Krzysztof Mularczyk has an interesting Brussels Signal piece on some of the fallout in Poland from suspended USAID funding. Interesting as another tiny insight into the vast complexity of international political funding and lack of balanced political oversight. Worth reading.
Liberal and left-leaning groups appeal to Polish Government for USAID cuts compensation
While the Polish government has expressed sympathy for the situation in which the groups found themselves, it has admitted to PAP that it did not keep records of all US government grants for Polish organisations and therefore could not assess the scale of the problem.
Batko-Tołuć admitted that even the NGO monitors were not fully conversant with the number of groups actually funded through USAID because much of it was provided through USAID international grantees such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
9 comments:
I'm hoping that we find out who funds the Good Law Project, Hope Not Hate, The Runnymede Trust, and all those mass-produced placards that appear at left-wing demonstrations in London.
No one is keeping proper accounts; lots of the money is being laundered through front organisations. That justifies the Trump approach of just stopping the money. Clearly there isn't enough honest info to permit a more - shall we say nuanced? - approach. The rapier being unavailable, the cudgel it is.
A philosopher once argued that things turn into their reverse. Barter becomes money becomes credit. The Conservatives once resisted the growth of the State and now embrace it.
It struck me how USAID is like Danegeld (a tax raised to pay tribute or protection money to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged) but it has ripened into it's reverse... the USAID raiders were paying geld to ravage the ideology of foreign lands.
Agree with all the above comments.
Sam - looking at it optimistically, it may be that finding out these things has become inevitable. Yes, it would certainly be good to find out about all those mass-produced placards, that would point a finger or two.
dearieme - I agree, the cudgel it is. Stop it then investigate.
DJ - one day someone might write an interesting book about how this kind of corruption evolves, with those USAID raiders as central characters. Probably worth buying too.
James - so do I.
No need for investigation. Just stay schtumm , wait, and see who complains.
Presumably any "NGO" suffering from this needs to be renamed a "USGO". Or, nowadays, "FUSGO" (Former US Government organisation).
Interestingly - as anyone who works for an American multinational will know - the US Government has some very strict regulations around payments to officials of "Government Owned Entities", which term is very widely defined. It would be great fun if former recipients of USAID's largesse were audited worldwide.
Doonhamer - and see who says "don't expect us to pick up the bill."
Barbarus - yes, there must be questions about any national NGO which accepts funding from another government, especially if it can't survive without it. An audit of former recipients of USAID's largesse is bound to come up with some fun findings, so it's certainly worth stocking up on popcorn.
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