View from the propoganda based US MSM:
CAIRO — The Egyptian authorities have referred 19 Americans and two dozen others to face criminal trials, the state media reported Sunday. The move is part of a politically charged investigation into the foreign financing of nonprofit groups that has shaken the 30-year alliance between the United States and Egypt.
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The International Republican Institute and its sister organization, the National Democratic Institute, are independent nonprofit groups, with close ties to the Congressional leadership, that promote democracy in countries around the world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/world/middleeast/egypt-will-try-19-americans-on-criminal-charges.html?hp
Now, the rest of the story...
The IRI is accused of training some of the leaders of the 2004 Haitian coup d'état, as well as funding opposition groups in the country in a destabilization campaign in the months leading up the removal of democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by a coalition of Canada, the US and France. Aristide was replaced with an unelected government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Republican_Institute
A prominent democracy-building group chaired by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is being criticized by a government watchdog for its use of a $50-million grant from the State Department.
The International Republican Institute, which received $248 million in total between 2004 and 2009 to support governance, political participation and civil society programs in Iraq, made questionable decisions -- such as overpaying for security services from Blackwater, the infamous military contractor, and spending $690,000 on vehicles without approval from the government.
/
Though it claims to be nonpartisan in its democracy-building work in 70 countries around the world, the institute has long been accused by progressive groups of attempting to advance a conservative agenda.
/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/28/international-republican-institute-sigir_n_662923.html
Most recently, in 2009 there was a military coup against the democratically elected government of Honduras. The Obama administration did everything it could to help the coup succeed, and supported “elections” in November of 2009 to legitimize the coup government.
/
Who knows what the IRI is doing in Egypt? But we know what the U.S. government has done there: supported a brutal dictatorship for decades right up to the point where mass protests made it clear that Washington could not stop Mubarak's ouster by a real, popular, democratic movement last year.
/
Nowhere is this more obvious than in the Middle East, where the U.S. government’s policy of collaboration with Israel’s denial of Palestinian national rights has put it at odds with populations throughout the region. As a result, Washington fears democracy in many countries because it will inevitably lead to more governments taking the side of the Palestinians, and opposing other U.S. ambitions in the region, such as its desire for military bases and alliances. Even in Iraq, where Washington brags about toppling a dictatorship, the people had to fight the occupying authorities for the right to hold national elections, and then to kick U.S. troops out of the country.
This creates a vicious cycle in which hated and often repressive governments are supportive of U.S. foreign policy, and these governments receive U.S. support, increasing regional animosity toward the United States. In some cases it also leads to terrorist attacks against U.S. institutions or citizens, which is then used by our leaders to justify long or endless wars (e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan).
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/international-republican-institute-not-promoting-democracy
But this image sits in contrast with the International Republican Institute (IRI), for which McCain has served as board chairman since 1993. Under the cover of spreading democracy and a free-market economic system, the IRI installs U.S.-friendly governments and undermines those that are not by supporting coups and ousters.
/
In 2002 the then-IRI president George Folsom is reported to have applauded the failed Venezuelan coup against President Hugo Chavez. "Last night, led by every sector of civil society, the Venezuelan people rose up to defend democracy in their country," he said in a statement the IRI released.
/
No matter what one may think of Chavez, coups are not avenues to democracy. Chavez was the democratically elected president of Venezuela, meaning that the IRI was working against the popular vote of the Venezuelan people in order to serve U.S. interests.
It's not surprising that Egypt views the IRI with so much suspicion that in 2006 it asked the IRI to suspend its efforts at democracy-building until it received official permission.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/ngugi.php?articleid=13076
CAIRO — The Egyptian authorities have referred 19 Americans and two dozen others to face criminal trials, the state media reported Sunday. The move is part of a politically charged investigation into the foreign financing of nonprofit groups that has shaken the 30-year alliance between the United States and Egypt.
/
The International Republican Institute and its sister organization, the National Democratic Institute, are independent nonprofit groups, with close ties to the Congressional leadership, that promote democracy in countries around the world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/world/middleeast/egypt-will-try-19-americans-on-criminal-charges.html?hp
Now, the rest of the story...
The IRI is accused of training some of the leaders of the 2004 Haitian coup d'état, as well as funding opposition groups in the country in a destabilization campaign in the months leading up the removal of democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by a coalition of Canada, the US and France. Aristide was replaced with an unelected government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Republican_Institute
A prominent democracy-building group chaired by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is being criticized by a government watchdog for its use of a $50-million grant from the State Department.
The International Republican Institute, which received $248 million in total between 2004 and 2009 to support governance, political participation and civil society programs in Iraq, made questionable decisions -- such as overpaying for security services from Blackwater, the infamous military contractor, and spending $690,000 on vehicles without approval from the government.
/
Though it claims to be nonpartisan in its democracy-building work in 70 countries around the world, the institute has long been accused by progressive groups of attempting to advance a conservative agenda.
/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/28/international-republican-institute-sigir_n_662923.html
Most recently, in 2009 there was a military coup against the democratically elected government of Honduras. The Obama administration did everything it could to help the coup succeed, and supported “elections” in November of 2009 to legitimize the coup government.
/
Who knows what the IRI is doing in Egypt? But we know what the U.S. government has done there: supported a brutal dictatorship for decades right up to the point where mass protests made it clear that Washington could not stop Mubarak's ouster by a real, popular, democratic movement last year.
/
Nowhere is this more obvious than in the Middle East, where the U.S. government’s policy of collaboration with Israel’s denial of Palestinian national rights has put it at odds with populations throughout the region. As a result, Washington fears democracy in many countries because it will inevitably lead to more governments taking the side of the Palestinians, and opposing other U.S. ambitions in the region, such as its desire for military bases and alliances. Even in Iraq, where Washington brags about toppling a dictatorship, the people had to fight the occupying authorities for the right to hold national elections, and then to kick U.S. troops out of the country.
This creates a vicious cycle in which hated and often repressive governments are supportive of U.S. foreign policy, and these governments receive U.S. support, increasing regional animosity toward the United States. In some cases it also leads to terrorist attacks against U.S. institutions or citizens, which is then used by our leaders to justify long or endless wars (e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan).
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/international-republican-institute-not-promoting-democracy
But this image sits in contrast with the International Republican Institute (IRI), for which McCain has served as board chairman since 1993. Under the cover of spreading democracy and a free-market economic system, the IRI installs U.S.-friendly governments and undermines those that are not by supporting coups and ousters.
/
In 2002 the then-IRI president George Folsom is reported to have applauded the failed Venezuelan coup against President Hugo Chavez. "Last night, led by every sector of civil society, the Venezuelan people rose up to defend democracy in their country," he said in a statement the IRI released.
/
No matter what one may think of Chavez, coups are not avenues to democracy. Chavez was the democratically elected president of Venezuela, meaning that the IRI was working against the popular vote of the Venezuelan people in order to serve U.S. interests.
It's not surprising that Egypt views the IRI with so much suspicion that in 2006 it asked the IRI to suspend its efforts at democracy-building until it received official permission.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/ngugi.php?articleid=13076