the 2015” as one of the key stakeholders in the UN and at the member state level.
6- Developing a peculiar, permanent/sustainable mechanism and pathway with the support of the UNGA. Regardless of size and/or operational budget, without leaving anyone behind, each UN NGO should be encouraged and empowered to develop a form of collaboration with member state/s relevant with the UN-GA Resolutions and UN Charter, which is also inline with the Principles, Article#1.
7- Empowering all NGOs within the entire UN System and on the Member State level in order to enable them to carry out the Visions-Resolutions and Programs of the UN to every corner of the world much more efficiently and effectively.
8- Under the roof of the UN-NGOGA, as one of the envisioned largest representative bodies of the world, it will be empowered, given priority and importance by the UN’s core body, such as GA and Member States, with necessary tools and capacity in order to be placed with an effective role for "positive change" within the existing matrix of the global equation.
9- In conjunction with the Annual UN-GA Gatherings, also making the NGO-GA to be one of the indispensable and necessary team players of the UN-International Conferences, Conventions, Summits, High Level Meetings, Treaties and Forums.
OTHER IDEAS FOR FORMATION COMMITTEE AND GOVERNING STRUCTURE:
Below draft ideas to be considered to develop further by the UN-NGO-Executive Committee, CONGO, and UN NGO Community at large; and ideas by all interested parties in the form of support and paving the way towards forming the UN-NGO General Assembly officially in 2013 are welcome.
1. Official formation of the UN-NGOGA under the NY State Law is envisioned to be accomplished in late 2013, and launching it in October or November 2014 in New York. It aims to be launched prior to 2015, so that the UN-NGOGA officially could adopt a similar format to that of the UN-GA Governing Body works, in terms of representation and voting capacity as well as to be included for the next stage of the MDGS.
2. Voting process and result for a decision or a UN-NGO Assembly Resolution or supporting a UNGA will be transparent, be made available instantly online, and process and information will be open to all who will encourage involvement.
3. In terms of protocol for presentations during the UN-NGO Assembly, each NGO representative will have 5 minutes of duration, regardless of the size of the organization (for example: head, or main, or first alternative or youth rep; in particular, youth involvement will be endouraged). Duration might change depending on total members, participatory level, as well as technical, IT and other necessary capacities.
4. The entire event will be web-cast, and available to all.
5. The UN-NGOGA will place particular emphasis on collaborations and partnerships among CSOS, relevant UN Entities, Member States, Government Agencies, and Private Sector.
6. Bylaws of the NGO GA will be drafted-debated by the By-Laws Committee under the Formation Committee, and will be approved by the majority of members.
7. Its voting mechanism in all matters will be based on majority; and equal participations by both DPI and ECOSOC-associated NGOs in its governing structure will be one of the basic principles.
8. Any changes, or amendment on By-Laws will be by the majority approval of the NGO-GA.
9. UN-NGOGA Bylaws will be available on-line and globally to all interested parties from the early draft stage and on.
10. Office of the UN-NGOGA will present to its all members a Draft Annual Budget online a month prior to the Fiscal Year and during the Bi-Annual Gatherings.
11. Office of the NGO-GA will present and e-publish its annual Fiscal Year Financial Reports, such as 990 and CHAR500.
12. Any decision regarding fees, membership, fundraising events, in particular, request, pre-conditions for nominations to the presidency and Office of the UN-NGOGA will be debated by the related subcommittees, and survey will be conducted within entire NGO Community in the UN. 13. Each proposal, process, and/or decision will be presented as a DRAFT to the NGO-GA periodically.
14. Fundraising activities – soliciting donations and/or ideas for events will be done through networking, annual fundraising events, and on-line. 15. Attendance to the related meetings and bi-annual gatherings, as in person, won’t be mandatory. Whoever cannot attend in person will be able to participate via SKYPE, on-line, e-mail, webcasting, proxy, etc. 16. UN-NGOGA website will be launched independently by the related Committee that will be the global face of the UN-NGOGA as well as it will seek to create its own Social Media.
17. Diversity and inclusion of the UN-NGOGA Office and equal representation in all levels and means under the governing body, related committee and sub-committees will be a MUST. 18. No member, organization, religion, ethnicity, or race alone will be dominant within the formation of the NGO-General Assembly and Office of the President of the NGO-General Assembly and in all relevant committees, sub-committees and working groups.
19. Based upon its official formation and opening a dedicated bank account, an annual membership proposal will be introduced to the UN-NGOGA (from $25 to $100 annual membership fee). 20. Collected membership dues solely will be used for launching the very first UN-NGOGA and its related conferences, panels, programs, and publications.
21. Based upon its official formation date and depending on the date of opening a bank account as well as an approval date and place for the launching of the UN-NGOGA, monthly or bi-monthly list of new members and collected dues will be post to its website.
22. All process, decisions, projects, proposals, practices, events, related budgets, various committee and subcommittee meetings and decisions will be open to all interested NGO reps and in full transparency and decisions will be made by the majority of the UN-NGOGA.
23. President and Vice President/s of the UN-NGOGA will be two terms/bi-annually through the votes of the majority (UN/GA Charter - Article 18/2 will be adopted***) and equal participations both DPI and ECOSOC-associated NGOs. The term for the Presidency and/or Vice Presidency will be restricted with one year. For each term, one will be elected from the DPI-associated, and other from the ECOSOC-associated NGOs. President and VP will be rotating within the same term.
24. Number of the people on Board of Directors, Committee and Subcommittee Members, Advisory Boards, Working Groups or any group that is developed and undertaken under the UN-NGOGA will have equal number of representations both from the DPI and ECOSOS reps, as well as an equal number of representations in terms of gender balance and each committee will have one-youth representative.
25. No member and/or NGO rep will be serving more than a year, in particular, president, vice-president, chair or co-chairs of the committees, sub-committees, working groups and advisory board.
26. Nominees for the “Formation Committee” and/or “Temporary Board of Directors” will agree on contributing from $25 to $100 towards covering legal costs of the official formation process.
27. For collecting contributions towards the formation, and until the UN-NGOGA is officially formed and has its own bank account, we could collaborate with "NYCharities.Org" in order to obtain contributions and have a monthly transparent report of transaction.
I am hoping that the DPI-NGO Executive Committee, CONGO, and UN-NGO Community at large will take the aforementioned core idea seriously, and guide it to the point of formation and implementation within the envisioned time-line. I am also hoping that DPI, ECOSOC, and UN-GA will be supporting this draft proposal full heartedly, which will prompt the official formation of the UN-NGOGA by the end of 2013. To that end, I would like to make the following URGENT CALLS:
• Call for a meeting in February 2013 (preferably during the first or second week) in order to form a “Formation Committee”, and also “Draft Committee” for the UN-NGOGA’s Constitution and ByLaws.
• CALL to both DPI and ECOSOS-associated NGOs for nominations for a “Temporary Formation Committee” and/or “Temporary Board of Directors” to the proposed Feb. 2013 "pre-formation" meeting. Deadline: January 31, 2013.
• The "Formation Committee" nominees will agree on contributing from $25 to $100 towards covering the legal costs of the formation process. Related criteria for nomination will be based upon acceptance and support of this "revised and expanded draft".
• Please send in your suggested ideas ASAP in order to be reflected in the next draft, which will be presented during the "pre-formation committee meeting" in February 2013. Deadline: January 31, 2013.
CONCLUSION:
The UN-NGOGA aims to provide a sustainable and strong ground for closer collaborations with the UNGA and UN System, and Member States, as well as to enable all NGOs to promote, work, collaborate, partner, and disseminate all the UN relevant information much more effectively in and to every corner of the world. Accordingly, this newly defined alliance will also be an effective and direct mechanism in order to enhance and empower all parties that will be serving for the implementations of the UN Visions and Charter, fostering a global peace culture and improvement to lives of peoples world-wide in all equations. This newly envisioned pyramid, as a new initiative and the counterpart of the UN-GA, aims to create a new, modern, democratic, interdependent, and a highly representative medium for the voices of all peoples around the world. The UN-NGOGA will lay out the ground for this new and contemporary pyramid, whereas both DPI and ECOSOC-associated NGOs will be forming the left and right angles of it. The summit of this pyramid will also represent the UN-NGOGA. With that, I imagine its Logo being embedded within the UN Logo as well as imagining it to launch with five thousands participants in New York in Fall or Winter 2014!.Overall, this will be a magnificent achievement in multiple layers for the entire UN system as well as a form of “change” in real and positive terms globally.Thank you very much for your consideration, time, initial support, and potential cooperation,Best regards,Bircan Ünver, Founding President & Permanent Rep. to the UN DPI-NGO of The Light Millennium - http://www.lightmillennium.org
E-mail: contact@lightmillennium.org (*) contact@unngoga.org
(*) This e-adress and UNNGOGA.Org website activated in January 2013.
Special Thanks To: Harvey Dupiton, The New Foundation (Initial Draft), and
Figen Bingul, The Light Millennium (both initial and expanded drafts), for their editing supports for this proposal.
IDEAS contributed to the Expanded Draft by the following individuals:
This section is updated on the UNNGOGA.Org website, which was activated in January 2013.
DISCLOSURE : Initial (10/25/2012) and Revised and Expanded Drafts (11/15-26/12) were written by Bircan Ünver. Principles section inspired by the UN Academic Impact. Bircan Ünver, The Light Millennium – http://www.lightmillennium.org – New York, November 26, 2012.
For your active involvement or comments, please visit the following website: http://www.unngoga.org
The 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference
BUILDING INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
26 - 28 August 2019
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
We, as members of civil society, adopt this document to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, building on the education and global citizenship focus of Gyeongju (2016) and the concept of people-centered multilateralism we developed in New York (2018). This year, we concentrate specifically on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11: “to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable by 2030.” We underscore the need to understand cities and communities as central to the achievement of all SDGs and not only SDG11. We highlight the importance of inclusivity, peace, family, education, youth, and the empowerment of women and girls. Further, we explore the ethical development of the economy, infrastructure, and technology needed to support balanced, sustainable communities. We recognize the interdependence of rural and urban prosperity, as well as the need to address the specific conditions of mountainous areas and small island developing States. We also highlight the need for collaboration of governments, civil society, and the United Nations in this work and stress the urgent need for climate action. For each of these, we affirm our beliefs and shared values, urge others to partner with us, and commit ourselves to actions that uplift the human spirit, create humane cities in which people can flourish, and enhance the quality of life and dignity for all. Without recognition of the challenges to our quest for sustainable and inclusive communities, we will accomplish nothing.
Therefore, we affirm:
The importance of inclusivity and respect for the dignity and human rights of all. Thus, sustainable cities and communities must foster opportunities regardless of age; gender; race; nation of origin; sexual orientation; religion; socio-economic status; disability; language; universal, societal, and individual traditions and values; or political opinion.
“[The] family-related provisions of the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits and their follow-up processes [that] continue to provide policy guidance on ways to strengthen family-centered components of policies and programs as part of an integrated comprehensive approach to development.”[[1]]
The need for immediate and effective action in response to the climate crisis. It poses a grave threat today, not only to the sustainability of human society, but to life itself, especially in coastal communities and other vulnerable places. Furthermore, the window for effective action is closing rapidly.
The need to recognize peace as a fundamental component of sustainable societies, defining it not just as the absence of war and civil strife, but as the active presence of justice, security, social stability, inclusivity, accessibility, and lives lived in harmony with one’s neighbors and the earth’s ecosystems. We specifically recognize the need to address forced migration and its impact on both migrants and communities of origin, transit, and destination.
The engagement of all members of civil society in global and local governance. Good and accountable governance, free of corruption, is key to the achievement of the SDGs, rule of law, and justice for all.
The significance and potential of youth. More broadly, we affirm the need to empower all generations with education, skills, and opportunities. These will allow youth to sustain themselves; contribute to the health, well-being, prosperity, and resilience of society; and thereby enable all generations to thrive.
The need for adequate, affordable, accessible housing, public services, infrastructure, mobility, and land management. These will reduce poverty, homelessness, and hunger while sustaining connectedness, human and environmental health, and community-led development.
The potential for the ethical use and development of technology to address critical challenges faced by communities, harness opportunities, meet the needs of our planet, and re-envision the way we live.
The need for community-relevant, goal-oriented private and public investment at all levels of society.
The pivotal importance of education, including technological literacy; it is key to raising awareness of the SDGs and to our capacity to achieve them, especially Goal 11.
The central role of local governments in the localization of the 2030 Agenda, its 17 SDGs, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the New Urban Agenda. These global agendas are only as good as the positive transformation they trigger for people, planet, prosperity, and partnerships.
Simple recognition of a problem does not generate progress unless stakeholders actively facilitate solutions. Thus, we encourage all stakeholders to form integrated, goal-oriented action plans that are tailored to the unique circumstances of their cities and communities. Stakeholders include individuals, children, youth, families, women, farmers, indigenous peoples, non-governmental organizations, faith-based communities and organizations, scientific and technology communities, education and academia, workers and trade unions, persons with disabilities, volunteers, aging people, business and industry, philanthropies, and governments at all levels.
Therefore, we urge all stakeholders:
To enhance inclusivity and respect for the dignity of all, from which human rights originate. Accordingly, we work to remove unjust systemic barriers to success, noting that bias and discrimination marginalize and segregate large segments of society. We especially call out racism, religious intolerance, and gender inequality.
To support the family in its essential educating and nurturing roles, recognizing its important contribution to social integration.
To recognize the severity and urgency of the climate change crisis and the destructive impact of our human footprint. We must act on clean, renewable sources of energy, low-emission mobility modes, and net-zero energy buildings. This change will mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by cities and will protect our air, water, and ecosystems, thus sustaining biodiversity. Further, we recognize that countries and cities will experience climate and environmental challenges differently and have different resources with which to address them.
To replace excessive consumerism with balanced production, consumption, reuse, and recycling.
To build and sustain safe, peaceful, and just societies, free from war, civil strife, human exploitation, hate speech, and other crimes. Conflict resolution; respect for the faith, values, and traditions of all; and access to healthcare, including mental and behavioral health, are central to this effort.
To ensure a vibrant and sustainable future for our youth through educational, vocational, and mentorship experiences that meet individual needs and facilitate inclusive, effective intergenerational dialogue. These will develop skills needed to create or access local socio-economic opportunities.
To invest in sustainable housing, public services, mobility systems, safe drinking water, sanitation and waste systems, and other infrastructure accessible to all citizens. This investment will enable resiliency and prosperity and reduce poverty and hunger. It will also ensure that development minimizes environmental harm while connecting people with jobs, services, commerce, and each other.
To develop and appropriately use old, new, and future technology to address challenges to sustainability, inequality, accessibility, human and environmental health, education, climate change, communication, commerce, agriculture, and safety.
To establish legal and institutional frameworks that enable community and business investments to positively impact every level of society and every social and economic group.
To ensure that governments and organizations at all levels take human needs and the environment into account while addressing societal, economic, infrastructural, and administrative policy.
To encourage and support all stakeholders in their efforts to collect, maintain, and monitor relevant SDG data, thereby allowing analysis by all demographic groups and by territory.
To incentivize all educational organizations to encourage pluralistic mindsets and engagement in civic and political processes. These efforts should emphasize the role of civil society and contribute practically to the achievement of the SDGs.
To enable local strategies that embrace the universal vision of the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the New Urban Agenda while remaining sensitive to local contexts.
Concrete actions and mechanisms for accountability must follow our affirmations and commitments if we are to build cities and communities that are economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable.
Therefore, as global citizens, we commit individually and collectively:
To apply conscious inclusivity and respect for human dignity and rights in our daily lives while advocating for similar efforts in our corporate and organizational lives; in our laws, regulations, policies, and practices; and in our economy. This should facilitate the inclusion of marginalized, vulnerable, and deprived members of society.
To practice environmental stewardship by proactively mitigating climate change and its adverse impacts.
To promote sustainable peace as the presence of harmony, respect, and inclusive collaboration in our communities, within and among countries.
To inspire and support youth in their visions of, preparation for, and access to a robust future.
To urge governments, together with community partners, to build, upgrade, and repair infrastructure in ways that maximize sustainability, improve accessibility, minimize adverse environmental impacts, and ensure the ability to withstand climate change and natural disasters.
To use appropriate technologies to ensure inclusivity and accessibility, economic prosperity, and to mitigate climate change and other adverse environmental effects.
To mobilize public and private sector funds and investments to impact the implementation of SDG 11 related projects. Namely, these should include efforts to provide housing and basic services; upgrade slums; deliver sustainable transport systems; plan and manage participatory and integrated human settlements; protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage; reduce disaster risk and increase disaster resilience; reduce the adverse environmental impact of cities; develop green and public spaces; create links between urban, peri-urban, and rural areas; integrate policy making; and support Least Developed Countries in building sustainable, resilient infrastructure using local materials.
To form civil society collaborations, including public-private partnerships, in order to formulate policies, mechanisms, and regulations that foster peaceful, prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable cities and communities. These efforts must include ways to track progress via key performance indicators.
To protect a free press and make wise and productive use of social and conventional media to communicate, build consensus, and bring together policy makers, businesses, families, and individuals to advance shared interests for the common good.
We urge UN Member States and UN system entities:
To engage and collaborate with ECOSOC and Department of Global Communications accredited organizations[[2]] in strategic actions that support and advance the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the New Urban Agenda.
To build on the vision, values, and commitments enshrined in this Outcome to deliver concrete multi-stakeholder discussion spaces, policies, partnerships, and implementation tools for sustainable and inclusive cities and communities.
To facilitate robust inputs and interactive discussions with UN Major Groups and Other Stakeholders during the SDG Summit on 24-25 September 2019. We call on the Secretariat of the SDG Summit to provide a visible platform and modalities for the public dissemination of relevant analyses and reports produced by UN Major Groups and Other Stakeholders.
To establish robust monitoring mechanisms for the transformative initiatives that will be showcased at the UN Secretary General Climate Action Summit on 23 September 2019. This should be done via mechanisms existing under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
To provide meaningful spaces and mechanisms for the sustained engagement of civil society in the dialogues that mark the 75th anniversary of the UN. We underscore that this anniversary provides a much-needed opportunity to reflect on the direction of the UN and to ensure its ability to address the global challenges of the 21st century as experienced by people in their communities.
We call on governments at all levels and all other stakeholders:
To commit during the SDG Summit to actions that accelerate SDGs implementation and localization with people-centered strategies. Furthermore, we underscore the need to understand cities and communities central to the achievement of all SDGs and not only SDG11.
To give follow-up to their actions to accelerate SDGs through Voluntary National Reviews and UN Major Groups and Other Stakeholders reports.
To actively support and engage in the tenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF10), convened by the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) on 8-13 February 2020 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. We underscore the critical importance of WUF to share practices, tools, and knowledge on how to achieve the SDGs and deliver climate change action in cities and communities.
We have only 11 years to deliver on the promises we made through the Sustainable Development Goals. We have less than 11 years to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Therefore, be it resolved:
We, the participants of the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference, will continue to actively contribute to our communities individually and in collaboration with other stakeholders to further the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as we move toward the United Nations’ 75th Anniversary in 2020.
We endorse and support the Youth Climate Compact, the objective of which is to identify specific actions that can be taken to reduce the devastating effects of the climate crisis and adapt our communities in mindset and structure.
We thank the people and the governments of the United States of America, the State of Utah, and Salt Lake City for the kind welcome and gracious hosting they have given to the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference and for their efforts to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Who and what is 'civil society?'
23 Apr 2018
Adam Jezard
It is a phrase that is much bandied about in media and by politicians but if you were to stop and ask a casual passer-by what is meant by “civil society” it is unlikely many people could give an in-depth answer.
According to the World Bank: “Civil society ... refers to a wide array of organizations: community groups, non-governmental organizations [NGOs], labour unions, indigenous groups, charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations, and foundations.”
The term became popular in political and economic discussions in the 1980s, when it started to be identified with non-state movements that were defying authoritarian regimes, especially in central and eastern Europe and Latin America.
When mobilized, civil society - sometimes called the “third sector” (after government and commerce) - has the power to influence the actions of elected policy-makers and businesses. But the nature of civil society - what it is and what it does - is evolving, in response to both technological developments and more nuanced changes within societies.
Welcome to Volunteerland
It is hard to quantify just how big the sector is globally. However, one study https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...page&q&f=false says that NGOs across 40 countries represent $2.2 trillion in operating expenditures. That figure is larger than the gross domestic product of all but six countries. For the sake of comparing the scale of the sector with nations, it has been described as "Volunteerland” by academics. This land also employs around 54 million full-time equivalent workers and has a global volunteer workforce of over 350 million.
Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, wrote in the preface to a 2013 report, The Future Role of Civil Society: “NGOs, labour leaders, faith-based organizations, religious leaders and other civil society representatives play a critical and diverse set of roles in societal development. In the last two decades these roles have shifted as the external environment for civil society has changed.” http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Fut...eport_2013.pdf
He added that a “renewed focus on the essential contribution of civil society to a resilient global system alongside government and business has emerged”.
The report adds: “The definitions are changing as civil society is recognized as encompassing far more than a mere ‘sector’ dominated by the NGO community: civil society today includes an ever wider and more vibrant range of organized and unorganized groups, as new civil-society actors blur the boundaries between sectors and experiment with new organizational forms, both online and off.”
It lists of some of the activities civil society organizations are involved in, to demonstrate why governments frequently seem to court them in one breath and vilify them in another.
These include: holding institutions to account and promoting transparency; raising awareness of societal issues; delivering services to meet education, health, food and security needs; implementing disaster management, preparedness and emergency response; bringing expert knowledge and experience to shape policy and strategy; giving power to the marginalized; and encouraging citizen engagement.
Leading civil society brands
Examples of well-known civil society organizations include Amnesty International, the International Trade Union Confederation, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Greenpeace and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC).
The story of why some of these organizations were founded gives some insight into their motives and raison d’etre. The DRC, for example, is a humanitarian, non-profit organization that came into being following the devastation of World War II and the European refugee crises triggered by the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. It provides assistance to refugees, displaced people and their host communities in conflict zones around the world.
The tech revolution
Civil society groups are becoming more tech savvy as they use social media platforms and formats such as video and podcasts to raise awareness about their causes and charitable donations.
But they are also using technology in ways that are more directly linked to improving the efficacy of their work. Human rights group Amnesty International, for example, is experimenting with a form of artificial intelligence known as machine learning to see what influence it could have in areas such as policing, criminal justice, the development of autonomous weapons and its possible impacts on our rights to work and earn a living.
The WWF, on the other hand, is harnessing aerial drone technology, animal tracking devices and infrared cameras in its battle against the illegal poaching of endangered species.
New Ways to Campaign
Others have developed new partnerships, for example with UNICEF, to create bot software to engage with young people on social media platforms. UNICEF’s U-Report bot is a free SMS social monitoring tool. It assesses how young people feel about important issues based on responses to SMS polls and alerts.
In 2015, working with government ministries in Liberia, U-Report helped to uncover a scandal in which teachers were found to be exploiting children by awarding grades and pass marks in return for sex. In under 24 hours, 13,000 people had responded and were provided with counselling and a support helpline.
People often wonder who can participate in “civic society”. For those living in democracies, the answer is all of us.
The era of social media, big data, analytics and artificial intelligence is likely to give a further spur to groups and organizations that campaign on issues like civil liberties, better education systems, and combat climate change or raise money to fight diseases.
The ability to raise concerns, influence government policy and create meaningful dialogue between policy-makers and the public will not be relinquished lightly. Thanks to technology, more of us than ever before are able to inform our governments about what we think is wrong with the world - and what is right.
Perhaps instead of asking “who does civil society include”, it is time for more of us to take part in it.
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Note, actual private property owners and elected local governments don't count. During my time in the pit, I discovered that much of our environmental policy was not made by our elected legislators, but created by global groups like this and then implemented Administratively by the DOI, USFWS, NOAA Fisheries, US Forest Service, EPA and Army Corp.
The Civil Society Unit https://www.unenvironment.org/about-...l-society-unit at UN Environment is committed to partnering with Major Groups and Stakeholders https://www.unenvironment.org/about-...s-stakeholders in order to ensure transparency and inclusiveness in the intergovernmental decision-making process at UN Environment. It has been mandated to engage with accredited civil society organizations such as not-for-profit organizations, networks, and associations in contrast to single businesses or individuals, who bring to the table, valuable research, and expertise and advocacy functions. These allies and partners to UN Environment provide long-term, broad-based and essential support for UN Environment’s mission and mandate.
UN Environment strives to ensure an effective and balanced participation of Major Groups and Stakeholders as they play a central role in providing expertise and relevant knowledge. They also channel the voices of those most likely to be directly affected by environmental problems and related policies and calls needed attention to emerging issues as they reach out to their respective communities and the public at large.
Recognizing the crucial role of civil society, member governments, endorsed UN Environment’s practice of organizing the Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum (GMGSF) - in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA). The Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum aims to inform civil society stakeholders of current and future UN Environment policies and to provide a platform where representatives from Major Groups can exchange views and develop common ground in preparation to contribute to the policy dialogues at a multi-stakeholder level during UNEA. The Forum is preceded by preparatory Regional Consultative Meetings (RCMs) among Civil Society to ensure regional perspectives on all the UN Environment mandates are included in the Environment Assembly.
The interaction between the UN Environment and civil society has grown significantly in the past decade and over 500 NGOs now have formal consultative status. Organizations who want to seize this opportunity and make their voice heard at the UN Environment can get directly involved by applying for Accreditation to the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) of UN Environment, which grants them observer status to UNEA.
Civil society engagement
Why civil society matters
Participation and engagement
Accreditation
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Policies
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Committee of Permanent Representatives
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
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We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
Thu 25 Nov 2004 19.03 ESTFirst published on Thu 25 Nov 2004 19.03 EST
With their websites and stickers, their pranks and slogans aimed at banishing widespread fear of a corrupt regime, the democracy guerrillas of the Ukrainian Pora youth movement have already notched up a famous victory - whatever the outcome of the dangerous stand-off in Kiev.
Ukraine, traditionally passive in its politics, has been mobilised by the young democracy activists and will never be the same again.
But while the gains of the orange-bedecked "chestnut revolution" are Ukraine's, the campaign is an American creation, a sophisticated and brilliantly conceived exercise in western branding and mass marketing that, in four countries in four years, has been used to try to salvage rigged elections and topple unsavoury regimes.
Funded and organised by the US government, deploying US consultancies, pollsters, diplomats, the two big American parties and US non-government organisations, the campaign was first used in Europe in Belgrade in 2000 to beat Slobodan Milosevic at the ballot box.
Richard Miles, the US ambassador in Belgrade, played a key role. And by last year, as US ambassador in Tbilisi, he repeated the trick in Georgia, coaching Mikhail Saakashvili in how to bring down Eduard Shevardnadze.
Ten months after the success in Belgrade, the US ambassador in Minsk, Michael Kozak, a veteran of similar operations in central America, notably in Nicaragua, organised a near identical campaign to try to defeat the Belarus hardman, Alexander Lukashenko.
That one failed. "There will be no Kostunica in Belarus," the Belarus president declared, referring to the victory in Belgrade.
But experience gained in Serbia, Georgia and Belarus has been invaluable in plotting to beat the regime of Leonid Kuchma in Kiev.
The operation - engineering democracy through the ballot box and civil disobedience - is now so slick that the methods have matured into a template for winning other people's elections.
In the centre of Belgrade, there is a dingy office staffed by computer-literate youngsters who call themselves the Centre for Non-violent Resistance. If you want to know how to beat a regime that controls the mass media, the judges, the courts, the security apparatus and the voting stations, the young Belgrade activists are for hire.
They emerged from the anti-Milosevic student movement, Otpor, meaning resistance. The catchy, single-word branding is important. In Georgia last year, the parallel student movement was Khmara. In Belarus, it was Zubr. In Ukraine, it is Pora, meaning high time. Otpor also had a potent, simple slogan that appeared everywhere in Serbia in 2000 - the two words "gotov je", meaning "he's finished", a reference to Milosevic. A logo of a black-and-white clenched fist completed the masterful marketing.
In Ukraine, the equivalent is a ticking clock, also signalling that the Kuchma regime's days are numbered.
Stickers, spray paint and websites are the young activists' weapons. Irony and street comedy mocking the regime have been hugely successful in puncturing public fear and enraging the powerful.
Last year, before becoming president in Georgia, the US-educated Mr Saakashvili travelled from Tbilisi to Belgrade to be coached in the techniques of mass defiance. In Belarus, the US embassy organised the dispatch of young opposition leaders to the Baltic, where they met up with Serbs travelling from Belgrade. In Serbia's case, given the hostile environment in Belgrade, the Americans organised the overthrow from neighbouring Hungary - Budapest and Szeged.
In recent weeks, several Serbs travelled to the Ukraine. Indeed, one of the leaders from Belgrade, Aleksandar Maric, was turned away at the border.
The Democratic party's National Democratic Institute, the Republican party's International Republican Institute, the US state department and USAid are the main agencies involved in these grassroots campaigns as well as the Freedom House NGO and billionaire George Soros's open society institute.
US pollsters and professional consultants are hired to organise focus groups and use psephological data to plot strategy.
The usually fractious oppositions have to be united behind a single candidate if there is to be any chance of unseating the regime. That leader is selected on pragmatic and objective grounds, even if he or she is anti-American.
In Serbia, US pollsters Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates discovered that the assassinated pro-western opposition leader, Zoran Djindjic, was reviled at home and had no chance of beating Milosevic fairly in an election. He was persuaded to take a back seat to the anti-western Vojislav Kostunica, who is now Serbian prime minister.
In Belarus, US officials ordered opposition parties to unite behind the dour, elderly trade unionist, Vladimir Goncharik, because he appealed to much of the Lukashenko constituency.
Officially, the US government spent $41m (£21.7m) organising and funding the year-long operation to get rid of Milosevic from October 1999. In Ukraine, the figure is said to be around $14m.
Apart from the student movement and the united opposition, the other key element in the democracy template is what is known as the "parallel vote tabulation", a counter to the election-rigging tricks beloved of disreputable regimes.
There are professional outside election monitors from bodies such as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, but the Ukrainian poll, like its predecessors, also featured thousands of local election monitors trained and paid by western groups.
Freedom House and the Democratic party's NDI helped fund and organise the "largest civil regional election monitoring effort" in Ukraine, involving more than 1,000 trained observers. They also organised exit polls. On Sunday night those polls gave Mr Yushchenko an 11-point lead and set the agenda for much of what has followed.
The exit polls are seen as critical because they seize the initiative in the propaganda battle with the regime, invariably appearing first, receiving wide media coverage and putting the onus on the authorities to respond.
The final stage in the US template concerns how to react when the incumbent tries to steal a lost election.
In Belarus, President Lukashenko won, so the response was minimal. In Belgrade, Tbilisi, and now Kiev, where the authorities initially tried to cling to power, the advice was to stay cool but determined and to organise mass displays of civil disobedience, which must remain peaceful but risk provoking the regime into violent suppression.
If the events in Kiev vindicate the US in its strategies for helping other people win elections and take power from anti-democratic regimes, it is certain to try to repeat the exercise elsewhere in the post-Soviet world.
The places to watch are Moldova and the authoritarian countries of central Asia.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
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We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
BY JOHN SOLOMON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 03/26/19 06:00 PM EDT
While the 2016 presidential race was raging in America, Ukrainian prosecutors ran into some unexpectedly strong headwinds as they pursued an investigation into the activities of a nonprofit in their homeland known as the Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC).
The focus on AntAC — whose youthful street activists famously wore “Ukraine F*&k Corruption” T-shirts — was part of a larger probe by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office into whether $4.4 million in U.S. funds to fight corruption inside the former Soviet republic had been improperly diverted.
The prosecutors soon would learn the resistance they faced was blowing directly from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, where the Obama administration took the rare step of trying to press the Ukrainian government to back off its investigation of both the U.S. aid and the group.
“The investigation into the Anti-Corruption Action Center (sic), based on the assistance they have received from us, is similarly misplaced,” then-embassy Charge d’ Affaires George Kent wrote the prosecutor’s office in April 2016 in a letter that also argued U.S. officials had no concerns about how the U.S. aid had been spent.
At the time, the nation’s prosecutor general had just been fired, under pressure from the United States, and a permanent replacement had not been named.
A few months later, Yuri Lutsenko, widely regarded as a hero in the West for spending two years in prison after fighting Russian aggression in his country, was named prosecutor general and invited to meet new U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
Lutsenko told me he was stunned when the ambassador “gave me a list of people whom we should not prosecute.” The list included a founder of the AntAC group and two members of Parliament who vocally supported the group’s anti-corruption reform agenda, according to a source directly familiar with the meeting.
It turns out the group that Ukrainian law enforcement was probing was co-funded by the Obama administration and liberal mega-donor George Soros. And it was collaborating with the FBI agents investigating then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s business activities with pro-Russian figures in Ukraine.
The implied message to Ukraine’s prosecutors was clear: Don’t target AntAC in the middle of an America presidential election in which Soros was backing Hillary Clinton to succeed another Soros favorite, Barack Obama, Ukrainian officials said.
“We ran right into a buzzsaw and we got bloodied,” a senior Ukrainian official told me.
Lutsenko suggested the embassy applied pressure because it did not want Americans to see who was being funded with its tax dollars. “At the time, Ms. Ambassador thought our interviews of the Ukrainian citizens, of the Ukrainian civil servants who were frequent visitors in the U.S. Embassy, could cast a shadow on that anti-corruption policy,” he said.
State officials told me privately they wanted Ukraine prosecutors to back off AntAC because they feared the investigation was simply retribution for the group’s high-profile efforts to force anti-corruption reforms inside Ukraine, some of which took authorities and prestige from the Prosecutor General’s Office.
But it was an unusual intervention, the officials acknowledged. “We’re not normally in the business of telling a country’s police force who they can and can’t pursue, unless it involves an American citizen we think is wrongly accused,” one official said.
In the end, no action was taken against AntAC and it remains thriving today. Nonetheless, the anecdote is taking on new significance.
First, it conflicts with the State Department’s official statement last week after Lutsenko first mentioned the do-not-prosecute list. The embassy responded that the claim was a fabrication and a sign that corruption is alive and well inside Ukraine.
But Kent’s letter unequivocally shows the embassy did press Ukrainian prosecutors to back off what normally would be considered an internal law enforcement matter inside a sovereign country. And more than a half-dozen U.S. and Ukrainian sources confirmed to me the AntAC case wasn’t the only one in which American officials exerted pressure on Ukrainian investigators in 2016.
When I asked State to explain the letter and inclusion of the Soros-connected names during the meeting, it demurred. “As a general rule, we don’t read out private diplomatic meetings,” it responded. “Ambassador Yovanovitch represents the President of the United States in Ukraine, and America stands behind her and her statements.”
Second, the AntAC anecdote highlights a little-known fact that the pursuit of foreign corruption has resulted in an unusual alliance between the U.S. government and a political mega-donor.
After the Obama Justice Department launched its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative a decade ago to prosecute corruption in other countries, the State Department, Justice Department and FBI outsourced some of its work in Ukraine to groups funded by Soros.
The Hungarian-American businessman is one of the largest donors to American liberal causes, a champion of the U.S. kleptocracy crackdown and a man with extensive business interests in Ukraine.
One key U.S. partner was AntAC, which received 59 percent (or $1 million) of its nearly $1.7 million budget since 2012 from U.S. budgets tied to State and Justice, and nearly $290,000 from Soros’s International Renaissance Foundation, according to the group’s donor disclosure records.
The U.S.-Soros collaboration was visible in Kiev. Several senior Department of Justice (DOJ) officials and FBI agents appeared in pictures as participants or attendees at Soros-sponsored events and conferences.
One attendee was Karen Greenaway, then the FBI supervisor in charge of international fraud cases and one of the lead agents in the Manafort investigation in Ukraine. She attended multiple such events and won glowing praise in a social media post from AntAC’s executive director.
In one event during 2016, Greenaway and Ambassador Yovanovitch participated alongside AntAC’s executive director, Daria Kaleniuk, and Lutsenko was present. The message was clear: The embassy supported AntAC.
The FBI confirmed Greenaway’s contacts with the Soros group, saying they were part of her investigative work: “In furtherance of the FBI’s mission and in the course of their duties, FBI employees routinely travel and participated in public forums in an official capacity. At a minimum, all such travel and speaking engagements are authorized by the employee’s direct supervisor and can receive further authorization all the way up to the relevant division head, along with an ethics official determination.”
Greenaway recently retired, and Soros’s AntAC soon after announced she was joining its supervisory board.
Internal memos from Soros’s umbrella charity organization, Open Society Foundations, describe a concerted strategy of creating friendships inside key government agencies such as State, DOJ and the FBI that can be leveraged inside the countries Soros was targeting for anti-corruption activism.
“We have broadly recognized the importance of developing supportive constituencies in order to make headway in tightening the global web of anti-corruption accountability,” a Feb. 21, 2014, memo states. “We first conceived of this in terms of fostering and helping to build a political environment favorable to high-level anti-corruption cases.”
That same memo shows Soros’s organization wanted to make Ukraine a top priority, starting in 2014, and planned to use the Anti-Corruption Action Centre as its lead.
“Ukraine: Behind the scenes advice and support to Ukrainian partner Anti-Corruption Action Centre’s efforts to generate corruption litigation in Europe and the U.S. respecting state assets stolen by senior Ukrainian leaders,” the memo states.
The memo included a chart of Ukrainians the Soros team wanted to have pursued, including some with ties to Manafort.
Senior U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed to me that the early kleptocracy collaborations inside Ukraine led to highly visible U.S. actions against the oligarch Dmitri Firtash, a major target of the Soros group, and Manafort. Firtash is now represented by former Hillary Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis and former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb.
Documents posted online by Open Society Foundations show that after U.S. officials scored some early successes in corruption cases in Ukraine, such as asset forfeitures, AntAC requested to receive some of the seized money.
“Ukrainian NGO Anticorruption Action Centre (AntAC) petitioned the United States Justice Department on behalf of Ukrainian civil society to dedicate the nearly $3 million in forfeited and seized assets allegedly laundered by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, to creating an anti-corruption training facility,” a 2015 foundation document stated.
Spokespersons for AntAC and Open Society Foundations did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Soros, deferred any comment about AntAC to the group. But he did he confirm his boss supported the continued investigation of Russia collusion allegations against Trump well past 2016.
Vachon said Soros wrote a sizable check from his personal funds in fall 2017 to a new group, Democracy Integrity Project, started by a former FBI agent and Senate staffer Daniel Jones to continue “investigation and research into foreign interference in American elections and European elections.”
Vachon said the group asked Soros not to divulge the size of his contribution, and Soros later learned the group hired Fusion GPS, the same firm that was paid by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic Party to create the infamous “Steele dossier” alleging Trump-Russia collusion.
The he said-she said battle playing out between Ukraine’s chief prosecutor and the American ambassador doesn’t benefit either side, but an honest, complete and transparent account of what the embassy communicated to Ukraine’s law enforcement does.
And the tale of AntAC raises some cogent questions:
Why would the U.S. Embassy intervene on a Ukrainian internal investigation and later deny it exerted such pressure?
Did Soros’s role as a major political funder have any impact?
Do Americans want U.S. tax dollars commingled with activists’ private funds when it comes to anti-corruption probes?
Someone in State and Congress should try to get the answers.
John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist whose work over the years has exposed U.S. and FBI intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal scientists’ misuse of foster children and veterans in drug experiments, and numerous cases of political corruption. He serves as an investigative columnist and executive vice president for video at The Hill.
The State Department utilized a powerful Facebook-owned social media tracking tool linked to leftist billionaire George Soros to unlawfully monitor U.S conservative figures, journalists and persons with ties to Donald Trump, according to an agency source, Judicial Watch reported.
The source — a State Department veteran — identified Crowdtangle as the tool used to closely watch more than a dozen U.S. citizens, including the president’s son, personal attorney and popular television personalities such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, among others, Judicial Watch reported.
Disgraceful former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, an Obama embed, enlisted a Ukraine agency to conduct the unlawful monitoring using the search terms, Biden, Giuliani, Soros, and Yovanovitch, according to a Judicial Watch investigation.
This week Judicial Watch filed another FOIA request for information related to the State Department’s use of Crowdtangle.
Crowdtangle is used to monitor more than five million social media platforms [the Sentinel is one of them]. It’s only offered to select groups.
A leftwing, Soros-funded organization called Social Science Research Center (SSRC) is charged with determining who is granted access to Crowdtangle.
Earlier this year Facebook announced that SSRC will pick researchers who will gain access to its cherished “privacy-protected” data. Only SSRC, not Facebook, decides who directs the findings or conclusions of the research.
SSCRC’s researchers claim they use the Facebook data to “study the platform’s impact on democracy worldwide.” The nonprofit describes itself as an international organization guided by the belief that “justice, prosperity, and democracy all require better understanding of complex social, cultural, economic, and political processes.” In 2016 Soros’s Open Society Foundations gave the SSRC nearly $500,000 for a Latin America human rights and public health initiative and a global “equality and antidiscrimination” program.
Soros is very, very far-left.
The 2018 Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy report confirms that the State Department uses Crowdtangle and considers it an important tool for social media managers to conduct official agency business worldwide. Just the same, ordering subordinates to target certain U.S. persons as Yovanovitch did, using State Department resources is a violation of laws and government regulations.
October 23, 2019 | Judicial Watch
The State Department utilized a powerful Facebook-owned social media tracking tool linked to leftist billionaire George Soros to unlawfully monitor prominent U.S. conservative figures, journalists and persons with ties to President Donald Trump, according to an agency source. The State Department veteran identified Crowdtangle as the tool used to closely watch more than a dozen U.S. citizens, including the president’s son, personal attorney and popular television personalities such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, among others.
Last week Judicial Watch launched an investigation into the unlawful monitoring, which State Department sources say was conducted by the agency in Ukraine at the request of ousted U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, an Obama appointee. Judicial Watch has obtained information indicating Yovanovitch may have violated laws and government regulations by ordering subordinates to target certain U.S. persons using State Department resources. Yovanovitch reportedly ordered monitoring keyed to the following search terms: Biden, Giuliani, Soros and Yovanovitch. Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the State Department last week and continues gathering facts from government sources. This week Judicial Watch filed another FOIA request for information related to the State Department’s use of Crowdtangle.
A private, invitation-only engine, Crowdtangle describes itself as a leading content discovery and social monitoring platform that can help identify influencers and track rivals. It was launched in 2011 to organize activism via social media and Facebook purchased it in 2016.
Crowdtangle monitors more than 5 million social media accounts and uses dashboards to track keywords, data and specific topics across platforms. For years Facebook has made Crowdtangle available to the mainstream media and in January founder and CEO Brandon Silverman announced he will give access to select academics and researchers in order to help counter misinformation and abuse of social media platforms. “To date, Crowdtangle has been available primarily to help newsrooms and media publishers understand what is happening on the platform,” Silverman writes. “We’re eager to make it available to this important new set of partners and help continue to provide more transparency into how information is being spread on social media.”
A leftwing, Soros-funded organization called Social Science Research Center (SSRC) is charged with determining who is granted access to Crowdtangle. Earlier this year Facebook announced that SSRC will pick researchers who will gain access to its cherished “privacy-protected” data. The statement assures that “Facebook did not play any role in the selection of the individuals or their projects and will have no role in directing the findings or conclusions of the research.” That is left up to the SSRC, which claims that selected researchers will use privacy-protected Facebook data to “study the platform’s impact on democracy worldwide.” The nonprofit describes itself as an international organization guided by the belief that “justice, prosperity, and democracy all require better understanding of complex social, cultural, economic, and political processes.” In 2016 Soros’s Open Society Foundations gave the SSRC nearly $500,000 for a Latin America human rights and public health initiative and a global “equality and antidiscrimination” program.
The 2018 Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy report confirms that the State Department uses Crowdtangle and considers it an important tool for social media managers to conduct official agency business worldwide. The State Department’s head of Public Diplomacy training also encourages the use of Crowdtangle to educate personnel about polling data consumption and “the difference between impression and reach.” The State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) actually includes a link to Crowdtangle and reveals the agency uses it to track social media posts. Nevertheless, ordering subordinates to target certain U.S. persons, as sources say Yovanovitch did, using State Department resources would constitute a violation of laws and government regulations. “This is not an obscure rule, everyone in public diplomacy or public affairs knows they can’t make lists and monitor U.S. citizens unless there is a major national security reason,” a senior State Department official told Judicial Watch last week when the story broke.
Last edited by vector7; November 18th, 2019 at 16:14.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
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We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
A new leaked memo obtained by The Free Beacon documents how George Soros funded groups plotted with Google, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to eliminate conservative “right wing propaganda.”
The recent wave of censorship of conservative voices on the internet by tech giants Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Apple mirrors a plan concocted by a coalition of George Soros-funded, progressive groups to take back power in Washington from President Trump’s administration.
A confidential, 49-page memo for defeating Trump by working with the major social-media platforms to eliminate “right wing propaganda and fake news” was presented in January 2017 by Media Matters founder David Brock at a retreat in Florida with about 100 donors, the Washington Free Beacon reported at the time.
The Gateway Pundit reported that in January 2017 after Hillary Clinton was shellacked in the November 2016 election top Democrat operatives at Media Matters, Share Blue, American Bridge, and CREW came together and released their two-year plan to take back power in Washington DC.
The document obtained by The Free Beacon states that Media Matters and other Soros funded groups have “access to raw data from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites” so they can “systemically monitor and analyze this unfiltered data.”
According to the document, the radical left groups have been working with Facebook and Twitter to eliminate conservative content.
The Free Beacon obtained a copy of the memo, “Democracy Matters: Strategic Plan for Action,” by attending a January 2017 retreat in Florida sponsored by Media Matters founder David Brock and 100 donors.
WND reports that the memo spells out a four-year agenda that deployed Media Matters along with American Bridge, Shareblue and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to attack Trump and Republicans. The strategies are impeachment, expanding Media Matters’ mission to combat “government misinformation,” ensuring Democratic control of the Senate in the 2018 midterm elections, filing lawsuits against the Trump administration, monetizing political advocacy, using a “digital attacker” to delegitimize Trump’s presidency and damage Republicans, and partnering with Facebook to combat “fake news.”
WND reports…
The document claims Media Matters and far-left groups have “access to raw data from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites” so they can “systemically monitor and analyze this unfiltered data.”
“The earlier we can identify a fake news story, the more effectively we can quash it,” the memo states. “With this new technology at our fingertips, researchers monitoring news in real time will be able to identify the origins of a lie with mathematical precision, creating an early warning system for fake news and disinformation.”
Media Matters met with Facebook, which boasts some 2 billion members worldwide, to discuss how to crack down on fake news, according to the memo.
The social media giant was provided with “a detailed map of the constellation of right-wing Facebook pages that had been the biggest purveyors of fake news.”
Brock’s memo also says Media Matters gave Google “the information necessary to identify 40 of the worst fake new sites” so they could be banned from Google’s advertising network.
The Gateway Pundit pointed out that in 2016, Google carried out that plan on the Gateway Pundit blog and other conservative sites, including Breitbart, the Drudge Report, ********, Zero Hedge and Conservative Treehouse.
Facebook, meanwhile has changed its newsfeed algorithm, ostensibly to combat “fake news,” causing a precipitous decline in traffic for many conservative sites.
President Donald Trump himself was affected, with his engagement on Facebook dropping by 45 percent.
A study in June by Gateway Pundit found Facebook had eliminated 93 percent of the traffic of top conservative news outlets.
Western Journal, in its own study, found that while left-wing publishers saw a roughly 2 percent increase in web traffic from Facebook following the algorithm changes, conservative sites saw a loss of traffic averaging around 14 percent.
‘Totalitarian impulse’ of the left
President Trump’s 2020 campaign manager charged last week the giants of Silicon Valley are stifling free speech, particularly conservative speech, manifesting the “inherent totalitarian impulse” of the left.
On Friday, Facebook appeared to be “shadow banning” the non-profit education site PragerU, founded by talk-host Dennis Prager, causing a drop in engagement of 99.9999 percent while removing two videos regarded as “hate speech.”
After Facebook rejected a highly inspirational ad for a Republican congressional candidate that included images depicting her parents’ persecution under the Khmer Rouge communist regime in Cambodia, Twitter followed up with its own ban.
WND reported earlier this month Facebook banned a pro-life video ad by a judicial candidate, giving the same explanation.
On Aug. 6, WND reported, Facebook, YouTube and Apple banned commentator Alex Jones and his ******** website within hours of each other.
Last month, WND reported moderate Muslims and counter-terrorist activists were increasingly being restricted by Silicon Valley, while terrorist content remains on social-media platforms, according to researchers.
Trump campaign chief Parscale said last week the banning of Jones “will inevitably lead to the silencing of those with far less controversial opinions.”
“What we are seeing in Big Tech is the inherent totalitarian impulse of the Left come into full focus,” Parscale said.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
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“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
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We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
The Daily Caller News Foundation By The Daily Caller News Foundation
Published August 19, 2018 at 3:56pm
by Kyle Pirisic
New details have emerged revealing that George Soros helped prop-up democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s political career in an attempt to put 400 Bernie Sanders-like politicians in Congress.
A former organizer for Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s under-dog win in the democratic primary was undoubtedly helped by far-left organizations linked George Soros — specifically, online media which played a crucial role in her campaign.
Members linked to Soros-funded digital media asked Ocasio-Cortez to run for office which guaranteed she would get favorable coverage by a media network that reaches almost 300 million people monthly.
One member of the Soros-funded media, Cenk Uygur, also founded one of the two political groups responsible for asking Ocasio-Cortez to run, Justice Democrats — whose goal is to get Sanders-like politicians elected to Congress.
Uygur, a former Armenian genocide denier, was eventually forced out of the organization after old articles revealed some of his previous sexist comments, often referring to women in a derogatory way.
Incumbent Joseph Crowley — whose footprint in the Democratic establishment led to speculation that he would succeed Nancy Pelosi as Democratic leader of the House — greatly outspent Ocasio-Cortez.
However, her strong online presence — thanks to the coverage of the Soros-linked digital media — she was able to gain traction and defeat Crowley in the primary June 26. She is expected to win New York’s 14th congressional district handedly, given the district’s Democratic history.
After Ocasio-Cortez’s website, Ocasio2018.com, was first registered May 3, 2017, it redirected to Ocasio-Cortez’s now-deleted page on BrandNewCongress.Org, according to an Internet archive captured June 29, 2017.
Brand New Congress is another organization, just like Justice Democrats, that aims to get socialists elected to Congress in the 2018 mid-terms. It has close ties to Justice Democrats.
In a June 27 interview with Uygur on his YouTube channel “The Young Turks,” Ocasio-Cortez thanked Uygur and other media platforms for covering her before the primaries, which she says “in no small part” helped her win.
“I wouldn’t be running if it wasn’t for the support of Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez told Uygur. “In fact it was, it was JD (Justice Democrats) and it was Brand New Congress that asked me to run in the first place.”
The Young Turks is a member of The Media Consortium — a network of far left media publications which includes Mother Jones, Democracy Now!, and dozens of other outlets, funded by Soros.
The Media Consortium is a Soros a media empire that, according to Media Research Center (MRC), reaches nearly 300 million people a month.
“Soros funds nearly every major left-wing media source in the United States,” MRC stated. “Forty-five of those are financed through his support of the Media Consortium. That organization ‘is a network of the country’s leading, progressive, independent media outlets.’ The list is predictable – everything from Alternet to the Young Turks.”
The MRC report goes on to detail the progressive echo chamber Soros intentionally created with the Media Consortium with the intention of shaping public opinion.
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The list is long, and her anti-Semitic slurs are significant. Nevertheless, Congress supports Israel because the American people support Israel; both nations share democratic values and strategic interests.
November 18, 2019
Rep. Ilhan Omar is funded by Israel-hating BDS promoters and PACs
The list is long, and her anti-Semitic slurs are significant. Nevertheless, Congress supports Israel because the American people support Israel; both nations share democratic values and strategic interests.
(February 15, 2019 / JNS) Israel-hating Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has repeatedly displayed deep-seated, dangerous anti-Semitism and hatred towards the Jewish people.
Rep. Omar falsely called Israel “evil” and an “apartheid regime.” She promotes anti-Israel boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS)—the delegitimization and economic destruction of Israel—after lying to voters about her BDS position while running for Congress. Rep. Omar sought reduced sentences for ISIS terrorists, a position that endangers every American. And she’s never apologized for any of these issues.
The Democratic House leadership’s recent condemnations of Rep. Omar are an important first step, but they are not enough, especially because she immediately backtracked on her phony “non-apologies” by again defaming Jews and Israel.
From the outset, the Zionist Organization of America urged that Ilhan Rep. Omar must be removed from the House Foreign Relations Committee, which is a position that enables her to harm U.S.-Israel relations and mainstream her virulent anti-Semitism. We are thankful that this week, U.S. President Trump called for Rep. Omar’s ouster from the committee, at a minimum.
Rep. Omar’s most recent anti-Semitic tweets—that a Jewish lobby organization (AIPAC) and money cause Congress to support Israel—are woefully wrong. Congress supports Israel because the American people, Jewish and non-Jewish, support Israel; it’s the moral thing to do, and both nations share democratic values and strategic interests.
Rep. Omar’s anti-Semitic “Jewish money” tweets prompted us to examine her own funders. ZOA’s analysis of Rep. Her Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings found that her financial supporters include a veritable “Who’s Who” of anti-Israel propagandists and haters and anti-Israel PACs. For instance:
BDS leader Hatem Bazian, who founded the virulent and sometimes violent anti-Israel organizations Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), gave Rep. Omar three contributions. Bazian’s agenda is Israel’s destruction. He is a leader of the anti-Israel boycott movement on college campuses and throughout the world; has called for “intifada” in the United States; and persistently spreads classic anti-Semitic falsehoods against Israel.
CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) is one of Rep. Omar’s top 20 contributors. CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial, for funneling money to Hamas. FBI testimony reportedly indicated that CAIR is a Hamas front group. IPT detailed CAIR leaders’ statements supporting Hamas, and the HLF trial judge’s ruling that the government’s evidence created “at least a prima facie case as to CAIR’s involvement in a conspiracy to support Hamas.” CAIR-CA PAC gave her $5,000.
In addition, CAIR-CA’s executive director, Hussam Ayloush, who called for Israel’s “termination,” gave Ilhan Omar $1,200. A CAIR Florida employee gave Rep. Omar another $500.
James Zogby, president of the anti-Israel Arab-American Institute (AAI), chairman of the anti-Israel Palestine Human Rights Campaign, and a major anti-Israel propagandist, gave Rep. Omar $2,700. Zogby falsely accused Israel of committing a “Holocaust” against Palestinians; called Israelis “Nazis”; campaigned to prevent the extradition to Israel of a Fatah terrorist who killed two Israeli teenagers and wounded 36 other Israelis; called Cuban-American Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen an “Israel-firster” (an anti-Semitic trope implying dual loyalty); praised the intifada as a “good story”; and was a leading architect of propaganda themes used to pry progressive Jews away from supporting Israel.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who wrapped herself in the flag of Mahmoud Abbas’s murderous, hostile, Palestinian-Arab regime to celebrate her election win, sent Rep. Omar three contributions. Tlaib also supports replacing Israel with a Palestinian Arab state, repeatedly hurls false accusations at Israel, says that Israel doesn’t deserve human rights, and invoked anti-Semitic disloyalty-to-America smears against U.S. senators who sponsored an anti-BDS bill.
A professor from California Islamic University, which “arm[s] [students] with tools needed to spread Islam wherever they go,” donated to Rep. Omar.
The Soros-funded MoveOn.Org, which attempted to kill the pro-Israel anti-BDS bill and essentially blackmailed congresspersons to support the disastrous Iran deal, gave Rep. Omar $5,000 and was one of hers top 20 contributors. MoveOn.org also co-founded Avaaz, which initiates extremely offensive, falsehood-filled anti-Israel campaigns, including campaigns to release Palestinian Arab terrorist Ahed Tamimi, and for Ireland’s dangerous BDS Bill.
A $500 donor to Rep. Omar showed his wife wearing Hamas scarves and put on his Facebook profile, stating in Arabic: “Jerusalem is ours, WE ARE COMING!” and include maps in the shape of Israel over-written with the words: “Palestine” and “From the river to the sea!” (the well-known phrase calling for Israel’s extinction).
OneVoice gave Rep. Omar $1,000. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations’ 2016 bipartisan staff report found that OneVoice used campaign infrastructure built with $350,000 of taxpayer money, granted by President Obama’s State Department, to interfere with Israel’s election and fund efforts to oust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Bend the Arc Jewish Action Inc. PAC, founded and chaired by anti-Zionist George Soros’s son, Alex Soros, gave Rep. Omar $1,000. Blogger Victor Rosenthal explained that Bend the Arc funnels Jewish contributions to left-wing politicians who support anti-Israel policies, without mentioning Israel, to enable left-leaning Jewish contributors to donate to anti-Israel politicians (such as Ilhan Omar) without feeling guilty about betraying their people.
Debbie (Dhabah) Almontaser, who defended an Arab Women’s group for hawking “Intifada NYC” T-shirts that glorify Palestinian-Arab terror, gave Omar $500.
Rep. Omar’s most recent non-apology added: “At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry.” Hypocritically however, Rep. Omar accepted oil money from Beowulf Energy’s principal Nazar Khan ($2,000); Giant Oil president Basem Ali ($2,000); and an ExxonMobil specialist.
She also hypocritically accepted approximately $190,000 of PAC money.
Disappointingly, “Nancy Pelosi for Congress,” previously gave Rep. Omar $2,000. Now that Rep. Omar has repeatedly displayed her deep-seated anti-Semitism, Speaker Pelosi has condemned those comments, saying “Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive.” We hope Speaker Pelosi will discontinue financially supporting Rep. Omar and immediately remove her from the House Foreign Relations Committee.
Rep. Omar must be isolated, defunded and removed from positions—meaning from every committee where she can carry out the extremist anti-Israel anti-American agenda of those who are backing her financially.
Morton A. Klein is the national president of the Zionist Organization of America. Elizabeth A. Berney is ZOA’s director of special projects. Rashida Tlaib Misrepresented Soros Stipend in Financial Disclosures
Congresswoman-elect did not disclose name of source and wrote a lesser amount than given
Joe Schoffstall - DECEMBER 6, 2018 5:00 AM
Congresswoman-elect Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) did not disclose the name of the source of funds for a fellowship that was paid by liberal billionaire George Soros—as required by the House ethics committee—and also disclosed a lesser amount than she received, according to a review of tax and financial disclosure forms.
The Washington Free Beacon obtained the most recent copies of tax forms for a number of Soros's organizations, including the Open Society Institute, the legal name for the Open Society Foundations, the entity in which Soros pushes millions in funding to a number of liberal causes and organizations.
An expenditure of $85,307 to Rashida Tlaib in Detroit, Mich., from 2017 is shown on page 97 of the 321-page report to "to increase involvement of disenfranchised urban communities of color with their local governance process by creating a community benefits strategy for equitable development and creating a leadership training for impacted residents focused on negotiation skills and identifying leverage at the local level."
Tlaib did not report any income in the amount of $85,307 on financial disclosure forms submitted as she was running for office, which identified the names of the sources that provided her income in three of four cases. Tlaib received compensation from the Maurice & Jane Sugar Law Center, Wayne State University, and Metro Solutions, the forms show.
However, the fourth reported source of earned income is marked as a "Leadership in Government Fellowship," but does not identify who provided the payment.
A press release from 2016 shows that Tlaib was chosen for a "leadership in government" fellowship by Soros's Open Society Foundations along with seven other individuals.
"The eight fellows, chosen from the senior ranks of federal, state, and local government, will work on a wide variety of issue areas: devising new ways to bring criminal justice reform to local prosecutors' offices; developing new strategies for helping school children exposed to trauma; improving life outcomes for low-wage workers, immigrants, and boys and men of color; and closing the digital divide, and more," the release reads.
A spokesman for Soros's Open Society Foundations said Tlaib's fellowship was terminated earlier this year when she informed the group she would be running for Congress..
Kendra Arnold, executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, said that Tlaib's failure to report the source of her income is "problematic" due to rules requiring that the income source be identified.
Candidates are required to disclose the name of groups and organizations that provide their source of income, according to the manual on financial disclosure statements from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics.
"Identify the source by naming the organization, corporation, or other entity making the payment. It is not necessary that individual clients of a business be named, only the business itself," the manual states on page 31. "For example, on Schedule C, an editor would report the name of the publishing firm as the source of earned income, not the clients for whom the work was performed. Describe the type of income as salary, commissions, fees, pension, etc., as appropriate."
The $68,307 income marked for the "Leadership in Government Fellowship" on the financial disclosure forms is also $17,000 less than the $85,307 that was marked as being paid out by Soros's group.
Arnold said this discrepancy is not as clear and could be the result of hard costs associated with the program.
"Filers must report the exact amount of income earned by them," the ethics manual reads. "Filers are not required to report an amount for their spouse’s income; rather they should report "N/A" in the "Amount" column. Filers, however, are required to report the exact amount of an honorarium received by their spouse."
Tlaib was paid $139,873 by Soros's group in 2016, tax forms show. Between 2016 and 2017, Tlaib received a total of $225,180.
Tlaib did receive any income from the Open Society Foundations in 2018, Soros's spokesman said.
Tlaib's campaign acknowledged receiving the Washington Free Beacon's inquiry but did not explain why the source of funding was excluded from her financial disclosure forms and why the amount is lower than what she actually received by press time.
UPDATE 11:45 A.M.: Jonathan Kaplan, the communications officer for the Open Society Foundations, sent the following quote after publication:
"Rashida Tlaib was awarded a Leadership in Government fellowship from the Open Society Foundations in the fall of 2016. Her project: to focus on increasing the civic participation of disenfranchised urban communities of color. When Ms. Tlaib informed us that she was planning to run for Congress, we mutually agreed to suspend her fellowship and no further payments were made."
This post has been updated to reflect Kaplan's comment.
NEW YORK — Billionaire George Soros is a financial contributor to The Collective, a little-known but increasingly influential political organization that says it is seeking to build a “black political power” movement in the U.S., Federal Election Commission records show.
The Collective was one of the primary donors central to funding Andrew Gillum’s recent meteoric rise in the Tallahassee mayor’s successful primary fight for Florida’s Democratic gubernatorial nomination. It reportedly injected nearly $2 million into Gillum’s campaign, funding television and radio ads, get-out-the-vote drives, and playing a key role in helping Gillum defeat his Democratic opponents, some of whom were better-funded and had more statewide name recognition. The group announced plans to continue backing Gillum during the current general election campaign.
A closer look at The Collective’s individual donor list for the 2017-2018 cycle finds that Soros provided $70,000 in December 2017. Planned Parenthood, also financed by Soros, is listed as providing $12,500.
The clear majority of The Collective’s large donations came from a single entity, Collective Future, which is the 501c4 arm of The Collective and as such does not need to legally disclose the sources of its own funding.
FEC records show that between May and July, during the heat of Gillum’s primary race, Collective Future pumped a total of $1,624,772 into The Collective.
The Collective’s co-founder, Quentin James, declined to comment to a Breitbart News request seeking clarification on Collective Future’s donor list.
James was asked by email to comment on “the source(s) of the funding to Collective Future.” He was also asked whether Soros or billionaire Tom Steyer, both of whom separately backed groups promoting Gillum, were donors to Collective Future, particularly considering Soros’s direct $70,000 donation to The Collective group.
“We’re gonna decline here but thank you for reaching out,” James replied.
James himself has previously worked for Soros-funded organizations. He formerly served as the National Director for the student coalition of the Soros-funded Sierra Club. He also served as a National Board Member for the NAACP, which is heavily financed by Soros.
James co-founded Vestige Strategies, a consulting firm that he runs with his wife, Stefanie Brown James, who held national roles in campaigns for both Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. Brown James is also The Collective’s co-founder and senior adviser. Vestige Strategies’ website boasts “experience” and “recognitions,” including work for the Soros-financed groups NAACP and the Sierra Club. Other listed groups include the super PAC Ready for Hillary, as well as Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns.
The refusal of Collective Future to disclose its donors is instructive given Gillum’s warning in February about the influence of “dark money” in the race, referring to entities that obscure their donors.
During the primary, The Collective’s efforts focused on opposing Gillum’s main opponent, Gwen Graham, including attempting to brand her as a fake liberal. Now the group is expected to turn its efforts against Ron DeSantis, the Republican nominee.
Speaking recently to the Tampa Bay Times, James confirmed that Gillum could expect “far” more support from his Collective group. “We have plans to far exceed that amount before the primary and the general election,” he wrote in an email to the newspaper.
The newspaper reported that The Collective’s support for Gillum “appears to be wildly disproportionate to the other Collective-endorsed candidates running for governor.”
Asked why his group singled out Gillum, James noted the centrality of Florida to national politics, including the possibility of putting the Democrats in charge of the Senate and House.
James stated:
Florida presents unique opportunities in 2018, including the possibility of electing the state’s first African American governor and attorney general, flipping some congressional seats including in Florida 18 and 27, re-electing Senator Nelson to the United States Senate and returning voting rights to to its citizens who have served their time.
The Collective’s support for Gillum came alongside donations to aid the politician by other progressive groups, including one run by Steyer, who spent $1.4 million on Gillum’s race. Days before the Aug. 28 primary, Soros joined with Steyer to lead a group of donors making a $650,000 infusion into Gillum’s coffers.
James: Too Many ‘White Men’ Hold Office
The Collective is a race-centric organization that says on its website it is “working to fix the challenge of African American underrepresentation in elected seats of power throughout our nation.” The aim of the organization is to “reach political equity — a place where African American elected officials represent the community’s population statistically.”
The Collective boasts it has been “building black political power since 2016.”
The Collective runs a “Black Campaign School” where James says they train people on how to build a political movement in America’s “heightened, almost racist environment.” He charged that this environment has spiraled into “white supremacy” under the tenure of President Trump.
In a profile last year, James complained that “white men” hold too many elected positions.
He stated:
Why is it that white men, who are 31 percent of our population, hold over 65 percent of all elected positions? We have a situation where the people who write the law, defend the law and fund the law don’t represent the demographics of the American population. If this continues, we will be stuck in a position of continually asking those from outside our communities to save our communities. I don’t want that future and I bet most people in our community don’t either.
Since 2016, the group has been holding weekend retreats called the “Black Campaign School,” where James says the training focuses on building a political movement amid what he claims is America’s “heightened, almost racist environment,” one that he says exploded into “white supremacy” in the era of Trump.
“Unfortunately, a lot of our progressive trainings and Democratic trainings don’t center the experience of racism in this country,” said James, speaking to thegrio.com.
“He’s really inspired a heightened level of white supremacy and white nationalism in our country,” James claimed about Trump. “If we aren’t preparing people on how to run in a heightened, almost racist, environment, then we’re doing them a disservice.”
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Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain in 2012 turned over nearly $9 million in unspent funds from his failed 2008 presidential campaign to a new foundation bearing his name, the McCain Institute for International Leadership.
The institute is intended to serve as a “legacy” for McCain and “is dedicated to advancing human rights, dignity, democracy and freedom.” It is a tax-exempt non-profit foundation with assets valued at $8.1 million and associated with Arizona State University.
Conservative and liberal critics, however, believe the institute constitutes a major conflict of interest for McCain, The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group has learned.
McCain, a former Navy pilot who was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 and was then a prisoner of war in the infamous Hanoi Hilton until 1973, is a major political force in Washington, D.C. He is presently chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
Critics worry that the institute’s donors and McCain’s personal leadership in the organization’s exclusive “Sedona Forum” bear an uncanny resemblance to the glitzy Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) that annually co-mingled special interests and powerful political players in alleged pay-to-play schemes.
The institute has accepted contributions of as much as $100,000 from billionaire liberal activist-funder George Soros and from Teneo, a for-profit company co-founded by Doug Band, former President Bill Clinton’s “bag man.” Teneo has long helped enrich Clinton through lucrative speaking and business deals.
And Bloomberg reported in 2016 on a $1 million Saudi Arabian donation to the institute, a contribution the McCain group has refused to explain publicly.
In addition, the institute has taken at least $100,000 from a Moroccan state-run company tied to repeated charges of worker abuse and exploitation. The McCain group has also accepted at least $100,000 from the Pivotal Foundation, which was created by Francis Najafi who owns the Pivotal Group, a private equity and real estate firm.
The Pivotal Foundation has in the last three years given $205,000 to the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), which has been a vocal advocate for the Iranian nuclear deal the Obama administration negotiated.
The NIAC web site claims the group “is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the voice of Iranian Americans and promoting greater understanding between the American and Iranian people.”
But NIAC President Trita Parsi has long been an advocate for Iran, including demanding in May 2017 that President Donald Trump and officials in his administration “cease questioning the integrity of a (nuclear) deal.”
The NIAC is “Iran’s lobbyists in Washington,” charged Aresh Salih, the Washington representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan. “People inside of Iran know them as their lobbyists in Washington, D.C.,” Salih told TheDCNF.
The NIAC does not file as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, nor does it register as a lobbyist with Congress.
Yet in May 2013, Parsi spoke to a packed Capitol Hill meeting sponsored by Minnesota Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison to argue in favor of the nuclear deal. Ellison was the first Muslim elected to Congress and is also deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
“This is a very real conflict of interest,” Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen, told TheDCNF. “This is the similar type of pattern we received with the Clinton Foundation in which foreign governments and foreign interests were throwing a lot of money in the hopes of trying to buy influence.”
Liberal consumer advocate Ralph Nader founded Public Citizen.
Lawrence Noble, general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, told the DCNF that accepting contributions in the name of a sitting senator like McCain raises troubling issues.
“In terms of the ethics of it, it does raise a broad question of people trying to get good will with the elected official,” he said. “From a personal standpoint, I’d rather not see these entities exist.”
Charles Ortel, a retired Wall Street investment banker and philanthropy law expert, told TheDCNF that “high government officials such as John McCain, [former Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama should not get involved with vehicles like these where substantial sums can be funneled over time in ways that at best, reeks of impropriety and at worse are public corruption.”
The institute’s donations not only suggest special pleading before the senator, but also in some instances appear to contradict McCain’s vision of human rights and national security.
It accepted more than $100,000 from OCP, S.A., a Moroccan state-owned phosphate company operating in the Western Sahara, territory which Morocco seized in 1975. The North African country has since occupied the region by force in defiance of U.N. resolutions and legal declarations by other international bodies.
Morocco has come under criticism from human rights groups that the government violates basic human rights and that its state-owned companies subject its workforce to gruesome conditions while exploiting the disputed territory’s natural resources.
The Western Sahara holds half of the world’s phosphate reserves. Used to make fertilizer, phosphate is called Morocco’s “white gold.”
Last week, a South African court ruled in favor of the seizure of an OCP ship charged with illegally carrying 50,000 tons of phosphate from the Western Sahara. The country’s independence movement, which calls the territory the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, succeeded in convincing the court to keep the ship in port until the case is resolved.
The King of Morocco was a major donor to the Clinton Foundation. Hillary Clinton personally accepted $12 million from the King in return for holding a CGI regional meeting in the country.
OCP also was a major sponsor of the CGI meeting, and Bill Clinton was the featured speaker.
The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice has charged OCP with “serious human rights violations,” including exploitation of workers by not “adequately compensating the impoverished people who live there.”
McCain has lavished effusive praise on the King of Morocco, saying in 2011, that the country was a “positive example to governments across the Middle East and North Africa.”
McCain and Soros reportedly became friends after the senator was exposed as a member of the “Keating Five” during the savings and loan (S&L) industry scandal during former President George H.W. Bush’s administration. As the S&L bank chairman, Charles Keating paid $1.3 million to bribe five members of Congress to interfere with government regulators on behalf of the savings bank.
The experience so scarred McCain that he became a vigorous advocate of campaign finance reform and in the process reportedly became friends with Soros.
McCain recently claimed no involvement with the institute, saying “I’m proud that the institute is named after me, but I have nothing to do with it.”
The institute did not respond to requests for the dollar amounts of its high donors, when the donations were made and if there were strings attached to the contributions, claiming it did not have any of the information. Late Monday, the institute’s spokesman referred The DCNF to Arizona State University.
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Soros, Ukrainian parliamentarians discuss national economic recovery
Soros, Ukrainian parliamentarians discuss national economic recovery
During his visit to Ukraine, billionaire and investor George Soros met with a number of the country's parliamentarians to discuss the creation of a National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the fight against corruption and the creation of an insurance fund for direct foreign investment, said Hanna Hopko (Samopomich Party), who chairs the Ukrainian parliamentary committee for foreign affairs.
"A meeting was held with Mr. Soros. Here is a brief of what was discussed: the election of a chairperson of an anti-corruption bureau and the efficiency of fighting corruption in Ukraine, cooperation among the presidential administration, the government, the cabinet and the parliament," she wrote on her Facebook page on Monday.
The meeting also focused on the work of the National council for reform and the public participation in it, the importance of the judicial reform and the registered bills, how to restore the economy (into one of innovative type) and create a fund for insurance of direct foreign investment in Ukraine; cooperation with international organizations, Hopko said.
The meeting with Soros was attended by parliamentarians Oleksiy Riabchyn (Batkivschyna), Viktoria Siumar (People's Front) and Mustafa Nayyem (Petro Poroshenko Bloc), Hopko said.
Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire
Kiev officials are scrambling to make amends with the president-elect after quietly working to boost Clinton.
By KENNETH P. VOGEL and DAVID STERN 01/11/2017 05:05 AM EST
Donald Trump wasn’t the only presidential candidate whose campaign was boosted by officials of a former Soviet bloc country.
Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.
A Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.
The Ukrainian efforts had an impact in the race, helping to force Manafort’s resignation and advancing the narrative that Trump’s campaign was deeply connected to Ukraine’s foe to the east, Russia. But they were far less concerted or centrally directed than Russia’s alleged hacking and dissemination of Democratic emails.
Russia’s effort was personally directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, involved the country’s military and foreign intelligence services, according to U.S. intelligence officials. They reportedly briefed Trump last week on the possibility that Russian operatives might have compromising information on the president-elect. And at a Senate hearing last week on the hacking, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said “I don't think we've ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election process than we've seen in this case.”
There’s little evidence of such a top-down effort by Ukraine. Longtime observers suggest that the rampant corruption, factionalism and economic struggles plaguing the country — not to mention its ongoing strife with Russia — would render it unable to pull off an ambitious covert interference campaign in another country’s election. And President Petro Poroshenko’s administration, along with the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, insists that Ukraine stayed neutral in the race.
Lawmakers broach possible Trump campaign coordination with Russia
By AUSTIN WRIGHT and MARTIN MATISHAK
Yet Politico’s investigation found evidence of Ukrainian government involvement in the race that appears to strain diplomatic protocol dictating that governments refrain from engaging in one another’s elections.
Russia’s meddling has sparked outrage from the American body politic. The U.S. intelligence community undertook the rare move of publicizing its findings on the matter, and President Barack Obama took several steps to officially retaliate, while members of Congress continue pushing for more investigations into the hacking and a harder line against Russia, which was already viewed in Washington as America’s leading foreign adversary.
Ukraine, on the other hand, has traditionally enjoyed strong relations with U.S. administrations. Its officials worry that could change under Trump, whose team has privately expressed sentiments ranging from ambivalence to deep skepticism about Poroshenko’s regime, while sounding unusually friendly notes about Putin’s regime.
Poroshenko is scrambling to alter that dynamic, recently signing a $50,000-a-month contract with a well-connected GOP-linked Washington lobbying firm to set up meetings with U.S. government officials “to strengthen U.S.-Ukrainian relations.”
A Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort (pictured) and Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.
Revelations about Ukraine’s anti-Trump efforts could further set back those efforts.
“Things seem to be going from bad to worse for Ukraine,” said David A. Merkel, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who helped oversee U.S. relations with Russia and Ukraine while working in George W. Bush’s State Department and National Security Council.
Merkel, who has served as an election observer in Ukrainian presidential elections dating back to 1993, noted there’s some irony in Ukraine and Russia taking opposite sides in the 2016 presidential race, given that past Ukrainian elections were widely viewed in Washington’s foreign policy community as proxy wars between the U.S. and Russia.
“Now, it seems that a U.S. election may have been seen as a surrogate battle by those in Kiev and Moscow,” Merkel said.
•••
The Ukrainian antipathy for Trump’s team — and alignment with Clinton’s — can be traced back to late 2013. That’s when the country’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, whom Manafort had been advising, abruptly backed out of a European Union pact linked to anti-corruption reforms. Instead, Yanukovych entered into a multibillion-dollar bailout agreement with Russia, sparking protests across Ukraine and prompting Yanukovych to flee the country to Russia under Putin’s protection.
In the ensuing crisis, Russian troops moved into the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, and Manafort dropped off the radar.
Manafort’s work for Yanukovych caught the attention of a veteran Democratic operative named Alexandra Chalupa, who had worked in the White House Office of Public Liaison during the Clinton administration. Chalupa went on to work as a staffer, then as a consultant, for Democratic National Committee. The DNC paid her $412,000 from 2004 to June 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records, though she also was paid by other clients during that time, including Democratic campaigns and the DNC’s arm for engaging expatriate Democrats around the world.
A daughter of Ukrainian immigrants who maintains strong ties to the Ukrainian-American diaspora and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, Chalupa, a lawyer by training, in 2014 was doing pro bono work for another client interested in the Ukrainian crisis and began researching Manafort’s role in Yanukovych’s rise, as well as his ties to the pro-Russian oligarchs who funded Yanukovych’s political party.
In an interview this month, Chalupa told Politico she had developed a network of sources in Kiev and Washington, including investigative journalists, government officials and private intelligence operatives. While her consulting work at the DNC this past election cycle centered on mobilizing ethnic communities — including Ukrainian-Americans — she said that, when Trump’s unlikely presidential campaign began surging in late 2015, she began focusing more on the research, and expanded it to include Trump’s ties to Russia, as well.
She occasionally shared her findings with officials from the DNC and Clinton’s campaign, Chalupa said. In January 2016 — months before Manafort had taken any role in Trump’s campaign — Chalupa told a senior DNC official that, when it came to Trump’s campaign, “I felt there was a Russia connection,” Chalupa recalled. “And that, if there was, that we can expect Paul Manafort to be involved in this election,” said Chalupa, who at the time also was warning leaders in the Ukrainian-American community that Manafort was “Putin’s political brain for manipulating U.S. foreign policy and elections.”
PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION
Trump confronts firestorm over Russia allegations
By ELI STOKOLS, SHANE GOLDMACHER, JOSH DAWSEY and MICHAEL CROWLEY
She said she shared her concern with Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Valeriy Chaly, and one of his top aides, Oksana Shulyar, during a March 2016 meeting at the Ukrainian Embassy. According to someone briefed on the meeting, Chaly said that Manafort was very much on his radar, but that he wasn’t particularly concerned about the operative’s ties to Trump since he didn’t believe Trump stood much of a chance of winning the GOP nomination, let alone the presidency.
That was not an uncommon view at the time, and, perhaps as a result, Trump’s ties to Russia — let alone Manafort’s — were not the subject of much attention.
That all started to change just four days after Chalupa’s meeting at the embassy, when it was reported that Trump had in fact hired Manafort, suggesting that Chalupa may have been on to something. She quickly found herself in high demand. The day after Manafort’s hiring was revealed, she briefed the DNC’s communications staff on Manafort, Trump and their ties to Russia, according to an operative familiar with the situation.
A former DNC staffer described the exchange as an “informal conversation,” saying “‘briefing’ makes it sound way too formal,” and adding, “We were not directing or driving her work on this.” Yet, the former DNC staffer and the operative familiar with the situation agreed that with the DNC’s encouragement, Chalupa asked embassy staff to try to arrange an interview in which Poroshenko might discuss Manafort’s ties to Yanukovych.
While the embassy declined that request, officials there became “helpful” in Chalupa’s efforts, she said, explaining that she traded information and leads with them. “If I asked a question, they would provide guidance, or if there was someone I needed to follow up with.” But she stressed, “There were no documents given, nothing like that.”
Chalupa said the embassy also worked directly with reporters researching Trump, Manafort and Russia to point them in the right directions. She added, though, “they were being very protective and not speaking to the press as much as they should have. I think they were being careful because their situation was that they had to be very, very careful because they could not pick sides. It’s a political issue, and they didn’t want to get involved politically because they couldn’t.”
Shulyar vehemently denied working with reporters or with Chalupa on anything related to Trump or Manafort, explaining “we were stormed by many reporters to comment on this subject, but our clear and adamant position was not to give any comment [and] not to interfere into the campaign affairs.”
Russia’s effort to influence the 2016 race was personally directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured), and involved the country’s military and foreign intelligence services, according to U.S. intelligence officials. | Getty
Both Shulyar and Chalupa said the purpose of their initial meeting was to organize a June reception at the embassy to promote Ukraine. According to the embassy’s website, the event highlighted female Ukrainian leaders, featuring speeches by Ukrainian parliamentarian Hanna Hopko, who discussed “Ukraine’s fight against the Russian aggression in Donbas,” and longtime Hillary Clinton confidante Melanne Verveer, who worked for Clinton in the State Department and was a vocal surrogate during the presidential campaign.
Shulyar said her work with Chalupa “didn’t involve the campaign,” and she specifically stressed that “We have never worked to research and disseminate damaging information about Donald Trump and Paul Manafort.”
But Andrii Telizhenko, who worked as a political officer in the Ukrainian Embassy under Shulyar, said she instructed him to help Chalupa research connections between Trump, Manafort and Russia. “Oksana said that if I had any information, or knew other people who did, then I should contact Chalupa,” recalled Telizhenko, who is now a political consultant in Kiev. “They were coordinating an investigation with the Hillary team on Paul Manafort with Alexandra Chalupa,” he said, adding “Oksana was keeping it all quiet,” but “the embassy worked very closely with” Chalupa.
In fact, sources familiar with the effort say that Shulyar specifically called Telizhenko into a meeting with Chalupa to provide an update on an American media outlet’s ongoing investigation into Manafort.
Telizhenko recalled that Chalupa told him and Shulyar that, “If we can get enough information on Paul [Manafort] or Trump’s involvement with Russia, she can get a hearing in Congress by September.”
Chalupa confirmed that, a week after Manafort’s hiring was announced, she discussed the possibility of a congressional investigation with a foreign policy legislative assistant in the office of Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who co-chairs the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus. But, Chalupa said, “It didn’t go anywhere.”
Asked about the effort, the Kaptur legislative assistant called it a “touchy subject” in an internal email to colleagues that was accidentally forwarded to Politico.
Kaptur’s office later emailed an official statement explaining that the lawmaker is backing a bill to create an independent commission to investigate “possible outside interference in our elections.” The office added “at this time, the evidence related to this matter points to Russia, but Congresswoman Kaptur is concerned with any evidence of foreign entities interfering in our elections.”
•••
Almost as quickly as Chalupa’s efforts attracted the attention of the Ukrainian Embassy and Democrats, she also found herself the subject of some unwanted attention from overseas.
Within a few weeks of her initial meeting at the embassy with Shulyar and Chaly, Chalupa on April 20 received the first of what became a series of messages from the administrators of her private Yahoo email account, warning her that “state-sponsored actors” were trying to hack into her emails.
She kept up her crusade, appearing on a panel a week after the initial hacking message to discuss her research on Manafort with a group of Ukrainian investigative journalists gathered at the Library of Congress for a program sponsored by a U.S. congressional agency called the Open World Leadership Center.
Center spokeswoman Maura Shelden stressed that her group is nonpartisan and ensures “that our delegations hear from both sides of the aisle, receiving bipartisan information.” She said the Ukrainian journalists in subsequent days met with Republican officials in North Carolina and elsewhere. And she said that, before the Library of Congress event, “Open World’s program manager for Ukraine did contact Chalupa to advise her that Open World is a nonpartisan agency of the Congress.”
Chalupa, though, indicated in an email that was later hacked and released by WikiLeaks that the Open World Leadership Center “put me on the program to speak specifically about Paul Manafort.”
Republicans pile on Russia for hacking, get details on GOP targets
By MARTIN MATISHAK and AUSTIN WRIGHT
In the email, which was sent in early May to then-DNC communications director Luis Miranda, Chalupa noted that she had extended an invitation to the Library of Congress forum to veteran Washington investigative reporter Michael Isikoff. Two days before the event, he had published a story for Yahoo News revealing the unraveling of a $26 million deal between Manafort and a Russian oligarch related to a telecommunications venture in Ukraine. And Chalupa wrote in the email she’d been “working with for the past few weeks” with Isikoff “and connected him to the Ukrainians” at the event.
Isikoff, who accompanied Chalupa to a reception at the Ukrainian Embassy immediately after the Library of Congress event, declined to comment.
Chalupa further indicated in her hacked May email to the DNC that she had additional sensitive information about Manafort that she intended to share “offline” with Miranda and DNC research director Lauren Dillon, including “a big Trump component you and Lauren need to be aware of that will hit in next few weeks and something I’m working on you should be aware of.” Explaining that she didn’t feel comfortable sharing the intel over email, Chalupa attached a screenshot of a warning from Yahoo administrators about “state-sponsored” hacking on her account, explaining, “Since I started digging into Manafort these messages have been a daily occurrence on my yahoo account despite changing my password often.”
Dillon and Miranda declined to comment.
A DNC official stressed that Chalupa was a consultant paid to do outreach for the party’s political department, not a researcher. She undertook her investigations into Trump, Manafort and Russia on her own, and the party did not incorporate her findings in its dossiers on the subjects, the official said, stressing that the DNC had been building robust research books on Trump and his ties to Russia long before Chalupa began sounding alarms.
Nonetheless, Chalupa’s hacked email reportedly escalated concerns among top party officials, hardening their conclusion that Russia likely was behind the cyber intrusions with which the party was only then beginning to grapple.
Chalupa left the DNC after the Democratic convention in late July to focus fulltime on her research into Manafort, Trump and Russia. She said she provided off-the-record information and guidance to “a lot of journalists” working on stories related to Manafort and Trump’s Russia connections, despite what she described as escalating harassment.
About a month-and-a-half after Chalupa first started receiving hacking alerts, someone broke into her car outside the Northwest Washington home where she lives with her husband and three young daughters, she said. They “rampaged it, basically, but didn’t take anything valuable — left money, sunglasses, $1,200 worth of golf clubs,” she said, explaining she didn’t file a police report after that incident because she didn’t connect it to her research and the hacking.
But by the time a similar vehicle break-in occurred involving two family cars, she was convinced that it was a Russia-linked intimidation campaign. The police report on the latter break-in noted that “both vehicles were unlocked by an unknown person and the interior was ransacked, with papers and the garage openers scattered throughout the cars. Nothing was taken from the vehicles.”
Then, early in the morning on another day, a woman “wearing white flowers in her hair” tried to break into her family’s home at 1:30 a.m., Chalupa said. Shulyar told Chalupa that the mysterious incident bore some of the hallmarks of intimidation campaigns used against foreigners in Russia, according to Chalupa.
“This is something that they do to U.S. diplomats, they do it to Ukrainians. Like, this is how they operate. They break into people’s homes. They harass people. They’re theatrical about it,” Chalupa said. “They must have seen when I was writing to the DNC staff, outlining who Manafort was, pulling articles, saying why it was significant, and painting the bigger picture.”
In a Yahoo News story naming Chalupa as one of 16 “ordinary people” who “shaped the 2016 election,” Isikoff wrote that after Chalupa left the DNC, FBI agents investigating the hacking questioned her and examined her laptop and smartphone.
Chalupa this month told Politico that, as her research and role in the election started becoming more public, she began receiving death threats, along with continued alerts of state-sponsored hacking. But she said, “None of this has scared me off.”
•••
While it’s not uncommon for outside operatives to serve as intermediaries between governments and reporters, one of the more damaging Russia-related stories for the Trump campaign — and certainly for Manafort — can be traced more directly to the Ukrainian government.
Documents released by an independent Ukrainian government agency — and publicized by a parliamentarian — appeared to show $12.7 million in cash payments that were earmarked for Manafort by the Russia-aligned party of the deposed former president, Yanukovych.
The New York Times, in the August story revealing the ledgers’ existence, reported that the payments earmarked for Manafort were “a focus” of an investigation by Ukrainian anti-corruption officials, while CNN reported days later that the FBI was pursuing an overlapping inquiry.
One of the most damaging Russia-related stories during Donald Trump's campaign can be traced to the Ukrainian government. | AP Photo
Clinton’s campaign seized on the story to advance Democrats’ argument that Trump’s campaign was closely linked to Russia. The ledger represented “more troubling connections between Donald Trump’s team and pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine,” Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, said in a statement. He demanded that Trump “disclose campaign chair Paul Manafort’s and all other campaign employees’ and advisers’ ties to Russian or pro-Kremlin entities, including whether any of Trump’s employees or advisers are currently representing and or being paid by them.”
A former Ukrainian investigative journalist and current parliamentarian named Serhiy Leshchenko, who was elected in 2014 as part of Poroshenko’s party, held a news conference to highlight the ledgers, and to urge Ukrainian and American law enforcement to aggressively investigate Manafort.
“I believe and understand the basis of these payments are totally against the law — we have the proof from these books,” Leshchenko said during the news conference, which attracted international media coverage. “If Mr. Manafort denies any allegations, I think he has to be interrogated into this case and prove his position that he was not involved in any misconduct on the territory of Ukraine,” Leshchenko added.
Manafort denied receiving any off-books cash from Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, and said that he had never been contacted about the ledger by Ukrainian or American investigators, later telling POLITICO “I was just caught in the crossfire.”
According to a series of memos reportedly compiled for Trump’s opponents by a former British intelligence agent, Yanukovych, in a secret meeting with Putin on the day after the Times published its report, admitted that he had authorized “substantial kickback payments to Manafort.” But according to the report, which was published Tuesday by BuzzFeed but remains unverified. Yanukovych assured Putin “that there was no documentary trail left behind which could provide clear evidence of this” — an alleged statement that seemed to implicitly question the authenticity of the ledger.
Inside the fall of Paul Manafort
By KENNETH P. VOGEL and MARC CAPUTO
The scrutiny around the ledgers — combined with that from other stories about his Ukraine work — proved too much, and he stepped down from the Trump campaign less than a week after the Times story.
At the time, Leshchenko suggested that his motivation was partly to undermine Trump. “For me, it was important to show not only the corruption aspect, but that he is [a] pro-Russian candidate who can break the geopolitical balance in the world,” Leshchenko told the Financial Times about two weeks after his news conference. The newspaper noted that Trump’s candidacy had spurred “Kiev’s wider political leadership to do something they would never have attempted before: intervene, however indirectly, in a U.S. election,” and the story quoted Leshchenko asserting that the majority of Ukraine’s politicians are “on Hillary Clinton’s side.”
But by this month, Leshchenko was seeking to recast his motivation, telling Politico, “I didn’t care who won the U.S. elections. This was a decision for the American voters to decide.” His goal in highlighting the ledgers, he said was “to raise these issues on a political level and emphasize the importance of the investigation.”
In a series of answers provided to Politico, a spokesman for Poroshenko distanced his administration from both Leshchenko’s efforts and those of the agency that reLeshchenko Leshchenko leased the ledgers, The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. It was created in 2014 as a condition for Ukraine to receive aid from the U.S. and the European Union, and it signed an evidence-sharing agreement with the FBI in late June — less than a month and a half before it released the ledgers.
The bureau is “fully independent,” the Poroshenko spokesman said, adding that when it came to the presidential administration there was “no targeted action against Manafort.” He added “as to Serhiy Leshchenko, he positions himself as a representative of internal opposition in the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko’s faction, despite [the fact that] he belongs to the faction,” the spokesman said, adding, “it was about him personally who pushed [the anti-corruption bureau] to proceed with investigation on Manafort.”
But an operative who has worked extensively in Ukraine, including as an adviser to Poroshenko, said it was highly unlikely that either Leshchenko or the anti-corruption bureau would have pushed the issue without at least tacit approval from Poroshenko or his closest allies.
“It was something that Poroshenko was probably aware of and could have stopped if he wanted to,” said the operative.
And, almost immediately after Trump’s stunning victory over Clinton, questions began mounting about the investigations into the ledgers — and the ledgers themselves.
An official with the anti-corruption bureau told a Ukrainian newspaper, “Mr. Manafort does not have a role in this case.”
Ukrainian member of parliament Serhiy Leshchenko has sought to recast his investigation after the election. | Getty
And, while the anti-corruption bureau told Politico late last month that a “general investigation [is] still ongoing” of the ledger, it said Manafort is not a target of the investigation. “As he is not the Ukrainian citizen, [the anti-corruption bureau] by the law couldn’t investigate him personally,” the bureau said in a statement.
Some Poroshenko critics have gone further, suggesting that the bureau is backing away from investigating because the ledgers might have been doctored or even forged.
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, a Ukrainian former diplomat who served as the country’s head of security under Poroshenko but is now affiliated with a leading opponent of Poroshenko, said it was fishy that “only one part of the black ledger appeared.” He asked, “Where is the handwriting analysis?” and said it was “crazy” to announce an investigation based on the ledgers. He met last month in Washington with Trump allies, and said, “of course they all recognize that our [anti-corruption bureau] intervened in the presidential campaign.”
And in an interview this week, Manafort, who re-emerged as an informal advisor to Trump after Election Day, suggested that the ledgers were inauthentic and called their publication “a politically motivated false attack on me. My role as a paid consultant was public. There was nothing off the books, but the way that this was presented tried to make it look shady.”
He added that he felt particularly wronged by efforts to cast his work in Ukraine as pro-Russian, arguing “all my efforts were focused on helping Ukraine move into Europe and the West.” He specifically cited his work on denuclearizing the country and on the European Union trade and political pact that Yanukovych spurned before fleeing to Russia. “In no case was I ever involved in anything that would be contrary to U.S. interests,” Manafort said.
Yet Russia seemed to come to the defense of Manafort and Trump last month, when a spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry charged that the Ukrainian government used the ledgers as a political weapon.
“Ukraine seriously complicated the work of Trump’s election campaign headquarters by planting information according to which Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, allegedly accepted money from Ukrainian oligarchs,” Maria Zakharova said at a news briefing, according to a transcript of her remarks posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website. “All of you have heard this remarkable story,” she told assembled reporters.
•••
Beyond any efforts to sabotage Trump, Ukrainian officials didn’t exactly extend a hand of friendship to the GOP nominee during the campaign.
The ambassador, Chaly, penned an op-ed for The Hill, in which he chastised Trump for a confusing series of statements in which the GOP candidate at one point expressed a willingness to consider recognizing Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea as legitimate. The op-ed made some in the embassy uneasy, sources said.
“That was like too close for comfort, even for them,” said Chalupa. “That was something that was as risky as they were going to be.”
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk warned on Facebook that Trump had “challenged the very values of the free world.”
Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, Arsen Avakov, piled on, trashing Trump on Twitter in July as a “clown” and asserting that Trump is “an even bigger danger to the US than terrorism.”
Avakov, in a Facebook post, lashed out at Trump for his confusing Crimea comments, calling the assessment the “diagnosis of a dangerous misfit,” according to a translated screenshot featured in one media report, though he later deleted the post. He called Trump “dangerous for Ukraine and the US” and noted that Manafort worked with Yanukovych when the former Ukrainian leader “fled to Russia through Crimea. Where would Manafort lead Trump?”
Paul Manafort is hired to help lead Donald Trump's delegate-gathering efforts.
INVESTIGATIONS
Manafort’s man in Kiev
By KENNETH P. VOGEL
The Trump-Ukraine relationship grew even more fraught in September with reports that the GOP nominee had snubbed Poroshenko on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where the Ukrainian president tried to meet both major party candidates, but scored only a meeting with Clinton.
Telizhenko, the former embassy staffer, said that, during the primaries, Chaly, the country’s ambassador in Washington, had actually instructed the embassy not to reach out to Trump’s campaign, even as it was engaging with those of Clinton and Trump’s leading GOP rival, Ted Cruz.
“We had an order not to talk to the Trump team, because he was critical of Ukraine and the government and his critical position on Crimea and the conflict,” said Telizhenko. “I was yelled at when I proposed to talk to Trump,” he said, adding, “The ambassador said not to get involved — Hillary is going to win.”
This account was confirmed by Nalyvaichenko, the former diplomat and security chief now affiliated with a Poroshenko opponent, who said, “The Ukrainian authorities closed all doors and windows — this is from the Ukrainian side.” He called the strategy “bad and short-sighted.”
Andriy Artemenko, a Ukrainian parliamentarian associated with a conservative opposition party, did meet with Trump’s team during the campaign and said he personally offered to set up similar meetings for Chaly but was rebuffed.
“It was clear that they were supporting Hillary Clinton’s candidacy,” Artemenko said. “They did everything from organizing meetings with the Clinton team, to publicly supporting her, to criticizing Trump. … I think that they simply didn’t meet because they thought that Hillary would win.”
Shulyar rejected the characterizations that the embassy had a ban on interacting with Trump, instead explaining that it “had different diplomats assigned for dealing with different teams tailoring the content and messaging. So it was not an instruction to abstain from the engagement but rather an internal discipline for diplomats not to get involved into a field she or he was not assigned to, but where another colleague was involved.”
And she pointed out that Chaly traveled to the GOP convention in Cleveland in late July and met with members of Trump’s foreign policy team “to highlight the importance of Ukraine and the support of it by the U.S.”
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
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We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
Re: Soros's Progressive Cabal with Democrats to Weaken America
BOMBSHELL: Exclusive interview: Rudy Giuliani responds to Sondland impeachment testimony
President Trump's personal lawyer sits down with Glenn Beck to talk about the Dems' quid pro quo claims
During the House impeachment hearings Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland testified that President Donald Trump directed him "to work with Mr. Rudy Giuliani" — the president's personal attorney — in an effort to pressure Ukraine officials to investigate Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian natural gas company that employed Hunter Biden.
"Secretary [Rick] Perry, Ambassador [Kurt] Volker and I worked with Mr. Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters at the express direction of the President of the United States," Sondland said in his opening statement. "Simply put, we played the hand we were dealt. We all understood that if we refused to work with Mr. Giuliani, we would lose an important opportunity to cement relations between the United States and Ukraine. So we followed the president's orders."
Sondland told the House Intelligence Committee that Giuliani pressured Ukraine to announce the investigations in exchange for a White House meeting for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and that the pressure campaign did constitute as a quid pro quo.
"Mr. Giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky," Sondland said. "Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016 election/DNC server and Burisma. Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the President."
Giuliani joins Glenn Beck in an exclusive interview Wednesday to respond to Sondland's incriminating testimony and expose the facts behind the Democrats' impeachment inquiry the mainstream media doesn't want you to know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMNK...ature=youtu.be 25:28 min
__________________________
Giuliani talks about the Ukraine, collusion with the DNC, Glenn Simpson's involvement (Fusion GPS,)
His mission:
Gather exculpatory information on Russian collusion and Manafort involement
Follow up on Ukrainian collusion and Biden's involvement in it
Ambassador
FBI Greenaway's involvement (subsequently works for Soros.)
Anti Corruption Bureau Soros NGO ANTAC shielded (embezzled money, developed info on Republicans to be transferred to Chalupa)
Whistleblower - he believes it is a 4 part plan to prevent Trump from winning election and from governing afterwards.
Several prosecutors/Parliamentarians in Kiev who want to bring info/testimony forward being blocked from getting VISAs (massive pay to pay $ multi-million scheme)
His 2 Ukrainian clients: - he asked them to locate Shokin and Lutsenko facilitated finding them for info. Went to John Solomon to interview. He put it in newspaper to follow up on Biden bribe (quid pro quo)
He has 5 witnesses, a confession and proof of $3million in money-laundering (transferred from Ukrain to Latvia to Cyprus to PA and the Biden account.
Rest of interview behind pay wall.
Obama Admin. Gave Ukraine “List” Of People Not To Prosecute In 2016
This is huge! The corruption and control wielded by George Soros under the Obama regime is unbelievable.
Many people wonder if the full extent of the criminal corruption that ran rampant in the Obama regime will ever be fully exposed… and they think there’s no way it can be.
Mainly because there is so much illegal activity to investigate.
In fact, new evidence shows that while the 2016 presidential election was underway, Obama and Soros were busy protecting their interests by shutting down investigations in the Ukraine.
Prosecutors in that country found themselves being pushed to ignore massive corruption. In fact, the country was given a list of people who they should not prosecute.
John Solomon wrote for the Hill concerning the strange and diabolical activity by the Obama administration:
While the 2016 presidential race was raging in America, Ukrainian prosecutors ran into some unexpectedly strong headwinds as they pursued an investigation into the activities of a nonprofit in their homeland known as the Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC).
The focus on AntAC — whose youthful street activists famously wore “Ukraine F*&k Corruption” T-shirts — was part of a larger probe by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office into whether $4.4 million in U.S. funds to fight corruption inside the former Soviet republic had been improperly diverted.
The prosecutors soon would learn the resistance they faced was blowing directly from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, where the Obama administration took the rare step of trying to press the Ukrainian government to back off its investigation of both the U.S. aid and the group.
“The investigation into the Anti-Corruption Action Center (sic), based on the assistance they have received from us, is similarly misplaced,” then-embassy Charge d’ Affaires George Kent wrote the prosecutor’s office in April 2016 in a letter that also argued U.S. officials had no concerns about how the U.S. aid had been spent.
At the time, the nation’s prosecutor general had just been fired, under pressure from the United States, and a permanent replacement had not been named.
A few months later, Yuri Lutsenko, widely regarded as a hero in the West for spending two years in prison after fighting Russian aggression in his country, was named prosecutor general and invited to meet new U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
Lutsenko told me he was stunned when the ambassador “gave me a list of people whom we should not prosecute.” The list included a founder of the AntAC group and two members of Parliament who vocally supported the group’s anti-corruption reform agenda, according to a source directly familiar with the meeting.
It turns out the group that Ukrainian law enforcement was probing was co-funded by the Obama administration and liberal mega-donor George Soros. And it was collaborating with the FBI agents investigating then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s business activities with pro-Russian figures in Ukraine.
The implied message to Ukraine’s prosecutors was clear: Don’t target AntAC in the middle of an America presidential election in which Soros was backing Hillary Clinton to succeed another Soros favorite, Barack Obama, Ukrainian officials said.
“We ran right into a buzzsaw and we got bloodied,” a senior Ukrainian official told me.
Lutsenko suggested the embassy applied pressure because it did not want Americans to see who was being funded with its tax dollars. “At the time, Ms. Ambassador thought our interviews of the Ukrainian citizens, of the Ukrainian civil servants who were frequent visitors in the U.S. Embassy, could cast a shadow on that anti-corruption policy,” he said.
State officials told me privately they wanted Ukraine prosecutors to back off AntAC because they feared the investigation was simply retribution for the group’s high-profile efforts to force anti-corruption reforms inside Ukraine, some of which took authorities and prestige from the Prosecutor General’s Office.
But it was an unusual intervention, the officials acknowledged. “We’re not normally in the business of telling a country’s police force who they can and can’t pursue, unless it involves an American citizen we think is wrongly accused,” one official said.
In the end, no action was taken against AntAC and it remains thriving today. Nonetheless, the anecdote is taking on new significance.
First, it conflicts with the State Department’s official statement last week after Lutsenko first mentioned the do-not-prosecute list. The embassy responded that the claim was a fabrication and a sign that corruption is alive and well inside Ukraine.
But Kent’s letter unequivocally shows the embassy did press Ukrainian prosecutors to back off what normally would be considered an internal law enforcement matter inside a sovereign country. And more than a half-dozen U.S. and Ukrainian sources confirmed to me the AntAC case wasn’t the only one in which American officials exerted pressure on Ukrainian investigators in 2016.
When I asked State to explain the letter and inclusion of the Soros-connected names during the meeting, it demurred. “As a general rule, we don’t read out private diplomatic meetings,” it responded. “Ambassador Yovanovitch represents the President of the United States in Ukraine, and America stands behind her and her statements.”
Second, the AntAC anecdote highlights a little-known fact that the pursuit of foreign corruption has resulted in an unusual alliance between the U.S. government and a political mega-donor.
After the Obama Justice Department launched its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative a decade ago to prosecute corruption in other countries, the State Department, Justice Department and FBI outsourced some of its work in Ukraine to groups funded by Soros.
The Hungarian-American businessman is one of the largest donors to American liberal causes, a champion of the U.S. kleptocracy crackdown and a man with extensive business interests in Ukraine.
One key U.S. partner was AntAC, which received 59 percent (or $1 million) of its nearly $1.7 million budget since 2012 from U.S. budgets tied to State and Justice, and nearly $290,000 from Soros’s International Renaissance Foundation, according to the group’s donor disclosure records.
The U.S.-Soros collaboration was visible in Kiev. Several senior Department of Justice (DOJ) officials and FBI agents appeared in pictures as participants or attendees at Soros-sponsored events and conferences.
One attendee was Karen Greenaway, then the FBI supervisor in charge of international fraud cases and one of the lead agents in the Manafort investigation in Ukraine. She attended multiple such events and won glowing praise in a social media post from AntAC’s executive director.
In one event during 2016, Greenaway and Ambassador Yovanovitch participated alongside AntAC’s executive director, Daria Kaleniuk, and Lutsenko was present. The message was clear: The embassy supported AntAC.
The FBI confirmed Greenaway’s contacts with the Soros group, saying they were part of her investigative work: “In furtherance of the FBI’s mission and in the course of their duties, FBI employees routinely travel and participated in public forums in an official capacity. At a minimum, all such travel and speaking engagements are authorized by the employee’s direct supervisor and can receive further authorization all the way up to the relevant division head, along with an ethics official determination.”
Greenaway recently retired, and Soros’s AntAC soon after announced she was joining its supervisory board.
Internal memos from Soros’s umbrella charity organization, Open Society Foundations, describe a concerted strategy of creating friendships inside key government agencies such as State, DOJ and the FBI that can be leveraged inside the countries Soros was targeting for anti-corruption activism.
“We have broadly recognized the importance of developing supportive constituencies in order to make headway in tightening the global web of anti-corruption accountability,” a Feb. 21, 2014, memo states. “We first conceived of this in terms of fostering and helping to build a political environment favorable to high-level anti-corruption cases.”
That same memo shows Soros’s organization wanted to make Ukraine a top priority, starting in 2014, and planned to use the Anti-Corruption Action Centre as its lead.
“Ukraine: Behind the scenes advice and support to Ukrainian partner Anti-Corruption Action Centre’s efforts to generate corruption litigation in Europe and the U.S. respecting state assets stolen by senior Ukrainian leaders,” the memo states.
The memo included a chart of Ukrainians the Soros team wanted to have pursued, including some with ties to Manafort.
Senior U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed to me that the early kleptocracy collaborations inside Ukraine led to highly visible U.S. actions against the oligarch Dmitri Firtash, a major target of the Soros group, and Manafort. Firtash is now represented by former Hillary Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis and former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb.
Documents posted online by Open Society Foundations show that after U.S. officials scored some early successes in corruption cases in Ukraine, such as asset forfeitures, AntAC requested to receive some of the seized money.
“Ukrainian NGO Anticorruption Action Centre (AntAC) petitioned the United States Justice Department on behalf of Ukrainian civil society to dedicate the nearly $3 million in forfeited and seized assets allegedly laundered by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, to creating an anti-corruption training facility,” a 2015 foundation document stated.
Spokespersons for AntAC and Open Society Foundations did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Soros, deferred any comment about AntAC to the group. But he did he confirm his boss supported the continued investigation of Russia collusion allegations against Trump well past 2016.
Vachon said Soros wrote a sizable check from his personal funds in fall 2017 to a new group, Democracy Integrity Project, started by a former FBI agent and Senate staffer Daniel Jones to continue “investigation and research into foreign interference in American elections and European elections.”
Vachon said the group asked Soros not to divulge the size of his contribution, and Soros later learned the group hired Fusion GPS, the same firm that was paid by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic Party to create the infamous “Steele dossier” alleging Trump-Russia collusion.
The he said-she said battle playing out between Ukraine’s chief prosecutor and the American ambassador doesn’t benefit either side, but an honest, complete and transparent account of what the embassy communicated to Ukraine’s law enforcement does.
And the tale of AntAC raises some cogent questions:
Why would the U.S. Embassy intervene on a Ukrainian internal investigation and later deny it exerted such pressure?
Did Soros’s role as a major political funder have any impact?
Do Americans want U.S. tax dollars commingled with activists’ private funds when it comes to anti-corruption probes?
Someone in State and Congress should try to get the answers.
NEWS NOVEMBER 20, 2019 by Aaron Colen
Hunter Biden and partners got $16.5M in illegal money, Ukraine MP alleges
More revelations about the BIdens in Ukraine
A Ukrainian member of parliament said Wednesday that Hunter Biden and his partners with Burisma received $16.5 million in illegal funds obtained by a Ukrainian crime family and laundered through another country, according to Interfax.
Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach said at a news conference that Biden and his colleagues took millions of dollars that really belonged to the Ukrainian people.
"The [prosecutor general's office] document once again confirms the data I had previously published on Burisma and international corruption," Derkach said. "According to Zlochevsky's suspicion notice, Biden and partners received their $16.5 million for their services to Burisma. Biden received funds not due to the successful activity of Burisma or for brilliant business decisions or recommendations. This is the money of Ukrainian citizens. The funds were obtained by criminal means. That's what they say in the PGO."
Derkach said the new information came from a suspicion notice to former Ukraine ecology minister and owner of the Burisma Group, Mykola Zlochevsky.
"According to the investigation, Zlochevsky was directly involved in the withdrawal of funds by the Yanukovych 'family'," Derkach said. "They laundered the funds of Yanukovych through three companies in Latvia."
The money was then allegedly paid to Hunter Biden, Aleksander Kwasniewski, Alan Apter, and Devon Archer.
Burisma has been the subject of suspicion and investigation for years for corrupt business dealings. Hunter Biden was named to the board of the company in 2014, and just recently stepped down. His appointment to the board is controversial because it came while his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, was the Obama administration's point man for Ukraine issues.
Joe Biden has boasted about his role in ousting a Ukrainian prosecutor who had been pursuing criminal investigations into Burisma in 2016. Biden used a $1 billion loan guarantee as leverage to pressure the government into firing the prosecutor.
House Democrats are attempting to impeach President Donald Trump in part for allegedly withholding security aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the government to investigate Burisma and the involvement of the Bidens. House Republicans have attempted to subpoena Hunter Biden to testify, but it is unlikely that the Democrats, who control the process, will allow it.
NOVEMBER 20, 2019 / 12:42 PM / UPDATED 5 HOURS AGO
Ukraine widens probe against Burisma founder to embezzlement of state funds
Ilya Zhegulev
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine has widened its investigation into the founder of energy company Burisma to include suspicion of embezzling state funds, Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka said on Wednesday.
Allegations of wrongdoing at Burisma go to the heart of a U.S. impeachment inquiry into whether President Donald Trump improperly pressured Ukraine’s leadership to investigate his main rival in the 2020 presidential race.
Trump wants Ukraine to launch an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who was a board member at Burisma from 2014-2019.
The prosecutor who has investigated Burisma is Kostiantyn Kulyk, who previously met Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to discuss accusations against the Bidens.
After he took office in late August, Ryaboshapka launched a wide-ranging audit of criminal cases to see whether they had been conducted properly. Thirteen of them relate to Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky, Ryaboshapka told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday.
Burisma did not respond to a request for comment.
Ryaboshapka’s predecessors oversaw a series of investigations into Zlochevsky, a multimillionaire former minister of ecology and natural resources. The allegations concern tax violations, money-laundering and licences given to Burisma during the period where Zlochevsky was a minister.
Ryaboshapka said Zlochevsky was now suspected of the “theft of government funds on an especially large scale,” but did not provide evidence or details.
Ryaboshapka was speaking after being asked about a document from the general prosecutor’s office that was leaked at a separate press conference by three lawmakers earlier on Wednesday.
The document, only part of which was visible, showed Kulyk suspected Zlochevsky of offences including using his official position to embezzle 800 million hryvnias ($33 million) of money belonging to the central bank.
The investigation is effectively on hold, however, because the Ukrainian authorities cannot determine Zlochevsky’s whereabouts.
The central bank did not respond to a request for comment.
Giuliani has previously told Reuters he met Kulyk in Paris. He said at that meeting Kulyk echoed allegations that in 2016 Joe Biden as Vice President had tried to have Ukraine’s then-chief prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, fired to stop him investigating Burisma. Biden has accused Giuliani of peddling “false, debunked conspiracy theories” for repeating these allegations.
Kulyk told Reuters in October that he had been investigating Zlochevsky for around two years.
Reuters could not independently verify the extent of Kulyk’s involvement, but a source close to the energy company saw a spike in activity by Kulyk in regards to Burisma after Giuliani’s interest in the company and the Bidens had been conveyed to Kulyk’s then superior, Yuriy Lutsenko.
In late January, Kulyk sent Zlochevsky the first of several summons for questioning, documents seen by Reuters showed.
Zlochevsky has not commented on the summons or an announcement by Ryaboshapka in October that his office was reviewing a series of investigations linked to Zlochevsky.
KYIV. Nov 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian members of parliament have demanded the presidents of Ukraine and the United States, Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, investigate suspicions of the legalization of $7.4 billion by the "family" of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych through the American investment fund Franklin Templeton Investments, which they said has ties to the U.S. Democratic Party.
At a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Wednesday, MP Andriy Derkach announced that deputies have received new materials from investigative journalists about international corruption and the participation of Ukrainian officials in it.
"Last week, November 14, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO), unnoticed by the media, announced a new suspicion to the notorious owner of Burisma, ex-Ecology Minister Zlochevsky. According to the suspicion, the Yanukovych family is suspected, in particular, with legalizing (laundering) of criminally obtained income through Franklin Templeton Investments, an investment fund carrying out purchases of external government loan bonds totaling $7.4 billion," Derkach said.
With reference to the investigation, he emphasized: it was money criminally obtained by the "family" of Yanukovych and invested in the purchase of Ukrainian debt in 2013-2014.
For his part, MP Oleksandr Dubinsky from the Servant of the People faction said that according to investigators, "the Yanukovych 'family' illegally obtained $7.4 billion and laundered the funds through an investment fund close to some representatives of the U.S. Democratic Party in the form of external government loan bonds."
Meanwhile, Derkach said that several facts indicate Franklin Templeton Investments' relationship with the U.S. Democratic Party.
"The son of Templeton's founder, John Templeton Jr., was one of President Obama's major campaign donors. Another fund-related character is Thomas Donilon. Managing Director of BlackRock Investment Institute, shareholder Franklin Templeton Investments, which has the largest share in the fund. It is noteworthy that he previously was Obama's national security advisor," Derkach said.
The MP said that the presidents of Ukraine and the United States should combine the efforts of the two countries to establish facts of corruption and money laundering with the participation of citizens of both countries.
"President Zelensky must pick up the phone, dial Trump, ask for help and cooperation in the fight against corruption and fly to Washington. The issue of combating international corruption in Ukraine with the participation of citizens, businessmen and U.S. officials should become a key during the meeting of the two presidents," he said.
Derkach said as a result of the meeting, it is necessary to build interaction between the Ukrainian investigating authorities and the U.S. Department of Justice to obtain information about the organizers of the bond issue, clients and beneficiaries of investment funds for each purchase, interrogate fund officials, etc.
As reported, on October 9, 2019, Derkach published official correspondence between NABU and the U.S. Embassy, according to which the first deputy of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), Gizo Uglava, through his assistant Polina Chyzh, for a long time provided the U.S. Embassy with information that negatively affected the course of events in Ukraine and the United States.
Derkach said Chyzh received instructions from the representative of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine Hanna Emelyanova to provide information on the case involving Zlochevsky.
Derkach also announced the amount of money transferred to representatives of the Burisma Group, including Hunter Biden. According to documents, in general, in favor of Hunter Biden, Alexander Kwasniewski, Alan Apter and Devon Archer, Burisma paid about $16.5 million.
According to Derkach, ex-Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin repeatedly appealed to the NABU Director Artem Sytnyk in the framework of criminal proceedings for Burisma, but constantly received formal responses. The activities of Shokin, according to the MP, irritated then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden during his fifth visit to Kyiv in two years. The visit on December 7-8, 2015, was devoted to solving the issue of Shokin's resignation for the affairs of Zlochevsky and Burisma, he said.
"The subject of pressure was the $1 billion credit guarantee that the United States should have provided to Ukraine: Biden himself acknowledged the pressure in his speech to the U.S. Foreign Relations Council in January 2018," Derkach said.
Ukrainian MP Claims $7.4 Billion Obama-Linked Laundering, Puts Biden Group Take At $16.5 Million
Thu, 11/21/2019 - 05:05
Update 2: Dobinsky, the MP, says there is a "signed suspicion" at 1:19 in the video below. This has been described in Ukrainian media as an investigative step which documents allegations against an individual or individuals, similar to a criminal referral. While Donibsky says during the press conference that "Zlochevsky was charged," we have updated our headline and report accordingly.
A transcription of key portions of the press conference can found here, via Tanya Tay Posobiec.
Update: Reuters sheds additional light on the press conference, noting that the document from the Prosecutor General's office was leaked and not officially released.
***
A Ukrainian MP says a document leaked from the Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General contains claims against Burisma owner Nikolai Zlochevsky, as well as Hunter Biden and his partners - who allegedly received $16.5 million for their 'services' - according to Alexander Dubinsky of the ruling Servant of the People Party.
Dubinsky made the claim in a Wednesday press conference, citing materials from an investigation into Zlochevsky and Burisma.
"Zlochevsky was charged with this new accusation by the Office of the Prosecutor General but the press ignored it," said the MP. "It was issued on November 14."
"The son of Vice-President Joe Biden was receiving payment for his services, with money raised through criminal means and money laundering," he then said, adding "Biden received money that did not come from the company’s successful operation but rather from money stolen from citizens."
According to Dubinsky, Hunter Biden's income from Burisma is a "link that reveals how money is siphoned [from Ukraine]," and how Biden is just one link in the chain of Zlochevsky's money laundering operation which included politicians from the previous Yanukovich administration who continued their schemes under his successor, President Pyotr Poroshenko.
"We will reveal the information about the financial pyramid scheme that was created in Ukraine and developed by everyone beginning with Yanukovich and later by Poroshenko. This system is still working under the guidance of the current managerial board of the National Bank, ensuring that money flows in the interest of people who stole millions of dollars, took it offshore and bought Ukrainian public bonds turning them into the Ukrainian sovereign debt," said Dubinsky, adding that "in both cases of Yanukovich and Poroshenko, Ms. Gontareva and companies she controls were investing the stolen funds."
Franklin Templeton named
According to Interfax-Ukraine, MP Andriy Derkach announced at the same press conference that deputies have received new materials from investigative journalists alleging that the 'family' of ex-President Yanukovych funneled $7.4 billion through American investment firm Franklin Templeton Investments, which they claim have connections to the US Democratic party."
"Last week, November 14, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO), unnoticed by the media, announced a new suspicion to the notorious owner of Burisma, ex-Ecology Minister Zlochevsky. According to the suspicion, the Yanukovych family is suspected, in particular, with legalizing (laundering) of criminally obtained income through Franklin Templeton Investments, an investment fund carrying out purchases of external government loan bonds totaling $7.4 billion," said Derkach, adding that the money was criminally obtained and invested in the purchase of Ukrainian debt in 2013 - 2014.
"The son of Templeton's founder, John Templeton Jr., was one of President Obama's major campaign donors. Another fund-related character is Thomas Donilon. Managing Director of BlackRock Investment Institute, shareholder Franklin Templeton Investments, which has the largest share in the fund. It is noteworthy that he previously was Obama's national security advisor," Derkach added.
Derkach then demanded "President Zelensky must pick up the phone, dial Trump, ask for help and cooperation in the fight against corruption and fly to Washington. The issue of combating international corruption in Ukraine with the participation of citizens, businessmen and U.S. officials should become a key during the meeting of the two presidents."
MP Andriy Derkach: 'NABU Leaks' is the key for salvaging Ukraine-U.S. relations
Interview with MP Andriy Derkach for Interfax-Ukraine
Q: Earlier you were the initiator of the case on the interference of senior officials of Ukraine in the U.S. elections, in particular on the Regions Party's "black ledger." Now comes National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the U.S. Embassy and Biden. Why do you need this?
A: Since 2016, Ukraine has been at the center of domestic politics and the political confrontation of its strategic partner, the United States. Today the situation has become threatening: in the United States, the impeachment process of incumbent President Donald Trump has begun. We hear, "Ukraine's influence will not lead to nothing good." This negatively affects Ukraine's reputation, both within the United States and on the international stage.
Therefore, the key task of my publication of the documents is restoring of trusting relations between strategic partners: the United States and Ukraine. Here, only an open and public investigation can put an end to the series of international scandals and corruption, in which some representatives of law enforcement and diplomatic bodies of the two countries are mired.
Q: How will the publication of these scandalous documents help Ukraine?
A: We must show the United States and other countries that we are interested in punishing those responsible so that the situation does not happen again. Figuratively speaking, today the key to improving relations between Ukraine and the United States and correcting the international image of our country is in the hands of law enforcement officers of Ukraine and its president.
You mentioned that I was the initiator of a criminal case on meddling in U.S. elections. Investigative journalists who are in possession of certain information passed it on to me. We are talking about correspondence between NABU employees and officials of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, the FBI, and others. And this data is not from the Internet. All this constitutes materials of criminal proceedings No. 42188000000002952 (Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which is 'high treason').
Q: What is the value of this information? Does it shed some new light on already known facts?
A: Today I unveiled an important part of the puzzle of interference in the U.S. elections and the facts of international corruption. It is correspondence of NABU employees and employees of the U.S. embassy.
According to the documents, the first deputy director of NABU, Gizo Uglava, through his assistant, provided the U.S. Embassy with information that influenced the course of events in Ukraine and the United States. In other words, NABU "leaked" information to the U.S. embassy staff and coordinated its actions in a number of high-profile cases.
Correspondence between NABU employees and employees of the U.S. Embassy has been available for several years within the criminal case file No. 42018000000002952 (Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, High Treason). According to the information received from investigative journalists, which I rechecked, it was obtained absolutely legally, as part of the investigative actions.
As for the documents I published regarding ex-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, these documents and information are contained in six criminal proceedings against the Burisma Group, as well as Mykola Zlochevsky No. 42014000000000181, 42015000000001142 , 42014000000000805, 42014000000000999, 42014000000001095, 42018000000000407.
There are also five more criminal proceedings for affiliation with the Burisma Group and Zlochevsky structures (contractors): No. 42015000000001283, 42014000000000375, 12017160000000208, 32014000000000074, 52018000000000748.
Once again I want to emphasize that it is important to keep the materials in the criminal proceedings.
Q: Can you give some examples?
A: One of the letters from Hanna Emelianova, the Legal Affairs Specialist in the Anti-Corruption Program of the U.S. Department of Justice at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, instructed Chyzh to provide information on the case of Mykola Zlochevsky, former Ecology Minister and Burisma Group owner.
Why is the Zlochevsky case so important? To answer this question, you need to go a little deeper into history.
In March 2014, the UK and Northern Ireland Serious Fraud Bureau launched an investigation into the Zlochevsky criminal case, suspecting him of laundering $35 million. At the same time, Zlochevsky, according to Ukrainian investigators and journalists, contacted U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry and suggested they share the profits of the Ukrainian gas producer Burisma Group.
British investigative journalist Oliver claimed that at about the same time (in March 2014) that Biden's son Hunter received an offer to take the position of board member of Burisma. Biden Jr. was appointed Member of the Board of Burisma on May 12, 2014. In addition to him, Alexander Kwasniewski, Alan Apter and Devon Archer were appointed.
In total, according to our data from the report of the financial investigation unit of Latvia, in favor of two shell companies, as well as Alexander Kwasniewski, Alan Apter, Devon Archer and Hunter Biden, Burisma paid at least $16.5 million.
Q:So far, you have listed people who are not directly related to the highest echelon of power in the United States. Biden can only be blamed for the fact that his adult son is involved here ...
A: Firstly, according to investigators, the son was "built into" the structure, which was headed by Biden Sr. I will return to this later.
And secondly, in the case file that was handed to me, there is evidence that Joe Biden probably received the money personally through a lobbying company. According to the investigation, he received a hidden fee from the Burisma Group for lobbying activities.
Money in the amount of more than $900,000 was transferred to the account of the American company Rosemont Seneca Partners, associated with Biden Jr. - Hunter. Reason for payment was consulting services.
In addition, Ukrainian investigators and journalists believe that Joe Biden, using existing levers of influence on the Ukrainian authorities and manipulating the issue of providing financial assistance to Ukraine, actively helped to close criminal cases against Zlochevsky and the Burisma Group.
Q: Okay, it is clear with Biden. And what does Ukraine have to do with it - it is a violation of U.S. law?
A: In general, this case would not concern Ukraine, if not for the pressure on the leaders of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO).
On August 5, 2014, PGO's Directorate of Investigation of Especially Important Cases opened a criminal proceeding against Zlochevsky. He was suspected of illegal enrichment on an especially large scale and in tax evasion in the amount of about UAH 1 billion.
Last week, notes of U.S. Presidential Attorney Rudy Giuliani were published, suggesting that the investigation was terminated "because of fear of the United States." It also alleged that the then Attorney General Shokin was told that in the process of the investigation, Vice President Biden ordered to delay providing American assistance to Ukraine.
According to Viktor Shokin, he had a plan to investigate the activities of Hunter Biden, including interrogations and other procedures for all members of the board of the Burisma Group. Moreover, Shokin repeatedly appealed to the head of NABU Sytnik as part of the criminal proceedings against the company, but constantly received formal replies.
Shokin's activity caused Joe Biden's undisguised irritation. His fifth visit to Kyiv on December 7–8, 2015 was dedicated to resolving the issue of the resignation of Shokin due to the Zlochevsky case. The subject of pressure was $1 billion of loan guarantees that the United States was to provide to Ukraine.
Biden himself admitted the fact of pressure in his speech at the United States Council on Foreign Relations in January 2018, calling Shokin "the son of a bitch who should have been fired".
The chronology of events also attests to the linking of the Zlochevsky case to credit guarantees by the United States. Judge for yourself.
In December 2015, Biden visited Kyiv. On February 19, 2016 the President of Ukraine asks the parliament to agree to dismiss Shokin. On March 29, the parliament agrees and on April 3, the President of Ukraine signed a decree dismissing Shokin.
On June 3, the U.S. and Ukrainian governments signed a $1 billion loan guarantee agreement.
Q: Let's go back to NABU – is it somehow involved in this story?
A: According to the investigation, NABU under the supervision of the United States continued the persecution of Viktor Shokin. Starting from September 6, 2016, the assistant to the first deputy director of NABU Polina Chyzh sent to her manager documents proving that data was collected on the former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin and his family.
Also, Polina Chyzh agreed on with the U.S. Embassy in the person of Olena Kustova the content of responses to requests from MPs regarding the audit of NABU.
There is evidence that the assistant to the first deputy director of NABU sent for approval to the U.S. embassy a draft suspicion of Roman Nasirov, who was reportedly close to Trump's team. By the way, it is noteworthy that the suspicion of Nasirov was formed just after he attended the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump, and the arrest of Nasirov was supervised at that time by the U.S. Embassy personally.
Also, an employee of NABU provided a list of problem proceedings, which are being on aligning by the embassy.
I can't imagine the situation for, for example, if Ukraine's Embassy in the United States instructed the FBI how to generate reports and responses to requests from Congressmen. I also cannot imagine that the FBI leaked high-profile criminal cases to our embassy.
Q: Is that everything that you have at the moment?”
A: You can't embrace everything at one press conference and in one interview. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The remaining materials I will gradually post on my Facebook page.
Q: In your opinion, why did we find ourselves in such a difficult situation in relations with the United States?
A: First of all, it is fault of the former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. As a result of his actions, our country and the new President Zelensky were drawn into the scandal involving interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the fact that Ukraine is accused of international corruption. I emphasize that international corruption of this magnitude could not take place without the participation of Petro Poroshenko.
Since Ukraine is a parliamentary republic, it parliament, in my opinion, that should evaluate these facts.
Today, maintaining good and trusting relations with the United States is a matter of national security for our state, regardless of who wins the election there.
In order to restore trust between Ukraine and the United States, an urgent public investigation of the facts of interference in the U.S. elections is needed. It is necessary to investigate all possible facts of corruption by senior officials of Ukraine and the United States with the involvement of law enforcement agencies and representatives of diplomatic services.
Q: You made the facts public and expect that everything will happen by its own later on?
A: Of course not. Firstly, I appealed to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the PGO, relaying the facts with a request to conduct an investigation and demanding that the case files not disappear, as the case of international corruption in the gas sector was lost. I also initiated the removal of Gizo Uglava and his assistant from duties during the investigation.
By the way, if the Prosecutor General does not initiate an investigation on the fact of media coverage of information about pressure on Shokin, as an employee of a law enforcement agency, then I myself will write a request for signs of offenses under Article 343 of the Criminal Code "Interference with the activities of a law enforcement officer" (influence in any form on a law enforcement officer).
Secondly, in the near future I will send parliament leaders a draft resolution on the creation of a Temporary Investigation Commission of parliament to investigate the facts regarding the illegal interference of the leadership of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine in the U.S. election process, as well as the facts of international corruption of government officials, which jeopardized U.S.-Ukraine relations.
Once again, I want to emphasize that the former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is personally responsible for the situation when Ukraine was drawn into corruption scandals in the international level, was accused of interference in the U.S. Presidential election process. Volodymyr Zelensky inherited a corrupt and difficult legacy for Ukraine…
Q: What can President Zelensky do in connection with all this?
A: In my opinion, the only right solution for our country and for the president is to take a number of steps. The first is to immediately transfer, within the framework of legal cooperation, all available documents to the U.S. Justice Department. The second is to prohibit bidding and contacts at the level of lawyers-lobbyists-assistants. And the third is to create an Investigation Commission in parliament, the findings of which should be provided to Ukrainian society and the international community.
Q: And how's it going with the case about the intervention in the U.S. elections initiated by you?
A: On July 24, 2017, I filed an appeal with the General Prosecutor Office on illegal interference in the election of the President of the United States. Because of the appeal, the PGO registered a criminal proceeding.
In the course of investigative actions in this criminal case, I handed over part of the documents, and told the investigator the possible direction and methods of the investigation. Unfortunately, in January 2019, in the midst of the election campaign in Ukraine, criminal case No. 42017000000002470 was closed. I appealed the closure decision in March in the Pechersk court. The trial is scheduled for October 21.
NABU-Leaks is the key to saving Ukraine's relations with the United States. I hope that publicity will help overcome existing resistance. Nevertheless, this must be done because how Ukraine will be treated in the near future depends on it.
AFTER DECADES OF COVERT SUPPORT FOR TERRORISTS, SOROS REVEALS HIMSELF IN COLOMBIA
3 años ago Lia Fowler
Under the guise of promoting Human Rights, in 1978 Soros co-founded Human Rights Watch (originally Helsinki Watch). Corporacion Nuevo Arcoiris lists Open Society as one of its benefactors. Created by amnestied ELN terrorist Leon Valencia, the “think tank” produces propaganda for the Santos-FARC deal. Could it be that Colombia’s 2018 election is shaping up to be a repeat of 2010 — a win-win contest between two Soros-groomed candidates?
By Lia Fowler*
January 13/2017
@lia_fowler
On January 9, Colombian daily El Espectador, published a column by New York hedge fund manager George Soros titled “The Abnormal Times of Trump” (Los Tiempos Anormales de Trump), in which the Hungarian-American billionaire opened with, “I must tell you who I am and what I believe in.” It would seem through this piece, written “especially for El Espectador”, that the founder of the Open Society Foundations was attempting to introduce himself to Colombians. He’s a few decades too late.
In fact, Soros has been a key player in shaping both U.S. policy toward Colombia and the country’s internal politics since at least the 1990s. Through his own network of NGOs and those he sponsors, Soros has waged a decades-long assault on the country’s institutions designed to legitimize Colombia’s narco-terrorist groups – a goal he is very close to achieving. (1)
Last December, the Colombian Congress ratified a “peace deal” between the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the narco-terrorist group known as the FARC– despite the deal having been rejected by a national plebiscite on October 2. As such, the world’s leading drug-trafficking Cartel has guaranteed unelected seats in Congress, Santos has rule-by-decree powers, and Colombia is quickly devolving into a narco-failed State. The road to this end was paved and funded by George Soros, and achieved through a three-pronged approach: weakening of the State and its institutions, blocking drug eradication efforts, and promoting drug legalization and decriminalization.
Human Rights Watch, co-founded by Soros, recieves hundred of millons of dollars from him
Under the guise of promoting Human Rights, in 1978 Soros co-founded Human Rights Watch (originally Helsinki Watch). Not only did he pour hundreds of millions of dollars into it, through the Open Society Foundation (3), he also sits on its Advisory Council for the Americas. In the 1990s, HRW, along with Amnesty International (4), the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) (5), and the International Peace Brigades (6)– all sponsored by Open Society — began characterizing the Colombian military as a systematic violator of human rights. Indeed, during the presidency of Ernesto Samper (1994-98), accused by the U.S. of financing his presidential campaign with drug Cartel money, and Andres Pastrana (1998-2002) the combined efforts of Soros-sponsored NGOs managed to defund the Army, hinder its operations, and remove its top leaders through fabricated human rights abuse accusations.
In the mid and late 90s, there was a battle within the U.S. government between the State Department and the Pentagon regarding the nature of the terrorist groups FARC and ELN. Myles Frechette, former U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, insisted that there was no evidence of any link between these terrorist organizations and drug trafficking – a claim repeated by the FARC in various communications, including a 1998 “Open Letter to the American People.”(7) Frechette currently serves with Soros on the HRW Advisory Council.
U.S. Drug Policy Adviser Gen. Barry McCaffrey stated in 1996 that the FARC and ELN were a narco-guerrilla force.” The Pentagon’s view proved true, as the FARC is now recognized as the world’s leading cocaine Cartel.
HRW and other Soros-funded NGOs, led a relentless campaign against the Colombian Armed Forces and its members. In a 1996 report titled “Colombia’s Assassin Networks: the military-paramilitary alliance and the United States,” (8) HRW wrote “With the objective of declaring a war on drugs, the United States has armed, trained and advised the Colombian Armed Forces, despite their disastrous record on human rights issues.” The report went on to accuse retired General Farouk Yanine Diaz and General Harold Bedoya, among others, of colluding with paramilitary groups to commit or cover up atrocities.
These constant allegations were amplified by Soros-linked U.S. media outlets. Chief among them was the Washington Post. It is no surprise that Len Downie, Washington Post Executive Editor between 1991-2008, and current Vice-President, is also a member of the board at The Center for Investigative Reporting, which has received more than $1 million from Soros’ Open Society.
In a 1997 Washington Post article titled “As its civil war intensifies, Colombia emerges as the Bosnia of South America” by Ana Carrigan and Robert O. Weiner, the authors called the alleged collusion between the military and drug-traffickers a “dirty war” and compared it to Bosnia’s ethnic cleansing. “The paramilitaries massacre [civilians], fulfilling the military’s desire for high body counts and enabling their sponsors to consolidate and expand their land holdings,” they added, providing no basis for these statements.
Ana Carrigan, who co-authored the 1997 article, is a writer with OpenDemocracy, an organization funded primarily by Open Society and the Open Society Initiative for Europe. (9) Soros himself is a columnist at OpenDemocracy. Her ongoing coverage of the Colombian conflict has remained pro-terrorist through the years. She is also the author of “The Palace of Justice: A Colombian Tragedy,” in which she falsely claimed that it was the military, and not M-19 terrorists, who murdered most of the victims during the M-19 terrorist attack of the Palace of Justice in 1985. A critique of her book by Rex A. Hudson, pointed out the many fallacies of her work, including her reliance on anonymous sources and disregarding the testimony of credible survivors. The book remains one of the few accounts of the M-19 massacre in the English language. (10)
In a May 1998 column in the Washington Post, Bernard Aronson, a former Secretary of State official, promoted HRW’s false military-paramilitary narrative, writing that by aiding the Colombian military, the U.S. risked “allying ourselves with paramilitary forces that recently massacred 21 civilians, including a 4-year-old child, in a remote village in guerrilla-controlled territory.” Aronson proposed instead that the FARC and ELN could help eradicate coca fields in return for U.S. Aid and a share of power in Colombia. (11)
Aronson was and still is a member of the Inter-American Dialogue, which is indirectly funded by Soros, via the Avina Foundation. The latter is listed by the Dialogue’s as one of its top donors and it is funded by Open Society. Furthermore, Dialogue Director Michael Schifter serves on the HRW Advisory Council with Soros. With the recent ratification of the Santos-FARC deal, Aronson not only saw his 1998 proposal realized, he helped craft it, as President Obama’s U.S. Envoy to the Santos-FARC peace talks since 2015.
Open Society Foundations
By 1998, Soros’ strong influence in the State Department was complete, with the appointment of Harold Koh as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. In a glaring conflict of interest, Koh was also a member of the HRW board of directors.(12)
Miguel Posada
“The principal mechanism for the defamation campaign against the Colombian military is the Human Rights Report that the State Department presents to the U.S. Congress every year,” wrote Miguel Posada, founder of the Center for Analytical Studies and Verdad Colombia – and my father – in a March 2000 article for the Inter-American Economic Press Association. (13) For many years, the State Department report was almost an exact copy of Soros’ HRW report.
Soros’ achievements through his influence in the State Department included the following: The dismantling of the 20th Intelligence Brigade (14) in 1998 (accused by the State Department – according to the Washington Post – “of promoting death squad activities”); the blocking of millions of dollars in U.S. assistance, as described in HRW reports for all the pertinent years; and the dismissal of hundreds of officers. (15)
The result of the Soros-funded U.S. policy toward Colombia was disastrous for Colombia. According to statistics from the Nueva Granada Military
General Harold Bedoya Pizarro
University, between 1990 and 2000, the number of FARC terrorists rose from some 8,000 to more than 20,000; ELN terrorists rose from 2,000 to 4,500 terrorists, and paramilitaries quintupled in force, from 1,800 terrorists to more than 10,000. In that time, about 7,000 child soldiers were recruited into these terrorist groups.
Among the officers removed due to HRW and State Department pressure was Gen. Bedoya, Commander of the Armed Forces, who was forced to retire in 1997. A 1998 HRW report, titled “All-Out War: Colombia and International Humanitarian Law” (Guerra Sin Cuartel: Colombia y el derecho internacional humanitario) (16) states: “In 1997, the government of Colombia forced the retirement of General Harold Bedoya, whose hostility toward human rights and whose association throughout his entire career with the dramatic increase in joint operations between the Army and the paramilitaries are well-known.”
In fact, there was never any credible evidence that Gen. Bedoya had any links to paramilitaries at all. As a great majority of the information alleged by HRW and spread through its media partners, the accusations were unsubstantiated. According to NGO Monitor, HRW’s publications “reflect the absence of professional standards, research methodologies, and military and legal expertise.” (17)
So where did they get this information? While HRW reports do not identify the organizations that provide the information in their acknowledgements, claiming security reasons, a review of the content of their reports suggests who they might be, among them: the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ), The Inter-Eclesial Commission on Justice and Peace (CIJP), Center of Popular Investigation and Education (CINEP), and Corporacion Colectivo de Abogados Jose Alvear Restrepo (CCAJAR). Interestingly, these are all NGOs supported by International Peace Brigades, which receives funding directly from Soros’ Open Society.
Alirio Uribe Muñoz, presidente del Colectivo Alvear Restrepo. Terrorista del M-19
Alirio Uribe Muñoz (Terrorist from M19) was president of Colectivo Alvear Restrepo
After Gen. Bedoya’s forced retirement, he launched a presidential campaign for the 1998 elections. His platforms consisted of opposing the appeasement policies of the Samper government, and combating narco-terrorism directly. In the months leading up to the election, three of Bedoya’s campaign offices were bombed, and in May, Bedoya’s campaign advisor, former minister Fernando Landazabal, was murdered. Despite being defeated in the election, Gen. Bedoya continued his efforts to combat Soros-sponsored pro-FARC propaganda in the U.S., including speaking engagements at the Schiller Institute, and the National Press Club.
He was met, at every turn, with intense defamation campaigns both in the U.S. and in Colombia. In the U.S., pro-FARC groups pounced on his use of the word “patria” in Spanish, which they translated as “fatherland” (instead of the more appropriate “country”) in order to make comparisons to Hitler. From there, U.S. outlets and NGOs began to refer to Gen. Bedoya as a fascist. In 1999, for example, an email from the Colombian Labor Monitor, an NGO whose funding is not known, stated, “Colombian fascist General Bedoya will be speaking at the National Press Club.” (18) The Equipo Nizcor and Derechos Human Rights, members of Soros-funded GILC, (19) included Gen. Bedoya in a list of “Notorious Colombian Graduates of the School of the Americas,” and accused him of organizing death squads, (20) allegations lifted directly from HRW reports and FARC communiqués. (21)
“It is lacking in seriousness and disagreeable to hear that fascist narrative at the end of the 20th century.”: Ivan Duque
The allegations were echoed in Colombia. Referring to Gen. Bedoya in a February 1998 article in El Tiempo, Ivan Duque, now a Senator for the Democratic Center (CD) party, wrote: “It is lacking in seriousness and disagreeable to hear that fascist narrative at the end of the 20th century.” It isn’t surprising. In an April 2010 column in Portafolio titled “Soros’ Lessons,” Duque wrote about Soros’ “intellectual richness” and promoted his ideas. (22) Whether through ignorance or by design, Duque did not make any mention to the role Soros had played in Colombia’s politics in the previous 15 years.
Let’s skip to the present. The “peace deal” ratified last year, was initiated by Santos – whose links to Soros are well-documented – and helped along by an intense Soros-sponsored propaganda campaign at home and abroad.
Specifically, the lobbying for Santos in the United States was primarily done through the Inter-American Dialogue, whose ties to Soros are detailed above, and the Atlantic Council, which includes Open Society in its list of contributors. (23) The negotiations were thoroughly endorsed by the Obama Administration, which brought back the Soros-linked key players from the 1990s era to help cement the deal: Harold Koh, one-time member of the HRW board of directors, was appointed Legal Adviser of the Department of State in 2009; and Bernard Aronson was tapped to be the Special Envoy to the negotiations in 2015. Aronson’s dubious role in the negotiations was the subject of my April 2016 column: “Bernard Aronson: The Conflicting Interests of ‘Our Man in Havana’. (24)
Bernard Aronson and FARC
The coverage of the peace negotiations in the U.S. was predominantly pro-Santos-FARC, which implicitly meant pro-Cuba, as the FARC has long been sponsored and trained by Cuba, and Cuba was a sponsor and the host of the deal. Leading the U.S. coverage was, again, the Soros-linked Washington Post, through the many columns by reporter Nick Miroff. (25) His bias was encapsulated in an appalling Jan. 6 tweet. In response to photographs of U.N Peace verifiers dancing with FARC girls – whose very presence among the FARC ranks constitutes a War Crime – he wrote: “For the sake of peace in Colombia, someone should prob take away all the cellphone cameras in El Conejo.” The problem, for Miroff, was not that UN obsevers were dancing with victims of Child Soldiering, but rather that they got caught.
The fact is, Miroff is not unbiased at all. Miroff’s wife is Camila Pineiro, the daughter of the notorious Cuban intelligence officer Manuel Pineiro. Pineiro served as the Castro regime’s head of the DGLN, in charge of organizing and supporting guerrillas in the Americas, among them, the FARC. Camila Pineiro works for the Cuban State-sponsored Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy at the University of Havana.
In Colombia, many of the NGOs that promoted and helped orchestrate the Santos-FARC deal – and those that led defamation campaigns against its opponents — were funded by Open Society. Among them:
León Valencia and Alvaro Leyva Durán
Corporacion Nuevo Arcoiris (26) lists Open Society as one of its benefactors. Created by amnestied ELN terrorist Leon Valencia, the “think tank” produces propaganda for the Santos-FARC deal. Additionally, Soros is linked to Valencia and promotes him through diverse projects. In 2015, for example, Alerta Democratica – an organization founded by Open Society Foundation, the Soros-sponsored Avina Foundation and the Ford Foundation – held a an eight-month exercise to “Map the Future of Democracy in Latin America.” The representative from Colombia was Leon Valencia, listed as the Executive Director of his other NGO, La Fundacion Paz y Reconciliacion. (27)
Funded by Open Society Foundations, DeJusticia is headed by Rodrigo Uprimny. (28) Uprimny has been a key player in crafting the peace deal and silencing any opposition within the government. As one of the “architects” of the Santos-FARC deal’s Transitional Justice System, Uprimny helped design the system that will offer no jail time for FARC terrorists. He was also the sponsor of a complaint before a high court that challenged then-Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez’ post. Ordoñez headed the only government agency that opposed the Santos-FARC deal. As a result of Uprimny’s suit, Ordoñez was deposed. (29)
Uprimny also has a running blog in another Soros-sponsored organization, La Silla Vacia, a so-called “independent” web news portal created by Open Society Foundation Fellow Juanita Leon. (30) Dejusticia’s Catalina Botero has been a speaker at Open Society-sponsored events.
Rodrigo Uprimny. From DeJusticia
DeJusticia also lobbies for the decriminalization and legalization of drugs, which is a key Soros initiative, carried out by many Soros-funded NGOs, including The Drug Policy Alliance, where Soros himself serves on the Board of Directors. In April 2016, State-funded El Tiempo published an article titled “Various NGO’s announce support for the Government’s position on drugs.” The groups argue drugs should be addressed as a public health problem, rather than a criminal matter. Some entities listed were Dejusticia, and Cesed, both funded by Soros, and the Open Society Foundation itself.
Shaping the narrative of the narco-terrorist history in Colombia, now referred to by all the above organizations and others as “the conflict,” is the Open Society project Verdad Abierta. The editor-in-chief of this web-based news magazine is Maria Teresa Ronderos, Director of the Open Society Foundation’s Program on Independent Journalism. Prior to that, she worked at Semana magazine, a Colombian state-funded magazine that promotes the Santos-FARC agenda and is a partner in the Verdad Abierta venture. (31)
Helping to ensure that opposition to the peace deal is silenced, Open Society also funded Colombia Check, a web-based portal that purports to expose “fake news.”(32) The site attempts to “debunk” negative news about the Santos administration and the peace deal and often attacks its opponents, including ex-President Alvaro Uribe, deposed Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez, and even – full disclosure – this writer, specifically an article I authored in 2016 titled “Peace for Oil?” (33)
With Soros-sponsored U.S. and Colombian think tanks, news organizations, and NGOs, and with U.S. State Department officials all aligned with the Santos-FARC peace peddlers, it seemed a miracle that the underfunded promoters of the vote against the deal achieved a victory on Oct. 2. Not that it mattered. The plebiscite result was set aside without a word from Soros’ “democracy-building” organizations and affiliates.
Ivan Duque lauds Soros
The most visible entity promoting the No vote, was ex-President Uribe’s Center Democratic Party (CD). As such, it is troubling that Ivan Duque, who in 1998 helped promote the defamation campaign against Gen. Bedoya, and a believer in Soros’ philosophy, should be one of the front-runners for the CD’s presidential nomination for 2018. Certainly, Sen. Duque has some ties to Soros and his philosophy. According to his biography, he was, at some point, the recipient of a scholarship from the National Democratic Institute (NDI), a Soros-funded organization. As a member of the Inter-American Development Bank, he drafted, along with Felipe Buitrago, a document called “The Orange Economy.” In 2013, Buitrago promoted the “Orange Economy” in the Salzburg Global Seminar, an organization sponsored by Open Society. (34) (35)
It is possible, of course, that the Senator’s views have changed. I wrote to the Senator and to the head of the CD, giving Duque an opportunity to clarify the context of his 1998 and 2010 articles and describe the nature of the NDI scholarship. I also requested a copy of his University thesis, which he explained in an interview (36) with the Sergio Arboleda University was on the subject of “human rights.” Given the timing of when he might have written his thesis, it would be interesting for the public to know how much of his information relied on Soros-funded organizations and whether he echoed their propaganda. But the Senator never responded. In fact, Duque himself has not responded directly to any of the recent criticism of his positions and any possible links to Soros, other than to complain about a “dirty war” being waged against him.
Duque himself has not responded directly to any of the recent criticism of his positions and any possible links to Soros
His supporters, however, have not remained quiet, publishing numerous columns on the matter. Curiously, aside from his campaign organizers, the most fervent defense has not come from his fellow party members, but from the above named Leon Valencia, Rodrigo Uprimny, La Silla Vacia, and Semana magazine – all of Soros’ main propagandists in Colombia.
It is important that Senator Duque address these concerns. Soros’ self-promoting piece in El Espectador suggests that all his chips are in place, and he is ready to come out of the shadows – from which he has caused so much damage to Colombia for more than 20 years. Such a bold move suggests he is confident that the 2018 presidential election results will be favorable to his agenda. With the CD winning the latest popular vote – the plebiscite – and with about 80 percent of the population opposed to the main points of the deal with the FARC, one wonders how he can be so certain. Could it be that Colombia’s 2018 election is shaping up to be a repeat of 2010 — a win-win contest between two Soros-groomed candidates?
*Lia Fowler is an American journalist and former FBI Special Agent.
Whistleblower’s Complaint Against Trump Cites George Soros-Funded NGO
BY TOM OZIMEK
September 27, 2019 Updated: September 27, 2019
The anonymous CIA official’s complaint accusing President Donald Trump of “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country” in the 2020 presidential race has been linked to an investigative journalism organization partially-funded by billionaire activist George Soros.
The whistleblower’s complaint makes reference multiple times to a report published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), titled “Meet the Florida Duo Helping Giuliani Investigate for Trump in Ukraine.”
George Soros’s Open Society is listed as among the top donor in most of the annual financial records posted on OCCRP’s website.
In 2017, OCCRP penned an article broadly critical of the work of opponents of Soros’s work in Macedonia. In an article titled, “How Macedonia’s Scandal-plagued Nationalists Lobbied America’s Right and Pulled Them Into an Anti-Soros Crusade,” the organization wrote that “America’s right has become fervently interested in what one writer termed a ‘battle royale’ within the tiny Balkan country. On one side is Macedonia’s conservative former ruling party, portrayed by its newfound U.S. supporters as a staunch defender of free markets and traditional morality. On the other, they say, are nefarious left-wing opponents backed by billionaire financier George Soros.”
“The campaign is part of a wider anti-Soros movement promoted by authoritarian governments in Europe and right-wing populists in the United States. The Hungarian and Polish governments have gone after Soros-funded groups and institutions. In Macedonia’s neighbor, Serbia, nationalist media outlets have attacked Soros as being behind a plan to destabilize the country.”
The report referenced a meeting of “populist activists” at a March conference in Budapest, where they “adopted the name of the Macedonian group ‘Stop Operation Soros.'”
The report cited Macedonian journalists Ljupcho Zlatev, who told OCCRP that “Soros was picked as a target because he personifies a liberal, globalist threat to traditional nationalism.”
“George Soros is not the only one, but he is a symbol,” Zlatev said in the report. “You can’t go and protest against the British Council or the Swiss development agency, you know.”
OCCRP describes itself as a “non-profit media organization providing an investigative reporting platform” which links “45 non-profit investigative centers in 34 countries, scores of journalists and several major regional news organizations across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.”
“We work to turn the tables on corruption and build greater accountability through exposing the abuse of power at the expense of the people,” OCCRP states. “We serve all people whose lives are affected by organized crime and corruption.”
Besides Soros-linked funding, OCCRP also receives support from the U.S. government, which has made sizeable contributions to the organization via the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), providing over $2 million in revenue in 2017, according to a financial report (pdf).
Private institutions in the same year contributed just over $2.3 million combined.
‘Not a Direct Witness’
The whistleblower, who in the complaint admits, “I was not a direct witness to most of the events described,” relied onsecond-hand information from numerous sources to allege that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
The transcript of the call shows no evidence of pressure, however, nor does it show that Trump’s requested investigation of the Bidens was floated as a quid pro quo condition of releasing a tranche of military aid to Ukraine, as has been alleged in some media reports.
Trump has denied putting pressure on Zelensky and has called the allegations the work of a partisan operative. The Ukrainian president has also dismissed suggestions of pressure, saying that “nobody pushed me” nor that he had pressured Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate the Bidens.
The complaint claims several key members of the State Department either listened in on Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky or interacted with Ukrainian officials to “contain the damage” to U.S. national security, and that “senior White House officials had intervened to ‘lock down’ all records of the phone call.”
Despite not having first-hand knowledge of the call, the whistleblower said in the complaint that he or she found “accounts of these events to be credible because, in almost all cases, multiple officials recounted fact patterns that were consistent with one another.”
The whistleblower notes in one part of the complaint that “multiple U.S. officials told me that Mr. Giuliani had reportedly privately reached out to a variety of other Zelensky advisers, including Chief of Staff Andriy Bohdan and Acting Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov.”
It is in the context of Giuliani’s alleged efforts to investigate Biden that the OCCRP report is referenced in the whistleblower’s complaint.
Footnote #4 of the complaint reads: “In a report published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on 22 July, two associates of Mr. Giuliani reportedly traveled to Kyiv in May 2019 and met with Mr. Bakanov and another close Zelensky adviser, Mr. Serhiy Shefir.”
Footnote #9 reads: “In May, Attorney General Barr announced that he was initiating a probe into the ‘origins’ of the Russia investigation. According to the above-referenced OCCRP report (22 July), two associates of Mr. Giuliani claimed to be working with Ukrainian officials to uncover information that would become part of this inquiry.”
Footnote #10 reads: “See, for example, the above-referenced articles in Bloomberg (16 May) and OCCRP (22 July).” This footnote relates to the claim in the report that “Mr. Giuliani had met on at least two occasions with Mr. Lutsenko: once in New York in late January and again in Warsaw in mid-February. In addition, it was publicly reported that Mr. Giuliani had spoken in late 2018 to former Prosecutor General Shokin, in a Skype call arranged by two associates of Mr. Giuliani.”
Footnote #11 reads: “I do not know whether these associates of Mr. Giuliani were the same individuals named in the 22 July report by OCCRP, referenced above.”
Hannity Guests Link OCCRP to Soros
Guests on Fox News’ Hannity show have also pointed out that the whistleblower relied on information provided by a Soros-linked organization.
On a Sept. 26 episode of Hannity, attorneys Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing criticized the whistleblower, saying the person “doesn’t need to be feted, he needs to go to prison.”
Toensing then claimed, “The whistle-blower sprinkles throughout his document’s footnotes referring to a publication with the initials ‘OCCRP.’ One guess, Sean, who funds OOCRP? George Soros.”
“That was George Soros-funded NGOs who were also in bed with the State Department,” Toensing said. “They were in bed with each other during that time, in the name of anti-corruption and it really means that Soros goes after his competitors.”
DiGenova added: “Soros’ dirty money is all over this story from day one.”
The former attorney for the District of Columbia also claimed that the whistleblower complaint was a scheme devised by the Democrats to deflect attention away from the Bidens’ alleged corruption.
In 2016, Biden pressured then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to fire Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who had led a criminal probe into Bursima Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company on whose board his son, Hunter Biden, sat. Bloomberg reported that the prosecutor’s termination was prompted by foot-dragging on unrelated corruption probes and that no evidence has been found of any connection to Biden’s son. Ukraine’s new prosecutor general told Bloomberg the investigation into tax evasion at Bursima had been dormant for over a year before Biden pushed for Shokin to be fired.
However, in a newly published sworn affidavit, obtained by The Hill, Shokin said he was told the reason he was forced out: Biden wasn’t pleased with the investigations into Burisma.
at while the official reason for his dismissal was failing to secure the public trust, the actual reason had to do with the Burisma probe.
“The truth is that I was forced out because I was leading a wide-ranging corruption probe into Burisma Holdings, a natural gas firm active in Ukraine, and Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was a member of the Board of Directors,” Shokin wrote.
“I assume Burisma, which was connected with gas extraction, had the support of the of the US Vice-President Joe Biden because his son was on the Board of Directors.”
Shokin said Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president at the time, came to him multiple times and asked him to close down the probe into Burisma but the prosecutor refused.
“In my conversations with Poroshenko at the time, he was emphatic that I should cease my investigations regarding Burisma. When I did not, he said that the U.S. (via Biden) were refusing to release the USD$1 billion promised to Ukraine. He said that he had no choice.”
Declassified and Released Complaint About Trump
The complaint made against Trump that spurred Democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry has been declassified and released.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, released the complaint to the public on Sept. 26.
Soros gave $90M to feminist anti-Trump protest groups
January 17, 2017 Admin 93 Comments
(LifeSiteNews) Pro-abortion billionaire George Soros has donated nearly $90 million to feminist groups behind a January 21 protest of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
In a new report, Alatheia Nielsen at NewsBusters revealed that more than a quarter of the groups listed as “partners” on the Women’s March on Washington website are funded by Soros. These include Planned Parenthood, to whom Soros has given over $21 million since 2000, and the Center for Reproductive Rights, to whom Soros has given over $3 million since 2000. Other Soros-funded groups participating include the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Catholics for Choice, Equality Now, NARAL, the National Abortion Federation, the Human Rights Campaign, and Amnesty International.
The feminist anti-Trump march, which the media have touted as a massive upcoming protest has been marred by disagreements over gender, class, and race.
Some women have withdrawn their participation because of the lack of minority women in the protest’s leadership roles, the New York Times reported. Others have disagreed on whether the march – or its offshoot local marches – should focus more on race or gender.
Democratic Socialists of America, a group called “Lady Parts Justice,” and numerous environmentalist groups are partners with the march as well.
According to the Capital Research Center, Soros is also connected to some the leftist groups that say they plan to “shut down” the nation’s capital protesting the inauguration on January 20. These groups are part of a coalition called DisrputJ20, which is “planning to paralyze the city [of Washington, D.C.] itself, using blockades and marches to stop traffic and even public transit” the day of Trump’s inauguration.
Undercover journalist James O’Keefe released a video on Monday showing members of the DisruptJ20 affiliate D.C. Anti-Fascist Coalition planning to unleash stink bombs and set off sprinklers at the “Deploraball,” a party at the National Press Club celebrating Trump’s inauguration….
Soros Linked to 'Dark Money' Group Trying To Pit Republicans Against Trump
By Andrew Kerr
Published November 22, 2019 at 1:03pm
A liberal “dark money” group that has received millions of dollars from George Soros’s advocacy network is behind a seven-figure ad blitz urging vulnerable Republicans in swing districts to support the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
The ads were scheduled to air this week on “Fox and Friends” in the Washington, D.C., market and in 13 GOP-held congressional districts.
They feature military veterans urging Republican representatives to “put country over politics” by holding Trump accountable for “abusing his office and risking national security for his own gain.”
Each of the ads contains a disclosure stating they’re paid for by “Defend American Democracy.”
But D.C. business registration documents reveal the group is just one of the many projects of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a dark money nonprofit that pumped $141 million into liberal causes in 2018 alone, Open Secrets reported.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund reported receiving $52 million from a single anonymous donor in 2018, but as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, it is not required to disclose the identity of its donors.
But other nonprofit organizations are required to disclose if they gave money to the Sixteen Thirty Fund.
One of Soros’s primary donation vehicles, the Open Society Policy Center, has given $4.5 million to the fund between 2012 and 2017, according to their Form 990 annual disclosures.
“Defend American Democracy” does not disclose its affiliation to the Sixteen Thirty Fund on its website, however it does state its a project of “Protect The Investigation,” which is another such project of the Fund.
“Defend American Democracy” did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund raised an unprecedented amount of money in 2018 as a liberal dark money group, Robert Maguire, a research director for the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told Politico.
“In terms of the size of dark money networks, there are only a few that have gone into the $100 million-plus range,” Maguire said.
“These kinds of totals aren’t unheard of … I do think they’re unheard of on the liberal side. I think that’s what’s so striking about this.”
“Defend American Democracy” is just one of the dozens of projects operated by the Sixteen Thirty Fund.
Its most well-known project is “Demand Justice,” which spearheaded the effort to stop Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation in 2018.
In addition to operating dozens of projects, the Sixteen Thirty Fund is also a major source of funding for liberal nonprofit groups nationwide that push for reforms at the state and national level, Politico reported.
The Fund disbursed $91 million to 95 separate groups in 2018, according to its most recent Form 990.
“The Sixteen Thirty Fund provides support to advocates and social welfare organizations around the country, and we are pleased with the growth we had in 2018,” Sixteen Thirty Fund executive director Amy Kurtz told Open Secrets.
Soros Spends Over $48 Million Funding Media Organizations
Second of Four Parts
It's a scene journalists dream about - a group of coworkers toasting a Pulitzer Prize. For the team at investigative start-up ProPublica, it was the second time their fellow professionals recognized their work for journalism's top honor.
For George Soros and ProPublica's other liberal backers, it was again proof that a strategy of funding journalism was a powerful way to influence the American public.
It's a strategy that Soros has been deploying extensively in media both in the United States and abroad. Since 2003, Soros has spent more than $48 million funding media properties, including the infrastructure of news - journalism schools, investigative journalism and even industry organizations.
And that number is an understatement. It is gleaned from tax forms, news stories and reporting. But Soros funds foundations that fund other foundations in turn, like the Tides Foundation, which then make their own donations. A complete accounting is almost impossible because a media component is part of so many Soros-funded operations.
This information is part of an upcoming report by the Media Research Centers Business & Media Institute which has been looking into George Soros and his influence on the media.
It turns out that Soros' influence doesn't just include connections to top mainstream news organizations such as NBC, ABC, The New York Times and Washington Post. It's bought him connections to the underpinnings of the news business. The Columbia Journalism Review, which bills itself as "a watchdog and a friend of the press in all its forms," lists several investigative reporting projects funded by one of Soros foundations.
The "News Frontier Database" includes seven different investigative reporting projects funded by Soros' Open Society Institute. Along with ProPublica, there are the Center for Public Integrity, the Center for Investigative Reporting and New Orleans' The Lens. The Columbia School of Journalism, which operates CJR, has received at least $600,000 from Soros, as well.
Imagine if conservative media punching bags David and Charles Koch had this many connections to journalists. Even if the Kochs could find journalists willing to support conservative media (doubtful), they would be skewered by the left.
For Soros, it's news, but it nothing new. According to "Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire," he has been fascinated by media from when he was a boy where early career interests included "history or journalism or some form of writing." He served as "editor-in-chief, publisher, and news vendor of" his own paper, "The Lupa News" and wrote a wall newspaper in his native Hungary before leaving, wrote author Michael T. Kaufman, a 40-year New York Times veteran. The Communist Party "encouraged" such papers.
Now as one of the world's richest men (No. 46 on Forbes' list), he gets to indulge his dreams. Since those dreams seem to involve controlling media from the ground up, Soros naturally started with Columbia University's School of Journalism. Columbia is headed by President Lee Bollinger, who also sits on the Pulitzer Prize board and the board of directors of The Washington Post.
Bollinger, like some of Soros' other funding recipients, is pushing for journalism to find a new sugar daddy or at least an uncle - Uncle Sam. Bollinger wrote in his book "Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century" that government should fund media. A 2009 study by Columbia's journalism program came to the same conclusion, calling for "a national fund for local news." Conveniently, Len Downie, the lead author of that piece, is on both the Post's board and the board of the Center for Investigative Reporting, also funded by Soros.
Soros funds more than just the most famous journalism school in the nation. There's journalism industry associations like:
The National Federation of Community Broadcasters;
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists;
And the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Readers unhappy with Soros' media influence might be tempted to voice concerns to the Organization of News Ombudsmen - a professional group devoted to "monitoring accuracy, fairness and balance." Perhaps a direct complaint to one such as NPR's Alicia Shepard or PBS's Michael Getler, both directors of the organization. Unfortunately, that group is also funded by Soros. At the bottom of the Organization of News Ombudsmen's website front page is the line: "Supported by the Open Society Institute," a Soros foundation. It is the only organization so listed.
The group's membership page lists 57 members from around globe and features:
Deirdre Edgar, readers' representative of The Los Angeles Times;
Brent Jones, standards editor, USA Today;
Kelly McBride, ombudsman, ESPN;
Patrick Pexton, ombudsman, The Washington Post.
The site doesn't address whether the OSI money creates a conflict of interest. But then, who could readers complain to anyway?
There's more. The Open Society Institute is one of several foundations funding the Investigative News Network (INN), a collaboration of 32 non-profit news organizations producing what they claim is "non-partisan investigative news." The James L. Knight Foundation also backs the network and is possibly the most-well-known journalism foundation. Knight President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen is on the board of directors for ProPublica.
INN includes the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, the liberal web start-up MinnPost, National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, National Public Radio, and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. The network had included the liberal Huffington Post investigative operation among its grants, but HuffPo investigations merged with the possibly even more left-wing Center for Public Integrity, on whose board Arianna Huffington sits.
Liberal academic programs, left-wing investigative journalism and even supposedly neutral news organizations paid for by a man who spends tens of millions of dollars openly attacking the right. George Soros is teaching journalists that their industry has a future as long as he opens his wallet.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
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individual "...Soros views himself as a missionary with something of a divine mandate to transform the world and its institutions into something better—as he sees it."
"Over the years, Soros has given voice to this sense of grandiosity many times and in a variety of different ways. In his 1987 book The Alchemy of Finance, for instance, he wrote: “I admit that I have always harbored an exaggerated view of self-importance—to put it bluntly, I fancied myself as some kind of god or an economic reformer like Keynes or, even better, a scientist like Einstein.”3 Expanding on this theme in his 1991 book Underwriting Democracy, Soros said: “If truth be known, I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood,” fantasies which “I wanted to indulge … to the extent that I could afford.”4 In a June 1993 interview with The Independent, Soros, who is an atheist,5 said he saw himself as “some kind of god, the creator of everything.”6 In an interview two years later, he portrayed himself as someone who shared numerous attributes with “God in the Old Testament” — “[Y]ou know, like invisible. I was pretty invisible. Benevolent. I was pretty benevolent. All-seeing. I tried to be all-seeing.”7 Soros told his biographer Michael Kaufman that his “goal” was nothing less ambitious than “to become the conscience of the world” by using his charitable foundations,8 which will be discussed at length in this pamphlet, to bankroll organizations and causes that he deems worthwhile."
“I realized [as a young man] that it’s money that makes the world go round,” says Soros, “so I might as well make money.… But having made it, I could then indulge my social concerns.”9 Invariably, those concerns center around a desire to change the world generally—and America particularly—into something new, something consistent with his vision of “social justice.” Claiming to be “driven” by “illusions, or perhaps delusions, of grandeur,”10 Soros has humorously described himself as “a kind of nut who wants to have an impact” on the workings of the world.11 The billionaire’s longtime friend Byron Wien, currently the vice chairman of Blackstone Advisory Services, offers this insight: “You must understand [Soros] thinks he’s been anointed by God to solve insoluble problems. The proof is that he has been so successful at making so much [money]. He therefore thinks he has a responsibility to give money away”—to causes that are consistent with his values and agendas.12"
..."In 1947 the Soros family relocated from Hungary to England, where George attended the London School of Economics (LSE). There, he was exposed to the works of the Viennese-born philosopher Karl Popper, who taught at LSE and whom Soros would later call his “spiritual mentor.”17 Though Soros never studied directly under Popper, he read the latter’s works and submitted some essays to him for review and comment. Most notably, Popper’s 1945 book The Open Society and Its Enemies introduced Soros to the concept of an “open society,” a theme that would play a central role in Soros’s thought and activities for the rest of his life.18"
"The term “open society” was originally coined in 1932 by the French philosopher Henri Louis Bergson, to describe societies whose moral codes were founded upon “universal” principles seeking to enhance the welfare of all mankind—as opposed to “closed” societies that placed self-interest above any concern for other nations and cultures.19 Popper readily embraced this concept and expanded upon it. In his view, the open society was a place that permitted its citizens the right to criticize and change its institutions as they saw fit; he rejected the imposed intellectual conformity, central planning, and historical determinism of Marxist doctrine.20 By Popper’s reckoning, a society was “closed”—and thus undesirable—if it assumed that it was in any way superior to other societies. Likewise, any belief system or individual claiming to be in possession of “ultimate truth” was an “enemy” of the open society as well. Popper viewed all knowledge as conjectural rather than certain, as evolving rather than fixed."
"Thus, by logical extension, Popper did not share the American founders’ confident assertion that certain truths were “self-evident,” and that certain rights—such as the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” as referenced in the Declaration of Independence—were “unalienable” and thus not subject to doubt, because they had been granted to mankind by the ultimate authority, the “Creator.”21 We shall see that George Soros, as he grew to maturity, would likewise reject the founders’ premise. Indeed Soros would harbor great disdain for modern-day American political figures who displayed unshakable confidence in their own culture’s nobility, and who embraced the tenets of the Declaration and the U.S. Constitution as timeless, immutable truths. To Soros, “Popper’s greatest contribution to philosophy” was his teaching that “the ultimate truth remains permanently beyond our reach.”22"
..."In 1959 Soros moved to Greenwich Village, New York, where early stirrings of the Sixties counterculture were already being felt. In September 1960 he married Annaliese Witschak, who would be his wife until the couple divorced 23 years later.25 In 1961 Soros became a U.S. citizen, and two years later he and Annaliese had their first child, a son. In the Village, it is likely that Soros was exposed to the ideas of the prominent socialist Michael Harrington, who mingled with fellow radicals and socialists almost nightly at a tavern situated barely a stone’s throw from Soros’s residence.26 In 1962 Harrington wrote The Other America, a book lamenting the fact that a substantial “invisible” underclass continued to exist even as the country at large prospered, and suggesting that a “war on poverty” was needed to rectify this. President Lyndon Johnson read and admired the book, and its ideas greatly influenced his Great Society policies of government-imposed redistribution of wealth."
SOROS THE PHILANTHROPIST**
"It was in 1979 that Soros began testing the proverbial waters of philanthropy. Five years later he launched, in the country of his birth, the first of his many Open Society Foundations—named after the concept advanced by Karl Popper—to help “build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens.”29 But it was not until 1987, the year he opened his Moscow office, that Soros began to disseminate truly large amounts of money to various groups and causes. “My spending rose from $3 million in 1987 to more than $300 million a year by 1992,” he said.30 During this period, Soros established a series of foundations throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia.31 He happily observed that because of his extraordinary wealth, major political figures “suddenly became very interested in seeing me…. [M]y influence increased.”32 Today Soros’s Open Society Foundations are active in more than 70 countries around the world.33"
"In 1993 Soros established the flagship of the Soros foundation network—the New York City-based Open Society Foundations (OSF), which went by the name of the Open Society Institute until 2010. While OSF’s philanthropy extends to a number of nations around the world, it is chiefly devoted to injecting capital into American groups and causes. In his book Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism, Soros explains that the “open society” which he seeks to advance by means of philanthropy, “stands for freedom, democracy, rule of law, human rights, social justice, and social responsibility as a universal idea.”34 But of course, abstract concepts like these, draped in vestments of lofty rhetoric, can mean radically different things to different people."
"Entrusted with the task of defining the foregoing terms for the OSF, and for articulating OSF’s agendas from the outset, was Aryeh Neier, whom Soros appointed to serve as president not only of OSF, but of the entire Soros Foundation Network. Thirty-four years earlier, Neier had created the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), which became the largest and most important radical group of the 1960s. SDS aspired to overthrow America’s democratic institutions, remake its government in a Marxist image, and undermine the nation’s war efforts in Vietnam. (A particularly militant faction of SDS would later break away to form the Weather Underground, a notorious domestic terror organization with a Marxist-Leninist agenda.) Following his stint with SDS, Neier worked fifteen years for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)—including eight years as its national executive director. After that, he spent twelve years as executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), an organization he founded in 1978.**35
THE SOROS AGENDAS**
"Both the ACLU and HRW have long promoted one of the central contentions of Soros’s Open Society Foundations: the notion that America is institutionally an oppressive nation and a habitual violator of human rights both at home and abroad—indeed, the very antithesis of the type of “open society” Soros reveres. Consider first the ACLU, whose advisory board once included the former Weather Underground terrorist Bernardine Dohrn.36 The ACLU has opposed virtually all post-9/11 national security measures enacted by the U.S. government, depicting those measures not only as excessively harsh and invasive generally, but also as discriminatory against Muslims in particular.37 Moreover, the organization has filed numerous lawsuits seeking to limit the government’s ability to locate, monitor, and apprehend terrorist operatives. It consistently depicts American society as one that is rife with intractable racial injustice. And it works tirelessly to protect illegal immigrants against “governmental abuse and discrimination.”38 These (and many other) ACLU activities and policy positions are entirely consistent with those of Aryeh Neier and George Soros, as evidenced by the fact that between 1999 and 2008, OSF awarded $8.69 million in grants to the ACLU Foundation.39"
"Neier’s other training ground, Human Rights Watch, has a long history of pointing an accusatory finger at America’s allegedly numerous transgressions. Most notably, HRW has derided the U.S. war on terror as a foolhardy endeavor rooted in blindness to the realization that terrorism stems, in large measure, from America’s failure “to promote fundamental rights around the world.”40 In a March 2007 speech, HRW executive director Kenneth Roth charged that the United States, by routinely “using torture and inhumane treatment” to deal with its foes, had “severely damaged its credibility when it comes to promoting human rights” in other nations.41 Between 2000 and 2008, the Open Society Foundations awarded grants and other contributions to HRW that collectively totaled $6,386,477.42 Then, in September 2010, Soros announced that he would soon be giving HRW another $100 million.43 Notably, Soros himself once served on HRW’s Europe and Central Asia Advisory Committee.44"
"OSF’s total assets today exceed $1.9 billion. Each year, the Foundations award scores of millions of dollars in grants to organizations that—like the ACLU and HRW—promote worldviews and objectives accordant with those of George Soros.45 Following is a sampling of the major agendas advanced by groups that Soros and OSF support financially. Listed under each category heading are a few OSF donees fitting that description.Organizations that accuse America of violating the civil rights and liberties of many of its residents:".......
...Organizations that depict America as a nation whose enduring racism must be counterbalanced by racial and ethnic preferences in favor of nonwhites:"...
...Organizations that specifically portray the American criminal-justice system as racist and inequitable:...
...Organizations that call for massive social change, and for the recruitment and training of activist leaders to help foment that change:...
...[BOrganizations that disparage capitalism while promoting a dramatic expansion of social-welfare programs funded by ever-escalating taxes:][/B]...
...Organizations that support socialized medicine in the United States:...
...Organizations that strive to move American politics to the left by promoting the election of progressive political candidates:...
...Organizations that promote leftist ideals and worldviews in the media and the arts:...
...Organizations that seek to inject the American judicial system with leftist values:...
...Organizations that advance leftist agendas by infiltrating churches and religious congregations:...
...Think tanks that promote leftist policies:...
...Organizations that promote open borders, mass immigration, a watering down of current immigration laws, increased rights and benefits for illegal aliens, and ultimately amnesty:...
...Organizations that oppose virtually all post-9/11 national-security measures enacted by the U.S. government:...
...Organizations that defend suspected anti-American terrorists and their abetters:...
...Organizations that depict virtually all American military actions as unwarranted and immoral:...
...Organizations that advocate America’s unilateral disarmament and/or a steep reduction in its military spending:...
...Organizations that promote radical environmentalism: [including global warming]...
...Organizations that oppose the death penalty in all circumstances:...
...Organizations that promote modern-day feminism’s core tenet—that America is fundamentally a sexist society where discrimination and violence against women have reached epidemic proportions:...
...Organizations that promote not only women’s right to taxpayer-funded abortion on demand,128 but also political candidates who take that same position:...
...Organizations that favor global government which would bring American foreign policy under the control of the United Nations or other international bodies:...
...Organizations that support drug legalization:...
...Organizations that support euthanasia for the terminally ill:...
...Organizations that have pressured mortgage lenders to make loans to undercapitalized borrowers, a practice that helped spark the subprime mortgage crisis and housing-market collapse of 2008:...
...Organizations that exhort the U.S. and Israel to negotiate with, and to make concessions to, Arab terrorist groups and regimes that have pledged to destroy America and Israel alike:"...
SOROS MEETS THE CLINTONS
"Around the time that George Soros initially launched his Manhattan-based Open Society Foundations, he established what would prove to be a warm and enduring relationship with Bill and Hillary Clinton, the new American President and First Lady. When the Clintons took office in early 1993,...
Soros, in turn, had connections with a young economist whom he had been funding—Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Harvard Institute for International Development. The U.S. Agency for International Development assigned Sachs’ Institute to oversee Russia’s transformation to a market economy after more than seven decades of communism. As a consequence of this assignment, Sachs and his team essentially represented the United States as official economic advisors to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Soros worked closely with Sachs on this project, and the pair held enormous sway over Yeltsin.152 So great was their influence, in fact, that on one occasion Soros quipped that “the former Soviet Empire is now called the Soros Empire.”153 But before long, members of Sachs’s team became involved in massive corruption, exploiting for personal gain their access to Russia’s political and economic leaders. Their actions contributed to the collapse of the Russian economy and to the diversion of some $100 billion out of the country.154 Though Sachs himself was not accused of profiting personally from these activities, he resigned as director of the Harvard Institute in May 1999, under a dark cloud of scandal.155 The U.S. House Banking Committee investigated the matter and called Soros to testify. The billionaire denied culpability but admitted that he had used insider access in an illegal deal to acquire a large portion of Sidanko Oil.156 Soros further acknowledged in Congressional testimony that some of the missing Russian assets had made their way into his personal investment portfolio.157 House Banking Committee chairman Jim Leach characterized the entire sordid affair as “one of the greatest social robberies in human history.”158...
..."As the Nineties progressed, it became increasingly evident that Bill and Hillary Clinton embraced virtually all of the values and agendas that George Soros was funding through his Open Society Foundations. “I do now have great access in [the Clinton] administration,” said Soros in 1995. “There is no question about this. We actually work together as a team.”159"
...He described Hillary as someone who had been “more effective than most of our statesmen in propagating democracy, freedom, and open society.”162...
...Soros—while conceding that the retaliatory U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was justifiable163—maintained that the proper long-term response to 9/11 would be for America to launch a global war on poverty. Such an undertaking would be modeled on the Great Society programs which the Johnson administration had instituted in the 1960s—on the theory that by pouring rivers of taxpayer dollars into the nation’s violence-torn ghettos, the presumably justified rage of the rioters could be quelled. In a similar vein, Soros now held that the best way to fight international terrorism would be for the affluent USA to send massive amounts of aid to impoverished regions around the world where the phenomenon tended to originate. Indeed, he had long maintained that the “root causes” of terrorism were “poverty” and “ignorance.”164 Just eight days after 9/11, Soros gave a speech where he said that the “cornerstone” of his “plan” was to “address the social conditions that provide a fertile ground from which [terrorist] volunteers who are willing to sacrifice their lives can be recruited.” This plan would call on “rich countries” to boost their levels of “international assistance,” which—while unlikely to “prevent people like bin Laden from exercising their evil genius”—would “help to alleviate the grievances on which extremism of all kinds feeds.”165
..."On subsequent occasions, Soros would reiterate his belief that terrorism was caused by a dearth of “international income redistribution” and a “growing inequality between rich and poor, both within countries and among countries.”166 “A global open society,” Soros stressed, “requires affirmative action on a global scale.”...
...“The United States cannot do whatever it wants,” he scolded. “… Our nation must concern itself with the well-being of the world.”169...
..."Soros appointed former Clinton administration official Morton Halperin to the post of Open Society Foundations director. Halperin, whom some State Department officials suspected of being a communist agent,173 had been instrumental in derailing America’s war effort during the Vietnam era, when President Johnson put him in charge of compiling a classified history of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia. Halperin’s labor ultimately bore fruit—in June 1971—with the publication of the notorious “Pentagon Papers.”174 Thereafter, Halperin went on to serve (from 1975-1992) as director of an ACLU project called the Center for National Security Studies, which sought to slash U.S. defense expenditures and undermine the nation’s intelligence capabilities.175 ...
...By the time the U.S. invaded Iraq in early 2003, Soros’s contempt for President Bush’s “imperialist vision” had reached a fever pitch...
...As Soros saw things, the President’s arrogance and corruption had filtered down perceptibly into the ranks of the military personnel who were carrying out Bush’s mission. Thus Soros likened the conduct of American troops to that of communist and fascist thugs, asserting that “the picture of torture in Abu Ghraib” was proof that “the way President Bush conducted the war on terror converted us from victims into perpetrators.”194 Soros charged that not only had America “violated international law” by “invading Iraq … without a second UN Resolution,” but that it had “violated the Geneva Conventions” by “mistreating and even torturing prisoners.”195...
“Who would have thought sixty years ago,” asked Soros, “when Karl Popper wrote The Open Society and Its Enemies, that the United States itself could pose a threat to open society? Yet that is what is happening, both internally and internationally.”199...
...In a September 29, 2003 interview with BBC radio, Soros said it was imperative that there be “a regime change in the United States”—meaning that President Bush must be “voted out of power.”...
The types of changes America needed were crystal clear to Soros. Above all else, he wished to steer the country, politically and ideologically, in a direction that was consistent with the agendas of the groups that he had been funding for a decade through his Open Society Foundations. Those agendas could essentially be distilled down to three overriding themes: the diminution of American power, the subjugation of American sovereignty in favor of global governance, and the implementation of redistributive economic policies—both within the U.S. and across national borders. Toward these ends, Soros saw “the forthcoming elections” as “an excellent opportunity to deflate the bubble of American supremacy.”203...
SOROS’S PREVIOUS POLITICAL INTERVENTIONS AROUND THE WORLD*
..."On several previous occasions, he had used his extraordinary wealth to bankroll popular movements seeking to undermine communist and authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Specifically, Soros had funded the training, organization and mobilization of many millions of demonstrators who took part in a series of bloodless political revolutions—commonly known as “velvet revolutions” or “color revolutions”205—that ultimately brought down governments in those regions. Typically, these mobilizations consisted of massive street rallies (sometimes with hundreds of thousands of participants) and carefully coordinated acts of civil disobedience such as sit-ins and general strikes. In several instances, such Soros-funded protesters challenged the results of popular elections and accused incumbent leaders of election fraud—charges which were then echoed by Soros-funded exit pollsters and Soros-funded media outlets, thereby greatly amplifying the effect of the accusations. A brief survey of Soros’s most noteworthy foreign interventions will be useful at this point....
...the velvet revolution that brought down Czechoslovakia’s Communist regime in late 1989...
...Democratic regime change in Slovakia in 1998, Croatia in 1999, and Yugoslavia in 2000, mobilizing civil society to get rid of Vladimir Meciar, Franjo Tudjman, and Slobodan Milosevic, respectively.”...
...Franjo Tudjman offered a profound insight into how Soros typically injected his influence into the political workings of a given nation by patiently and systematically infiltrating strategic organizations and governmental agencies:
“[Soros and his allies] have spread their tentacles throughout the whole of our society. Soros … had approval to … gather and distribute humanitarian aid.… However, we … allowed them to do almost whatever they wanted.… They have involved in their network … people of all ages and classes … trying to win them over by financial aid.… [Their aim is] control of all spheres of life … setting up a state within a state.…”212...
...Soros also funded Soviet Georgia’s “Rose Revolution,”213...
...Soros thereafter would go on to fund the “Orange Revolution,” a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005,...
... Also in early 2005, Soros helped finance the “Tulip Revolution”—a massive protest movement that led to the overthrow of President Askar Akayev and his government in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan.222...
NEW TARGET FOR “REGIME CHANGE”: AMERICA
...in 2003-04, Soros’s primary focus was on the United States, whose government he considered to be at least as dangerous and oppressive as those of the aforementioned communist and authoritarian regimes. “I believe deeply in the values of an open society,” Soros said. “For the past 15 years I have focused my energies on fighting for these values abroad. Now I am doing it in the United States.”[223] Asserting that he could “do a lot more about the issues I care about by changing the government than by pushing the issues,”[224] Soros set out to “puncture the bubble of American supremacy.”[225] To accomplish this, he would create a political apparatus of extraordinary influence....
..."Three weeks after the 1994 elections, Soros announced that he intended to “do something” about “the distortion of our electoral process by the excessive use of TV advertising.”[227] That “something” would be campaign-finance reform." [McCain-Feingold]...
..."Starting in 1994, Soros’s Open Society Foundations and a few other leftist foundations began bankrolling front groups and so-called “experts” whose aim was to persuade Congress to swallow the fiction that millions of Americans were clamoring for “campaign-finance reform.” This deceptive strategy was the brainchild of Sean Treglia, a former program officer with the Pew Charitable Trusts.[228] Between 1994 and 2004, some $140 million of foundation cash was used to promote campaign-finance reform. Nearly 90 percent of this amount derived from just eight foundations, one of which was the Open Society Foundations, which contributed $12.6 million to the cause.[229]..."
...The “research” which these groups produced in order to make a case on behalf of campaign-finance reform was largely bogus and contrived. For instance, Brennan Center political scientist Jonathan Krasno had clearly admitted in his February 19, 1999 grant proposal to the Pew Charitable Trusts that the purpose of the proposed study was political, not scholarly, and that the project would be axed if it failed to yield the desired results:...
..."the types of organizations whose fundraising activities were left unaffected by McCain-Feingold. These were “527 committees”—nonprofits named after Section 527 of the IRS code—which, unlike ordinary PACS, were not required to register with the FEC. Run mostly by special-interest groups, these 527s were technically supposed to be independent of, and unaffiliated with, any party or candidate. As such, they were permitted to raise soft money—in amounts unbound by any legal limits—for all manner of political activities other than express advocacy...
..."Once McCain-Feingold was in place, Soros and his political allies collaborated to set up a network of “527 committees” ready to receive the soft money that individual donors and big labor unions normally would have given directly to the Democratic Party. "
..."As Byron York observed, “[T]he new campaign finance rules had actually increased the influence of big money in politics. By giving directly to ‘independent’ groups rather than to the party itself, big-ticket donors could influence campaign strategy and tactics more directly than they ever had previously…. And the power was concentrated in very few hands”—most notably Soros’s.[236]..."
SOROS’S “SHADOW PARTY” TAKES SHAPE*
..."George Soros set in motion the wheels of this Shadow Party when he gathered a team of political strategists, activists, and Democrat donors at his Long Island beach house on July 17, 2003, to discuss how President Bush could be defeated in the 2004 election...
..." By early 2004, the administrative core of George Soros’s Shadow Party was in place. It consisted of seven ostensibly “independent” nonprofit groups—all but one of which were headquartered in Washington, DC. In a number of cases, these groups shared one another’s finances, directors, and corporate officers; occasionally they even shared office space.[242] The seven groups were: America Coming Together (ACT); Center For American Progress (CAP); America Votes; Media Fund; Joint Victory Campaign 2004 (JVC); Thunder Road Group (TRG); and MoveOn.org; ...Harold Ickes, who served as White House deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House, had a hand in creating every Shadow Party core group except MoveOn. He was also entrusted with the vital task of making these organizations function as a cohesive entity.
..."In addition to its seven core members, the Shadow Party also came to include at least another 30 well-established leftwing activist groups and labor unions that participated in the America Votes coalition."...George Soros, who contributed $27,080,105 to pro-Democrat 527s during the 2004 election cycle....
FAILURE AND RESILIENCY: BIRTH OF THE DEMOCRACY ALLIANCE
..."Democrat political operative Rob Stein, former chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Ron Brown during the Clinton administration....After a year of analysis, he concluded that a few influential, wealthy family foundations—most notably Scaife, Bradley, Olin, and Coors—had spearheaded the creation of a $300 million network of politically influential organizations. Stein featured these facts in a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation—titled “The Conservative Message Machine Money Matrix”—which mapped out, in painstaking detail, the conservative movement’s networking strategies and funding sources.[265]..."
..."build a new organization—a financial clearinghouse to be called the Democracy Alliance (DA)—dedicated to offsetting the efforts of conservative funders and injecting new life into the progressive movement. ...
..."In April 2005, Soros brought together 70 likeminded, carefully vetted, fellow millionaires and billionaires in Phoenix, Arizona, to discuss Stein’s ideas and expeditiously implement a plan of action.[270] Most of those in attendance agreed that the conservative movement represented “a fundamental threat to the American way of life.” [271] And, like Soros, a considerable number of them looked favorably on Stein’s analysis and concept. Thus was born the Democracy Alliance...
..."Donors metaphorically “pour” these requisite donations into one or more of what Rob Stein refers to as DA’s “four buckets” of fundraising: ideas, media, leadership training, and civic engagement. The money is then apportioned to approved left-wing groups from each respective category.[273]..."
RADICALIZING AMERICA, ONE STATE AT A TIME: “PLAN” AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE PROJECT**
..."In August 2005, when the Democracy Alliance was just getting off the ground, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations helped establish yet another new organization—the Progressive Legislative Action Network, or PLAN. Furnishing state legislatures with prewritten “model” legislation reflecting leftist agendas, this group was part and parcel of Soros’s methodical campaign to shift American politics and public attitudes toward the left—by gaining a foothold inside the corridors of power on a state-by-state basis.[311]..."
...July 2006, ...the Secretary of State Project (SoSP). This “527 committee” was devoted to helping Democrats win secretary-of-state elections in crucial “swing” states...One of the principal duties of the secretary of state is to serve as the chief election officer who certifies candidates as well as election results in his or her state.[313] ...
SOROS HELPS CREATE TWO NEW PRO-DEMOCRAT GROUPS**
..."SEIU president Andrew Stern created Working For Us (WFU), a pro-Democrat PAC. This group does not, however, look favorably upon Democratic centrists. Rather, it aims “to elect lawmakers who support a progressive political agenda.” ...WFU advocates policies that would narrow the economic gulf between the rich and poor..."
..."Fund for America (FFA), a “527 committee” designed to work on what Roll Call characterized as “media buys and voter outreach in the run-up to the 2008 elections.”..."
SOROS AND OBAMA: QUIET PARTNERSHIP AND SHARED AGENDAS
..."In December of 2006, Soros, who had previously hosted a fundraiser for Obama during the latter’s 2004 Senate campaign, met with Obama in Soros’s New York office. Just a few weeks later—on January 16, 2007—Obama announced that he would form a presidential exploratory committee and was contemplating a run for the White House. Within hours, Soros sent the senator a contribution of $2,100, the maximum amount allowable under campaign-finance laws. Later that week, the New York Daily News reported that Soros would support Obama rather than Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination...
SOROS PURSUES A NEW ‘ECONOMIC PARADIGM”
“the unique opportunity to reshape economics in the wake of the financial crisis.” ...Soros assembled 25 economists, financiers, and journalists in Bedford, New York to brainstorm the idea. This “Bedford Summit” resulted in a “unanimous agreement that our economic paradigm must change,” and a “recognition of the importance of empowering the young generation of economists to rethink” the field of economics. Toward that end, the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) was created as a nonprofit foundation"...
SOROS AND THE ARAB SPRING
...“Arab Spring,” which began in late 2010, was a momentous series of popular uprisings that swept—in rapid succession and with varying degrees of intensity and effect—through a host of countries in the Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen....where regimes had fallen... rising influence of the Muslim Brotherhood—the ideological forebear of both al Qaeda and Hamas, and the spearhead of a movement aiming to establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate] (or kingdom) ruled by strict Islamic Law (Sharia).... In short, the Arab Spring evolved into a Muslim Winter."...
SOROS AND OCCUPY WALL STREET
..."In the fall of 2011, Soros denied any connection to the anti-capitalist Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement which was then in high gear, though he said: “I can understand their sentiment.” An October 2011 Reuters report noted that from 2007-09, Soros’ Open Society Foundations had given grants totaling $3.5 million to the Tides Center, which in turn gave more than $309,000 to the Adbusters Media Foundation — a key organizer of OWS — between 2001 and 2011. "...
SOROS GIVES MONEY TO HELP NAACP FIGHT VOTER ID LAWS*
..." 2013, Soros pledged to give, through his Open Society Foundations, $1 million to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund....The purpose of the grant was to help the NAACP fight challenges to the Voting Rights Act and oppose the implementation of Voter ID laws.
SUPPORTING HILLARY CLINTON
..."Ready For Hillary, a political action committee established ... to lead a nationwide grassroots movement encouraging Hillary Clinton to run for U.S. President in 2016..."
SUPPORTING BILL DE BLASIO for Mayor
SUPPORTING GROUPS THAT HELPED LEAD & PROMOTE THE ANTI-POLICE PROTESTS OF 2014 (IN FERGUSON, MISSOURI, ETC.)*
..."Through his Open Society Foundations, Soros in 2014 gave at least $33 million to support already-established groups that, as The Washington Times puts it, “emboldened the grass-roots, on-the-ground activists in Ferguson” and helped lead the anti-police protests... not only shared Mr. Soros’ funding, but they also fed off each other, using content and buzzwords developed by one organization on another’s website, referencing each other’s news columns and by creating a social media echo chamber of Facebook ‘likes’ and Twitter hashtags that dominated the mainstream media and personal online newsfeeds.”...
SOROS AGAIN FIGHTS VOTER ID LAWS
..."In June 2015, the New York Times reported that “a Democratic legal fight against restrictive voting laws enacted in recent years [since 2010] by Republican-controlled state governments is being largely paid for by a single liberal benefactor: the billionaire philanthropist George Soros.”...
SOROS SUPPORTS MASS MIGRATION OF MIDDLE EASTERNERS INTO EUROPE*
...Soros issued an email statement to Bloomberg Business, claiming that his foundations helped “uphold European values” while [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban (according to Soros) aimed to “undermine those values.” “His [Orban’s] plan treats the protection of national borders as the objective and the refugees as an obstacle,” said Soros. “Our plan treats the protection of refugees as the objective and national borders as the obstacle.” Orban...
EMAIL LEAK REVEALS SOROS’S SUPPORT FOR ANTI-ISRAEL, PRO-ISLAMIST GROUPS*
EMAIL LEAK REVEALS SOROS’S SUPPORT FOR OPEN BORDERS AND HIS DESIRE TO INFLUENCE FOREIGN POLITICS
..."Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) asserted that the refugee crisis which was causing countless thousands of people from war- and terrorism-ravaged nations in the Middle East and North Africa to relocate to Europe and the United States, should be accepted as “the new normal.”...the Program Officer of OSF’s International Migration Initiative, praised efforts to “take advantage of momentum created by the current crisis to shape conversations about rethinking migration governance.” They had in mind “institutional reforms to global migration governance.” ...
,,,"their International Migration Initiative helped fund the work of the Columbia Global Policy Initiative, host of the secretariat for Peter Sutherland, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative on International Migration.... Sutherland derided the very notion of national sovereignty, saying that governments must “recognize that sovereignty is an illusion … that has to be put behind us,” and that “the days of hiding behind borders and fences are long gone.”)...
..."September 2016 summits on migrants and refugees at the United Nations, one of which was to be led by President Obama"...
UKRAINE
..."Soros advocated that “Ukraine’s allies should treat Ukraine as a defense priority.” He also pushed for a “radical reform program,” offering very specific political and economic prescriptions, backed by “the Ukrainian branch of the Soros Foundations.” This Ukrainian branch, known as the Renaissance Foundation, was reportedly paying headhunters to find suitable individuals to work in the Ukrainian government, even if they came from Ukrainian communities as far away as the U.S. and Canada. Soros’s foundation may also have been helping to pay the salaries of some Ukrainian ministers....
...Soros was also looking for the U.S. and the European Union to help bail out Ukraine’s financial system. In a letter dated December 23, 2014 to Ukraine’s president and prime minister, Soros discussed the need to pull together a multibillion dollar commitment from the European Council, which could then be used to persuade the Federal Reserve to extend a three-month swap arrangement with the National Bank of Ukraine. “I am ready to call Jack Lew of the US Treasury to sound him out about the swap agreement,” Soros wrote....
...In the meantime, Soros was making sure that he would be in a position to profit from a more stabilized Ukraine. In November 2015, it was announced that Soros’s Ukrainian Redevelopment Fund would be investing in a fund sponsored by Dragon Capital to invest in Ukraine. Through that vehicle, Soros’s Ukrainian Redevelopment Fund invested in Ukrainian software developer Ciklum Holding Ltd. It acquired the stake from Horizon Capital, an investment firm founded by Natalie Jaresko, who was serving at the time as Ukraine’s finance minister. Jaresko was a U.S. citizen of Ukrainian descent who had once worked in the U.S. State Department. She became a Ukrainian citizen in December 2014, the same time she became finance minister. ...
EMAIL LEAK REVEALS SOROS’S DESIRE TO REGULATE THE INTERNET IN A MANNER THAT FAVORED HIS POLITICAL AGENDAS
..."2016, the The Daily Caller reported: “An internal proposed strategy from George Soros’s Open Society Justice Initiative calls for international regulation of private actors’ decisions on ‘what information is taken off the Internet and what may remain.’Those regulations, the document notes, should favor ‘those most supportive of open society.'” According to the OSF website, “The Open Society Justice Initiative uses law to protect and empower people around the world, supporting the values and work of the Open Society Foundations.” The proposal cited by The Daily Caller was part of a 34-page document titled “2014 Proposed strategy,” which spelled out the Initiative’s goals for 2014-17"...
SOROS PLAYS KEY ROLE IN SUPPORTING “WOMEN’S MARCH ON WASHINGTON”
..."significant role in funding the “Women’s March on Washington” which was held on January 21, 2017 to protest the agendas and policies of the newly elected president, Donald Trump... reporter Asra Q. Nomani calculated that some 420+ groups were identifiable as “partners” of the Women’s March, and that Soros has funded, or had cultivated “close relationships” with, at least 64 of them"...
SOROS’S EFFORT TO INSTALL DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEYS GENERAL
...2017, journalist Matthew Vadum reported the following: 'George Soros’s push to radically reshape the judiciary and elect extremist district attorneys across the country to weaken law enforcement and protect lawless sanctuary cities is bearing fruit....Soros has been pouring money into local elections because he supports local efforts to resist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and wants to cripple police in order to advance the neo-Marxist abstraction known as social justice that simplistically breaks the world down into race, class, and sex or gender….Soros wants prosecutors to empty prisons and coddle the prisoners who remain, scale back drug prosecutions, lower bail, and eliminate alleged racial disparities in sentencing, among other things"....
SOROS TRANSFERS $18 BILLION TO HIS FOUNDATIONS
..."2017, it was reported that over the preceding few years, Soros had quietly transferred $18 billion of his $24.6 billion in personal assets to OSF, thereby making OSF the second-largest U.S.-based philanthropy (behind only the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)..."
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
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We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
Re: Soros's Progressive Cabal with Democrats to Weaken America
Soros hand picked and recruited Natalie Jaresko, an American born Accountant, Public Policy and State Dept. employee of Ukrainian descent, to become Ukraine's finance minister. Then went on to become Executive Director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico in March 2017
Executive Director Natalie A. Jaresko was designated Executive Director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico on March 2017. She has a distinguished international career in public service and the private industry, with over 25 years of successful management experience in strategy and negotiation development and implementation of public policy and business objectives, especially during crisis periods.
As Minister of Finance of Ukraine (2014-16) she served at one of the most critical times in Ukraine’s history, when the country was affected by a deep recession, foreign occupation, and war on part of its territory. During her tenure she led the successful negotiation and implementation of the largest IMF program in the institution’s history, as well as a complex sovereign and sovereign guaranteed debt restructuring.
Prior to this ministerial position, she spent two decades investing in small and medium-sized business in the region, as co-founder and CEO of Horizon Capital, a fund manager with over $600 million under management, and as President and CEO of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, creating a platform for private equity investment in the region.
She began her career in public service serving in the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. from 1989-92, and as Chief of the Economic Section of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine from 1992-95, where she was responsible for building a new economic relationship between the United States and newly-independent Ukraine.
Ms. Jaresko is a Certified Public Accountant. She received her Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, and her Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from DePaul University in Illinois.
Who’s Behind the Green New Deal? Big Money Backs Ocasio-Cortez Socialist Dream Project
AARON KLEIN19 Feb 20199644
The Green New Deal blueprint introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was crafted by three far-left organizations and is being pushed by a coalition of well-funded professional progressive groups and known leftist agitators.
Some of the organizations helping to promote the Green New Deal have ties to financing from billionaire George Soros and trace their roots to such radical groups as Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter.
Earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez posted an 11-page Google document in the form of a nonbinding legislative resolution that has become the most authoritative version of the Green New Deal, a broad outline for the current conception of the socialist-style plan.
Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal resolution, introduced along with Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), has already been endorsed by more than 45 Democratic representatives. The deal received high-profile endorsements from Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders.
The Green New Deal seeks, as the New Yorker recently put it, “nothing less than a total overhaul of our national infrastructure.”
The utopian deal demands 100 percent of all buildings in the U.S. convert to clean energy, calls for the removal of all greenhouse gases from the entire atmosphere, and includes such non-“green” clauses as a federal jobs guarantee while protecting the right of all workers to organize and unionize.
It also pledges “affordable, safe and adequate housing” for “all people of the United States.”
The wealth-spreading deal aims to “virtually eliminate poverty in the United States and to make prosperity, wealth and economic security available to everyone participating in the transformation.”
Radical groups, Soros ties
The Green New Deal was crafted by Ocasio-Cortez along with three groups — the Sunrise Movement, Justice Democrats and a group calling itself New Consensus.
The New Yorker reported:
The document was written over a single December weekend by the staff of the freshman representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three like-minded progressive groups, none of which existed two years ago: the Sunrise Movement, a grassroots climate organization; the Justice Democrats, which recruits and supports progressive candidates; and an upstart policy shop called the New Consensus.
Besides helping to write the deal text, the Sunrise Movement has been the central progressive organization lobbying the Democratic Party to implement the Green New Deal.
Sunrise markets itself as an “army of young people” seeking to “make climate change an urgent priority across America, end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on our politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people.”
Sunrise co-founder Varshini Prakash described his organization’s expansive goals for 2020: “We, along with our partners, are going to be attempting to build the largest youth political force this country has ever seen.” Markey invited Prakash to be his guest at President Trump’s State of the Union address two weeks ago.
Sunrise was in part inspired by the activism of Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter and the radical immigration group United We Dream.
Sunrise took the national spotlight last month when Ocasio-Cortez joined some two-hundred of the movement’s protesters to temporarily occupy Nancy Pelosi’s office to peddle the Green New Deal. Sunrise engaged in that direct action campaign alongside Justice Democrats.
In December, Sunrise said that it raised less than one million dollars, mostly from foundations and grassroots donors. It is not known how much Sunrise has since raised.
Inside Philanthropy reported on donations to Sunrise from the Rockefeller Family Fund:
The group raised just under $1 million in 2018 between its 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) entities, and received early support from a set of core funders that have since stuck with it. Wallace Global Fund, which was instrumental in the fossil fuel divestment campaign, funds Sunrise, as do the Rockefeller Family Fund (one of the smaller foundations associated with the oil family), and the Winslow Foundation, run by Wren Winslow Wirth, who is married to former politician Tim Wirth. Institutional funders made up about 55 percent of its 2018 budget, with 35 percent coming from individual donors, and the rest from nonprofit partners.
To promote the deal, Sunrise sponsored an activist campaign called “Operation Green New Deal Blitz.” Co-sponsors with Sunrise include 350.org, Organic Consumers Association, People’s Action, CPD Action and Justice Democrats.
CPD Action is led by Ana Maria Archila, one of the two women who infamously confronted Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator prior to the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Archila was a guest of Ocasio-Cortez for Trump’s State of the Union.
Archila serves as co-executive director at the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) and maintains the same position as the group’s activist arm, the Center for Popular Democracy Action.
CPD, which is advocating the Green New Deal, is heavily financed by billionaire George Soros. In October 2014, literature that was part of a CPD event listed Soros’s Open Society Foundations as one of CPD’s “three biggest funders.” The Foundations provided the CPD with $130,000 in 2014 and $1,164,500 in 2015, tax documents show. In 2016, Soros’s Open Society Policy Center provided $705,000 to the Center for Popular Democracy’s Action Fund.
CPD is highly involved in anti-Trump activism. In May 2017, CNN reported that the Center for Popular Democracy Action fund unveiled an “$80 million effort to coordinate the work of dozens of smaller progressive groups from around the country” as part of what the news network characterized as the anti-Trump “resistance” movement.
People’s Action, another Sunrise partner pushing the Green New Deal, is a merger of a group that previously went by the name of National People’s Action. National People’s Action was also funded by Soros to the tune of $1.2 million and reportedly helped to train protesters for the Occupy Movement, which was also close to Soros funding. The Washington Times previously reported that Soros donated to People’s Action itself.
350.org, which is aiding Sunrise in pushing the Green New Deal, has disclosed a donation from the Tides Foundation. Tides, in turn, has been financed by Soros and has been a donor partner of Soros’s Open Society Foundations.
Also forming the backbone of advocacy for the Green New Deal are the Sierra Club and Greenpeace. Sierra has received funding from Soros’s Open Society Foundations. Greenpeace has been funded by the Soros-financed Tides Foundation. Tides also funds the Sierra Club.
The Green New Deal, meanwhile, is viewed in progressive activist circles as taking the mantle from something called the Leap Manifesto, a so-called clean energy plan co-authored by radical activist and author Naomi Klein.
Leap was initiated by the Tides-funded 350.org as well as Black Lives Matter-Toronto. Leaked documents from Soros’s Open Society Foundations previously disclosed donations to Black Lives Matter.
‘Democratic socialist party-within-a-party’
On its website, meanwhile, Sunrise advertises its partnership with Justice Democrats, with the two groups working together with Ocasio-Cortez to craft the Green New Deal.
Justice Democrats backed the Congressional campaign of Ocasio-Cortez when she was largely unknown and the two are closely linked. According to reports, it was Justice Democrats that originally recruited Ocasio-Cortez to run in the first place.
Waleed Shahid, Justice Democrats’ communications director, reportedly worked on Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign prior to joining the group. Justice Democrats was co-founded by Saikat Chakrabarti, who serves as Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff.
Justice Democrats does not hide its socialist ideology, with Shahid telling Vox.com the organization seeks to nudge the Democratic Party toward democratic socialism:
Shahid describes it as a “social democratic or democratic socialist party-within-a-party,” arguing that the vicissitudes of the US party system force people like him to share a party with people like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer who, in a European-style proportional system, would simply inhabit different political blocs. The point, however, is not to displace the Democrats but to change them.
Justice Democrats is looking to push far-left candidates in largely uncompetitive local races, and it plans to use support for the Green New Deal as a bellwether for possible Democratic primary challenges from the far-left.
“We’re going to recruit Democratic primary challengers for House races in 2020 who will fight with us,” stated Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats. “And we’ll keep putting pressure on Democrats in Congress and those running for President in 2020 to support the Green New Deal.”
One Justice Democrats founder was Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks. He resigned from the group after old blog posts surfaced that were out of step with Justice Democrats’ ideology, with some of the posts appearing to be sexist.
Uygur’s The Young Turks is a member of The Media Consortium, a network of far-left media organizations that is reportedly funded by Soros.
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
Joshua Klein contributed research to this article.
Soros Gave Global Climate Strike Partners More than $24M
Listen to the Article!
By Joseph Vazquez | September 26, 2019 4:55 PM EDT
While 16-year-old Greta Thunberg has become the face of the climate strike movement, it's no longer gatherings of children. A litany of well-funded, left-wing activist groups have partnered to generate a week of climate protests known as the “Global Climate Strike:” Sept 20, through 27, bookending the U.N. climate conference.
At least 22 of those partners have been funded by liberal billionaire George Soros who spends nearly $1 billion a year on groups pushing a variety of left-wing causes. Together, 22 organizations listed as international or North American partners of the Global Climate Strike received at least $24,854,592 from Soros’ Open Society Network between 2000-2017.
The liberal media celebrated Thunberg’s arrival in New York and the global protests held Sept. 20, and will likely to do the same for the second round. ABC’s Maggi Rulli shrieked, “Now, look at what her movement has become!” MSNBC even promoted grotesque gestures such as German protesters “simulated hangings.” calling it a “striking visual message to push for action.” Berliners stood on ‘ice blocks with nooses around their necks. A stark call for change before it's too late,” reported MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian on Sept. 20.
Strikes are scheduled in 150 countries for Sept. 27. Undoubtedly, the promotion and partnership of hundreds of liberal groups including 350.org (which hosts the Global Climate Strike website), EarthJustice and Friends of the Earth helped the strikes balloon in size. The Sept. 20, strikes drew around 4 million activists, with 2,500 protests scheduled in 163 countries around the globe, according to Vox. Democratic candidate Tom Steyer’s NextGen America was also a partner, along with the Sierra Club which has gotten millions from former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In recent years, Soros funding went to at least 22 of those partnering groups including 350.org, Amnesty International, Avaaz, Color of Change and People’s Action. Those groups had various climate-related agendas from reducing global carbon emissions to less than 350 parts per million, campaigning for 100 percent “clean energy,” banning new fossil fuel projects to a “green civil rights movement.”
Eco-doomsayer Bill McKibben founded 350 in 2008. The name of the organization comes from its desired carbon emissions goal of less than 350 parts per million — current emissions levels are already at 415 ppm. McKibben’s past climate predictions were so extreme even Scientific American called him out in 2011, for being “overheated” and”fear-mongering.” The group fought against coal power in India, tried to stop the Keystone XL pipeline in the U.S. and has promoted fossil fuel divestment.
Known more for its pro-abortion, pro-gun control, LGBTQ rights advocacy and opposition to Israel, Amnesty International was another Soros-funded strike partner. Its website confirmed it “will be taking part in the climate strikes,” because “Human rights are intimately linked with climate change because of its devastating effect on not just the environment but our own wellbeing.”
Lesser-known group, Avaaz is a “global ‘e-advocacy’ nonprofit organization whose chief function is to promote leftwing political agendas through Web-based movement-building and campaigns,” according to Discover The Networks. One Avaaz campaign gathered petition signatures to bring the world’s societies and economies to 100 percent clean energy by 2050.
It warned, “one top scientist just warned that we are all ‘f*cked’ if global warming releases gigantic amounts of methane gas from the arctic tundra.” The group hoped to make it the “largest Avaaz petition ever.”
Online organizing group Color of Change was founded by liberal CNN host and former “green jobs czar” for the Obama Administration Van Jones and James Rucker, former director of grassroots mobilization for MoveOn.org.
According to Influence Watch, Color of Change “run campaigns that seek to attack conservative individuals, silence conservative media pundits, and defund conservative organizations.” But it’s also active on climate issues, advocating for “race-based environmentalist legislation.”
According to its own website, “Black communities and other communities of color are left vulnerable to the worst effects of climate change and environmental racism.” It also accused the Republican Party of “standing in the way of progress.”
In a 2017 op-ed written by Andy Murdock for the University of California’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative, Jones argued that “a 21st century civil rights movement has to be a green civil rights movement.”
People’s Action is a liberal 501(c)(4) lobbying arm that advocates for healthcare for all, free college for all, and extreme environmentalist policies like “banning all new fossil fuel and extractive energy projects.”
It also wants a “good Green Jobs program that would target communities of color, low-income communities, environmental justice communities, fossil fuel communities, returning citizens and other communities that would benefit from green jobs most for integrated jobs training and placement.”
Methodology:
MRC Business relied on funding details and donation information from Soros’ Open Society Network (Foundation to Promote Open Society, Open Society Foundations, Open Society Institute, Alliance for Open Society International Inc. and Open Society Policy Center) on organization websites, Influence Watch and records in Foundation Directory for this analysis.
MRC Business Reader,
Every day it becomes more evident that the liberal news media are no longer simply a megaphone for liberals in Washington, New York, and Hollywood. The media are now leading the radical Left and using their platform to push a socialist agenda.
S.N.U.B.: Spygate-Netanyahu-Ukraine-Brexit — It’s Time for the West to Outlaw George Soros’ Open Society
Jim Hoft by Jim Hoft November 24, 2019 307
What used to be shrugged off as just another crazy conspiracy theory has become too overwhelmingly evident to deny: Billionaire investor George Soros and his Open Society Foundation have become a supranational non-state power that topples governments and threatens the workings of democracy. Open Society must be declared a hostile foreign agent.
by Collin McMahon
Former National Security Council member Fiona Hill raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill this week by calling the investigations into Ukrainian interference in the 2016 elections “a fictional narrative”. George Soros’ favorite newspaper The Guardian chimed in that “Some Republicans on the intelligence committee have pushed a discredited conspiracy theory, embraced by Trump and amplified by conservative media, that Ukraine, rather than Russia, meddled in the last election.”
The fact that Ukrainians like MP Serhiy Leschenko and Ukrainian-American DNC operative Alexandra Chalupa sought to influence the 2016 elections is well-documented by reporting by John Solomon, Politico and even a Ukrainian court verdict. Gateway Pundit unveiled the connection to George Soros’ Open Society and the Democratic National Committee in April. Naturally, neither The Guardian nor Fiona Hill offered any evidence for their claims.
Independent conservative media quickly revealed a possible explanation for Fiona Hill’s outrageous act of contempt of Congress: Hill was a member of the board of Soros’s Open Society Institute from 2000-2006 on Russian and European affairs, as her CV at the Brookings Institute shows, and also admitted to having worked with the author of the Russia “dossier” Christopher Steele, commissioned by opposition research firm Fusion GPS and paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Speaking to Alex Jones in 2017, former Trump adviser Roger Stone said: “George Soros has penetrated the Trump White House. Soros has planted a mole infiltrating the national security apparatus – a woman named Fiona Hill, who has a Harvard background, has been on the Soros payroll and the payroll of the Open Society Institute”.
Naturally, Stone and Jones were dismissed as “conspiracy theorists” at the time. Presumably, it will take generations of historians to unravel exactly how the Soros machine contrived the Spygate attack on Trump and American Democracy.
The Open Society network is by no means confined to the USA, however: Overseas, Soros NGOs engage in actual coups and regime change, such as in Ukraine and Macedonia. Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán has even charged Soros with being responsible for the murder of Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak.
When the British people voted to regain their sovereignty, George Soros was “proud” to fund the anti-Leave campaign Best for Britain, as The Guardian writes. Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr made up a wild conspiracy theory around Steven Bannon and Cambridge Analytica to explain the Brexit vote, which was completely debunked by the British Information Commissioner’s report but is still cited as fact around the world.
When the center-right Austrian government was brought down in May 2019 over a scandal involving secret video recordings, the story was broken by two journalists who belong to the Soros-funded International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has called Soros “openly set on capturing European institutions”. According to Orbán, EU proceedings against Hungary indicate “the huge influence of Mr. Soros, who wants to gain even more.” This must be prevented in the elections to the European Parliament, Orb*n told Kossuth Radio Jan 25, 2019, because “we want pro-immigration MEPs to be reduced to a minority in the European Parliament”.
Speaking in the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, Nigel Farage has called George Soros “the biggest danger to the entire western world”: “His influence here and in Brussels is extraordinary. I fear we could be looking at the biggest level of international, political collusion in history.” Open Society “since 1984 has given away $32 billion” to left-wing political causes, the Foundation acknowledges on its website. Writing in “Secret Empires”, corruption researcher Peter Schweizer has shown how Soros uses “fomenting chaos” and government ties as a lucrative investment tool: The ultimate insider trader.
And now, the government of Israel, a state fighting for its very survival on many fronts and facing the threat of nuclear annihilation, has been paralyzed by a lawfare campaign that originates with the Soros-funded New Israel Fund and its left-wing NGOs Human Rights Defenders Fund (HRDF) and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
As both Alan Dershowitz and Caroline Glick noted last week, like in Trump’s case, the charges against Benjamin Netanyahu are entirely trumped-up and completely without merit: “From beginning to end, (the) criminal persecution of Netanyahu has been a travesty of every norm in democratic societies governed by the rule of law. Carefully edited and wholly distorted recordings and transcripts of police interrogations of Netanyahu, his wife, son, and advisors were systematically leaked to the media. The fact that every such leak was a felony offense was of no matter. Netanyahu’s attorneys submitted request after request for Mandelblit to order an investigation of the criminal leaks. All were summarily and scornfully rejected”, writes Glick.
“I think we’re seeing the weaponization of criminal justice for political purposes,” Dershowitz told JNS. “In Israel, the attorney general is supposed to be outside of politics.”
Given the antipathy Soros has for the State of Israel, it’s little surprise to find these corruption charges originate with the New Israel Fund, whose ties to Soros were only revealed by a Wikileaks hack. Edwin Black documented the anti-Israel Activities sponsored by NIF in his book “Financing the Flames” 2013, and NGO Monitor documented the anti-Israel activities of Open Society in their report “Bad Investment” 2013.
The campaign to pressure Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to pursue the elected Prime Minister goes back at least to 2017, as NIF writes: “The Human Rights Defenders Fund (HRDF) and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) fought this month for the rights of demonstrators to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after police used excessive force at a demonstration. The two NIF grantees worked to defend protestors near the home of Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit in Petah Tikva. Protestors demanded that he fully and quickly investigate allegations of bribery against Netanyahu. Police had declared the demonstration illegal, saying it was too close to Mandelblit’s home.”
However, the campaign to put pressure on Mandelblit predates the current campaign by at least 9 years, as Wikileaks revealed 2010. According to an article by Noak Pollak in Commentary, Jessica Montell, the head of Soros NGO B’Tselem “wanted the highest level decision-makers held accountable for the decisions they made on how to prosecute the (Gaza) conflict, including Military Advocate General (MAG) Mandelblit… Her aim, she said, was to make Israel weigh world opinion and consider whether it could “afford another operation like this (Operation Cast Lead 2008-9).”
Apparently, the Soros NGOs realized as early as 2010 they would not be able to get rid of Netanyahu and the Likud government by democratic means, which led to their campaign of “lawfare”, waging war on the State of Israel by legalistic means.
“New Israel Fund (NIF) Associate Director in Israel Hedva Radovanitz, who manages grants to 350 NGOs totaling about 18 million dollars per year, [said] that the campaign against the NGOs was due to the “disappearance of the political left wing” in Israel and the lack of domestic constituency for the NGOs”, writes Pollak. “She noted that when she headed ACRI’s Tel Aviv office, ACRI had 5,000 members, while today it has less than 800, and it was only able to muster about 5,000 people to its December human rights march by relying on the active staff of the 120 NGOs that participated. She commented that she believed that in 100 years Israel would be majority Arab and that the disappearance of a Jewish state would not be the tragedy that Israelis fear since it would become more democratic.”
According to this version of events, NIF and the Soros NGOs have been plotting the “disappearance of a Jewish State” for almost 10 years. Given the fact that B’Tselem director Jessica Montel “estimated her 9 million NIS ($2.4 million) budget is 95 percent funded from abroad, mostly from European countries”, it is high time for the democratic countries of the West to consider whether Vladimir Putin did not have an excellent point when he banned Open Society from Russia.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
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We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
Re: Soros's Progressive Cabal with Democrats to Weaken America
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Originally Posted by vector7
From left, participants including Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis, Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, Rev. Al Sharpton, president of National Action Network, and Phyllis Giles, mother of Michael Giles, march to the Florida Capitol Monday, March 10, 2014, in Tallahassee, Fla. Participants were rallying against the state's "Stand Your Ground" laws. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)
Demonstrators march on Pennsylvania Avenue toward Capitol Hill in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014, during the Justice for All march. More than 10,000 protesters are converging on Washington in an effort to bring attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police. Civil rights organizations are holding a march to the Capitol on Saturday with the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two unarmed black men who died in incidents with white police officers. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Billionaire 
A protester carries a cross with the name of Trayvon Martin during a march to the Ferguson, Mo., police station Monday, Oct. 13, 2014, in Ferguson. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) ** FILE **
Singer and social activist Harry Belafonte Jr. (center) worked with organizations that established the "Heads Up Coalition," funded by George Soros' Tides Foundation, based on later-debunked notions that Michael Brown's hands were up before being shot. (associated press) 
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