Reps. Joe Wilson(R-S.C.) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif). introduced the “Pakistan Democracy Act” on Monday, seeking to sanction the country’s Army chief for “persecution of political opponents” including former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
— Placing the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency under the auspices of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. The combined entity would focus on promoting private sector investment, especially in areas such as infrastructure, energy and technology. The document says the new approach would be a powerful counterweight to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which Beijing has used to gain economic and diplomatic footholds in many countries.
Ekrem İmamoğlu, mayor of Istanbul and a prominent figure in the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is widely regarded as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s primary political opponent. His arrest occurred just days before the CHP was expected to officially announce him as their candidate for the 2028 presidential election. Ironically, Wikipedia characterizes him as a “dark horse” candidate, a relatively unknown figure who emerged as a challenger in the 2019 Istanbul mayoral election. In other words, the Juan Guaidó of Türkiye.
During his tenure as Mayor of Istanbul, İmamoğlu appointed Yavuz Saltık as the Chief of Staff of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Saltık had previously served as an advisor for prominent international organizations, including the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). Notably, the IRI and NDI are key elements of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), while KAS is closely linked to the German political party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). NED gets the majority of its funding from the U.S. Congress. The origins of the NED trace back to the late 1960s, when the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) came under scrutiny for covertly backing activists and opposition groups in countries perceived to be aligning with the Soviet Union. After these CIA operations were exposed, the agency faced widespread criticism for what many viewed as underhanded interference in the affairs of sovereign nations. Following years of debate over whether and how such funding should persist, Congress ultimately established the NED in 1983.
Unsurprisingly, Trotskyist factions are rallying behind what appears to be another color revolution, aimed at “balkanizing” Iran, establishing Greater Kurdistan, and undermining China and Russia.
Off to the side was a more youthful Wolfowitz. He told me that this picture, which had pride of place in his office, was of exactly the moment when the Reaganites had narrowly voted to dump the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines in 1986 and to recognize the election victory of his opponent Cory Aquino.* “It was the first argument I won,” said Wolfowitz proudly. “I said that if we supported a dictator to keep hold of a base, we would end up losing the base and also deserving to do so. Whereas,” he went on, “by joining the side of ‘people power’ in Manila that year, we helped democracy movements spread through Taiwan and South Korea and even I think into Tiananmen Square in 1989.“
* See, for the best account of this upheaval in real time, James Fenton’s book The Snap Revolution.
Ukrainian “president” Vladimir Zelensky lied when he called Russia the aggressor. Since 2014 his military forces have been shelling their own civilians in the east of Ukraine, killing at least 14,000 people and arresting thousands more with the SBU, the Ukrainian secret police, a de facto Gestapo-like terror organization.
Andrea Soros Colombel, daughter of George Soros and his first wife, Annaliese Soros (née Witschak), is a founding partner and board director of the Acumen Fund. In 1993, she established the Trace Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving and advancing Tibetan culture, economy, and environment. The foundation’s initial efforts included emergency grants to aid groups responding to severe snowstorms in Tibet. Over time, its major initiatives included funding scholarships for Tibetans pursuing overseas education with the goal of teaching at secondary and university levels. Additionally, the foundation significantly supported Latse, a New York City-based library and nonprofit that houses a collection of Tibetan cultural works and hosts public programs on Tibetan culture. In 2000, Soros Colombel co-founded the Tsadra Foundation, which provides grants to Tibetan Buddhist organizations.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Residents in southern Bangladesh on Monday attacked an air force base following an altercation, prompting soldiers from the base to open fire, killing at least one person and injuring several others, local media reported.
The key findings of the literature review with regard to international donor assistance and private funding for independent media are as follows:
The United States and Germany are the largest contributors of international media assistance (Myers & Juma, 2018); China is emerging as a large donor for media and communications infrastructure projects although it is less interested in freedom of the media (Myers & Juma, 2018);
Such programs continued unperturbed during the First Trump Administration, when a touching project meant to increase transgender visibility in Ukrainian Fashion Week was funded through USAID’s program to “Enhance Non-Governmental Actors and Grassroots Engagement” (ENGAGE) in Ukraine:
…
Don’t worry, homophobes and transphobes; as long as capitalism exists, there will always be a “non-governmental organization” that will be willing to exploit the LGBTQ+ community and “sex workers” for corporate interests.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
You must be logged in to post a comment.