Wikileaks, Internews, and USAID

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/wikileaks-reveals-us-spent-4726m-to-promote-covert-censorship-media-control-through-ngo/3476741

This linked article comes from a Turkish news source. As expected this Wikileaks revelation isn't getting a lot of coverage in the West.

Some are happy to see USAID collapse because of it ties to US intelligence operations. The article (in the AKP-aligned news outlet) mentions Soros and yet a closer read of the historical record reveals that far from being some agent of Internationalist Globalism or Socialism, George Soros was one of the American Empire's 'point' men in the 1980's and 1990's in Eastern Europe. As soon as the Berlin Wall came down, the US sought to consolidate power in Eastern Europe and worked with Soros and many others to subvert politics, create political parties, and spread money around to quickly shift the former Warsaw Pact nations into the EU and NATO. It was highly successful and played no small role in today's tensions with Moscow.

Bellingcat and the NED

https://mate.substack.com/p/elon-musk-is-right-bellingcat-is

Even blind squirrels get acorns on occasion. Musk is certainly repugnant in every respect but as Aaron Mate points out – this time he was right.

The Syria Blacklist

https://www.mintpressnews.com/using-forged-emails-progressive-journalists-smear-challenging-syria-groupthink/261972/

This article provides a good summary for the case that Syria coverage has been manipulated and often fabricated. Given the longevity and complexity of the conflict the number of articles dealing with these questions is voluminous, even daunting for someone who hasn't been following things closely.

And thus this article plays a helpful role in providing the 'big picture' in terms of this question.

The Breaking of Honduras

https://www.france24.com/en/20190215-video-reporters-plus-honduras-drought-climate-refugees-migrants-caravan-usa

Honduras is suffering. It has become a textbook example of how globalisation is a form of imperialism in which the market subjugates the people, strapping them with massive debt for infrastructure projects they don't benefit from. From corrupt business deals to the NGO's and old stand by's like USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), to the ways in which Wall Street can manipulate the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the imperial hydra is bleeding the nation dry.

Cold War II: Update from the Armenian Front

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Yerevan,-Katolikos-Karekin-II-resigns-45030.html

They're calling it the Armenian Velvet Revolution. It's velvet because it was soft and non-violent and was (supposedly) in the spirit of the peaceful 1989 uprisings that removed the communists from power in Czechoslovakia.

Christian Persecution in Nepal

Rarely gaining much attention in the international news, Nepal is garnering attention due to its position between India and China and increasingly it's receiving focus due to religious tensions.

A majority Hindu nation, there is great concern and hostility to Christian proselytism and the Himalayan republic is starting to put pressure on missionaries and church leaders. Laws which were passed last year are now being implemented and as of August 2018 sentencing guidelines are set to become significantly harsher. Many fear the state will look the other way if mob violence is used against Christians.

Can Western Evangelicals Condemn the Kremlin's Ban on The Watchtower Society?

http://evangelicalfocus.com/europe/2562/Other_Russian_confessions_react_to_prohibition_of_Jehovah_Witnesses_

There's a sad irony here. Russian Evangelicals are right to condemn and reject the state's ban on The Watchtower Society. While the Watchtower represents a rejection of the Biblical Gospel it nevertheless should be allowed to exist and its followers should be permitted to pursue their own path.

Western Evangelical condemnations of the ban, instigated by the Anti-Western Kremlin and the anti-Evangelical campaign flowing from the Orthodox Patriarchate, are often more rooted in pragmatics and politics.

Neo-McCarthyism, the First Amendment and the Compromise of the Humanitarian/NGO Complex

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/10/26/russia-gate-breeds-establishment-mccarthyism/

I offer this link as an excellent summary of what has aptly been described as Neo-McCarthyism. The current climate is a strange one and while the Establishment media has always played fast and loose with the truth there are seasons in which the lies seem to be pervasive, dominant, oppressive and overbearing.

The Watchtower Society versus Orthodox Sacralism

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-religion-jehovah-s-idUSKBN16O1HN

I've said it before and it saddens me, but the Watchtower Society has more of the type of testimony the Church should have. Pressure is growing on them in Russia but for the right reasons. They're feeling the beginnings of persecution for their doctrinal witness and life... not because they're connected to Western values and the agendas of Washington and Wall Street.

They are hated because they reject nationalism, they refuse to be involved in civics and the military and they raise their children to be 'other' than that which the increasingly Sacralist Russian state would want them to be.

Soros, Orban and the Struggle for Hungary

http://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-vs-civil-society/

George Soros is demonised by many in the alternative media, but especially in the Right and Alt-right sectors. Viewed as a liberal globalist they consider him to be a 'Dark Lord' type figure working behind the scenes to manipulate world events.

Croatian Proxies and the Balkan Strategy

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/croatia-profits-from-syria-s-gruesome-war-02-20-2017

The article proclaims the Croatians ignored well-founded concerns the arms they sold to Saudi Arabia would end up in Syria.

These concerns weren't ignored. This was the whole point.

Pentagon Ministries and North Korea

This report is really not all that surprising. For many years there have been hints of and in some cases confirmed reports of Christian ministries and various NGO's collaborating with American intelligence agencies. This has happened in many countries and contexts. Occasionally foreign governments will act with hostility toward these groups. While we must lament all such actions our media both mainstream and Christian often fail to report the full story and provide context.

https://theintercept.com/2015/10/26/pentagon-missionary-spies-christian-ngo-front-for-north-korea-espionage/

The Aggressor and the Defender: Perspectives Change Interpretation

In no way do I mean to advocate moral relativism nor am I arguing that we should empathize with ISIS.

But consider...