State department grants to spread ‘American values’ are part of Washington’s 250th anniversary celebrations
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US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe
https://www.ft.com/content/f8696da1-5fe6-4218-be9c-5309bd9a6ae5
16 Comments
notsosure@sh.itjust.works · 27 pts · 209d
You couldn’t make this shit up
FrancePodcaster@piefed.social · 20 pts · 209d
Money talks and there’s LOTS of it in the hands of bad people.
RockBottom@feddit.org · 8 pts · 209d
Supporting european patriots?
CosmoNova@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 209d
Supporting anyone who hates their Europe and their own country and people. You know, your run of the mill fascists.
misk@piefed.social · -7 pts · 209d
Not sure why this is causing an outrage when previous administrations did exact same thing (see Radio Free Europe as an example), just for a a different brand of imperialistic capitalism.
UnexpectedBehavior@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 209d
That's right, the USA has supported American propaganda since WW2, for example by supporting dubbing American movies financially so Europeans had access to the same Western Hollywood views. However, there is a slight difference this time:
huppakee@piefed.social · 4 pts · 209d
This is of a much larger scale and influencing a much more specific part of the political spectrum. But you're right this is not a new thing.
misk@piefed.social · -2 pts · 209d
In my country, which is an American colony, it was quite telling which press outlets were squirming when Trump cut their financing - surprise surprise, it was all neoliberal „left”. You can’t say RFE was some small operation either, it’s a broadcast station operating since WWII. I know it’s uncomfortable to admit the amount of influence US exerted over Europe for decades now. All that changed is that there’s no rainbow coat of paint anymore.
huppakee@piefed.social · 2 pts · 208d
You're right, a big difference however is that a large part of the operation wasn't aimed at allies and I have to admit I don't really know to which extent its influence was outside of (western) Europe and neither how negative the impact of it was. Obviously the US also expected a lot of influence over the EU the last three decades, but as far as i know it wasn't as much of a coherent plan like it is now (and like RFE was).
misk@piefed.social · 2 pts · 208d
We were subjected to decades of neoliberal propaganda which resulted in dismantling of public services which led to regular people voting for fascists. It is therefore quite easy to judge American influence as objectively bad.
huppakee@piefed.social · 1 pts · 207d
I don't see it any different, aside of that i don't believe that influence was as orchestraded and planned out as the new plans are. It is much easier to look at the past decades and form an opinion of what actually did happen than it is to look at the past months and try to figure out what might happen if the plans follow through.
misk@piefed.social · 1 pts · 207d
That’s a very naive way of thinking about the US, a country known for violently meddling with affairs of other countries. I think it’s your bias for one of the capitalist factions that makes it difficult to accept.
usernameunnecessary@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 209d
Is that reason to not be outraged?
misk@piefed.social · 0 pts · 209d
There’s no reason to change outrage levels.
usernameunnecessary@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 208d
There's a big fat orange reason that can't keep their hands to their selves.
misk@piefed.social · 0 pts · 208d
I don’t take politics this personally anymore.