[Peace-discuss] USAID Exposed in Cuba - What it Tells Us About US Subversion Worldwide

[David Johnson via Peace-discuss]

USAID Exposed in Cuba - What it Tells Us About US Subversion Worldwide

By  <http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/tony-cartalucci> Tony Cartalucci

Global Research, December 13, 2014

 
<http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ca/2014/12/usaid-exposed-in-cuba-what-it-tell
s-us.html> Land Destroyer Report

 
<http://www.globalresearch.ca/usaid-exposed-in-cuba-what-it-tells-us-about-u
s-subversion-worldwide/5419679>
http://www.globalresearch.ca/usaid-exposed-in-cuba-what-it-tells-us-about-us
-subversion-worldwide/5419679

Description: drapeau-cuba

Revealed in an Associated Press (AP) investigation, the United States Agency
for International Development (USAID) had for two years attempted to create
and exploit a social network within Cuba for the purpose of sparking unrest
and overthrowing the Cuban government. The program was an abject failure,
primarily because the Cuban government took the necessary measures to
investigate, interrogate, and otherwise disrupt what was foreign-backed
sedition.
AP would reveal in its report titled, "
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ce2a878ea7a941fb93fe718ee6d46e9e/us-co-opted
-cubas-hip-hop-scene-spark-change> US co-opted Cuba's hip-hop scene to spark
change," that:

The program is laid out in documents involving Creative Associates
International, a Washington, D.C., contractor paid millions of dollars to
undermine Cuba's communist government. The thousands of pages include
contracts, emails, preserved chats, budgets, expense reports, power points,
photographs and passports.

The work included the creation of a "Cuban Twitter" social network and the
dispatch of inexperienced Latin American youth to recruit activists,
operations that were the focus of previous AP stories.

Far from the first time USAID and other US organizations claiming to be
aiding in development but in fact engaged in political subversion, the Cuban
program itself was based on another US-backed program used to topple the
government of Serbia in 2000, AP would reveal.
The USAID operation involved money covertly funneled into Cuba through front
companies and offshore banks. USAID, despite the evidence, has wholly denied
the operation, as has other US organizations caught in blatant political
subversion.
Regarding USAID's denial, AP would report:

"Any assertions that our work is secret or covert are simply false," USAID
said in a statement Wednesday. Its programs were aimed at strengthening
civil society "often in places where civic engagement is suppressed and
where people are harassed, arrested, subjected to physical harm or worse."

If by "civil society," USAID means networks of political subversion
operating in the interests of Wall Street and Washington, then that is
precisely what USAID was doing in Cuba, and does elsewhere around the world.
However, USAID's insistence that none of its work was "secret or covert" is
simply a lie.
AP, in another report titled, "
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ee9756deb9be416089cd37b894e5b929/5-things-kn
ow-about-usaids-cuban-hip-hop-plan> 5 things to know about USAID's Cuban
hip-hop plan," would reveal that USAID covered up its Cuban program under
the guise of "health and civic programs."  The same report would claim that
USAID funding was hidden from the Cubans themselves involved in the program,
adding an extra layer of duplicity and deceit.
What USAID's Cuban Subversion Tells Us About US Subversion Globally 
1. The United States is engaged in political subversion around the world,
disguised as "democracy promotion" and even development aid for "health and
civic programs."
2.  It carries out subversion covertly through front companies, proxies, and
third-party contractors, then blatantly denies all allegations no matter
what evidence is produced by targeted countries, or even Western journalists
investigating otherwise undeniable evidence.
3. The US uses social networks, youth groups of musicians, students, and
social media groups based on Facebook and Twitter to create the illusion of
growing opposition where none exists or exists but constitutes an obscure
minority.
4. While the opposition movement engineered by USAID appeared oblivious to
US involvement until the end,
<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1374655-cuban-hip-hop-documents.htm
l> revealing documents published by AP illustrate just how utterly
engineered the movement was, with psychological profiles of prominent
members examined and with strategies, agendas, and objectives all determined
from the top down by USAID and its contractors. Meeting minutes reveal overt
attempts to manipulate individuals USAID sought to bring into their
engineered opposition movement with meeting titles and talking points
including, "What would motivate them to do what we ask?"
5. Despite lofty claims of "promoting democracy," US programs are
manipulative, insidious, dishonest, exploitative, and deceitful - not only
to those drawn into the program, but also both the general population
subjected to it in the targeted country and the global audience lied to
about the true genesis of such movements when they finally do gain traction.
Revisiting Recent Political Unrest in Light of Cuba 
What other nations have suffered recent political unrest? Which of these
nations featured opposition movements heavily involved with USAID and other
US organizations including the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)?
Knowing what we now know regarding Cuba and considering attempts by USAID to
first cover up their program of concerted political subversion, then denying
it, what parallels can we draw elsewhere?
Hong Kong, China: The so-called "Occupy Central" movement or "Umbrella
Revolution" in Hong Kong, China featured multiple groups openly funded by
USAID and NED. Other
<http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zb2OKg29n-E/VIu6V85YPXI/AAAAAAAAKZY/emgEifgDa7E/s
1600/BN-ES249_josh_G_20140925070807.jpg> Description:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zb2OKg29n-E/VIu6V85YPXI/AAAAAAAAKZY/emgEifgDa7E/s1
600/BN-ES249_josh_G_20140925070807.jpggroups, including student
organizations meshed into these US-backed fronts so seamlessly and possessed
such organizational abilities and clout across the Western media it is
difficult to believe USAID was not also covertly involved with them. Joshua
Wong's "Scholarism" for example was accused by Beijing of being a US
creation. The Wall Street Journal in its article, "
<http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/09/25/pro-beijing-media-accuses-hon
g-kong-student-leader-of-u-s-government-ties/> Pro-Beijing Media Accuses
Hong Kong Student Leader of U.S. Government Ties," would state:

Evidence for Mr. Wong's close ties to the U.S. that the paper cited included
what the report described as frequent meetings with U.S. consulate personnel
in Hong Kong and covert donations from Americans to Mr. Wong. As evidence,
the paper cited photographs leaked by "netizens." The story also said Mr.
Wong's family visited Macau in 2011 at the invitation of the American
Chamber of Commerce, where they stayed at the "U.S.-owned" Venetian Macao,
which is owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Other "Occupy Central" leaders including
<http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2014/10/entire-occupy-central-protest-scr
ipted.html> Martin Lee and Anson Chan literally were in Washington D.C.
earlier this year lobbying for US support in front of the very organizations
funding the political activity of other co-leaders including Benny Tai and
even Hong Kong University which was implicated
<http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1566350/jimmy-lai-described-occu
py-central-organisers-having-no-strategy?page=all> in "dirty money" used to
qualify an ad hoc referendum carried out by "Occupy Central" ahead of the
recent protests.

 
<http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2014/10/us-covers-up-support-for-hong-kon
g.html> US NED would deny any involvement in the protests with empty
attempts at denial echoing those of USAID in regards to Cuba.

 
<http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q4VoXrHRcWI/VIu-E5gepHI/AAAAAAAAKZk/l1XmRIFRu40/s
1600/FakeAcademic_CMU.jpg> Description:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q4VoXrHRcWI/VIu-E5gepHI/AAAAAAAAKZk/l1XmRIFRu40/s1
600/FakeAcademic_CMU.jpg

Thailand: Supporters of
<http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2014/05/thailand-coup-ousts-us-backed-dic
tator.html> ousted mass murderer and dictator, Thaksin Shinawatraand
Shinawatra himself have benefited from years of US backing, including
extensive lobbying efforts in Washington and USAID/NED funding for so-called
"activists" who attempt to pose as impartial "academics" or "rights
advocates,"
<http://altthainews.blogspot.com/2014/06/exposing-fake-academics-their-forei
gn.html> but clearly and consistently back Shinawatra and his political
machine.
It was revealed that Chiang Mai University "academic" Pinkaew Laungaramsri
and her "Book Re:public" was funded by both USAID and convicted financial
criminal George Soros' Open Society Foundation.
Sawatree Suksri, of the so-called "Nitirat Group" or "Enlightened Jurists"
of Thammasat University, is likewise deeply involved in programs run by US
NED. She took part in a US State Department "exchange program," contributed
to a NED Freedom House report used annually in coordination with subversion
efforts to stack global public opinion against targeted nations, and even
hosted Thaksin Shinawatra's corporate lobbyist, Robert Amsterdam, in the
front row of one of Nitirat's public forums.
Perhaps most troubling of all is her ties to
<http://altthainews.blogspot.com/2013/12/us-funded-pro-democracy-propagandis
ts.html> Thailand's Prachatai website - funded millions of baht a year by
NED, USAID, and Open Society. Prachatai, like those involved in the Cuban
scandal, after first denying being funded at all, now denies their work and
their extensive US funding is used for anything but "civic" programs. While
they were forced to publish their extensive US funding in 2011, they have
not updated it since, nor have they ever published the funding in Thai for
their Thai readers. They are ceaseless proponents of Thaksin Shinawatra and
his political machine, including his so-called "red shirt" street movement
and the various disingenuous, US-funded academics described above.

 
<http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MoK3BHESp1Q/VIvAO6QyfTI/AAAAAAAAKZw/vM80YqGQ6VE/s
1600/BrookingsWhichPathtoPersia2010Cover.jpg> Description:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MoK3BHESp1Q/VIvAO6QyfTI/AAAAAAAAKZw/vM80YqGQ6VE/s1
600/BrookingsWhichPathtoPersia2010Cover.jpg

Syria/Iran: In one particular 2009 US policy paper titled, "Which Path to
Persia?" by the Brookings Institution regarding the overthrow of Iran, it is
stated specifically that:

One method that would have some possibility of success would be to ratchet
up covert regime change efforts in the hope that Tehran would retaliate
overtly, or even semi-overtly, which could then be portrayed as an
unprovoked act of Iranian aggression.

Here, US policymakers are openly conspiring to covertly provoke a nation
through political subversion. The resulting "act of aggression" would be
portrayed as "unprovoked,"and used to place increasing pressure on the
targeted country.
The policy paper also openly talks about the particulars of fomenting
political unrest. Under a section called literally, "Finding the Right
Proxies" it states:

One of the hardest tasks in fomenting a revolution, or even just unrest, is
finding the right local partners.

After openly admitting the goal of "fomenting a revolution" or "unrest," it
then details what support to provide these proxies:

 .students and other groups need covert backing for their demonstrations.
They need fax machines. They need internet access, funds to duplicate
materials, and funds to keep vigilantes from beating them up.  Beyond this,
U.S.-backed media  outlets  could  highlight  regime  shortcomings and make
otherwise obscure critics more prominent. The United States already supports
Persian-language satellite television (Voice of america Persian) and radio
(radio Farda) that bring unfiltered news to Iranians (in recent years, these
have taken the lion's share of overt U.S. funding for promoting democracy in
Iran). U.S. economic pressure (and perhaps military pressure as well) can
discredit the regime, making the population hungry for a rival leadership.

The report also  mentions the use of armed groups supporting US-engineered
sedition:

 Some who favor fomenting regime change in Iran argue that it is utopian to
hold out hope for a velvet revolution; instead, they contend that the United
States should  turn  to  Iranian  opposition  groups  that already exist,
that already have demonstrated a desire to fight the regime, and who appear
willing  to  accept  U.S.  assistance.  The  hope  behind this course of
action is that these various opposition  groups  could  transform
themselves  into more  potent  movements  that  might  be  able  to overturn
the regime.

In this 2009 document, we see verbatim the same methodologies exposed by AP
in use in Cuba. We also see additional steps including the use of armed
groups to carry out subversion and regime change. Such violence was employed
in the above mentioned Southeast Asian nation of Thailand in 2009 and 2010,
also admittedly in Iran, and most obviously in neighboring Syria where a now
4 year war has been waged by US-backed terrorists and has devastated the
country.

 
<http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lQiGsheiAYI/VIvA0rOhizI/AAAAAAAAKZ4/pgv07CKk9ls/s
1600/usa-mccain-libya-ukraine.si.jpg> Description:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lQiGsheiAYI/VIvA0rOhizI/AAAAAAAAKZ4/pgv07CKk9ls/s1
600/usa-mccain-libya-ukraine.si.jpg

Ukraine: These elements of political subversion were also all to be seen in
Ukraine - a nation in which America and NATO's incessant meddling is a
matter of long-standing public record. The Guardian would admit in its 2004
article, " <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/26/ukraine.usa> US
campaign behind the turmoil in Kiev," that (emphasis added):

.while the gains of the orange-bedecked "chestnut revolution" are Ukraine's,
the campaign is an American creation, a sophisticated and brilliantly
conceived exercise in western branding and mass marketing that, in four
countries in four years, has been used to try to salvage rigged elections
and topple unsavoury regimes.

Funded and organised by the US government, deploying US consultancies,
pollsters, diplomats, the two big American parties and US non-government
organisations, the campaign was first used in Europe in Belgrade in 2000 to
beat Slobodan Milosevic at the ballot box.

Richard Miles, the US ambassador in Belgrade, played a key role. And by last
year, as US ambassador in Tbilisi, he repeated the trick in Georgia,
coaching Mikhail Saakashvili in how to bring down Eduard Shevardnadze.

Ten months after the success in Belgrade, the US ambassador in Minsk,
Michael Kozak, a veteran of similar operations in central America, notably
in Nicaragua, organised a near identical campaign to try to defeat the
Belarus hardman, Alexander Lukashenko.

That one failed. "There will be no Kostunica in Belarus," the Belarus
president declared, referring to the victory in Belgrade.

But experience gained in Serbia, Georgia and Belarus has been invaluable in
plotting to beat the regime of Leonid Kuchma in Kiev.

The operation - engineering democracy through the ballot box and civil
disobedience - is now so slick that the methods have matured into a template
for winning other people's elections.

Not only has Ukraine suffered because of  this admitted US-backed political
destabilization over the years, but as revealed by the Guardian and other
sources, all of Eastern Europe has fallen prey to this brand of
foreign-backed subversion, manipulation, and regime change.
Putting an End to US Subversion 
America's global wrecking ball of subversion, torture dungeons, death
squads, proxy wars, and outright military aggression is today's most
pressing threat to global stability, peace, and progress. Wall Street and
Washington's pursuit of global hegemony has left millions dead and entire
nations in ruins.
Stopping this enterprise requires a concerted effort by nations, states and
provinces, local communities, and individuals themselves to begin boycotting
and permanently replacing with viable alternatives the corporate-financial
monopolies driving this destructive hegemon.
To combat political subversion specifically, Cuba and China have set a
series of good examples. For Cuba, ignoring the West's "human rights"
racket, constructed specifically to serve as cover for and to protect their
agents of subversion from prosecution, has allowed them to search for and
seize incriminating evidence used to expose USAID and their proxies thus
turning Cuban public opinion against them. China likewise has done a
masterful job exposing the foreign ties and illegitimacy of the "Occupy
Central" movement, their true backers and their true agenda.
For most of these movements, they represent an obscure minority the US has
attempted to artificially magnify both within their respective countries and
upon the global stage. It is important for nations to address legitimate
grievances and to reserve searches and seizures for agents of subversion
only. Social upheaval and perceived injustices simply give the US and its
networks of subversion a greater foothold to seize upon.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20141216/3aea5f4b/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 22131 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20141216/3aea5f4b/attachment-0005.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 8736 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20141216/3aea5f4b/attachment-0006.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 25633 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20141216/3aea5f4b/attachment-0007.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 7222 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20141216/3aea5f4b/attachment-0008.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 13362 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20141216/3aea5f4b/attachment-0009.jpg>