Here is why I mentioned USAID and why it is relevant to Ukraine:
- The Ukraine Crisis Media Center was founded in 2014 around the time of Maidan protests. It's an NGO that receives money from other foreign NGOs and governments to advance the interests of other nations in Ukraine, against Russia.
- Who is the biggest contributor to UCMC? USAID
April 2019, Zelensky ran for President promising to fight and expose corruption in the Ukrainian government.
May 2019, the UCMC (the donors above), obviously worried that Zelensky might not be 100% on "Team NeoCon" releases a statement that says
"As civil society activists, we present a list of “red lines not to be crossed”. Should the President cross these red lines, such actions will inevitably lead to political instability in our country and the deterioration of international relations:"
USAID, The Embassy, go on to list in detail all the demands of policies and positions Zelensky must implement, or....
"If the President crosses these red lines, it will indicate that he does not seek real democratic change and does not wish to establish a more honest and responsible government, even though he promised to do so during the election period."
An obvious threat to Zelensky.
It's all here: https://uacrisis.org/en/71966-joint-appeal-of-civil-society-representatives Check out the list of NGOs who signed it, all of which who are funneling (laundering) money.
in 2021, the "leak" of the Pandora Papers showed Zelensky had funded his campaign in part, and continued to receive funds from his off-shore oil company businesses he had established previous to his election. Leverage.
Later in 2022, Putin invaded, and Zelensky is pressured to advance the demands and interests of these "Non-Governmental" Organizations.
The developments with USAID this week are the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of Billions of your US dollars are unaccounted for and it's going to take a little while to find it. NGOs are receiving this money and using this money in a way that circumvents the normal US government accounting and audit processes. They don't want you to know how it's being spent.
But... It's hard to hide money from a US government administration that wants to find it.