TEL AVIV – Billionaire George Soros has long attempted to portray his Open Society Foundations’ activities as philanthropic efforts aimed, as the Foundations’ mission statement puts it, at building “vibrant and tolerant societies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people.”
However, a hacked Open Society document reviewed by Breitbart Jerusalem concedes, “Naming and shaming from us is problematic: We also are in the business of channeling money into other countries for political purposes.”
The rare concession came in the form of an internal Open Society funding request from the group’s European branch to build an information-collecting apparatus on Russia’s influence in Europe. The request was approved April 5, 2015.
The internal request, addressed to the main Open Society Foundations, stated the project was a “direct demand by George Soros for OSIFE to become active in this field.” OSFIE is the acronym for the Open Society Initiative for Europe.
The funding request spelled out what Soros’s group views as the problem of Russia allegedly hijacking various causes to peddle its own influence throughout Europe:
Russia is investing heavily in increasing its influence in many aspects of Europe’s political life, very often supporting groups that are against open society values. There is evidence of Russian support for radical parties of the Left and Right, including Eurosceptic nationalists like France’s Front National and Austria’s FPÖ, and extreme xenophobic parties like Ataka in Bulgaria, Golden Dawn in Greece, and Jobbik in Hungary. There is also evidence of support for individual political leaders, penetration in civil society, attempts to manipulate national debates (for instance, to defend Russia’s energy interests), propaganda to defend Russian international politics, and support for traditionalist movements. However, the evidence is still rather sketchy and based more on strong allegations, hence the need to first do a proper mapping. Putin’s neo-imperial model has also incorporated an ideological pillar: The defense of traditional family values.
The request raises questions about how to best expose Russia as attempting to meddle in European affairs, warning, “Naming and shaming from us is problematic: We also are in the business of channeling money into other countries for political purposes.”
The missive states:
The big challenge is what can be done apart from tracking the money and exposing Russia’s meddling in internal politics of EU and its Member States. Naming and shaming from us is problematic: We also are in the business of channeling money into other countries for political purposes. Directly confronting them is not easy either, as OSF does try to avoid being overly partisan, and that is what it would take to counter the likes of Austria’s FPO or France’s Front National. Therefore the idea is to link this work with the Reclaiming Family Values portfolio of OSIFE and focus on one specific aspect of Russian influence and avoid entering directly in the ongoing geostrategic warfare reminiscent of the “cold-war” era.
The admission about “channeling money into other countries for political purposes” comes after the Daily Caller reported yesterday on a leaked Open Society Foundations memo that identified Europe’s refugee crisis as presenting “new opportunities” to influence immigration policies globally.
On the domestic front, this reporter yesterday exposed a leaked memo revealing that Open Society viewed the 2015 Baltimore unrest following the death of Freddie Gray as presenting a “unique opportunity” to create “accountability” for the Baltimore police while aiding activists in reforming the city.
The documents further confirm that Open Society last year approved $650,000 to “invest in technical assistance and support for the groups at the core of the burgeoning #BlackLivesMatter movement.”
(Note: Bold emphasis added by this reporter in citation of the document).
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
With research by Joshua Klein.