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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/03/07/national-endowment-for-democracy-deletes-records-of-funding-projects-in-ukraine/">covertactionmagazine.com</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">National Endowment for Democracy Deletes Records of Funding Projects in Ukraine</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Jeremy Kuzmarov - March 7, 2022<br></div>
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<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/a-picture-containing-text-flag-description-autom.png?resize=696%2C391&ssl=1" alt="A picture containing text, flag
Description automatically generated" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="434" height="244">[Source: <a href="https://www.ned.org/ned-stands-in-solidarity-with-ukraine/">ned.org</a>]
<h2><strong>Deletion needed to preserve big lie of an unprovoked Russian invasion</strong></h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ned.org/">National Endowment for Democracy</a> (NED)—<a href="https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/03/04/if-the-national-endowment-for-democracy-ned-is-subverting-democracy-why-arent-some-of-the-left-media-calling-it-out/">a CIA offshoot founded in the early 1980s to advance “democracy promotion” initiatives around the world</a>—has deleted all records of funding projects in Ukraine from their searchable “<a href="https://www.ned.org/wp-content/themes/ned/search/grant-search.php">Awarded Grants Search</a>” database.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220225145303/https:/www.ned.org/wp-content/themes/ned/search/grant-search.php?organizationName=®ion=&projectCountry=Ukraine&amount=&fromDate=2014&toDate=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&search=&maxCount=100&orderBy=Country&sbmt=1">archived webpage</a> captured
February 25, 2022 from 14:53 shows that NED granted $22,394,281 in the
form of 334 awards to Ukraine between 2014 to the present. The <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220225231000/https:/www.ned.org/wp-content/themes/ned/search/grant-search.php?organizationName=®ion=&projectCountry=Ukraine&amount=&fromDate=2014&toDate=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&search=&maxCount=100&orderBy=Country&sbmt=1">capture </a>at 23:10 the same day shows “No results found” for Ukraine. As of right now, there are still “No results found” for Ukraine.</p>
<p>Searching using “Ukraine” as a keyword (as opposed to a “Project
Country” in the original captures) yields “No results found.” Searching
for the titles of the funded projects listed in the last “intact” web
capture yields no results.</p>
<p>Additionally, the current database search criteria have been
restricted, previously funding from 2014 to present could be searched,
currently only 2017 to present is searchable per the drop-down menus.
There are multiple news reports before February 25 corroborating this
$22,394,281 amount.</p>
<h2><strong>Validating the Big Lie</strong></h2>
<p>The erasure of the NED’s records is necessary to validate <a href="https://fair.org/home/calling-russias-attack-unprovoked-lets-us-off-the-hook/">the Biden administration’s big lie—echoed in the media—that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was “unprovoked.”</a></p>
<p>In a recent statement of solidarity with Ukraine, the NED acknowledged that it had been a <a href="https://www.ned.org/ned-stands-in-solidarity-with-ukraine/">“proud
partner of Ukraine’s civil society groups, media outlets, and human
rights defenders since 1989—before the Ukrainian people declared
independence in 1991—as they have confronted enormous challenges in
building an independent and free country.”</a></p>
<p>NED President Duane Wilson admitted at an <a href="https://www.ned.org/events/a-conversation-with-ned-partners-on-the-situation-in-ukraine/">NED forum on Ukraine on March 4</a> that <a href="https://www.ned.org/events/a-conversation-with-ned-partners-on-the-situation-in-ukraine/">Ukraine was the NED’s fourth largest grant-making program around the world</a>. Wilson said that <a href="https://www.ned.org/events/a-conversation-with-ned-partners-on-the-situation-in-ukraine/">“the
endowment is proud that we have had Ukraine as a major partner since
1989, before independence, supporting Ukrainian civil society
organizations.” </a></p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/a-person-in-a-suit-and-tie-description-automatica-3.jpeg?resize=696%2C582&ssl=1" alt="A person in a suit and tie
Description automatically generated with medium confidence" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="434" height="363">Duane Wilson [Source: <a href="https://www.ned.org/meet-new-ned-president-ceo-damon-wilson/">ned.org</a>]
<h2><strong>Exposing Russian but Not Ukrainian War Crimes</strong></h2>
<p>The NED’s anti-Russian agenda was detailed by one of the speakers at the March 4th forum, Olha Aivagurski, who said that <a href="https://www.ned.org/events/a-conversation-with-ned-partners-on-the-situation-in-ukraine/">a lot of her work with an NED funded NGO focused on documenting Russian war crimes</a>.</p>
<p>Neglected was Ukrainian army war crimes, whose scale is detailed in a new RT News documentary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD6jX1QlB_E">“Donbass, yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”</a></p>
<p>It includes footage of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD6jX1QlB_E">excavation
of mass grave sites in Donbass where neo-Nazi militias attached to the
Ukrainian army massacred and then buried hundreds of civilians</a>.<sup><sup><a id="gmail-post-34392-footnote-ref-0">[1]</a></sup></sup></p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/a-picture-containing-outdoor-wooden-wood-old-d.jpeg?resize=696%2C464&ssl=1" alt="A picture containing outdoor, wooden, wood, old
Description automatically generated" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="434" height="289">Mass grave site in Luhansk featured in RT news documentary but not mainstream U.S. media. [Source: <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2014/9/22/in-pictures-destruction-in-ukraines-luhansk">aljazeera.com</a>]
<p>The NED, however, is committed to advancing the <a href="https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/03/05/bunny-rabbits-and-the-big-bad-wolf-ukraine-and-russia-through-the-lens-of-western-reporting/">cartoonish narrative</a> depicting Ukraine as a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-vs-russia-a-modern-day-david-vs-goliath-story/">valiant David fighting the evil Russian bear</a>.</p>
<h2><strong>Color Revolutions </strong></h2>
<p>The NED played a pivotal role in helping to trigger the conflict with
Russia by supporting two color revolutions directed against Ukraine’s
pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych—a potential successor to Volodymyr
Zelensky if Russia wins.</p>
<p>The 2004 color revolution replaced Yanukovych with Viktor Yushchenko,
who favored admitting Ukraine to NATO and adopted an International
Monetary Fund (IMF) structural adjustment program that benefitted U.S.
investors while cutting social programs.</p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image-the-orange-revolution-demonstration-.jpeg?resize=620%2C376&ssl=1" alt="Image -- The Orange Revolution: demonstration." style="margin-right: 25px;" width="434" height="263">Ukraine’s 2004 orange revolution. [Source: <a href="http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/picturedisplay.asp?linkpath=pic%5CO%5CR%5COrange%20Revolution%20stage.jpg&page=pages%5CO%5CR%5COrangeRevolution.htm&id=36059&pid=12983&tyt=Orange%20Revolution&key=Orange+Revolution%2C+%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B0+%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8E%D1%86%D1%96%D1%8F%3B+Pomarancheva+revoliutsiia">encyclopediaofukraine.com</a>]
<p>NED activists employed a broad public relations strategy that included: a) <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/08/10/bidens-ukrainegate-problem/">busing paid out-of-town protesters into Kyiv</a>; b) creating an online TV protest station and agitation paraphernalia; and c) providing <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/08/10/bidens-ukrainegate-problem/">offshore training to the anti-Yanukovych student leadership. The strategy was based on the writings of Gene Sharp and a template</a> that
the NED had successfully employed in Serbia with a youth group called
“Otpor,” which helped secure the defeat of socialist Slobodan Milosovic
in September 2000 elections.</p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/gene-sharp-author-of-the-nonviolent-revolution-ru.jpeg?resize=464%2C261&ssl=1" alt="Gene Sharp: Author of the nonviolent revolution rulebook - BBC News" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="434" height="244">Coup maestro Gene Sharp. [Source: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-12522848">bbc.com</a>]
<p>A parallel approach was used during the February 2014 Maidan Square
uprising which resulted in Yanukovych’s ouster—he had been reelected in
2010—and the advent of a pro-Western regime in Kyiv.</p>
<p>During the fall of 2013, the NED named as a Dante Fascell fellow Sergii <a href="https://www.cima.ned.org/blog/ukrainian-journalist-information-hero-sergii-leshchenko/">Leschenko</a>, a journalist who <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/11/19/republicans-use-impeachment-hearings-smear-ukrainian-helped-expose-manafort/">exposed how Yanukovych had paid Republican party strategist Paul Manafort $1.2 million as a political consultant</a>.<sup><sup><a id="gmail-post-34392-footnote-ref-1">[2]</a></sup></sup></p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/a-person-in-a-suit-and-tie-description-automatica-4.jpeg?resize=696%2C464&ssl=1" alt="A person in a suit and tie
Description automatically generated with low confidence" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="434" height="289">[Source: <a href="https://www.cima.ned.org/blog/ukrainian-journalist-information-hero-sergii-leshchenko/">cima.ned.org</a>]
<p>As a sign of the NED’s influence, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (2014-2020)—a main beneficiary of the Maidan coup <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/court-decline-jail-poroshenko-treason-case/">currently awaiting trial on treason charges</a>—<a href="https://www.ukrweekly.com/uwwp/nadia-diuk-64-senior-advisor-of-the-national-endowment-for-democracy/">bestowed the Order of Princess Olga, one of Ukraine’s highest honors, on Dr. Nadia Diuk</a>,<a href="https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/03/04/if-the-national-endowment-for-democracy-ned-is-subverting-democracy-why-arent-some-of-the-left-media-calling-it-out/#post-33974-footnote-41"><sup>[42]</sup></a> a former vice president and senior adviser to the NED for Europe and Eurasia.</p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ukraines-democratic-choice-nadia-diuk-youtube.jpeg?resize=696%2C391&ssl=1" alt="Ukraine's Democratic Choice – Nadia Diuk - YouTube" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="434" height="244">The late Nadia Diuk, right, pontificates at NED forum. [Source: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxceKtPp71k">youtube.com</a>]
<h2><strong>Preserving Fiction of an Unprovoked Russian Invasion</strong></h2>
<p>In 2020, <a href="https://www.ned.org/region/central-and-eastern-europe/ukraine-2020/">the NED provided $4.6 million to Ukraine</a>
for purposes that included raising awareness of alleged human rights
abuses by Russia in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, and fomenting opposition
and resistance to Russia.</p>
<p>The large scope of the NED’s program makes clear the organization’s
importance. However, with the Biden administration intent on preserving
the fiction that the Russian invasion/counter-offensive was unprovoked,
censorship and the deletion of records is necessary.</p>
<p><em>[Camilla Thompson contributed to the reporting.]</em></p>
<div><img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CAM-logo-circular-20210506b-300.png?resize=20%2C20&ssl=1" alt="" width="20" height="20"></div>
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<ol><li id="gmail-post-34392-footnote-0">
<p>A U.S. journalist quoted in the film, George Eliason, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD6jX1QlB_E">stated that he repeatedly sent reports of war crimes to American media outlets which ignored him</a>. <a>↑</a></p>
</li><li id="gmail-post-34392-footnote-1">
<p>Leschenko subsequently became a member of parliament where he lobbied
for Ukraine’s closer integration with Europe. At the time, Leschenko
joined the party of Ukraine’s fifth president Petro Poroshenko, but then
supported neoliberal Volodymr Zelensky. When Russia invaded Ukraine in
February 2022, Leschenko <a href="https://twitter.com/Leshchenkos">compared Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler</a>. <a>↑</a></p>
</li></ol><br><hr>
<h2>About the Author</h2>
<div><p><br></p><div><p>Jeremy Kuzmarov is Managing Editor of <em>CovertAction Magazine.</em></p>
<p>He is the author of four books on U.S. foreign policy, including <em>Obama’s Unending Wars</em> (Clarity Press, 2019) and <em>The Russians Are Coming, Again</em>, with John Marciano (Monthly Review Press, 2018).</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:jkuzmarov2@gmail.com">jkuzmarov2@gmail.com</a>.</p>
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