National Endowment for Empire
By Ed Warner
July
10, 2014 "ICH"
- "Unz"
- -
“Democracy” may be the most loosely defined word
in the English language today. Gone are the
Hitler and Stalin-like revilers of democracy.
Now it’s just about everybody’s favorite form of
government, though there are markedly differing
views on what exactly it is. The
Washington-based National Endowment for
Democracy provides one example. Founded in 1983
to enhance US foreign policy by teaching aspects
of democracy abroad, it now spends 100 million
dollars a year of American taxpayers’ money on
projects that are not always appreciated by
recipients who complain that they are not so
much democratic as interventionist. They may
seek a regime change that is not desired by the
people who are supposed to benefit.
Take
Ukraine, where the NED financed no less than
sixty-five projects to arouse opposition to
President Viktor Yanukovych, who had offended by
seeming to draw away from the European Union and
move closer to Russia. But wait! He had been
elected to the presidency in an election
considered free and fair in 2010. Was NED
violating its own principles by encouraging a
regime change correctly called a coup? Hardly
the first time, say critics. It’s been an NED
habit over the years. Politics come first,
democracy a distant second.
By Ed Warner
July
10, 2014 "ICH"
- "Unz"
- -
“Democracy” may be the most loosely defined word
in the English language today. Gone are the
Hitler and Stalin-like revilers of democracy.
Now it’s just about everybody’s favorite form of
government, though there are markedly differing
views on what exactly it is. The
Washington-based National Endowment for
Democracy provides one example. Founded in 1983
to enhance US foreign policy by teaching aspects
of democracy abroad, it now spends 100 million
dollars a year of American taxpayers’ money on
projects that are not always appreciated by
recipients who complain that they are not so
much democratic as interventionist. They may
seek a regime change that is not desired by the
people who are supposed to benefit.
Take
Ukraine, where the NED financed no less than
sixty-five projects to arouse opposition to
President Viktor Yanukovych, who had offended by
seeming to draw away from the European Union and
move closer to Russia. But wait! He had been
elected to the presidency in an election
considered free and fair in 2010. Was NED
violating its own principles by encouraging a
regime change correctly called a coup? Hardly
the first time, say critics. It’s been an NED
habit over the years. Politics come first,
democracy a distant second.
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