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Unwittingly, the saga of the faked black-ops sniper video published by RFERL on 20 February 2014, is connected with the publication by Mark Ames and response of Marcy Wheeler to the NGOs and media outlets under responsiblility of billionaire Omidyar. My previous diaries …
○ Embarrassment to GG, MW of The Intercept: Omidyar Co-funded Ukraine Revolt
○ Who Were Snipers In Kiev Massacre – A CIA-Svoboda False Flag Op?
Marcy Wheeler’s response: Of Neo-Fascists and Smiley-Face Neoliberals
Pando has not shown that these donations were linked in any way, though it’s definitely possible: here’s what Pact, the non-profit, says about partnerships:
Pact can’t do it all. So Pact also partners with other international NGOs that may have particular expertise, relationships or resources Pact needs to better help more people. In different places around the world, Pact partners with ChildFund, FHI360, Marie Stopes International and Population Services International, for example.
Much of Pact’s work is supported by national aid agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Great Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and the Australian Government Overseas Aid Program (AusAID) fund much of Pact’s work.
Criminal case against NGO “Centre UA”
(Euromaidan Wache Berlin) Feb. 11, 2014 – Ministry of Internal Affairs conducts criminal proceedings against non-governmental organization “Centre UA” under article “laundering of criminally obtained money”. It became known after the police started to come to the employees and partners of the organization with the invitation to provide evidence or come to the investigator.
Personnel of Centre UA claim that it considers this criminal proceeding as continuation of systematic repression of authorities against civil society. Oleh Rybachuk. Chairman of the organization, noticed that “dictatorial laws were abolished but authorities’ dictatorial intentions to dismiss active civil society organizations were embodied in other form”. He suggested that similar cases will be brought against other organizations in the near future.
Centre UA is an initiator of CHESNO movement and scandal movie about controversial Presidential residence Mezhyhirya – “Open Access”, its members took an active part in Euromaidan events. Organization members are co-founders of such important initiatives as “New Citizen” partnership, “Stop Censorship” movement, coalition “For Fair Referendum” and others. Besides, Centre UA along with journalists of Slidstvo.info and “Svidomo” bureau has recently launched a large-scale project on investigation of corruption activity of all members of the government, including personally interior minister Zakharchenko, for the leading Ukrainian news web-site “Ukrajinska Pravda” (Ukrainian Truth).
Svitlana Zalishchuk, Executive Director of “Centre UA”, noted that “Centre UA regularly runs an independent audit, including the one on the compliance of financial activities with Ukrainian legislation, and is proud of its transparency. We consider the criminal case as pressure and intimidation in connection with our activity. “
I already came across the leading Ukrainian news web-site “Ukrajinska Pravda” (Ukrainian Truth) and found an article this was a fake organization. The “corruption” article about Zakharchenko was written by Валерій Дротенко or translated Valery Drotenko. This ties in the billionaire’s NGOs to the faked The Guardian video where the rferl black militia snipers were spliced to the video with victims of the massacre in Instytutska Street on 20 February 2014.
KYIV, Ukraine (US Embassy) Jan. 15, 2014 – Since Ukraine’s independence in 1991, the United States has supported Ukrainians as they developed democratic skills and institutions, strengthened the rule of law, and promoted civic participation and good governance, all of which are preconditions for Ukraine to achieve its European aspirations. We have invested over $5 billion to assist Ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure, prosperous and democratic Ukraine. Of that amount well over $815 million was for democracy and exchange programs. Much of this is being implemented through a range of technical assistance programs and working with nongovernmental actors in Ukraine.
Since 2009 when President Obama took office, the U.S. Government has provided over $184 million in Governing Justly and Democratically (GJD) assistance to Ukraine. This includes democracy programs managed by USAID and the State Department, and exchange programs managed by the State Department and the Open World Leadership Center.
Inclusive in its approach, the Working Group — which I co-chair together with a senior Ukrainian counterpart — welcomes input from civil society and nongovernmental representatives from both countries. To date we have met formally six times in Kyiv and Washington since 2009. Our last meeting was in October in Kyiv, and the next meeting is planned for this March in Washington.
Within the working group, we held frank discussions about the increase in harassment of journalists and civil society that has taken place in recent years. This harassment galvanized civil society. Together they formed new coalitions to stand up and push back, such as the “Stop Censorship!” movement and the “New Citizen” campaign, which sought to mobilize and inform citizens about the problems and their basic rights under the Ukraine’s laws and constitution.
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
The successful “orange” revolution in 2004 that was built on popular protests, has strengthened Ukraine’s multi-party system and the country’s efforts towards democratic and economic reforms. But the hopes that were raised back then have not been fulfilled, and recent years’ development has rather gone towards a more authoritarian government.
The goal for Ukraine’s reform policy is European integration, based on an action plan drawn up jointly with the EU. This has been the fundamental basis for the Swedish cooperation.
Power struggle delays reforms
The power struggle between the president, prime minister and opposition has hampered the reform efforts. The state administration is centralized, inefficient and corrupt, and the legal system is unsatisfactory. The level of corruption and the media climate have deteriorated in recent years. The country ended up in 144th place among 174 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2013. Independent media are subjected to harassment and individual journalists risk threats and beatings.
After many years of hardship, the economic growth and living conditions in Ukraine improved in the 2000s. Increasing salaries and direct financial support contributed to reducing poverty. The positive trend was broken in 2008, when the global financial crisis hit the country very hard.
Assistance an important stimulus
The single largest donor to Ukraine is USA. The World Bank is also supporting the country’s investments and reform work. The largest cooperation programme is with the EU, and Sweden is one of the major European donors. International aid amounts to just one per cent of Ukraine’s GDP, but is nevertheless important in order to implement the reforms that are necessary for the country’s progress towards the EU.
An Independent Integrity Assessment of the CHESNO Movement, Ukraine [pdf]
A research team from the European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building (ERCAS) in Berlin was contracted by Pact’s USAID-supported UNITER project for conducting an independent assessment into the political integrity campaign of CHESNO in Ukraine (2012).
