The Voluntary Exchange Podcast - NGOs

I decided to a do an episode on NGOs when I realized that most people I talk to have no knowledge of the Ukrainian Coup in 2014, or actually believe the US is on the wrong side in Syria,

NGOs come in all shapes and sizes, but the ones I talk about find their home in the arena of political destabilization. NGOs like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) envision themselves are beacons of knowledge, civility and Democracy meant to spread their influence and education around the world. Or so that's what they say publicly. The results of their actions are so poor and destructive, at some point you have to wonder if maybe they know what their doing and do it anyway.

Spokesmen for NED describe the wanted results of some of their initiatives as "to empower like-minded activists to build movements in home countries" and "introduce democracy to authoritarian regimes". The term "like-minded" is interesting. NED and other NGOs have no issue supporting the opposition in countries where that opposition is fascist or violent, as in the cases of Ukraine or Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, NED supported the opposing forces to Daniel Ortega, a pretty left-leaning leader for President Obama to want out of power.

Ukraine was an example of the same NGOs supporting extreme right-wing elements, just because they were seen as the best avenue to regime change. So like-mindedness has nothing to do with it.

NGOs are simply used as propaganda operations to pull the political strings of a nation one way or another. Most of the time, the interests the NGOs are serving are those of a nation state or private industry. NED and NGOs (like the ones active in Ukraine) work in common mission with the American empire. Ever attempting to expand control deep into Asian and Eastern European areas.

The way NGOs work remain me of two examples from pop culture, The Quiet American and The Good Shepherd. Both describe CIA coup/regime change operations, but the tactics have just been outsourced.

I'll leave you with a quick example of how these NGOs work and what the people themselves believe their doing it for. The International Republican Initiative sounds harmless enough. However, when describing some recent successes, a spokesperson explained that they had been "working with forces" in Malaysia as far back as 2002. They more recently had their supported parties win elections. The moral argument about having to "bring democracy to the world" goes away once the elections are won. The spokesperson patted the IRI on the back for putting US-controlled forces "in charge of a country on the front-lines " in the South China Sea. Good for American interests. Malaysians will just have to live with being on the front-lines.

Content

This episode can be found here. The full archive can be found on Podomatic and on ITunes.

Sources

• How and why the U.S. Government Perpetrated the 2014 Coup in Ukraine
• National Endowment for Democracy is first ‘undesirable’ NGO banned in Russia
• NED Pursues Regime Change by Playing the Long Game
• Meet the Americans Who Put Together the Coup in Kiev
• Is the U.S. Back in the Coup Business?
• Head of Stratfor, ‘Private CIA,’ Says Overthrow of Yanukovych Was ‘The Most Blatant Coup in History’
• Ukraine’s Pres. Poroshenko Says Overthrow of Yanukovych Was a Coup
• Mapped: The 7 Governments the U.S. Has Overthrown
• NGOs: A New Face of Destabilization in Latin America

Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

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