Alex Rubinstein, an #investigative #journalist with #TheGrayzone, published a few days ago an #article revealing the #doublestandards being pushed by #Bellingcat, allegedly a #Netherlands-based investigative #journalism #group that specializes in fact-checking
Alex Rubinstein, an #investigative #journalist with #TheGrayzone, published a few days ago an #article revealing the #doublestandards being pushed by #Bellingcat, allegedly a #Netherlands-based investigative #journalism #group that specializes in fact-checking
and #opensource #intelligence, which was mostly funded by the National Endowment for #Democracy (#NED), after a top staffer made attempts to legitimize the #bombing of a #cafe in #Russia that killed #war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky.
The day following the #publication, on April 4, 2023, the Vice #President of #Communications and Public #Engagement of #NED, Leslie Aun, contacted Rubinstein and requested a #conversation targeting his latest piece. It is significant to note that Rubinstein dubbed the #NED in
his writings as "the #regime #change arm of #US #government" and referenced it in his article as a "#CIA cutout", which could have triggered Aun and prompted the call. Rubinstein, in his most recent #article, reveals that on April 6, he, his #colleague Max Blumenthal,
and Aun, held a 40-minute #phone call in which The Grayzone #journalists outlined the #NED's role in supporting #violent insurrections, and #CIA's role in establishing the NED in order to #conduct, publicly, the #missions the #intelligence #agency used to conduct covertly.
During the call, Blumenthal directed Aun to a #declassified #document in which William Casey, #CIA #director during the #Reagan era, proposed #US created a #government-funded “National Endowment.”
Casey distributed the #document to a #number of #cabinet-level #Reagan #officials, only for the #NED to be established months later. That being said, Blumenthal explained to Aun that a "#CIA cutout" is “an #organization spun out as an initiative of that entity,
and which performs the #work or advances the #agenda of that entity.” The Grayzone offered Aun, with #proof, the brief #history of #NED's #support of #NGOs, #media #organizations, and #politicians, with the purpose of driving #campaigns to "topple democratically
elected #governments" designated by #US as '#enemies' threatening their #regional interests. Blumenthal and Rubinstein brought examples from #Nicaragua to #Venezuela, and from #Ukraine to #HongKong. Aun failed to deny the #allegations against the #NED, claiming to be unaware