It is necessary to count them!

More and more states are moving towards introducing legislative control over organisations receiving funding from abroad

The actions of so-called non-governmental structures that receive money from foreign sponsors are often aimed at undermining order in a given country. What is the practice of resisting those who sow chaos?

Obstacle to capital

Capital has no homeland; all its feelings are calculated in percentages of profit. Wherever the percentages are higher, there is its lair. This has been the case for ages, but in the context of globalisation, something has changed.
Capital, especially American capital, having acquired a planetary scale, wants there to be no homelands at all. Not a single one! And for no one! After all, if you have a homeland and foreign capital comes to plunder it, then you will defend it. An obstacle? Of course!

Grindstone of law vs velvet of opposition

Notorious George Soros has long been destabilising states through cultivation and breeding of intellect resistant perennial breeds of traitors, fertilised with dollar banknotes and inflamed with hatred. The ‘freedom to sell out’ is masked by ‘freedom of thought’ — this is to keep up appearances. But otherwise, many are simply reaching out for their thirty pieces of silver, which often turn out to be some 5-10 bucks. This trick has worked for Soros in so many countries that he has become completely brazen and decided to stage a velvet revolution in his own homeland as well. And he was born — at least formally — in Hungary.  

By that point, Soros had already been given the boot in some places. It started in Belarus, then in Russia, followed by Georgia. However, the son of former Austrian officer Schwartz did not expect such a cold reception in his ‘native’ Hungary.

Swarm of foreign agents

Why is Soros dangerous? In fact, he is not dangerous per se, but because of the swarm of foreign agents that he spawns, pays for and directs. This swarm descends on his money like flies on manure. It is against these foreign agents with their greedy, faceted eyes that reasonable governments are introducing protective measures. I emphasise, precisely protective, and not any kind of prohibitive, sticky or destructive measures. 
As long as the humane principle applies — if you want to be a foreign agent, be one! Just do it in an official way. 
As you understand this is a palliative, a half-measure. The radical solution to the problem implies a ban on all financial assistance from abroad, under whatever plausible pretext it is provided. Well, if there is no ban, let them at least report their sources to the financial authorities and wear the ‘foreign agent’ label. This is still better than them pretending to be ‘fathers of the nation’ and ‘the incredible ones’. 

Protecting sovereignty

The Hungarian parliament has recently received a legislative draft aimed at limiting the domestic funding of organisations suspected of receiving funds from abroad, Bloomberg reports. The initiative from Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s party envisages a ban for non-profit organisations (NPOs) and media outlets — suspected of threatening Hungary’s sovereignty and receiving foreign funding — to collect donations amounting to one percent of personal income tax. According to Bloomberg, this is a key source of domestic funding for such entities.
The document also outlines measures to freeze assets, tighten reporting requirements and impose substantial fines. The bill is expected to pass, as the Fidesz party holds two-thirds of the seats in parliament.

The designated Sovereignty Protection Agency, headed by an Orbán supporter, will be empowered to compile lists of suspected organisations and monitor compliance with the new obligations. Heads of such entities will be required to provide detailed income declarations.

Status obliges

The West annually channels billions of dollars and euros to finance the activities of NPOs and media outlets in post-Soviet states. In 2020, over 2,000 NPOs and media outlets operated in the CIS region with foreign funding. This is not even counting bloggers and various Telegram channels!
So, foreign agents are just the tip of the ‘fifth column’. And they are currently being combated only with ‘therapeutic’ measures.
Incidentally, these are copied from American ‘treatment maps’. What is more, CIS legislators have proven to be, in a number of respects, even more liberal (or tolerant) than the United States Congress. The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938 has long provided for the possibility of recognising individuals as foreign agents. At the same time, in order to recognise an individual as a foreign agent in accordance with the US law, it is not necessary to determine the formal aspect of the relationship between the individual and the foreign principal; it is sufficient to establish the actual nature of such relations.

That is, in the United States there is no need to catch the agent and their sponsor red-handed; it is enough to notice and understand the hostile activity. Simply put, the prosecutor has a gut feeling that a certain individual is the enemy and declares them a foreign agent. Even without the latter’s consent…

The penalties are so severe — starting with exorbitant fines and ending with life imprisonment — that the US Department of Justice is overwhelmed with applicants wishing to register as foreign agents. The queue stretches to the Canadian border. Thus, in 2016, according to the law, about 400 large organisations alone registered their activities as foreign agents with the US Department of Justice. At the same time, many agents complain about the red tape and bureaucracy associated with the implementation of the law.
Compare this with the 2,000 foreign NPOs that operated in the CIS countries during roughly the same period. And none of them sought to obtain the status of a foreign agent; on the contrary, they shouted: ‘What a shame, we’ve been counted!’
Indeed, it is necessary to count them! Just recall the Soviet cartoon A Little Goat That Could Count to Ten — it was the ability to count that helped save the ship and its passengers from sinking.

WHEN BRUSSELS OPPOSES A POLL 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has stated a co-ordinated campaign by Ukrainian intelligence services aimed at disrupting a mass poll of Hungarians to determine their attitude towards Ukraine’s membership of the European Union. Curiously, the intelligence services of Ukraine were supported by Brussels, which threatens to introduce sanctions and reprisals against Budapest because of the Hungarian poll.

TO THE POINT

Here is a remark about George Soros, the well-known ‘velvet’ saboteur and ‘philanthropist’. How is he presented by Wikipedia? ‘An American trader, financier, investor and philanthropist’. What comes first? That’s correct — a trader, that is, a seller. In this case, of human souls, and if possible, entire states.

By Vadim Yelfimov, Head of Social Policy and Ideology Department at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Belarus, political scientist, Candidate of Historical Sciences