by Stephen Lendman

NED’s duplicitous mission statement indicates a “dedicat(ion) to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world.”

Its practices are polar opposite - a State Department-funded agency created to undermine democracy wherever it exists.

It’s a global mischief-maker - a rogue agency financing anti-democratic groups and initiatives in scores of countries worldwide. Its objective is regime change - notably in independent nations like Russia. It subversively interferes in its electoral practices among other ways of targeting its sovereignty.

Moscow’s mid-year 2015 enacted Law on Undesirable Organizations justifiably targets foreign organizations posing a “threat to the constitutional order and defense capability or the security of the Russian state” - subversive groups no governments should tolerate.

On July 28, Russian Deputy Chief Prosecutor Vladimir Malinovsky “signed a decree recognizing the activities of the National Endowment for Democracy, a foreign non-commercial organization, as undesirable in the territory of Russia in compliance with a law on measures of impacting people linked to the violation of basic human rights and freedoms and the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Russia.”

The document was sent to Russia’s Justice Ministry - including NED in its register of undesirable foreign organizations.

Action against the organization was long overdue along with targeting other US subversive ones. More on them below. Washington works aggressively against Russian interests - a longstanding campaign to marginalize, contain, weaken and isolate Moscow, with internal subversion one of many methods used.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov called the undesirable organizations law “without any question a step in the right direction.” Many so-called NGOs (like NED) are agents of foreign governments.

In late May, Putin signed the new measure into law. It lets the Prosecutor General’s Office and Foreign Ministry declare activities of “undesirable foreign organizations” illegal - ones posing a “threat to the constitutional order and defense capability, or to the security of the Russian state.”

Non-compliance is punishable by administrative penalties. Repeated violations mandate imprisonment for up to six years. Russian citizens and organizations working with banned groups face fines only.

Russia’s 2012 Foreign Agents Law requires NGOs engaged in political activities to register as foreign agents or face stiff fines. They’re prohibited from supporting political parties. They’re free to engage in other activities.

NED is a longstanding political meddler. It’s named in a Russian upper house Federation Council “patriotic stop-list” - groups considered potentially threatening national security.

Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said the list was created out of concern about foreign organizations operating subversively in Russia.

A Federation Council statement said “(t)oday Russia faces its strongest attack in the past 25 years, targeting its national interests, values and institutes.”

“Its main goal is to influence the internal political situation in the country, undermine the patriotic unity of our people, undermine the integration processes within the CIS space and force our country into geopolitical isolation.”

Groups included in the Federation Council’s stop-list are “known for their anti-Russian bias.” They include:

NED, George Soros’ Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation), International Republican Institute, National Democratic Institute, MacArthur Foundation, Freedom House; Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Polish-based Education for Democracy Foundation, East European Democratic Center, Ukrainian World Congress, Ukrainian World Coordinating Council, and Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights.

Nations must protect themselves against foreign subversion without violating international rule of law principles. In enacting the Law on Undesirable Organizations and Foreign Agents Law, Russia acted responsibly.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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