NED Scrubs Ukraine Activities From Website Amid Renewed Scrutiny on “CIA Cutout”
The National Endowment for Democracy, a CIA spinoff organization employed by the US government since 1983 to “promote democracy” using ‘soft power’ abroad, has suddenly and inexplicably removed all references to their funding of Ukrainian groups.
If you hear its CEO Damon Wilson tell it, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is nothing like the labels independent and critical journalists have used for years to describe the organization: “CIA cutout,” America’s meddling machine,” or “CIA sidekick,” to name just a few. Instead, he told a crowd of Ukrainian protesters in Washington on Sunday that the NED is “America’s foundation for freedom.”
And “today,” he bellows, “the fight for freedom is in Ukraine.”
But as of two weeks ago, just what exactly the group has been doing to “fight for freedom” in Ukraine is no longer publicly accessible information. All descriptions of the Ukrainian recipients, and the exact quantity of American taxpayers’ largesse, has since been completely scrubbed from the site. Anyone wishing to understand exactly how the US’ democratic crusade is being waged in Ukraine must now access an archived version of the site.
As detailed by journalist Jeremy Kuzmarov in Covert Action Magazine–the outlet cofounded by famed CIA whistleblower Philip Agee–their involvement has been considerable: “The NED played a pivotal role in helping to trigger the conflict with Russia by supporting two color revolutions.”
In just 2020 alone, “the NED provided $4.6 million to Ukraine for purposes that included raising awareness of alleged human rights abuses by Russia in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, and fomenting opposition and resistance to Russia.”
According to the NED, Ukraine is the world’s fourth-greatest recipient of its funding and has been a “major partner” of the organization since 1989.
https://sputniknews.com/20220308/ned-scrubs-ukraine-activities-from-website-amid-renewed-scrutiny-on-cia-cutout-1093672905.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20220213195705/https://www.ned.org/region/central-and-eastern-europe/ukraine-2021/