Of course it is productive that Trump abolishes USAID, including NED, which functioned as US regime change tools under Obama and Biden, and whose task was to convince an ignorant US and European population that the destruction of Libya, Syria and the support to the coup neo-nazis in Kiev was completely fine.
Their role was much the same from inception but it went on steroids after success in breaking up Joogoslawia and flaming up the war. Remember "the butcher of Balkans" and identical abandoning of peace agreement by Aliya Izetbegovic from Muslim side after speaking to a westerner (name escapes me now), the Bo Johnson style wrt Minsk
Well, I never heart that the islamist, Izetbegovic, would sign a peace contract with Milosevic. But it could be that the Clinton democrats warmongers prevented peace in Yugoslavia just like Boris Johnson in Ukraine. But it was Dieter Genscher who ignited the war in Yugoslavia.
"On 28 March 1992, after a meeting with US ambassador to Yugoslavia Warren Zimmermann in Sarajevo, Izetbegović withdrew his signature and declared his opposition to any division of Bosnia. What was said and by whom remains unclear. Zimmermann denied that he told Izetbegović that if he withdrew his signature, the United States would grant recognition to Bosnia as an independent state. What is indisputable is that on the same day, Izetbegović withdrew his signature and renounced the agreement.[4][5]"
Bosnia/Herzegovina ended up more as per this before-war plan, after many lives were lost. Eery resemblance to BoJo bozo works
"This is unprecedented in modern history that a state dismantles its own cognitive warfare apparatus."
What's unprecedented in modern history (at least American history) is an unaccountable, unelected bureaucracy that was in the final stages of completely controlling American foreign policy.
USAID, which is NOT a member of the Intelligence Community, has, for the last 10+ years, been running covert actions--against "allies," as well as adversaries, some overtly and some covertly.
In conjunction with the IC and State, which has turned a blind eye to USAID's usurpation of the IC's covert action perogatives, USAID has fomented color revolutions across the Middle East and Europe.
These rogue covert actions, carried out in full view ("overtly covert"), seem to have just been accepted as "the way it is." Well, the President is letting them--the unelected, rogue covert action warriors--know that it ain't that way any more!
So, the "cognitive warfare apparatus," USAID's rogue operations are being dismantled, yes. And rightly so. The IC maintains its mission and abilities to run covert actions, based on Presidential Findings.
The "unprecedented" part is USAID's last decade of rogue covert action, and the necessity to dismantle it.
The scandal and criminal aspect of USAID is NOT that they were "fully incorporated into the CIA."
The scandal is that they were completely rogue--running covert actions OUTSIDE the Intelligence Community's guidelines and oversight (as poor and ultimately politicized as the IC has become).
By pretending it was "humanitarian", it became a tool of PC-Progs and neocons to run color revolutions with no coordination or collaboration.
The IC sort of slunk around in the background, running its own covert actions.
The point is: It's worse than you and Mike Benz think. The fact that USAID was NOT a CIA front, is extremely bad.
I have no idea who "Mike Benz" is. Nothing to do with me. Not interested.
In the real world outside the "west" people actually live in countries where these organizations like USAID operate. In the real world beyond your western bubble, not in debate what USAID does. "Aid" is a a sideline that provides them cover for a local presence and to move all around the countries they operate in.
It might behoove you to get off your high horse of condescension, and pay attention when you're provided facts and details.
I've lived and worked on 5 continents. In commerce, government, military, refugee services, for American, European, Arab, Asian, and other organizations.
I've worked real covert actions, and have observed very closely USAID's rogue covert actions. I'm a historian of intelligence, and specifically covert influence operations.
Again, what are your sources? "Everybody knows" is NOT a source.
As others have said, Trump sees these people as the same ones that tried to put him in jail. Perhaps they are. All power to him. Nothing would give me more pleasure than seeing Victoria Nuland getting her mugshot taken. A big part of an entire generation of Ukrainian men killed.
You can't eat a free NED cookie when you're dead. The Ukrainians learned this the hard way.
These NGOs have effectively replaced 'the Church' as a way of controlling their populations, and you need to control your people because otherwise they might start enjoying themselves.
Their powers remind me of the Spanish Inquisition. The way they can just shut your life down.
There is a heavy element of collaboration; of rabble that can be roused at a moment's notice, simply by using phrases like "Putin's Puppet", which is a sort of modern day equivalent of being branded a witch. Burn the witch. Putin's Puppet. It's the same thing. A sentence without trial.
If you can see that actually Russia also has the right to security, you are branded a heretic.
There is something very God-like about the construction "We ARE democracy". These people, these organisations, have basically set themselves up as God; as the Church; as the Bible.
Some of the stuff that Glenn has described, of the way he has been targeted, qualifies as criminal activity: Incitement. I sincerely hope he takes legal action against the perpetrators.
What makes it worse is that – certainly in the UK – these organisations will have charitable status, which means not only are they targeting their own citizens, but getting tax breaks for it, so we're effectively subsidising them to target us for daring to have brains, thoughts, opinions.
I was banned from Twitter for calling someone with a (pro-)Ukrainian account a Nazi. The reason I called them a Nazi was because they had given their account the name of a WW2 German Nazi. They didn't like being called a Nazi, which was surprising to me given that they had given their own account the name of a WW2 German Nazi, so they reported me to Twitter for calling them a Nazi and Twitter banned me. I complained but Twitter upheld the ban. So I won't be going back on Twitter, despite the 'X' re-branding. Life's too short for 'moderators'.
I have no doubt that account belonged to a cognitive warfare unit. Very likely British. You can just tell. British English is unique. Certain words. Certain phrases. A sort of linguistic fingerprint. I consider it to be as good as fact that the vast majority of Ukrainian cognitive warfare is British.
And Trump is right that Kiev started the war with the Maidan coup. That is a fact. So of course the Harris democrats and the Europeans are furious. Now since the start of the war, they and their media have been indoctrinating their ignorant opinion that Russia attacked Ukraine unprovoked.
Now they will reject the fact that Kiev started the war and convince the opinion that Putin has manipulated Trump.
Even before 2014 Ukraine was a shambles that could hardly manage to even take care of its own people. Let alone to go invading Russia. There was never a majority in Ukraine to do so. And Zelensky was in fact elected on a platform to NOT do so, then turned by his handlers in Langley VA.
The same handlers that are now instructing Macron, Starmer Schøltz, Baerbock, Kallas, Von der Leyen, Gahr Store, Rutte, Stoltenberg etc to now send European young men into a new provocation as a “peacekeeping” mission in Ukraine.
How can the SAME people who are funding and arming a war… be “peacekeepers” in the same war ? It’s an escalation.
But what if the Ideals are driven by sick narcissistic, sociopathic, self-serving ideologies that are devoid of morals? Is "Biblical Right" a good Ideal to go kill people in very large numbers?
The Western Societies need to seriously learn from these tragic debacle:
( I use "these", because Ukraine and Gaza can be added to a looong list of other embarrassing debacles - Vietnam, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, etc. - that in a modern World, sooner or later, will always come to the surface in a way or another - to embarrass its perpetrators)
- learn how to better LISTEN to other Opinions ("empathize with your Enemy");
- stop the sick culture of building self-serving ideologies around clearly immoral vested interests;
- do not allow "double-Standard Hypocrisy" to distort morals and ethics in service of "Winning";
- learn that sooner or later will have to face our "Dirty Deeds" that WILL come to the surface
- stop the relentless abusive and brutal attacks to conquer the Markets and Resources of Others.
The loss of moral & ethical standing resulting from these debacles will seriously damage the Business Interest of the West in the Entire World and give our Competitors major advantages.
Continuing to demonize and vilify our Competitors will only continue to increase their advantage.
Trump is not dismantling the US's cognitive war apparatus and becoming nice.
No: he is replacing it. Aiming to make an even more pervasive, tech enabled version.
The old approach of fake aid, and NGOs influencing the media being replaced with direct digital manipulation on social media and direct control mechanism such as these much-discussed tarrifs. So you can expect to see even more, the US government demanding access for the platforms they control, such as Musk's X and Zuckerberg's Facebook, while targeting social media they dont control, such as Tik Tok etc.
And they will ramp up even more the sanction regimes that everyone by now should know, dont work anyway. But Trump likes the symbolism.
Everybody should have listened when Snowden sacrificed himself to speak up. Pearls before swine, it seems.
1) you don't know whether any of your "predictions" are true
2) the idea that current admin will replace old deep state with new deep state does not make sense in context
3) constant pessimism is very destructive
I read your comment as though you're rooting for Trump to fail, because his way isn't good enough for you.
Yours is the typical take of a leftist in 2025. It's always fun to wonder which of these leftists are just deep state bots/fake accounts meant to piss on the hint of a smile.
Thou shall not hope! Thou shall NEVER approve of the actions of a social conservative!
The strategy of Trump is obvious, all defence and autonomy will come from Stargate, AI and DNA weaponisation. The war is on us and in us, our first and last enemy our DNA.
Look at how Musk used X to boost Trump during the election, and to pay surrogates that push “news” and create political narratives. Musk also used his Starlink satellites to assist HTS - the jihadist terrorist group - in overthrowing Assad in Syria. And that is just Musk, Trump has Thiel, and Zuckerberg on his side now too. The ‘broligarchs.’
The Western Societies need to seriously learn from these tragic, bloody debacles of unnecessary brutality.
I use "these", because Ukraine and Gaza are the latest events in a long chain of Western brutality, that can be added to a looong list of other embarrassing debacles of unnecessary brutality - Vietnam, Afghanistan, Libya, Irak, Syria, etc. - that in a modern World, sooner or later, will always come to the surface in a way or another - to embarrass its perpetrators.
1) learn how to better LISTEN to other Opinions ("empathize with your Enemy");
2) stop the sick culture of building self-serving ideologies around clearly immoral vested interests;
3) do not allow "double-Standard Hypocrisy" to distort morals and ethics in service of "Winning";
4) learn that sooner or later will have to face our "Dirty Deeds" that WILL come to the surface
5) stop the relentless abusive and brutal attacks to conquer the Markets and Resources of Others.
In the many other "less brutal" interventions of "Regime Change Operations", the transparent intent to conquer Markets and Resources transpires clearly, even when under the veiled covers of "promoting Freedom & Democracy" and demonizing the "Evil Enemy". These deceitful policies need to stop or to be stopped.
The loss of moral & ethical standing resulting from these debacles of abuse and brutality will seriously damage the Business Interest of the West in the Entire World and give our Competitors major advantages. There was nothing about "Promoting Freedom & Democracy" in these chains of demonization and endless brutality.
Continuing to demonize, vilify and then brutalize our Competitors will only continue to create more damage to our moral standing and business advantage.
I do not believe for a minute this gov't is defunding regime change or any other programs that will help private interests including trump & family's. They will simply hide the funds and use them under other names. There were public and private programs/monies to promote imperialism long before USAID and they will be with us long after Musk. They have simply defunded a few like food aid for starving children, and shifted the rest for coups and other rotten stuff. The papers clearly said most went to the state dept. People are so gullible.
Trump is tearing it down because it was weaponized against him.
Indeed.
It's a revenge.
New Ned ans usaid is probably in works already. Prior ones were cost ineffective due to too many grifters
Of course it is productive that Trump abolishes USAID, including NED, which functioned as US regime change tools under Obama and Biden, and whose task was to convince an ignorant US and European population that the destruction of Libya, Syria and the support to the coup neo-nazis in Kiev was completely fine.
Their role was much the same from inception but it went on steroids after success in breaking up Joogoslawia and flaming up the war. Remember "the butcher of Balkans" and identical abandoning of peace agreement by Aliya Izetbegovic from Muslim side after speaking to a westerner (name escapes me now), the Bo Johnson style wrt Minsk
Well, I never heart that the islamist, Izetbegovic, would sign a peace contract with Milosevic. But it could be that the Clinton democrats warmongers prevented peace in Yugoslavia just like Boris Johnson in Ukraine. But it was Dieter Genscher who ignited the war in Yugoslavia.
"On 28 March 1992, after a meeting with US ambassador to Yugoslavia Warren Zimmermann in Sarajevo, Izetbegović withdrew his signature and declared his opposition to any division of Bosnia. What was said and by whom remains unclear. Zimmermann denied that he told Izetbegović that if he withdrew his signature, the United States would grant recognition to Bosnia as an independent state. What is indisputable is that on the same day, Izetbegović withdrew his signature and renounced the agreement.[4][5]"
Bosnia/Herzegovina ended up more as per this before-war plan, after many lives were lost. Eery resemblance to BoJo bozo works
"This is unprecedented in modern history that a state dismantles its own cognitive warfare apparatus."
What's unprecedented in modern history (at least American history) is an unaccountable, unelected bureaucracy that was in the final stages of completely controlling American foreign policy.
USAID, which is NOT a member of the Intelligence Community, has, for the last 10+ years, been running covert actions--against "allies," as well as adversaries, some overtly and some covertly.
In conjunction with the IC and State, which has turned a blind eye to USAID's usurpation of the IC's covert action perogatives, USAID has fomented color revolutions across the Middle East and Europe.
These rogue covert actions, carried out in full view ("overtly covert"), seem to have just been accepted as "the way it is." Well, the President is letting them--the unelected, rogue covert action warriors--know that it ain't that way any more!
So, the "cognitive warfare apparatus," USAID's rogue operations are being dismantled, yes. And rightly so. The IC maintains its mission and abilities to run covert actions, based on Presidential Findings.
The "unprecedented" part is USAID's last decade of rogue covert action, and the necessity to dismantle it.
Thank God they've been stopped.
"....USAID, which is NOT a member of the Intelligence Community,..."
And this is a lie. USAID is fully incorporated into the CIA's espionage and destabilization network.
The scandal and criminal aspect of USAID is NOT that they were "fully incorporated into the CIA."
The scandal is that they were completely rogue--running covert actions OUTSIDE the Intelligence Community's guidelines and oversight (as poor and ultimately politicized as the IC has become).
By pretending it was "humanitarian", it became a tool of PC-Progs and neocons to run color revolutions with no coordination or collaboration.
The IC sort of slunk around in the background, running its own covert actions.
The point is: It's worse than you and Mike Benz think. The fact that USAID was NOT a CIA front, is extremely bad.
According to whom, Kojo?
Go do your basics on the subject. This one is well past debate in 2024, for anyone not inside the beltway and been brainwashed to deny the truth.
Buddy, I've lived the basics.
Again, "well past debate" according to whom?
Please share sources.
It's likely that you're listening to Mike Benz. He has no relevant insights.
Details:
https://kentclizbe.substack.com/p/mike-benz-is-a-poser
I have no idea who "Mike Benz" is. Nothing to do with me. Not interested.
In the real world outside the "west" people actually live in countries where these organizations like USAID operate. In the real world beyond your western bubble, not in debate what USAID does. "Aid" is a a sideline that provides them cover for a local presence and to move all around the countries they operate in.
It might behoove you to get off your high horse of condescension, and pay attention when you're provided facts and details.
I've lived and worked on 5 continents. In commerce, government, military, refugee services, for American, European, Arab, Asian, and other organizations.
I've worked real covert actions, and have observed very closely USAID's rogue covert actions. I'm a historian of intelligence, and specifically covert influence operations.
Again, what are your sources? "Everybody knows" is NOT a source.
As others have said, Trump sees these people as the same ones that tried to put him in jail. Perhaps they are. All power to him. Nothing would give me more pleasure than seeing Victoria Nuland getting her mugshot taken. A big part of an entire generation of Ukrainian men killed.
You can't eat a free NED cookie when you're dead. The Ukrainians learned this the hard way.
These NGOs have effectively replaced 'the Church' as a way of controlling their populations, and you need to control your people because otherwise they might start enjoying themselves.
Their powers remind me of the Spanish Inquisition. The way they can just shut your life down.
There is a heavy element of collaboration; of rabble that can be roused at a moment's notice, simply by using phrases like "Putin's Puppet", which is a sort of modern day equivalent of being branded a witch. Burn the witch. Putin's Puppet. It's the same thing. A sentence without trial.
If you can see that actually Russia also has the right to security, you are branded a heretic.
There is something very God-like about the construction "We ARE democracy". These people, these organisations, have basically set themselves up as God; as the Church; as the Bible.
Some of the stuff that Glenn has described, of the way he has been targeted, qualifies as criminal activity: Incitement. I sincerely hope he takes legal action against the perpetrators.
What makes it worse is that – certainly in the UK – these organisations will have charitable status, which means not only are they targeting their own citizens, but getting tax breaks for it, so we're effectively subsidising them to target us for daring to have brains, thoughts, opinions.
I was banned from Twitter for calling someone with a (pro-)Ukrainian account a Nazi. The reason I called them a Nazi was because they had given their account the name of a WW2 German Nazi. They didn't like being called a Nazi, which was surprising to me given that they had given their own account the name of a WW2 German Nazi, so they reported me to Twitter for calling them a Nazi and Twitter banned me. I complained but Twitter upheld the ban. So I won't be going back on Twitter, despite the 'X' re-branding. Life's too short for 'moderators'.
I have no doubt that account belonged to a cognitive warfare unit. Very likely British. You can just tell. British English is unique. Certain words. Certain phrases. A sort of linguistic fingerprint. I consider it to be as good as fact that the vast majority of Ukrainian cognitive warfare is British.
And Trump is right that Kiev started the war with the Maidan coup. That is a fact. So of course the Harris democrats and the Europeans are furious. Now since the start of the war, they and their media have been indoctrinating their ignorant opinion that Russia attacked Ukraine unprovoked.
Now they will reject the fact that Kiev started the war and convince the opinion that Putin has manipulated Trump.
No, Ukraine has long been a broken country and has been hijacked…..by the USA….which used Ukraine to attack Russia:
Those facts are LONG AGO public information: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/world/europe/cia-ukraine-intelligence-russia-war.html
Trump’s statement is idiocy and misinformation.
Even before 2014 Ukraine was a shambles that could hardly manage to even take care of its own people. Let alone to go invading Russia. There was never a majority in Ukraine to do so. And Zelensky was in fact elected on a platform to NOT do so, then turned by his handlers in Langley VA.
The same handlers that are now instructing Macron, Starmer Schøltz, Baerbock, Kallas, Von der Leyen, Gahr Store, Rutte, Stoltenberg etc to now send European young men into a new provocation as a “peacekeeping” mission in Ukraine.
How can the SAME people who are funding and arming a war… be “peacekeepers” in the same war ? It’s an escalation.
The European public is clueless.
"NEVER COMPROMISE ON IDEALS" ... they say.
But what if the Ideals are driven by sick narcissistic, sociopathic, self-serving ideologies that are devoid of morals? Is "Biblical Right" a good Ideal to go kill people in very large numbers?
The Western Societies need to seriously learn from these tragic debacle:
( I use "these", because Ukraine and Gaza can be added to a looong list of other embarrassing debacles - Vietnam, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, etc. - that in a modern World, sooner or later, will always come to the surface in a way or another - to embarrass its perpetrators)
- learn how to better LISTEN to other Opinions ("empathize with your Enemy");
- stop the sick culture of building self-serving ideologies around clearly immoral vested interests;
- do not allow "double-Standard Hypocrisy" to distort morals and ethics in service of "Winning";
- learn that sooner or later will have to face our "Dirty Deeds" that WILL come to the surface
- stop the relentless abusive and brutal attacks to conquer the Markets and Resources of Others.
The loss of moral & ethical standing resulting from these debacles will seriously damage the Business Interest of the West in the Entire World and give our Competitors major advantages.
Continuing to demonize and vilify our Competitors will only continue to increase their advantage.
Trump is not dismantling the US's cognitive war apparatus and becoming nice.
No: he is replacing it. Aiming to make an even more pervasive, tech enabled version.
The old approach of fake aid, and NGOs influencing the media being replaced with direct digital manipulation on social media and direct control mechanism such as these much-discussed tarrifs. So you can expect to see even more, the US government demanding access for the platforms they control, such as Musk's X and Zuckerberg's Facebook, while targeting social media they dont control, such as Tik Tok etc.
And they will ramp up even more the sanction regimes that everyone by now should know, dont work anyway. But Trump likes the symbolism.
Everybody should have listened when Snowden sacrificed himself to speak up. Pearls before swine, it seems.
1) you don't know whether any of your "predictions" are true
2) the idea that current admin will replace old deep state with new deep state does not make sense in context
3) constant pessimism is very destructive
I read your comment as though you're rooting for Trump to fail, because his way isn't good enough for you.
Yours is the typical take of a leftist in 2025. It's always fun to wonder which of these leftists are just deep state bots/fake accounts meant to piss on the hint of a smile.
Thou shall not hope! Thou shall NEVER approve of the actions of a social conservative!
You are not replying to my comment. Merely making noise to try and cloud the ugly truth.
Snowden already told everyone where this heads up. Biden tried. Trump will actually do it. Shoulda listened.
The strategy of Trump is obvious, all defence and autonomy will come from Stargate, AI and DNA weaponisation. The war is on us and in us, our first and last enemy our DNA.
Look at how Musk used X to boost Trump during the election, and to pay surrogates that push “news” and create political narratives. Musk also used his Starlink satellites to assist HTS - the jihadist terrorist group - in overthrowing Assad in Syria. And that is just Musk, Trump has Thiel, and Zuckerberg on his side now too. The ‘broligarchs.’
This is what they aim to do instead of fake NGOs.
The Western Societies need to seriously learn from these tragic, bloody debacles of unnecessary brutality.
I use "these", because Ukraine and Gaza are the latest events in a long chain of Western brutality, that can be added to a looong list of other embarrassing debacles of unnecessary brutality - Vietnam, Afghanistan, Libya, Irak, Syria, etc. - that in a modern World, sooner or later, will always come to the surface in a way or another - to embarrass its perpetrators.
1) learn how to better LISTEN to other Opinions ("empathize with your Enemy");
2) stop the sick culture of building self-serving ideologies around clearly immoral vested interests;
3) do not allow "double-Standard Hypocrisy" to distort morals and ethics in service of "Winning";
4) learn that sooner or later will have to face our "Dirty Deeds" that WILL come to the surface
5) stop the relentless abusive and brutal attacks to conquer the Markets and Resources of Others.
In the many other "less brutal" interventions of "Regime Change Operations", the transparent intent to conquer Markets and Resources transpires clearly, even when under the veiled covers of "promoting Freedom & Democracy" and demonizing the "Evil Enemy". These deceitful policies need to stop or to be stopped.
The loss of moral & ethical standing resulting from these debacles of abuse and brutality will seriously damage the Business Interest of the West in the Entire World and give our Competitors major advantages. There was nothing about "Promoting Freedom & Democracy" in these chains of demonization and endless brutality.
Continuing to demonize, vilify and then brutalize our Competitors will only continue to create more damage to our moral standing and business advantage.
I do not believe for a minute this gov't is defunding regime change or any other programs that will help private interests including trump & family's. They will simply hide the funds and use them under other names. There were public and private programs/monies to promote imperialism long before USAID and they will be with us long after Musk. They have simply defunded a few like food aid for starving children, and shifted the rest for coups and other rotten stuff. The papers clearly said most went to the state dept. People are so gullible.
Thanks for your great work Glenn!
We've shared the link on our daily report.
A Skeptic War Reports
https://askeptic.substack.com/