The real problem with USAID

[nebula]

There's been lots of talk on the Forums about the wasteful spending of USAID.

But the real corruption hasn't been truly talked about:

1) Money laundering

2) Media funding and message influencing.

USAID Funded Massive 'News' Platform, Extending 'Censorship Industrial Complex' To Billions Worldwide

By the way, in case you didn't know, Pres. Obama Revised The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 in 2012. The revision made it legal for the government to use the mains stream media as a mouthpiece for government propaganda in any way it wanted to manipulate your feelings and opinions.

[Neighbor]

On 2/9/2025 at 9:17 PM, nebula said:

The revision made it legal for the government to use the mains stream media as a mouthpiece for government propaganda in any way it wanted to manipulate your feelings and opinions.

What is so wrong about that? Do not  leaders of countries use social media almost by the hour these days? Are they not trying to manipulate people ( Influence them) to support and cheer on their leadership efforts?

Seems to me that half the population on earth is trying to be an "influencer" today, all in hopes of some personal gain in either financial or social status. That includes posters on  Christian message boards. Nothing wrong with it, each of us has a brain and makes use of it to our own best advantage.

[WilliamL]

9 hours ago, Neighbor said:

What is so wrong about that? Do not  leaders of countries use social media almost by the hour these days?

Mainstream media and social media are two vastly different things.

When the government secretly directs mainstream media to promote their propaganda as facts, then there is a serious problem with freedom of the press.

[other one]

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/02/08/742401/aiding-chaos-usaid-role-engineering-regime-change-social-unrest-worldwide

 

Just a snipit of the article:  

USAID and the 2014 Ukraine coup

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was illegitimately removed from office in a Western-backed coup in February 2014 in a plot engineered under the USAID program, according to observers.

The coup was triggered by the Euromaidan or the Maidan Uprising, a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on November 21, 2013, with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kiev.

The protests were sparked by Yanukovych’s decision not to sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union.

Documents suggest that before the Euromaidan, the USAID and NED provided significant funding to opposition groups and media in Ukraine.

These reports have been confirmed by several US public figures, including former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., filmmaker Oliver Stone, and defense expert from the Cato Institute, Ted Galen Carpenter.

In an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson, Kennedy Jr., who is now the Health Secretary, said the CIA, operating through USAID, spent $5 billion to instigate the 2014 color revolution in Ukraine.

“There are riots in Ukraine called Maidan, but we are not told that we are funding these riots. The newspapers never told us, our government never told us that USAID, which is a front for the CIA, has invested five billion dollars in funding these riots,” Kennedy Jr. said

He added that these actions were carried out under the pretense of defending freedom and democracy in the country that has been embroiled in a devastating war for more than two years.

https://cdn.presstv.ir/Photo/2025/2/7/8ced6d92-96be-46f1-af12-afc0ad77a20e.PNG Caption: Anti-government protests in Kiev, Ukraine in December 2013.

A leaked conversation between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt in February 2014 further indicated US involvement in aiding the Ukrainian opposition.

The audio clip exposed Nuland, weighing in on the makeup of the next Ukrainian government.

Nuland was heard telling US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt that she doesn’t think Vitaly Klitschko, the boxer-turned-politician who is a main opposition leader, should be in a new government.

The exchange validated suspicions of US involvement in shaping Ukraine’s political transition, intensifying debates about Western intervention in the country’s internal affairs.

[Neighbor]

Let all voices be heard without  rancor and censorship of ideas expressed. Question everything, for truth stands up to questioning in the light for all to see, hear, and ponder. Those that suppress the thoughts and ideas of any minority  project the tyranny of the majority. There  is room for diversity of opinion and strong belief, all of which may be well expressed without resorting to profanity.

 

[Patticats]

19 hours ago, WilliamL said:

Mainstream media and social media are two vastly different things.

When the government secretly directs mainstream media to promote their propaganda as facts, then there is a serious problem with freedom of the press.

Yes they are two different things. The Biden/Harris Admistration gave direction to FB how to do certain things to help them out. That is why you saw so many limits on Trump's Account. It's wrong! 

Main Stream Media example are News Networks etc.

Presidents etc may have a page but I'm sure they have a Social Media Expert that puts up all the posts. It's someone they can trust. Presidents don't have time to worry so much about Social Media.  They have a Country to run. They still need a person to take care of it for them. 

[other one]

FaceBook is still holding some posts concerning USAID and Ukraine.

[FriendofJonathan]

The problem with USAID is that it is controlled by people like (worse than) William Casey. 

[nebula]

On 3/5/2025 at 8:27 AM, Neighbor said:

What is so wrong about that? Do not  leaders of countries use social media almost by the hour these days? Are they not trying to manipulate people ( Influence them) to support and cheer on their leadership efforts?

Seems to me that half the population on earth is trying to be an "influencer" today, all in hopes of some personal gain in either financial or social status. That includes posters on  Christian message boards. Nothing wrong with it, each of us has a brain and makes use of it to our own best advantage.

What WilliamL said. 

That and it is never OK for our feelings and opinions to be manipulated into endless wars, civil divisions, rally behind that which is evil and demonize that which is good, and the like. 

[WilliamL]

On 3/7/2025 at 5:51 PM, nebula said:

That and it is never OK for our feelings and opinions to be manipulated into endless wars, civil divisions, rally behind that which is evil and demonize that which is good, and the like. 

Ooh, sounds like the work of Satan!