U.S./EU Lobby Against Georgian Law That Would Reveal Their Secret Influence
The government of Georgia has tried for some time to implement a law "On transparency of foreign influence”. Its aim is to publicly identify organizations and parties who receive a significant amount of their budget from abroad:
The draft law “In order to ensure transparency”, initiated for the second time by the Georgian Dream faction, envisages the registration of such non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities and media outlets, whose income – more than 20% – is received from abroad as an organization carrying out the interests of a foreign power. According to the project, everyone who is considered an “organization carrying the interests of a foreign power” must be registered in the public register under the same name in a mandatory manner. At the time of registration, it will be necessary to reflect the received income. At the same time, the organizations will have the obligation to fill in the financial declaration every year.
Those organization who currently receive money from the various U.S. or EU government or non-government organizations are of course not amused that they will have to reveal their association with such sources. They want to lobby for foreign positions without being identified as foreign influencers.
They have therefore launched protests against their country's government and parliament which has passed the law in the first reading. Two further readings will be required to finalize the law.
The protesters against the law claim that it is a "Russian law" against "foreign agents".
Since 2012 Russia does have a law that is somewhat similar to what Georgia is attempting to implement but such type of laws are certainly not a Russian intervention:
Supporters of the [Russian version of the] law have likened it to similar legislation in the US that requires lobbyists employed by foreign governments to reveal their financing.
The U.S. equivalent to the Russian and Georgian law is of course the much older Foreign Agents Registration Act:
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) (22 U.S.C. § 611 et seq.) is a United States law that imposes public disclosure obligations on persons representing foreign interests. It requires "foreign agents"—defined as individuals or entities engaged in domestic lobbying or advocacy for foreign governments, organizations, or persons ("foreign principals")—to register with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and disclose their relationship, activities, and related financial compensation.
...
FARA was enacted in 1938 primarily to counter Nazi propaganda, with an initial focus on criminal prosecution of subversive activities; since 1966, enforcement has shifted mostly to civil penalties and voluntary compliance.For most of its existence, FARA was relatively obscure and rarely invoked; since 2017, the law has been enforced with far greater regularity and intensity, particularly against officials connected to the Trump administration. Subsequent high-profile indictments and convictions under FARA have prompted greater public, political, and legal scrutiny, including calls for reform.
FARA is administered and enforced by the FARA Unit of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) within the DOJ's National Security Division (NSD). Since 2016, there has been a 30 percent increase in registrations; as of November 2022, there were over 500 active foreign agents registered with the FARA Unit.
The Washington Post, without mentioning the long standing FARA law which is at least as strict as the new Georgian one, falsely insists that the original idea of the new Georgian law is indeed Russian:
Georgia pushes Russian-style ‘foreign agent’ law, putting E.U. bid at risk
Georgia’s Parliament voted Wednesday to advance deeply contentious legislation aimed at cracking down on “foreign agents” — an echo of a similar law in Russia that has been used to crush political dissent.In Georgia, the bill has sparked huge street protests and drawn condemnation, including from President Salome Zourabichvili, who is not a member of the Georgian Dream political party, which controls Parliament and the government.
Zourabichvili and other critics say the bill is itself an instrument of foreign interference — backed by Russia and intended to undermine Georgia’s bid to join the European Union.
On Tuesday evening, as some protesters clashed with police in the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, Zourabichvili said the bill was evidence of Russian meddling.
However neither is the law "Russian style" - it is a copy of FARA - nor does the law include the loaded word "agent". It does not accuse anyone of being such but seeks public transparency over foreign financial influences which would of course also include Russian ones.
The protests against the law look like an attempt of a typical color revolution:
17 Apr 23:15 - "Let's demand that the Prime Minister talks to us" - rally participants moved towards the government administrationAfter Levan Tsutskiridze, co-founder of the “European Platform of Georgia” group, announced the plan of action, demonstrators headed towards the government chancellery and demanded a meeting with the Prime Minister. Tsutskiridze proposed demanding that the government repeal the law and release those detained the day before. Police and security forces are strengthening their cordon near the chancellery building.
At 21:30 rally participants presented an ultimatum to the authorities demanding the repeal of the law and gave them one hour to make this statement.
Attempts to storm or blockade government buildings have been pushed back. The government is holding firm. It has a solid majority in parliament and can outvote a potential presidential veto.
Every Georgian decision maker has the Ukrainian "Maidan revolution" in mind during which the opposition used snipers (allegedly from Georgia!) shot at police as well as protesters.
We can be sure that the Georgian government is aware and well prepared for such an escalation.
The law is likely to pass. Soon thereafter a majority of the organizations which currently organize the street protests against the law will have to admit that they are the foreign paid influencers the law is aimed at to reveal their dubious interests.
Posted by b on April 18, 2024 at 13:12 UTC | Permalink
The only relevant question in European media should be: why the fuck isn't there such a law in my own country?
This should be the bare minimum. The real debate should actually be at which degree of foreign aid should an organization or movement be downright banned.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Apr 18 2024 13:17 utc | 2
The only relevant question in European media should be: why the fuck isn't there such a law in my own country?
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Apr 18 2024 13:17 utc | 2
What I find most disappointing is that citizens everywhere can't seem to figure out that keeping foreign powers away from their domestic government is strongly in their interest. Globalism in trade is a good thing, but so far global governance has been a complete crock. Best kill the beast if it can be done.
Posted by: Jmaas | Apr 18 2024 13:34 utc | 3
If strong countermeasures hadn't been taken in Russia, Prigozhin's coup attempt might have succeeded. Russia has enjoyed substantial protection from color revolutions for two reasons:
1) Increased scrutiny of NGOs and financial infiltration
2) "Dual citizens" like Evan Gerskovich being strictly monitored and arrested when necessary.
China is even better at this thanks to major cyberwarfare and counterespionage successes, and that has the American neocons absolutely enraged.
Posted by: They Call Me Mister | Apr 18 2024 13:37 utc | 4
It would seem only reasonable for countries to prohibit Trojan Horse organizations funded by governments hostile to the host country, and to shut them down and prosecute those who attempt to operate clandestinely. Of course in most cases all such entities are American funded and engage in spying and subversion.
Posted by: A. Pols | Apr 18 2024 13:37 utc | 5
Below is a quote from a 2022 article that may further the discussion
the quote
FOR THE FIRST TIME, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) formed two political action committees (PACs), which have set records in their contributions to candidates in primary election campaigns this year. In the past, AIPAC only urged pro-Israel PACs to donate to their preferred candidates. Now that AIPAC has formed its own PACs, it raises old questions about whether AIPAC should register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as an agent of the government of Israel.
I don't believe anyone from Occupied Palestine is registered under FARA.....its a feature, not a bug..../s
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 18 2024 13:38 utc | 6
Simply put without any surprise- DOUBLE (OR MORE) STANDARDS!
What amerikkka and the waste can do does not mean those not in their circle can too. The waste outside amerikkka cannot even do everything that amerikkka can.
With China's renaissance, the collective waste's narratives start to crack because there is a SOLID example showing that a country or people can peacefully develop herself without colonizing or preying on others. And the waste is losing its pretence as civilization to reveal its very barbarian nature.
Posted by: LuRenJia | Apr 18 2024 13:40 utc | 7
Of course this law is perfectly reasonable. Georgians in favor of it should change the name to the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Posted by: Sentient | Apr 18 2024 14:00 utc | 9
of course the usa/eu wouldn't want this!! they are into democracy as opposed to plutocracy for example lol...
Posted by: james | Apr 18 2024 14:22 utc | 10
Georgians in favor of it should change the name to the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Posted by: Sentient | Apr 18 2024 14:00 utc | 9
They should take note of Ukraine and use whatever force is required to bring the traitors under control. And if they want to change the name of the law, they could call it the Traitors Act.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 18 2024 14:22 utc | 11
I don't believe anyone from Occupied Palestine is registered under FARA.....its a feature, not a bug..../s
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 18 2024 13:38 utc | 6
I learned an acronym yesterday, IANAL,"I am not a lawyer".
IANAL, I think Zionist organizations in USA have ample domestic funding, some actually specialize in collecting money to send TO Israel, e.g. ever needy IDF. But "Friends of Israel" organizations in UK seem to actually get financial support from Israel, and they are ferocious. I wonder how it works from legal point of view.
In USA, a tiny Marxist/Black Identity party got a slew of indictments for accepting Russian expenses paid invitation to Russia and Donbass as some petty sums as political donation, they were photographed as arrested, but it seems that the prosecution is in limbo. I guess DoJ had to display some scalps, but it could loose jury trial.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 18 2024 14:24 utc | 12
Not to forget, the blatant and unfounded interference into Georgian state affairs by the US Administration last year in 2023:
Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and corrupt stooge of imperial powermongers, who after he was ousted from Georgia just got another job as a Governor in the Western satrapy of Ukraine, this guy is very apparently rightfully imprisoned in Georgia for being corrupt, their highest court upheld this decision for good reason one must presume.
Not good enough for the US, who wanted their favourite stooge to just get out of prison free. He was trying to starve himself in prison and really did not look good, but the Georgian state still kept him alive and imprisoned. After the judges made their decision - again, most probably for good reasons, nobody doubts Saakashvili to be corrupt - and after nobody on Georgia's behalf interfered, the US State Department suddently accused 4 Georgian judges of corruption.
https://georgiatoday.ge/kelly-degnan-the-secretary-of-state-announced-designations-against-4-judges-who-abused-their-public-positions/
These accusation were so unfounded that the Georgian foreign minister Darchiashvili had to publish an open letter of protest:
"Therefore, taking into consideration the existing reality, the decision of the US State Department to designate judges, which was made public lacking any evidence, is completely incomprehensible and unacceptable. We express hope that the State Department will either provide relevant evidence or reconsiders its decision. Otherwise, the Georgian state and the Georgian people will perceive this as pressure exerted on the independent judiciary of a sovereign state and as a gross interference in its activities, which will be deemed detrimental to the long-standing friendly relations between Georgia and the USA."
https://mfa.gov.ge/en/news/832868-amerikis-sheertebuli-shtatebis-sakhelmtsipho-mdivnisadmi-gagzavnili-tserili
Later that year, the Georgian ruling party "Georgian Dream", which is still very clearly pro-western, tried to get closer to the West and NATO, but Western leadership deemed them to not be loyal enough:
https://www.politico.eu/article/georgia-blame-nato-russia-war-ukraine/
And the US administration apparently tried to get the strongest opposition party into power, because "Georgian Dream" again was not deemed loyal enough to the Western cause.
https://eu.eot.su/2023/08/23/georgian-mp-accuses-us-ambassador-of-trying-to-bring-radicals-to-power/
All this show that the West does not know partners, not even junior partners. You can be a lackey, selling out your own country to Western powers, or the West will use all kinds of tricks, threats and the open exercise of violence to punish you for not being a loyal lackey.
Posted by: Roland | Apr 18 2024 14:25 utc | 13
"U.S. has a similar law requiring foreign agents to register as such."
Posted by: Exile | Apr 18 2024 13:16 utc | 1
But Israeli lobbies never comply and the DOJ do not prosecute.
Par for the course.
Clueless Joe | Apr 18 2024 13:17 utc | 2
why the fuck isn't there such a law in my own country
Well, the paranoid psychotics who're running the show have priorities, you know?
Check out this whopper...
Posted by: john | Apr 18 2024 14:28 utc | 15
"The only relevant question in European media should be: why the fuck isn't there such a law in my own country?
This should be the bare minimum. The real debate should actually be at which degree of foreign aid should an organization or movement be downright banned."
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Apr 18 2024 13:17 utc | 2
Excellent post.
In retrospect one can speculate about the importance of implementing and enforcing FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) type legislation to protect the sovereignty of Georgia and other countries based on what happened in the USA in 1963:
During his 1960 presidential campaign, [JF] Kennedy had met in New York City with a group of wealthy Israel advocates, led by financier Abraham Feinberg, and they had offered enormous financial support in exchange for a controlling influence in Middle Eastern policy.Kennedy managed to fob them off with vague assurances, but he considered the incident so troubling that the next morning he sought out journalist Charles Bartlett, one of his closest friends, and expressed his outrage that American foreign policy might fall under the control of partisans of a foreign power, promising that if he became president, he would rectify that situation.
And indeed, once he had installed his brother Robert as Attorney General [he] initiated a major legal effort to force pro-Israel groups to register themselves as foreign agents, which would have drastically reduced their power and influence. But after JFK’s death, this project was quickly abandoned, and as part of the settlement, the leading pro-Israel lobby merely agreed to reconstitute itself as AIPAC.
https://www.unz.com/runz/israeli-assassinations-and-public-scrutiny/
Posted by: suzan | Apr 18 2024 14:29 utc | 17
Its´only US colonies, like the EU, who lack such a law, as most of European Parliament en Comissioners would fall under it as lobbysts, like the "Morocco Gate" and "Qatar Gate", not to mention the "Pfizer Gate", so promptly obscured by the mass media, so widely illustrate...
One should conclude that the lacking of a FARA law is directly proportional to your sate as foreign colony....as so the things go for the European taxpayers....
Sucha a law in places like Spain would unveil the abundant foreign agents installed in the most prominent places like mass media, government think tanks, even intelligence services, and so on, especially those on the payroll of Integrity Initiative, deeply harming our country´s interests and population....
Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Apr 18 2024 14:30 utc | 18
2) "Dual citizens" like Evan Gerskovich being strictly monitored and arrested when necessary.
Posted by: They Call Me Mister | Apr 18 2024 13:37 utc | 4
____
It's not entirely irrelevant to note that eliminating multiple citizenship acquires increased urgency.
Posted by: malenkov | Apr 18 2024 14:32 utc | 19
In retrospect one can speculate about the importance of implementing and enforcing FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) type legislation to protect the sovereignty of Georgia and other countries based on what happened in the USA since 1963:
During his 1960 presidential campaign, [JF] Kennedy had met in New York City with a group of wealthy Israel advocates, led by financier Abraham Feinberg, and they had offered enormous financial support in exchange for a controlling influence in Middle Eastern policy.Kennedy managed to fob them off with vague assurances, but he considered the incident so troubling that the next morning he sought out journalist Charles Bartlett, one of his closest friends, and expressed his outrage that American foreign policy might fall under the control of partisans of a foreign power, promising that if he became president, he would rectify that situation.
And indeed, once he had installed his brother Robert as Attorney General [he] initiated a major legal effort to force pro-Israel groups to register themselves as foreign agents, which would have drastically reduced their power and influence. But after JFK’s death, this project was quickly abandoned, and as part of the settlement, the leading pro-Israel lobby merely agreed to reconstitute itself as AIPAC.
Link won’t post. See Ron Unz, “ Israeli Assassinations and Public Scrutiny”. April 15, 2024
Posted by: suzan | Apr 18 2024 14:33 utc | 20
I recall that Donald Rumsfeld (then a brand-new US Congressman from Chicago, iirc) signed a letter in response to RFK I's demand that the zionist organization sign under FARA. Rumsfeld's letter stated that the zionists declined to do so.
In searching for that letter, which had been online but is no longer, I came across this posting by Pat Lang, explaining step-by-step the FARA law & how AIPAC dodged it
https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2009/05/the-azc-aipac-and-fara.html
Posted by: ChasMark | Apr 18 2024 14:33 utc | 21
@Posted by: Gerard | Apr 18 2024 13:55 utc | 8
If such law is being promoted by Ursula Von der Leyen, you can be sure it is not for transparency with regard foreign influence and payroll, nor for the good of Europe and its inhabitants and suffered taxpayers, as she would be the first and main affected by that law...
They will apply their own "rules" under such "law" to charge innocent people which are an annoyance to them....
Is it any law at work in the EU right now, btw, except those dictated by the association of foreign agents in the European Comission on anglosaxon hegemonic interests?
Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Apr 18 2024 14:35 utc | 22
usa state dept press briefing from yesterday :
"QUESTION: We witnessed a horrific violence in Georgia yesterday by the riot police against peaceful protests, journalists and opposition leaders. Today another protest is taking place against the Russia law, and there is an expectation that police will – and government will use force again. What message do you have for Georgia and Georgian people?
MR PATEL: You’re speaking about the protests around the draft law? Yeah. So we remain deeply concerned that this draft legislation, if enacted, could stigmatize civil society organizations working to improve the lives of Georgians citizens and media organizations operating within the – within Georgia to provide information to Georgian citizens. We think that civil society, journalism, media organizations, are cornerstones to any democratic society. And we urge the Georgian Government to heed warnings that this bill is not in line with the European Union’s norms and values, and it certainly would negatively impact Georgia’s progress on its EU path.
All right, thanks, everybody.
QUESTION: Can I —
QUESTION: Just very quickly. Just very quickly.
MR PATEL: Go ahead.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) passed the first hearing today with 83 votes. And you’re – just repeated some – same thing that Matt told us previously, that you would hope that it will not go forward.
MR PATEL: Yeah.
QUESTION: So I understand there were meetings between the U.S. ambassador and Western ambassadors and the Russian prime minister. Is diplomacy – your efforts diplomatically – is dead here, or is it just another bump on the road?
MR PATEL: We never think diplomacy is dead, Alex. So again, we will continue to urge and reiterate the – with the Georgian Government our dire concerns of this kind of legislation, and heed the warnings that this kind of legislative – this kind of legislation, sorry, is not in line with the EU’s norms and values, which would certainly negatively impact Georgia’s stated goal to eventually become party to the European Union."
Department Press Briefing – April 17, 2024
Posted by: james | Apr 18 2024 14:55 utc | 23
The current Georgian leadership has been wise not to join the Ukraine circus. After getting a taste of what buddying up to the CIA can get you...they get a front row seat on what a full blown war with Russia looks like. The CIA has been trying their best to stir up trouble there but the cooler heads are on to that game by now.
Posted by: Goldhoarder | Apr 18 2024 15:01 utc | 24
Georgia has parliamentary elections this year (in October). I was thinking that they will try to pass the law after the elections again (when they have legitimacy for the next 4 years). But I guess they wanted to limit Western interference in the elections this autumn. Hope Georgians will choose wisely in the next election cycle.
Posted by: JamesBond | Apr 18 2024 15:06 utc | 25
Azerbaijan is in the process of finalizing an agreement to provide Israel with three air bases on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border for launching strikes on Iran, according to Israeli media reports
https://t.me/NewResistance/29007
IMHO thoroughly compromised mafia bosses Pashinyan and Aliyev together with: France, Turkey, Israel, USA, EU, and NATO, are collaborating to clusterfuck Russia and Iran, irregardless the consequence to the people and the nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the entire region.
When unleashed it'll be mega ugly, worse than Ukraine if that's possible. As much as the USA et al view the population of Ukraine as expendable fools they view the people of the Caucasus simply as "in the way" as they have for centuries. You'd think those living there would catch on after centuries of this stuff but just look at the crowds in the streets of Georgia cheering for their own destruction. History doesn't repeat, it doesn't go forward, it spirals ever downward into the abyss.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Apr 18 2024 15:06 utc | 26
Goldhoarder @ 23
The current Georgian leadership has been wise not to join the Ukraine circus.
Yes, until they die in an unfortunate plane crash.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Apr 18 2024 15:10 utc | 27
In this connection it is worth noting that the Israel lobby in the US, unrivalled in its influence, does not comply with the federal law requiring the lobbies of other countries to register as just that, lobbying organizations for other countries.
President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy tried hard to force Israel to register as a foreign lobby and look what happened to them.
That might go some way in explaining why a foreign country, Israel, exercises such extraordinary (and harmful) influence over the US.
Posted by: John Kirsch | Apr 18 2024 15:10 utc | 28
anyone insinuating that Israel killed the Kennedy's is either an idiot or willfully complicit in contemporary propaganda efforts. there is NOT ONE SINGLE REASON to believe that shit except- "I heard it on the internet".
Posted by: Not Ewe | Apr 18 2024 15:30 utc | 30
There is an easy solution: learn from the best and call the thing "transparency and defense of democracy law.
That's how the EU is selling their FARA:
“This Is Not a Foreign Agents Law”
The Commission’s New Directive on Transparency of Third Country Lobbying
On Tuesday, 12 December 2023, the Commission adopted its long-awaited Defence of Democracy package, which includes a Proposal for a Directive on Transparency of Interest Representation on behalf of Third Countries.
Posted by: Marvin | Apr 18 2024 15:43 utc | 31
anyone insinuating that Israel killed the Kennedy's is either an idiot or willfully complicit in contemporary propaganda efforts. there is NOT ONE SINGLE REASON to believe that shit except- "I heard it on the internet".
Posted by: Not Ewe | Apr 18 2024 15:30 utc | 29
Did anyone even post that? And why are you so confident about the circumstances of one the most murky, covered up political murders in history?
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 18 2024 16:05 utc | 32
Not [email protected] was a conspiracy before the internet was invented...
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Apr 18 2024 16:16 utc | 33
President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy tried hard to force Israel to register as a foreign lobby and look what happened to them.
Posted by: John Kirsch | Apr 18 2024 15:10 utc | 27.
JFK being undeterred in his investigation of the Dimona reactor might have been much more important in that respect. Or perhaps the two issues were related.
In any event, the upsides to assassinating such a man versus the downsides of not doing so (or getting caught) are much clearer in the Israeli case than the Soviet or Cuban ones. When I was much younger the Israel hypothesis would have been excluded from all discussion of the assassination. Now things are becoming clearer with alternative media.
Posted by: They Call Me Mister | Apr 18 2024 16:45 utc | 34
Hypocrisy R US(A)
https://www.leefang.com/p/us-funds-ukraine-groups-censoring
Posted by: wagelaborer | Apr 18 2024 17:08 utc | 35
Regarding the Kennedy Assassunatiins and conspiracy in general:
The common (mis)understanding of "conspiracy theory" is an Orwellian inversion (perversion) of language that really means something like STFU.
Actually, the world is chock full of conspiracy. Any time a public entity (government, ngo, intell organization, trade organization, corporation, etc) initiates actions that it actively conceals from public scrutiny it is conspiring.
And of course most activities of secret organizations, (or legally secretive in the case of organizations that support National Security) are especially prone to conspiracy as their immunity from full disclosure gives them carte blanche.
Hell, false advertising is a conspiracy, ponzi schemes are a conspiracy, insider trading is a conspiracy, and the list could go on.
Political assassination always involves conspiracy. The loony lone gunman explanation is itself part and parcel of the conspiracy.
I self identify as a conspiracy theorist. Proudly.
Posted by: MrH | Apr 18 2024 17:52 utc | 36
Of course we know this.
We know that there is a group of the most rotten, horrifying states on the planet who want to shake up the democracy of the land by making the bribed crowds sing in chorus with Goebbelsian tactics.
It is not the so-called 'axis of evil' Iraq's Hussein, nor Russia, nor commie China.
It is those who are sabotaging the world with money - that is the true identity of the 'West'.
Even the Ukrainian issue, Rotten-bitch Nuland scattered 'cookies', organised far-right trash, organized mobs and destroyed a country.
Posted by: Nokaz | Apr 18 2024 18:07 utc | 37
Did anyone even post that? And why are you so confident about the circumstances of one the most murky, covered up political murders in history?
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 18 2024 16:05 utc
well, yes.
President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy tried hard to force Israel to register as a foreign lobby and look what happened to them.
That might go some way in explaining why a foreign country, Israel, exercises such extraordinary (and harmful) influence over the US.
Posted by: John Kirsch | Apr 18 2024 15:10 utc
Not that I want to derail the topic, but because I respect your postings, and I feel what I understand is somewhat crucial to discovering the root of the act, I will try to make this clear.
Two separate notorious (if only to a degree, with those aware) actors in these events, one a self admitted conspirator in the death of JFK, Claude Barnes Capehart, the other Eugene Cesar, the obvious suspect in the behind the ear assassination of RFK. BOTH went to (wet)"work" on the Glomar Explorer in 1973, just before something untoward happened to Salvador Allende in Chile. Do you suppose these two culprits were working for a foreign country that ran the CIA? I don't. Now, the reason I have a certain amount of interest and clarity regarding Capehart is that he sought refuge and exposed himself (at least, his activities related to the JFK assassination) to a shoestring relative who served as a deputy sheriff in the small town that Capehart found himself being hunted by suspicious folks in suits after some disappointing outcome in NY, iirc. That revelation took this shoestring to the Church committee, or some aspect of it subsequently. I am completely gobsmacked to have discovered this particular individual played such a crucial role in uncovering the facts of Capehart's activities. He also seemed to be tied into a bloody Mormon lunatic, which certainly leaves some questions to be answered. Israel never had the balls or means to perform such an act 60 years ago, but we here in the US certainly had the attitude and moral compass it took. The fact they both went onto the Glomar in 73 ties them together at their root. that's all.
Posted by: Not Ewe | Apr 18 2024 18:12 utc | 38
The US/UK ambassadors openly demanding that this law be rejected know that they are hypocrites. They do not care, as long as their calls for action are heeded.
The kids out protesting either know about laws like FARA, or they don't know only because they refuse to listen. As long as the EU dangles membership in The Club as a reward for carrying out the West's diktat, they also don't care.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Apr 18 2024 18:13 utc | 39
this is exactly the garbage being passed around. all of these ludicrous explanations serve but one purpose- not blaming the CIA and the obvious folks whose actions and beliefs, combined with other failed previous attempts, would not be the work of either a lone assassin (LOL) nor the sophisticated, unstoppable efforts of a super duper bad guy country like FILL IN THE BLANK THIS WEEK.
"much clearer in the Israeli case than the Soviet or Cuban ones. When I was much younger the Israel hypothesis would have been excluded from all discussion of the assassination. Now things are becoming clearer with alternative media.
Posted by: They Call Me Mister" GARBAGE.
Posted by: Not Ewe | Apr 18 2024 18:16 utc | 40
The JFK assassination shows what happens when an unaccountable government body is set up to lie, steal, and kill, and a president tries to put a stop to it.
The official CIA was only 16 years old in 1963, but when JFK threatened to shatter it into a million pieces and scatter it to the winds, they blew his head off in the middle of the day, in the middle of town square, televised to the country and the world.
Then Allen Dulles, who had been fired by JFK, was appointed to head the "investigation".
This was a lesson and a warning to other politicians, in the US and around the world.
There was no way that Russia or Cuba or Israel had the power to shut down the Secret Service, control the military and the autopsy, run the cover-up, and control the media coverage.
It was an inside job.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Apr 18 2024 18:24 utc | 41
Homeland Security is only 22 years old, but it is the third largest government agency already.
It spies on Americans, forces Americans to comply with oppressive and stupid regulations and go through performative rituals, censors and bans free speech, and has its grubby repressive paws in every aspect of American life.
It needs to be shattered into a millions pieces and scattered to the wind.
And by some cosmic joke, another Kennedy has shown up willing to try.
Today their power to control the narrative (as they like to say) may be strong enough to keep him down, away from any lever of power, but otherwise, I assume he will also be killed, the Mighty Wurlitzer will give some unbelievable bullshit story, and there will be enough FUD spread to keep us arguing about whodunnit for decades.
Or until they blow us up in a nuclear war.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Apr 18 2024 18:40 utc | 42
One of my favourite articles last year, not least because the author - Almut Rochowanski - feminist activist and NGO-advisor (I hope I got that about right) - nominally should be on a totally different page than most bar flies, but after all she has integrity, unlike many in the public sphere.
She pointed out the double standard of the EU regarding foreign state influence:
"Foreign agent law fundamentals, part I: we need to be honest with ourselves
Thoughts on recent events in Georgia
Almut Rochowanski
Mar 17, 2023"
https://discomfortzone.substack.com/p/foreign-agent-law-fundamentals-part
Posted by: AG | Apr 18 2024 18:46 utc | 43
Brian Berletic at New Atlas has frequent programs detailing how the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy funds opposition groups and individuals in numerous Asian countries Berletic often utilizes data from the NED website to illustrate how money and training are provided to named opposition activists and their supposed pro-democracy organizations. https://www.ned.org/ Is the NED website—it’s all amazingly within easy public purview.
Posted by: mjh | Apr 18 2024 19:02 utc | 44
" Azerbaijan is in the process of finalizing an agreement to provide Israel with three air bases on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border for launching strikes on Iran, according to Israeli media reports "
LightYearsFromHome @ 25
Do you have any information about the Armenians leasing bases to the Iranians? Especially in those disputed areas Azerbaijan has occupied?
Would be an interesting approach for Armenia to pursue to get those territories back.
Posted by: Jerr | Apr 18 2024 19:06 utc | 45
The hideous, sickening hypocrisy of the monsters ruling the 'rules-based' disorder is truly shocking. The best that we poor souls subject to the rule of these monstrous psychopaths can hope for is that Russia takes pity on us, while eradicating the beasts who hold us captive.
Posted by: Robert | Apr 18 2024 19:42 utc | 46
Jerr @ 42
The Mossad bases in Azerbaijan have been there for quite awhile but "secret" they allow Israel to hit Iran without mid air refueling i.e USA permission. I guess now like all things heading towards WW3 they are being normalized and brought out in the open.
I have not read anything about Iran having a presence in Armenia, only that if Azerbaijan made any moves to change the status quo regarding the Zangezur corridor that they would intervene on the behalf of Armenia. Iran has built up forces on the border. I didn't read anything about Armenia welcoming this or not.
So, the story we are presented with right now is a Christian-Shia French-Iranian-Armenian "alliance" against a Zionist-Muslim Israeli-Turkish-Azerbaijani "alliance". This doesn't even bring in the USA/UK both ostensibly on Azerbaijani side but with large influential Armenia populations back home. Guess if the Turks can fight the Greeks, both NATO, then France can fight Turkiye. But can France fight Israel???
That's way too much for my head. Alliances of convince certainly happen in war but I put my money on some sort of gangster scam in the works where Armenia and Azerbaijan fake tensions to create bloody chaos and destabilization for Russia and Iran, force them to overextend. Of course Armenia gets betrayed and loses the corridor.
Guessing plan to 2030 is to spread the chaos to Georgia and Central Asia, destroying any hope for the SCO, BRICS, New Silk Road, BRI. Add it up: Georgia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan it's all one thing, they've been at it for decades. Now they just need it to all come together and win the hybrid war, meantime, Russia, Iran, China need to run around like crazy putting out the fires.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Apr 18 2024 20:29 utc | 47
LightYearsFromHome @ 44
Yes my thinking was similar, that the bases would be used for refueling.
However, I can't believe that the Iranians won't follow a policy of hot pursuit of any aircraft or missiles involved in an attack on Iran associated in anyway with those Azerbaijan mossad timeshare bases. Essentially this is what Putin told NATO Russia would do in the Ukraine SMO if Ukrainian aircraft based out of a NATO country.
I don't know the political situation in Azerbaijan, so can't really comment much on that; but I did think Armenia was played like Serbia was in their Kosovo dispute.
Posted by: Jerr | Apr 18 2024 21:01 utc | 48
Soros foundation ceases its activities in Kyrgyzstan (EurAsia Daily, April 16, 2024 — in Russian)
The Soros-Kyrgyzstan Foundation announced the cessation of its activities in Kyrgyzstan, Sputnik Kyrgyzstan reports.According to the agency, the reason is the adoption of a new law on non-profit organizations. Since the foundation is receiving funding from abroad, this makes it subject to legal restrictions.
The organization has been working in the republic since 1993.
According to an unnamed high-ranking official from the presidential administration of Kyrgyzstan cited by the agency, the [foundation’s — S] team and many activists had long known about the upcoming closure of the foundation.
“Therefore, the reference in the explanation of the decision [to close down] to [the law on NPOs] recently adopted by the Supreme Council was received with bewilderment in the presidential administration,” he said.
The official added that in recent years the family and entourage of George Soros have been “reconsidering their approaches to work and relocating their activities from many countries.”
As previously reported, on April 2, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov signed the law on non-profit organizations, adopted in March by the country’s parliament. According to him, about 2 thousand NGOs in Kyrgyzstan are operating with funds from foreign donors. All of them must undergo re-registration as foreign representatives.
In addition, the Kyrgyz leader stated that in order to force him to refuse to sign the above law, the leaders of more than 30 countries put pressure on him. And U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote a personal letter with veiled threats.
Posted by: S | Apr 18 2024 21:31 utc | 49
I've been wondering what inspired Georgia's active interest in negative foreign influence?
Did they notice that their 'news' was overburdened with patently false Zionist Bullshit, as has happened in Oz, or something more subtle?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 18 2024 21:38 utc | 50
Georgia will pass the law; will the West say "we respect the due process of the Georgian people"?
And so it goes...
Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 18 2024 21:44 utc | 51
Jerr @ 45
Yes my thinking was similar, that the bases would be used for refueling.
Look at the map, with bases in Azerbaijan no refueling necessary, Israel can run 24/7 bombing sorties into Iran. It could also place nukes there and not even tell the Azerbaijanis. It would shorten the strike time into Iran and seriously pressure the Iranians.
You may ask yourself why Azerbaijan would ever find that a good idea, I certainly ask myself that. But then I still ask myself why Ukraine would go to war with Russia. The answer of course is a callow, corrupt leadership and an all you can eat buffet of USA dollars - and a sorry population that thinks it's about patriotism and God.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Apr 18 2024 22:19 utc | 52
@Jerr #42:
Do you have any information about the Armenians leasing bases to the Iranians? Especially in those disputed areas Azerbaijan has occupied?Would be an interesting approach for Armenia to pursue to get those territories back.
You haven’t been paying attention. Pashinyan is a pro-Western/anti-Russian fanatic. His cabinet is full of people from Soros-funded NGOs. He was a pro-Western/anti-Russian journalist for a long time, then the head of a small opposition party, then in 2018 he was suddenly turned into “the leader of the revolution” by the Western-funded Armenian media–NGO complex. From the point of view of Armenian national interests, it makes no sense to remove Russian military and border guards bases from Armenia, yet Pashinyan is moving towards that goal. Why? Because the West told him to. Do you think the West would be happy for Armenia to host Iranian military bases instead?
Posted by: S | Apr 18 2024 22:26 utc | 53
This is a very interesting and serious topic and I wonder if next we could have a Foreign Agent New DNA Registration Act, (FANDANAR) whereby the sponsors of lethality enhancing nucleic acid sequences in the next pandemic virus can be identified for all to see. Of course, messages could also be sent in this way. For example, the brief and simple sequence CAT TAG could be an intelligence service message, especially from one of the 3 letter agencies. The longer CAT GAT TAG AT TAT sequence though speaks with the eloquence of a more august body. Eventually, we could come to learn which sequences relate to particular programs, such as HYPOCRITE, a 746 base gene unfortunately common in DNA sequences provided by Western sponsors.
Posted by: PointTheBone | Apr 18 2024 22:38 utc | 54
S @50
Thanks for you comments. I'm not very familiar with events here and don't fully grasp their implications. You helped me understand the background of the current situation.
Posted by: Jerr | Apr 19 2024 0:21 utc | 55
RE -- The hideous, sickening hypocrisy of the monsters ruling the 'rules-based' disorder is truly shocking. The best that we poor souls subject to the rule of these monstrous psychopaths can hope for is that Russia takes pity on us, while eradicating the beasts who hold us captive.
Posted by: Robert | Apr 18 2024 19:42 utc | 43
I totally agree ... though maybe add in china with russia.
The word sickening often comes to my mind when reading about what the cabal has done lately.. It seems neverending now, everyday something new turns my stomach. similarly all the open hypocrisy of the west over iran and it's missile response to israel. sickening. I have nothing left but disgust for my countries 'rulers' and the entire golden billion apparatus. sickening.
Posted by: Lavrov's Dog | Apr 19 2024 0:41 utc | 56
anyone insinuating that Israel killed the Kennedy's is either an idiot or willfully complicit in contemporary propaganda efforts. there is NOT ONE SINGLE REASON to believe that shit except- "I heard it on the internet".
Posted by: Not Ewe | Apr 18 2024 15:30 utc | 29
Did anyone even post that? And why are you so confident about the circumstances of one the most murky, covered up political murders in history?
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 18 2024 16:05 utc | 30
Considering the state of the evidence, I'm impressed with the intensity of belief as to one precise theory or another. I only feel confident saying JFK was killed by US imperialism. And, really, that's all one needs to understand about it. Did the Zionnuts help out, who knows?
To wagelaborer, I think you make a good point as to the relative power and influence of Israel at the time. Things were quite different globally in the 60s, really until the late 90s, when the Zionazi influence truly became apparent. A genuinely qualitative change in imperialist politics, I would say.
But, back to Georgia...
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 19 2024 0:55 utc | 57
RT -- London and Washington have blacklisted several Iranian military officials and companies in the steel, automotive and drone industries for the “destabilizing” strike on Israel last Saturday.
-- I can only see one way to finally put a stop to this kind of abhorrent abuse of power. The total military defeat of the US/UK nexus. Same as happened to germany and japan - total unconditional surrender and then rebuilt from scratch under Allied governance for decades. .
Posted by: Lavrov's Dog | Apr 19 2024 1:08 utc | 58
Few Americans are aware that our CIA already did a "color revolution" in Georgia in 2003 that transformed that nation into a colony. It has begun to break free as the CIA struggles to keep it a NATO partner.
see this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC-xLCgbThM&t=23s
Posted by: Carlton Meyer | Apr 19 2024 1:16 utc | 59
-- I can only see one way to finally put a stop to this kind of abhorrent abuse of power. The total military defeat of the US/UK nexus. Same as happened to germany and japan - total unconditional surrender and then rebuilt from scratch under Allied governance for decades. .
Posted by: Lavrov's Dog | Apr 19 2024 1:08 utc | 55
I'd agree, but add that this would happen much more readily with the assistance of the mass of wage slaves that live in the US and hate their ruling class.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 19 2024 2:40 utc | 60
Ahenobarbus @ 30, 54:
In the case of Robert F Kennedy's assassination in Los Angeles in 1968, consider that Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, a Palestinian man, was arrested, charged and jailed for the shooting. Consider also that SBS has no memory of what he did, and that there is evidence that he was hypnotised and shot RFK in his hypnotised state.
British magician Derek Brown recreated the assassination scenario using a volunteer in the SBS role and actor Stephen Fry as the target for a documentary. The re-enactment looked very plausible. (Don't worry, Fry is still alive and is fully supportive of Israel's actions since Oct 7.)
As to who may have hypnotised SBS and told him what to do in his hypnotised state: that is still unknown.
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Apr 19 2024 4:13 utc | 61
Too bad our FARA is not applied to AIPAC OR THE ADL who have an outsized grip on our government.
Foreign paid agents and NGO's mainly backed by the US for subversive activities at home and abroad, are the cause of much mayhem at home and elsewhere. GOOD FOR GEORGIA for holding firm.
Posted by: Kay | Apr 19 2024 4:45 utc | 62
As to who may have hypnotised SBS and told him what to do in his hypnotised state: that is still unknown.
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Apr 19 2024 4:13 utc | 58
Apparently, historical facts are a question of beliefs. As badly corrupted and polluted as the internet is, you can still mine nuggets of truth, and these events were widely examined. Before barking up Sirhan's tree, you might want to examine/discover what killed RFK. It was a shot from no distance behind the ear. Ask the coroner. Ask his namesake son. But in every matter involving a public figure with a public image to protect, take their statements with a wheel barrow of salt, because those old standby discrediting buzz words like "theorist" etc, wont serve a candidate well. Sirhan did not stand behind or next to RFK. this information is not that hard to discover. I offer a couple of obvious clues that are not faith based or word of mouth. I knew the person involved in Capehart's story, and the FACT of his CIA connection/employment is the lynchpin they refused to reveal, to the point that a local judge pursued this information through FOIA's and I believe he passed away, and the relevant information was a buried part of the last release of classified docs. Im not making this shit up. But I do expect the flood of murk to continue evermore. It is up to interested individuals to find their way to the many true facts these horrid events left behind. NO speculation being passed around 60 years later is worth much compared to the facts known at the time. Its not that hard, once you acknowledge the games still being played, and refuse to be a tool. best of luck.
Posted by: Not Ewe | Apr 19 2024 4:50 utc | 63
Too bad our FARA is not applied to AIPAC OR THE ADL who have an outsized grip on our government.
...
Posted by: Kay | Apr 19 2024 4:45 utc | 59
Yes. Decades ago popular Senator William Fulbright tried. Jewish money made an example out of him. He was kicked out of the Senate and replaced by a know-nothing Dale Bumpers. The iron grip of Zionists on our country has existed for a long time.
Posted by: Stones | Apr 19 2024 5:16 utc | 64
For those barflies interested in Israel state potential role in JFK assasination, I suggest a rather short book by Laurent Guyenot, The unspoken Kennedy truth », whose title refers to classical Douglass « JFK & the Unspeakable ». The book is fully about complementing Douglass analysis of the US deep state of intelligence and industry & Defense role in the assassination with Israel likely critical role, centered on JFK opposition to Israel atomic bomb project - ( and RFK insistance on Israel lobbying groups in the US being registered as foreign agents). Israel Samson option may play a huge role nowadays, as Israel is the only nuclear power not excluding a first strike. The book also details Johnson role as an Israel asset, the same as to CIA Jim Angleton, CIA head of counter intelligence and Mossad point of contact, and asset.
Posted by: Daniel | Apr 19 2024 6:45 utc | 65
Posted by: Not Ewe | Apr 18 2024 15:30 utc | 29
With regard to jewish culpability in the JFK assasination, I have always wondered why a small time gangster named Jacob Leon Rubenstein killed the lone gunman who supposedly shot Kennedy.
there is one reason.
Posted by: dan of steele | Apr 19 2024 7:19 utc | 66
Not Ewe @ 63:
I'm not barking up SBS's tree. I'm open to the likelihood that he was used as a tool (under mind control and hypnotised by the CIA) to distract people's attention away from the actual assassin/s.
There may have been others also keen on getting rid of RFK at the time. Using SBS - a Palestinian - may have been intended as icing on someone's cake, to blacken and demonise Palestinian people generally at the same time as RFK was being eliminated as a Presidential contender. Who that someone is - an actual individual, an organisation, an intel agency, even a government - could help some way to clear out some of the murk over RFK's assassination.
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Apr 19 2024 10:51 utc | 67
Posted by: S | Apr 18 2024 21:31 utc | 49
Re:
Soros foundation ceases its activities in Kyrgyzstan (EurAsia Daily, April 16, 2024 — in Russian)
Fascinating post. Thank you.
The pushback against "Alphabet-Ops" going on around the world is heartening, but the staged withdrawal aspect of this particular chapter gave me chills.
What are "they" planning next? Are they starting to cash out and flee the scene of the crime? Very complex.
Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Apr 19 2024 12:41 utc | 68
Addenda.
Are they all anticipating (with some various layers of fore-knowledge) something much larger to unfold very shortly?
I think I need a holiday on a more sane world...if only for a week or two's respite..a constitutional, if you will.
Peace
Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Apr 19 2024 12:58 utc | 69
That Almut Rochowanski article was very interesting, not that it said anything all of us don't already know, but that it set out the arguments clearly even though Rochowanski admitted that she had been on the other side, basically trying to arrange a colour revolution in Russia, for many years.
Decent people do bad things, and sometimes they wake up one morning and ask why they're doing them.
Unfortunately, most of the people who are acting as foreign agents in various countries have no decency (as in "Have you no decency, even at the last, sir?").
South Africa actually has no law against espionage, because the foreign-funded NGOs successfully lobbied against it when the apartheid-era spy law (which is unconstitutional) came up for replacement. Nobody dared ask why the NGOs (and the media) were essentially drawing up a charter for foreign spies.
Posted by: NFB | Apr 19 2024 13:18 utc | 70
Thank you for this report, b.
MoA is just about the only website where I can find up-to-date news about such things. What you describe sounds exactly like a color revolution attempt. A similar color revolution was attempted in Belarus in 2020-2021 and failed. This one in Georgia will also fail, because governments are finally getting wise to the game. And because the US AID/CIA (which sponsors these things) tends to use the same playbook over and over. Going back to the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile and before. But we can expect to see these continue to pop up in every country that borders Russia, because they are relatively cheap to fund and sometimes get through, as in Ukraine (2004 & 2014) and Armenia (2018).
Once foreign NGOs are compelled to reveal their funding, it will be more difficult for the CIA to conceal its hand in the game. There's a lot of money involved in getting 100,000 or more people to gather for a "spontaneous protest".
Still, in the popular US information sources, color revolutions are mostly viewed as a positive thing: Colour Revolution - Wikipedia
Excerpt: "The Colour revolutions...were [sic] a series of often non-violent protests and accompanying (attempted or successful) changes of government and society that took place in post-Soviet states (particularly Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan) and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the early 21st century. The aim of the colour revolutions was to establish Western-style liberal democracies. [very funny!] They were primarily triggered by election results widely viewed as falsified. The colour revolutions were marked by...a strong role of non-governmental organizations in the protests. (Emphasis and brackets added by me)
And that is what the average American believes is true.
Posted by: Clever Dog | Apr 19 2024 13:27 utc | 71
@ Posted by: S | Apr 18 2024 21:31 utc | 49
From the same Wikipedia article:
Kyrgyzstan (2005)
Main article: Tulip Revolution
The Tulip Revolution (sometimes called the "Pink Revolution") in Kyrgyzstan was more violent than its predecessors and followed the disputed 2005 Kyrgyz parliamentary election. At the same time, it was more fragmented than previous "colour revolutions". The protesters in different areas adopted the colours pink and yellow for their protests.
Yes, the leaders of Kyrgyzstan understand. No surprise that Blinken is trying to twist their arms...
Posted by: Clever Dog | Apr 19 2024 13:42 utc | 72
@ Posted by: AG | Apr 18 2024 18:46 utc | 43
https://discomfortzone.substack.com/p/foreign-agent-law-fundamentals-part
==========================================================================
Thanks for sharing the link; that's a great article/essay.
Posted by: Clever Dog | Apr 19 2024 14:45 utc | 73
Totally agree with b's article, in that, for smaller states such as Georgia, such foreign influence laws are necessary if they are not to be swallowed up by imperialist states (the US and EU).
However, the article unintentionally mischaracterizes the history of FARA in the U.S.. This is because it relies on Wikipedia, though, to be honest, the Wikipedia article is the mainstream media and academic view. It is likely the kind of answer you would get from an AI app if you asked about FARA. It is totally wrong.
FARA was enacted in 1938 primarily to counter Nazi propaganda, with an initial focus on criminal prosecution of subversive activities; since 1966, enforcement has shifted mostly to civil penalties and voluntary compliance.For most of its existence, FARA was relatively obscure and rarely invoked...
Why did things change in 1966? Well, because in 1965 the US Supreme Court in Lamont v. Postmaster General overturned a law that allowed the US Post Office, Customs Dept, and FBI to seize and destroy millions of pieces of third class mail from "Communist" countries. The law itself was only passed in 1962, after the Kennedy administration moved to stop the seizure policy, and Congress intervened to finally put the policy into statute law.
But from 1950 to 1962 the government seize-and-destroy policy had been in place via a decision by the Attorney General that FARA law covered foreign printers, booksellers, etc. As a result, for over a decade, and through most of the Cold War, third class mail from Russia, China, No. Korea, East Europe, etc. I.e., magazines, newspapers, books, journals, film media, etc. were seized and destroyed. In the millions!
So not only was FARA not "not invoked," it was invoked hundreds of thousands of times every month!
This was not something that went unrecognized then. There were editorials against this policy in academic journals, such as Science, and law journals that protested this program and its illegal invocation of FARA to create a gigantic edifice of state censorship. The archives and libraries of this country show the effects of this lacuna in the available historical record. But the memory of this horrific program has been erased from memory and societal discourse. No mention of FARA and its history should fail to mention it, and I'm sorry to see that b's article followed suit here. I hope he will correct that.
I wrote a rather longish article documenting this gigantic U.S. state censorship program via FARA a few years ago. I came across the whole subject rather by accident, but I'm glad it did. The history of the U.S. is far darker and more corrupt than even the readers of this blog know. If you don't believe me, read my most recent article on the subject:
https://kayej.substack.com/p/the-biggest-mail-censorship-program
Or if you prefer, my earlier, more comprehensive article, from which comes the quoted material below: https://jeff-kaye.medium.com/censored-north-korea-accused-u-s-of-working-with-unit-731-war-criminals-on-bw-attacks-d7fd819ed8b7?sk=e95d8a3128be4b8a70fca654fb6b421f
According to testimony from an attorney in the USPS’s General Counsel’s office, given during a 1956 Congressional hearing on Communist propaganda coming into the U.S., upon referral by the Customs Office, the Post Office had “seized millions of pieces [of mail]. We have done that. It has been going on for a period of years now. We are regularly seizing this propaganda which is coming in without compliance.”The U.S. government promulgated this program by declaring that anyone who sent foreign materials into the United States via the U.S. mails were thereby acting as “foreign agents” of whatever country or foreign entity orginated the materials. There was nothing in FARA’s law that stated this, and the whole enterprise rested upon some very dicey interpretations of the Espionage Act.
As Murray Schwartz and James Paul explained in a key law journal article in 1959, neither the Post Office nor the Customs Department had any statutory right to seize this material. The justification was a 1940 interpretation of FARA law by the U.S. Attorney General, promulgated in 1942 into a federal “rule.” But the policy had no real legal standing. Postal, customs and Justice Department officials had “arranged a program to intercept and confiscate Communist propaganda pursuant to this interpretation of the statutes. The activity was undertaken without direct congressional authorization, without much preparation in advance, without promulgating any rules of procedure or directives which the public at large could read.” (pg. 631)
Posted by: Jeffrey Kaye | Apr 19 2024 17:40 utc | 74
@ Jeffrey Kaye | Apr 19 2024 17:40 utc | 74 with the follow up on FARA....thanks
Some of us Americans know the score and have been watching the shit show for decades.
If you want another rabbit hole to go down, look at the history of the US Fairness Doctrine that existed between 1949 and 1986.
Some Americans have tried to do good along the way but are structurally stymied by the fact of having money/finance controlled by an international cult.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 19 2024 19:24 utc | 75
Posted by: Jeffrey Kaye | Apr 19 2024 17:40 utc | 74
on FARA illegal censorship / theft of citizens property by the USG
Thank you for that. People like you are the reason I put up with non-stop bs I scroll past from too many others here and keep coming back. Kudos!
Posted by: Lavrov's Dog | Apr 21 2024 5:37 utc | 76
PS Jeffrey Kaye | Apr 19 2024 17:40 utc | 74
One short quote from a letter in your article info in 1950s
Remember, one used to wonder how the German people could let Hitler happen? — E. R.
Posted by: Lavrov's Dog | Apr 21 2024 5:43 utc | 77
But Israeli lobbies never comply and the DOJ do not prosecute.
Par for the course.
Posted by: canuck | Apr 18 2024 14:27 utc | 14
The Jewish cunts never comply with anything, and pointing that out makes you a Nazi.
Posted by: Armalyte | Apr 21 2024 15:01 utc | 78
"The only relevant question in European media should be: why the fuck isn't there such a law in my own country?
This should be the bare minimum. The real debate should actually be at which degree of foreign aid should an organization or movement be downright banned."Posted by: Clueless Joe | Apr 18 2024 13:17 utc | 2
Excellent post.
Posted by: canuck | Apr 18 2024 14:29 utc | 16
Agreed (Clueless Joe) and agreed (canuck)
Posted by: SattaMassaGana | Apr 22 2024 13:36 utc | 79
The comments to this entry are closed.
U.S. has a similar law requiring foreign agents to register as such.
Posted by: Exile | Apr 18 2024 13:16 utc | 1