US Agents of Subversion Deride Russian NGO BillTony Cartalucci, Contributor Image: From the US State Departments own National Endowment for Democracy (NED) website, the Moscow Helsinki Group (listed as the Moscow Group of Assistance in the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords) is clearly listed as a recipient of US funding. MHGs leadership believes disclosing this information more publicly and being listed as an NGO carrying out functions as a foreign agent is despicable. One could easy argue that foisting upon unsuspecting Russians a foreign agenda couched as legitimate activism is equally despicable. The LA Times in fact, illustrates in their own article just how absolutely necessary this new legislation is. After claiming the bills passed by Russias State Duma are seen as the latest attempt to crack down on resistance to the rule of President Vladimir Putin, the Times goes on to cite the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) and their objection to the bill, never mentioning that it is in fact a direct recipient of US State Department money via the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and instead, merely states it receives grants from aborad. In turn, the NED fails to properly inform the public of the corporate-financier interests, not human rights or democratic interests, represented throughout its Board of Directors. Image: A visual representation of the National Endowment for Democracys corporate-financier ties found across their Board of Directors. Far from human rights advocates, they are instead simply leveraging such issues to disguise what is in reality corporate-financier global hegemonic expansion. Such deception and purposefully vague misrepresentations have allowed NED and the myriad of so-called NGOs that it cultivates not only to subvert Russia, but nations around the world, to deceive well-intentioned people into joining their cause, serving their nefarious, couched interests. Should people know that Russian President Vladimir Putins opposition consists of organizations entirely funded, directed, and engaged in frequent trips to meet with the US State Department, they may form an opinion that leaves anti-Putin rallies decidedly thinner and the Wests agenda of achieving global hegemony slightly more tenuous. Image: Lyudmila Alekseyeva of the US State Department, Soros Open Society, USAID, NED-funded Moscow Helsinki Group claims, this law has a despicable goal, which is to make it possible to say on television, Look, they are admitting themselves that they are agents of foreign governments,' leaving one to wonder, what should a foreign agent be called, if not a foreign agent? For NGOs allegedly championing freedom, democracy, and, above all transparency to deride the new legislation as despicable, as MHGs Lyudmila Alekseyeva did, for holding foreign-funded NGOs to the same standards they demand of the Russian government, exposes a degree of corrosive double standards. Such irrational and hypocritical reactions undermine not only US-funded fronts like the Moscow Helsinki Group, but legitimate NGOs as well that are genuinely working towards these ideals, but doing so independently and for Russias, not foreigners interests. Alekseyevas Moscow Helsinki Group is not alone. It was widely reported throughout Russias elections that independent poll monitor GOLOS was singled out and punished by the Russian government after attempting to call into question the legitimacy of Putin and his partys victory. GOLOS, however, is not independent by any means, and is likewise fully funded and directed by the US State Department with GOLOS Lililya Shibanova one of several opposition leaders caught filing into the US Embassy in Moscow earlier this year. Strategy 31, Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Ryzhkov, Boris Nemtsov, and Ilya Yashin are all likewise subsidized, supported by, and/or members of the Wall Street-London corporate-financier elite striving to undermine, overthrow, and reorder Russia according to their sponsors designs designs that were already previewed during the reign of the oligarchs in the 1990s. Setting a Precedent to Follow What Russia has done is take advantage of an increasingly astute public capable of understanding that moves against US State Department funded fronts is not necessarily a move against legitimate activism especially if Russia takes strides to create and expand its own indigenous institutions to maintain an equitable balance of power throughout society. The US State Departments tentacles reach far beyond Moscow. Egypt has likewise grappled with this unwarranted foreign influence, and likewise took measures against foreign-funded US-backed sedition masquerading as NGOs. In Malaysia there is Bersih, in Thailand there is Prachatai, and in Myanmar (still called by its British colonial nomenclature Burma) there is Aung San Suu Kyi and her entire political party, a top-to-bottom creation of Wall Street and London corporate-funded foundations and government funding. Photo: Hague hands Suu Kyi the Chatham House Prize. Nothing quite says democracy promotion like a prize from an organization consisting of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BP, Exxon, Chevron, BAE, Boeing, Lockheed, and many more. This is just the latest in a long line of self-aggrandizing stunts the global elite use to lend themselves otherwise non-existent legitimacy and lure in well-intentioned people to serve their cause. Educating the public and mandating that NGOs exhibit the same transparency and openness they demand of governments is an essential first step. Instituting severe penalties against NGOs that willfully deceive, obfuscate their funding or agenda, or misrepresent themselves to the people they are attempting to influence including charges ranging from fraud to sedition must also be considered. Local activists overlooked in the shadow of these disingenuous, meddling foreign-funded NGOs must also seek ways of not only maintaining their independence, but exposing the compromised and subversive nature of foreign-funded organizations. The lure of large sums of endless cash, contrived accolades, and a chance to rub shoulders with celebrities and other important people has been used effectively to compromise and co-opt otherwise well-meaning people and redirect their efforts from truly progressive efforts to faux-progressive foreign agendas. The precedent Russia is setting should be embraced by real activists who do truly seek to live by the openness and transparency they claim they stand for it is abundantly clear that those with something to hide, namely those with insidious foreign-backing, have already denounced it. The fact that Russia can not only move forward with this legislation aimed toward transparency amongst foreign-funded NGOs, but that the corporate-financiers media machine rings hollow in its protests, is already proof that the paradigm is shifting and that the public is slowly gaining an understanding of how power manipulates and deceives, and above all how power is powerless without us. 