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National Endowment for Democracy

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Revision as of 18:34, 20 May 2023 by Ledlecreeper27 (talk | contribs) (Bulgaria)
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The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a CIA cut-out[1][2][3] soft-power[4] organization which finances protests and color revolutions to destabilize targets of US foreign policy.[5] It provided $1.2 billion of grants between 2011 and 2020 and issues over 2,000 grants every year.[6] Despite calling itself a non-governmental organization, it receives funding from the U.S. Congress.[7]

Ronald Reagan founded the NED in 1983.[7] In 1986, NED's President Carl Gershman said that the NED was created because "It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the CIA. We saw that in the 1960's and that's why it has been discontinued".[8]

In 1991 during an interview with Allen Weinstein the then-president of the NED said "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA."[9]

Operations

Domestic activities

The NED gave grants to the AFL-CIO, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Democratic and Republican National Institutes.[7]

Latin America

Cuba

The NED gave over $100,000 a year to the Cuban-American National Foundation from Miami, which was involved in terrorist attacks and funded Nazi collaborators in Hungary.[7]

Grenada

The NED funded the right-wing New National Party in Grenada that took power following the U.S. invasion in 1983 that overthrew the People's Revolutionary Government.[7]

Nicaragua

The NED funded pro-Contra groups in Nicaragua.[6] Critics have compared the NED's funding of Nicaraguan groups (pro-U.S. and conservative unions, political parties, student groups, business groups, and women's associations) in the 1980s and 1990s in Nicaragua to the previous CIA effort "to challenge and undermine" the socialist government of Chile.[10]

Eastern Europe

Belarus

The NED gave $2.5 million to anti-Lukashenko groups in Belarus during the 2020–21 color revolution attempt.[11]

Bulgaria

The NED gave more than $1.5 million to groups in the 1990 Bulgarian election. The Union of Democratic Forces received $750,000, including $233,000 for its newspaper. The Bulgarian Socialist Party still won the elections, so the NED funded violent opposition groups that committed arson and sieged Parliament until the president resigned. The NED also funded the new elections in 1991, which its candidates won.[12]

Poland

The NED funded the anti-communist Solidarity group in Poland during the 1980s.[7]

Soviet Union

In the 1980s, the NED provided $140 million to anti-communist groups in the Soviet Union.[3]

Ukraine

Since 1989, the NED has funded over 100 organizations in Ukraine to bring Ukraine under Western influence and pull it away from Russia.[3]

Afghanistan

The NED funded the Islamic fundamentalist mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union.[6]

References