Eastern Europe has troubles—as do many countries East and West —given the geopolitics of today, but while some are internal, a fair measure of them is not. These externals tend to be driven by powerful political forces seeking to fulfill their own political agendas—and for the latter that’’s about control: economic and political.
It is beyond doubts that there are forces external to these countries.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has formally requested that Elon Musk (head of DOGE) disclose detailed information about American grants allocated to Slovak NGOs and media outlets through USAID, Washington’s primary agency for funding political projects abroad.
In a letter to DOGE chief Musk—who previously branded USAID a “criminal organization” —Fico voiced concerns over what he described as “gross interference” in Slovakia’s political landscape.
“It is undeniable that funds originating from USAID were also used for political purposes in Slovakia to distort the political system and favor specific political parties,” Fico wrote in a letter shared on X last Tuesday. He urged Musk to disclose which NGOs, media outlets, and individual journalists had received U.S. funding.
Last week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán similarly announced that his government would seek full transparency regarding USAID grants to NGOs and media outlets critical of his administration, emphasizing the need to “eliminate these foreign networks” that interfere in the country’s domestic affairs.
In one of his first executive orders after taking office, President Donald Trump suspended all foreign aid ($68.2 billion), pending a review of its alignment with U.S. national interests.
Pursuant to these orders, President Trump’s administration has frozen all funding to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the USAID.
The NED has faced longstanding criticism over its role in supporting political movements to undermine sovereign governments.
One example of such suspected undermining is Georgia’s case. The Tbilisi government is currently dealing with external forces regarding the recent law just passed requiring media and nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofit groups to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
The republic’s efforts to adopt its own law on the disclosure of foreign agent funding sources in the country has produced major pushback from the West, even to the point of threats of sanctions. The law, of course, will make “influence peddling” through corruption much more difficult for those countries with money to spread around, and that likely would be the West. As Reuters comments, “Georgian parliament passes ‘foreign agent’ bill, prompting US anger, new protests.”
Romanian politician Călin Georgescu, labeled as “far right” by the opposition, came seemingly out of nowhere to secure first place in the first round of the now-annulled presidential elections held on November 24 of last year. Georgescu’s lawyer said that the annulment decision was a flagrant violation of the constitution. “We are in a situation of a coup d’état.” The decision came amid declassified reports alleging Russian involvement in cyber activities aimed at undermining the integrity of the electoral process.
“What is happening today in Romania, which is completely illegal, could set an extremely dangerous precedent worldwide. I hope that the law will be respected and that there will be no deviations from the will of the Romanian people,” Călin Georgescu said.
The official claim of Russian meddling rested directly and exclusively on a specific set of intelligence documents on the matter, first submitted in a closed National Security Council meeting on 28 November and then hastily declassified on 4 December by the sitting President in order to “inform” the Constitutional Court’s decision. But the reports contained no actual evidence of the sort.
Hillary Clinton, former U.S. secretary of state and presidential candidate, notably popularized the tactic of blaming Russia following her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election—a claim Moscow has consistently denied—and the FBI later admitted was a fraud.
Western mainstream political parties continuously blaming Russian meddling for electoral failures are increasingly out of touch with voters, as U.S. Vice President JD Vance has rightly pointed out, criticizing the ‘Russian meddling’ narrative during his recent visit to Munich..
The truth is that all countries, irrespective of their political theater, attempt to influence voter preferences in other countries through their intelligence apparatus and its NGO and media assets. A fortiori, not every election that does not go the way of the EU ruling elite can be attributed to the machinations of the Kremlin.
Clearly, the troubles in the countries of Eastern Europe are not necessarily internal,and certainly, not necessarily of their own making; these states have become a ‘battleground’ for powerful external forces seeking to exert a measure of control over them. The question is: Can these countries succeed as independent nation-states, given the external economic and political forces which plague their sovereignty?
East European nations are at a crossroads in their history. There are either/or choices before them: e Either stay with the status quo of historical inertia or reclaim their identity. To do the former is easy. But to do the latter they must rely on being the courageous people they have always been – and rid themselves of their historical dependency on others.The East Europeans have a choice to make about their identity—about who they are: master of their own consciousness or slave to another’s.
Manufacturing Dissent in Eastern Europe: The Power of Foreign State Propaganda
Anti-government demonstrators protest in central Tbilisi, Georgia on December 17, 2024.
Photo: Giorgi Arjevanidze / AFP
Eastern Europe has troubles—as do many countries East and West —given the geopolitics of today, but while some are internal, a fair measure of them is not. These externals tend to be driven by powerful political forces seeking to fulfill their own political agendas—and for the latter that’’s about control: economic and political.
It is beyond doubts that there are forces external to these countries.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has formally requested that Elon Musk (head of DOGE) disclose detailed information about American grants allocated to Slovak NGOs and media outlets through USAID, Washington’s primary agency for funding political projects abroad.
In a letter to DOGE chief Musk—who previously branded USAID a “criminal organization” —Fico voiced concerns over what he described as “gross interference” in Slovakia’s political landscape.
“It is undeniable that funds originating from USAID were also used for political purposes in Slovakia to distort the political system and favor specific political parties,” Fico wrote in a letter shared on X last Tuesday. He urged Musk to disclose which NGOs, media outlets, and individual journalists had received U.S. funding.
Last week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán similarly announced that his government would seek full transparency regarding USAID grants to NGOs and media outlets critical of his administration, emphasizing the need to “eliminate these foreign networks” that interfere in the country’s domestic affairs.
In one of his first executive orders after taking office, President Donald Trump suspended all foreign aid ($68.2 billion), pending a review of its alignment with U.S. national interests.
Pursuant to these orders, President Trump’s administration has frozen all funding to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the USAID.
The NED has faced longstanding criticism over its role in supporting political movements to undermine sovereign governments.
One example of such suspected undermining is Georgia’s case. The Tbilisi government is currently dealing with external forces regarding the recent law just passed requiring media and nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofit groups to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
The republic’s efforts to adopt its own law on the disclosure of foreign agent funding sources in the country has produced major pushback from the West, even to the point of threats of sanctions. The law, of course, will make “influence peddling” through corruption much more difficult for those countries with money to spread around, and that likely would be the West. As Reuters comments, “Georgian parliament passes ‘foreign agent’ bill, prompting US anger, new protests.”
Romanian politician Călin Georgescu, labeled as “far right” by the opposition, came seemingly out of nowhere to secure first place in the first round of the now-annulled presidential elections held on November 24 of last year. Georgescu’s lawyer said that the annulment decision was a flagrant violation of the constitution. “We are in a situation of a coup d’état.” The decision came amid declassified reports alleging Russian involvement in cyber activities aimed at undermining the integrity of the electoral process.
“What is happening today in Romania, which is completely illegal, could set an extremely dangerous precedent worldwide. I hope that the law will be respected and that there will be no deviations from the will of the Romanian people,” Călin Georgescu said.
The official claim of Russian meddling rested directly and exclusively on a specific set of intelligence documents on the matter, first submitted in a closed National Security Council meeting on 28 November and then hastily declassified on 4 December by the sitting President in order to “inform” the Constitutional Court’s decision. But the reports contained no actual evidence of the sort.
Hillary Clinton, former U.S. secretary of state and presidential candidate, notably popularized the tactic of blaming Russia following her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election—a claim Moscow has consistently denied—and the FBI later admitted was a fraud.
Western mainstream political parties continuously blaming Russian meddling for electoral failures are increasingly out of touch with voters, as U.S. Vice President JD Vance has rightly pointed out, criticizing the ‘Russian meddling’ narrative during his recent visit to Munich..
The truth is that all countries, irrespective of their political theater, attempt to influence voter preferences in other countries through their intelligence apparatus and its NGO and media assets. A fortiori, not every election that does not go the way of the EU ruling elite can be attributed to the machinations of the Kremlin.
Clearly, the troubles in the countries of Eastern Europe are not necessarily internal,and certainly, not necessarily of their own making; these states have become a ‘battleground’ for powerful external forces seeking to exert a measure of control over them. The question is: Can these countries succeed as independent nation-states, given the external economic and political forces which plague their sovereignty?
East European nations are at a crossroads in their history. There are either/or choices before them: e Either stay with the status quo of historical inertia or reclaim their identity. To do the former is easy. But to do the latter they must rely on being the courageous people they have always been – and rid themselves of their historical dependency on others.The East Europeans have a choice to make about their identity—about who they are: master of their own consciousness or slave to another’s.
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