Tag: foreign aid

Leaked Call Exposes State Department-Backed “Color Revolution” with Global Partners — Ex-USAID Staff Admit Coordinating Encrypted Networks and Foreign NGOs Against Trump Administration

A new bombshell thread from investigative reporter DataRepublican on X exposes a disturbing glimpse inside what appears to be a State Department-led color revolution operating through USAID, foreign NGOs, and left-wing organizations funded by billionaire George Soros.

According to newly surfaced recordings shared by DataRepublican on X, former USAID employees openly discussed moving internal groups off federal systems into encrypted Signal chats ahead of the presidential inauguration, and then linking up with international partners to ‘mobilize against authoritarianism.’

The recordings themselves, taken from what appears to be a USAID virtual meeting, capture staff boasting about building “coordination structures” with Johns Hopkins University, international “democracy and conflict mitigation spaces,” and “colleagues from around the world” who had “dealt with this directly.”

In one clip, a USAID staff member named Van(she/her) describe how, prior to January 20, they migrated internal communications away from government servers and onto encrypted Signal chats, linking with “transition initiative” programs designed for foreign regime-change operations.

She describes moving internal communication channels away from USAID’s main systems “into Signal chats to protect our community,” citing fears of reprisal from the incoming Trump administration.

After the inauguration, Van confirmed that contractors immediately set up “Stop Work Order” websites and private communication groups to coordinate messaging, claiming it was a “response to disinformation.”

Within weeks, hundreds of staff reportedly joined these encrypted groups as the agency’s leadership was decapitated and “administrative leave” orders were issued.

Keep reading

USAID and Clintons behind Bangladesh govt overthrow – ex-minister

The 2024 riots in Bangladesh, which led to the ousting of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, were backed by USAID and Hillary Clinton’s family, a former cabinet minister and chief negotiator, Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, has told RT in an exclusive interview which will be broadcast on Monday.

“Certain actions of some NGOs, especially from the United States – naming a few, I mean USAID, for example, or the International Republican Institute. They were running campaigns against our government for a while, since 2018,” Chowdhury, who served as a minister in Hasina’s cabinet and was at the heart of negotiations during the crisis, has told RT’s Runjun Sharma.

The accusations come more than a year after Hasina’s dramatic fall from power. In August 2024, weeks of student-led protests against job quotas spiraled into nationwide violence, claiming over 700 lives, according to the interim government’s tally.

Hasina, who had led Bangladesh for 15 years at the head of her Awami League party, fled the country as crowds stormed her residence. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus became the chief adviser of the interim government.

According to Chowdhury, the unrest was not a spontaneous youth revolt but a “carefully planned” operation bankrolled by Western interests.

“There is a nexus between the Clinton family, and the interim Yunus regime from a very long past,” he alleged. “These activities were going on for a long time. They weren’t very open, but funding of clandestine NGOs was going on. They were hell-bent on changing the government in Bangladesh.”

He zeroed in on the flow of US aid, questioning where millions in USAID dollars had vanished. “IRI was active, USAID’s fundings were going to nowhere. Where had that money gone to? It was destined for regime change activities.”

Keep reading

Carney gov’t refuses to reveal how much foreign aid funds ‘gender identity’ and ‘decolonization’ projects

The Carney government has refused to say how much of Canada’s ballooning foreign-aid budget is being spent on controversial “gender identity,” “anti-racism,” and “decolonization” projects overseas — claiming that releasing the numbers could endanger the people and organizations receiving the cash.

In a written response to order paper question Q-327, tabled by a Conservative MP and published on November 3, 2025, Global Affairs Canada said it could not release a full list of projects or dollar amounts because of “confidentiality requirements” and alleged “security concerns.”

“The Department is unable to provide a full list of contributions related to this request due to confidentiality requirements,” the reply stated. It continued:

These are the most common reasons projects are considered sensitive: the organization or individuals might be in danger if it becomes known that they are receiving funds from a foreign government; [or] implementing a project related to sensitive topics such as two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and additional sexually and gender-diverse people rights, human trafficking, early/forced marriage, [and] human rights defenders.

The department added that “danger” could mean a partner organization might be “forced to close,” employees could be “arrested,” or participants might face “harassment from the local population or government.”

This is a convenient excuse for shielding ideological spending from public scrutiny, particularly as the Carney government continues to expand its “values-based” foreign aid agenda, pouring millions into identity politics abroad while Canadians face record food-bank use and housing insecurity at home.

Keep reading

The Sordid History Of US “Aid” To Colombia

President Donald Trump is rattling his saber against Colombian President Gustavo Petro to punish him for accusing the US government of murdering Venezuelan fishermen. Trump has boasted of the killings by the US military but claims all the targets were drug smugglers. He has threatened to suspend all US government handouts for the Colombian government. Trump warned Petro that he “better close up” cocaine production “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”

Tapping his own psychiatric expertise, Trump proclaimed that Colombia has “the worst president they’ve ever had – a lunatic with serious mental problems.” Is anyone in the Trump White House aware of the long history of U.S. failure in that part of the world? In 1989, President George H.W. Bush warned Colombian drug dealers that they were “no match for an angry America.” But Colombia remains the world’s largest cocaine producer despite billions of dollars of US government anti-drug aid to the Colombian government.

The Bill Clinton administration made Colombia its top target in its international war on drugs. Clinton drug warriors deluged the Colombian government with U.S. tax dollars as they literally deluged Colombia with toxic spray. The New York Times reported that U.S.-financed planes repeatedly sprayed pesticides onto schoolchildren, making many of them ill. Colombian environmental minister Juan Mayr publicly declared last year that the crop spraying program has been a failure and warned, “We can’t permanently fumigate the country.”

Keep reading

Trump bet $40B on Milei, but what do Americans get out of it?

It has been a busy week for U.S. policy towards Argentina.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Wednesday that the U.S. would be doubling the assistance it is marshaling for Argentina from $20 billion to $40 billion. The increase comes ahead of legislative elections on October 26 that will elect half the lower house and one-third of the upper house, and represents an increasingly strenuous effort in Washington to bolster Argentine President Javier Milei financially and politically.

Ironically, one reason for an even bigger bailout package might have been a comment by the White House itself. Heading into a meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday, an optimistic Milei is reported to have said “we will have dollars pouring out of our ears.” During the meeting, Trump burst that bubble, remarking that “if he loses, we’re not going to be generous with Argentina,” a remark that immediately hit markets.

A day later, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tried to remedy the situation, saying that beyond the original amount the U.S. had committed to lend Argentina, the Trump administration was coordinating the delivery of another $20 billion for the country from banks and sovereign wealth funds. Bessent invoked an “economic Monroe Doctrine” and said the outcome of upcoming elections in Chile and Colombia depended on the fate of Milei’s presidency. He thus grounded the need for assistance in the possibility that electorates in those countries might follow the cue from Argentine voters despite their very different circumstances (as detailed below).

Milei’s first term ends formally in 2027, but he is under severe pressure from domestic politicians and international investors. Argentina was a darling of the markets following Milei’s election in 2023 as he pushed through radical reductions in the size of government by decree, arguing that it was the only way to deliver the country from a long history of high inflation and serial defaults.

However, in early September, his party received a drubbing from voters tired of austerity in the province of Buenos Aires, home to roughly 40% of the population. This hit Argentine bonds and led to a sharp depreciation of the Argentine peso. Local and foreign investors fled, worried that the results in the provincial election were a harbinger of worse to come in the congressional polls.

By the end of September, the U.S. had stepped in, offering Milei’s government a level of support practically unprecedented in recent history (and yet apparently still not enough). The Treasury offered an arrangement where Argentina could borrow dollars against pesos, hinted that it might buy the country’s debt, and later even purchased the country’s currency in foreign exchange markets.

While Mexico did receive ample support from the U.S. in 1995, when that country suffered its own devaluation shock, the U.S. Treasury did not actually buy Mexican pesos on that occasion, unlike its actions during the current intervention in Argentine markets. And the U.S. rescue efforts for Mexico were for a country that was a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement, already the U.S.’s third-largest trading partner (it is now the biggest), and supported a new president about to enter a six-year term after an election.

Keep reading

How Much the U.S Really Spends to Defend Other Nations From Military Aid to Global Bases and Deploying Navel Fleets

The United States spends hundreds of billions of dollars every year to defend countries that pose no direct threat to its borders. From maintaining troops and bases across Asia and Europe to deploying carrier strike groups in distant seas, Washington shoulders an immense financial burden to uphold what it calls the global security order. Nations such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Israel depend heavily on U.S. protection — a policy that blends deterrence, influence, and strategic dominance. But few Americans realize just how much this protection actually costs.

A vast network of overseas bases

The U.S. military maintains around 750 overseas bases in more than 80 countries, supporting about 200,000 active-duty troops stationed outside the continental United States. These facilities — from Okinawa and Yokosuka in Japan to Osan and Camp Humphreys in South Korea, Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean — serve as the backbone of U.S. global power projection.

Operating and maintaining these installations costs U.S. taxpayers approximately $55–70 billion annually, according to estimates by the Department of Defense and the Costs of War Project at Brown University. While host nations like Japan and South Korea contribute to housing and infrastructure expenses, the majority of the logistical, training, and personnel costs still fall on Washington.

For example:

  • Japan: The U.S. spends about $5.5 billion per year on operations, personnel, and logistics, even though Tokyo contributes about $2 billion through its “host-nation support” program.
  • South Korea: About $3.5–4 billion per year in U.S. military expenses, partially offset by Seoul’s contribution under the Special Measures Agreement.
  • Germany: Roughly $4–5 billion annually to sustain troops and infrastructure, including bases like Ramstein and Grafenwoehr.

These bases are not only costly but strategically positioned — allowing the U.S. to respond to crises in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe without delay.

Keep reading

The US Spent Over $31 Billion Aiding Israel in the Past Two Years

The Cost of War Project at Brown University calculated that total US military support to Israel over the past two years has cost US taxpayers over $30 billion. Israel has received over $21 billion in military aid from the US and Washington has bombed Iran and Yemen for Tel Aviv. 

According to the study, the US has provided Israel with tens of thousands of bombs and other weaponry following the Hamas attack in southern Israel two years ago. The American arms have fueled Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

The mass killing in Gaza with US weapons has pushed a growing number of Americans to oppose military aid and weapon sales to Israel. However, the growing opposition to the special relationship Washington has with Tel Aviv did not lead President Joe Biden or Donald Trump to curtail the flow of arms to Israel. 

Additionally, Israel’s aggression in the Middle East has drawn the US into other wars. Both Biden and Trump engaged in large-scale bombing operations in Yemen in an effort to force Ansar Allah to end its blockade of the Red Sea and stop attacking Israel. 

Ansar Allah enacted the policy in support of Gaza, and says the blockade and attack will end once Israel halts its genocidal onslaught in the Strip. While the bombing cost the US billions of dollars, it failed to force Ansar Allah to end the blockade. 

President Trump also joined Tel Aviv’s aggressive war against Iran and intercepted missiles targeting Israel. Overall, the US has spent between $10 and $13 billion helping Israel wage wars across the Middle East over the past two years. 

The author of the Cost of War study, William Hartung, notes that it only calculates the weapons that have been delivered to Israel and does not include weapons that the US has promised to deliver to Israel in the future. 

Keep reading

Report: Netanyahu Ordered Drone Attack on Gaza Aid Flotilla Boats in Tunisia

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly ordered attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla that were carried out in early September while the boats were moored in Tunisia, CBS News reported on Friday.

A total of two boats were hit in two attacks that were conducted on September 8 and September 9. Two US intelligence officials told CBS News that Israel forces fired drones from a submarine that dropped incendiary devices and caused fires.

The report noted that under international law, the use of incendiary devices against civilian populations or civilian targets is prohibited. The attacks targeted the Family, a Portuguese-flagged vessel, and the Alma, a British-flagged vessel. In both cases, the crews were able to extinguish the fire, and the attacks caused no casualties.

Keep reading

US Provides Lebanese Government With $230 Million in Military Aid as It Pushes Hezbollah Disarmament

The Trump administration has approved $230 million worth of military and security aid for Lebanon as it’s pushing the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah, Reuters reported on Friday.

The Hill reported that the US sent $230 million on September 30 as a last-minute action before the government shutdown so the funds wouldn’t expire. “It’s not a huge amount, but for a small country like Lebanon, that’s really significant,” a congressional aide told reporters on October 1.

A Lebanese source told Reuters that $190 million will go toward the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and $40 million is for the Internal Security Forces. On September 10, the US Department of War announced a $14 million weapons package for the LAF that it said would help “dismantle weapons caches and military infrastructure of non-state groups, including Hezbollah.”

In an interview released on September 22, Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey, who has also been involved in talks with Lebanon, said that the US was arming the LAF so it could fight its own people.

“We’re going to arm them so they can fight Israel? I don’t think so,” Barrack told The National. “So you’re arming them so they can fight their own people, Hezbollah. Hezbollah is our enemy. Iran is our enemy.”

Barrack’s comments came as critics of the US policy in Lebanon have been warning that the push to disarm Hezbollah could lead to a civil war. The US has also continued to strongly back Israel’s action in Lebanon, even though it has flagrantly violated the ceasefire deal signed in November 2024 and continues to conduct near-daily strikes. Since the truce deal was signed, Israel has killed hundreds of people in southern Lebanon, including at least 103 civilians.

Keep reading

Trump’s Argentina bailout pits two competing MAGA factions against one another

President Donald Trump’s attempt to give Argentina’s fledgling economy financial assistance is creating a headache for him back in the U.S. as part of his base — farmers — are upset about the possibility of bailing out a country that is competing for a major crop — soybean exports to China.

Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised a possible $20 billion aid package to Argentina’s leader Javier Milei. They argue the plan is needed to stabilize a major Trump and U.S. ally ahead of October elections that are important for Milei to retain power. At the same time, some of Milei’s policies are helping U.S. investors and negatively impacting American soybean producers.

Investors and hedge funds have bought into Milei’s stewardship of the bedraggled country. Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price Group and Pimco all own bonds in Argentina, according to Bloomberg. In September, traders began selling off investments there after Milei lost some crucial local elections over corruption scandals.

News of U.S. help boosted some of the assets, but Argentina’s currency is still performing poorly among the stable of international currencies.

Keep reading