Latest news with #Washington-backed
Epoch Times
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Noem Meets Netanyahu as Head of US-Backed Gaza Aid Foundation Quits
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on May 25, as the head of a Washington-backed foundation set to distribute aid in Gaza through an Israeli-initiated plan resigned. Netanyahu's office posted a
Nikkei Asia
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Nikkei Asia
Vietnam's To Lam stresses reform 50 years after end of war
HO CHI MINH CITY -- Vietnam's top leader, To Lam, highlighted the importance of reforming the country as it celebrated the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. On April 30th, 1975, communist forces took over Saigon, as Ho Chi Minh City was then known, effectively ending the two-decade-long war between Hanoi and the Washington-backed southern government. Vietnam calls the day the "Liberation of the South or Reunification day"; in the West, it is widely known as the "fall of Saigon."
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Aid freeze silences Latin America media scrutiny of US foes
A choke on US aid threatens to smother media exposing abuses in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, to the unconcealed delight of the very leaders Washington once wanted held accountable. It was one of President Donald Trump's first acts on his return to the White House: curbing the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other bodies that fund humanitarian and democratization projects. And, while a judge has since ruled the action was probably unconstitutional, a dark cloud hangs over aid projects, including some $268 million budgeted for "independent media" in 30 countries in 2025, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Dozens of Latin American outlets have cut staff. Some have closed altogether. At the same time, the Trump administration has dismantled state-run American media with a global audience, such as Radio Y Television Marty -- founded in Florida in the 1980s to counter the Cuban Communist Party's monopoly on information -- and the Voice of America. "It is regrettable that what had been one of the most reliable partners for the independent media sector and Cuban civil society has decided to so freely give the authoritarians cause for celebration," Jose Nieves, editor of the Miami-based Cuban news portal El Toque told AFP of the US retreat. "As we are seeing these days, the dictatorships in the region openly organize their propaganda apparatus, using resources they are not allocating to all the humanitarian crises we are experiencing," he added. - 'Subversion' - Cuba's President Miguel Diaz Canel, who describes critical journalists as Washington-backed "mercenaries," has welcomed the Donald Trump administration's cut to funding for non-state media that operate mostly from abroad, including Miami. USAID-funded projects for "so-called independent media and NGOs," he wrote on X last month, amounted to nothing other than multi-million dollar "subversion." In Cuba, most media outlets belong to the state, their narrative controlled by the Communist Party. Some non-state digital sites have emerged in recent years, many operating from abroad and accessible only to Cubans with a VPN. El Toque, which received money from the National Endowment for Democracy -- a non-profit foundation funded largely by appropriations from the US Congress -- has had to lay off half its staff as its budget was slashed, said Nieves. The resulting "paralysis" of critical media "will only contribute to a more misinformed populace subjected to the lies of the enemies of freedom and democracy," the editor said. - 'Information blackout' - For journalists in Nicaragua and Venezuela -- countries which, like Cuba, are under US sanctions for anti-democratic actions -- the aid cuts have also been devastating. "It put us in a state of emergency," Carlos Herrera, co-founder of the Nicaraguan news site Divergentes told AFP. Divergentes, which operates from Costa Rica, cut its payroll in half and Herrera fears "a total information blackout" in Nicaragua. Several journalists have been banished or stripped of their nationality by Daniel Ortega's government in recent years. At least 300 Nicaraguan journalists have left the country, and four were arrested in the last 12 months, according to RSF. Nicaragua "no longer has independent media" operating within the country, where only state-run and media groups in "total self-censorship" survive, said Herrera. - "USAIDcalypse" - In Venezuela, the media industry is "suffocating, drowning, and we can't even scream for help," said the editor of an online paper who requested anonymity for fear for his safety. More than 200 media outlets in the South American country have closed since the 1999-2013 presidency of socialist leader Hugo Chavez, according to the rights NGO Espacio Publico. Several journalists are under investigation for receiving foreign funds, suspected of being anti-government "agents." "Traditional media have stopped fulfilling their informational role in a climate of self-censorship and brutal censorship," said Rodolfo Rico, a Venezuelan free press activist. Whatever critical media remains depend on foreign funding due to domestic advertisers' fear of reprisals, and for them, Washington's withdrawal amounts to a "USAIDcalypse," added Rico. "Journalists have less and less space to practice their profession, and people have fewer ways to stay informed," a Venezuelan reporter who recently lost his job told AFP, also declining to be named. lp-jb-mis-erc/nn/mlr/dc
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Aid freeze silences Latin America media scrutiny of US foes
A choke on US aid threatens to smother media exposing abuses in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, to the unconcealed delight of the very leaders Washington once wanted held accountable. It was one of President Donald Trump's first acts on his return to the White House: curbing the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other bodies that fund humanitarian and democratization projects. And, while a judge has since ruled the action was probably unconstitutional, a dark cloud hangs over aid projects, including some $268 million budgeted for "independent media" in 30 countries in 2025, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Dozens of Latin American outlets have cut staff. Some have closed altogether. At the same time, the Trump administration has dismantled state-run American media with a global audience, such as Radio Y Television Marty -- founded in Florida in the 1980s to counter the Cuban Communist Party's monopoly on information -- and the Voice of America. "It is regrettable that what had been one of the most reliable partners for the independent media sector and Cuban civil society has decided to so freely give the authoritarians cause for celebration," Jose Nieves, editor of the Miami-based Cuban news portal El Toque told AFP of the US retreat. "As we are seeing these days, the dictatorships in the region openly organize their propaganda apparatus, using resources they are not allocating to all the humanitarian crises we are experiencing," he added. - 'Subversion' - Cuba's President Miguel Diaz Canel, who describes critical journalists as Washington-backed "mercenaries," has welcomed the Donald Trump administration's cut to funding for non-state media that operate mostly from abroad, including Miami. USAID-funded projects for "so-called independent media and NGOs," he wrote on X last month, amounted to nothing other than multi-million dollar "subversion." In Cuba, most media outlets belong to the state, their narrative controlled by the Communist Party. Some non-state digital sites have emerged in recent years, many operating from abroad and accessible only to Cubans with a VPN. El Toque, which received money from the National Endowment for Democracy -- a non-profit foundation funded largely by appropriations from the US Congress -- has had to lay off half its staff as its budget was slashed, said Nieves. The resulting "paralysis" of critical media "will only contribute to a more misinformed populace subjected to the lies of the enemies of freedom and democracy," the editor said. - 'Information blackout' - For journalists in Nicaragua and Venezuela -- countries which, like Cuba, are under US sanctions for anti-democratic actions -- the aid cuts have also been devastating. "It put us in a state of emergency," Carlos Herrera, co-founder of the Nicaraguan news site Divergentes told AFP. Divergentes, which operates from Costa Rica, cut its payroll in half and Herrera fears "a total information blackout" in Nicaragua. Several journalists have been banished or stripped of their nationality by Daniel Ortega's government in recent years. At least 300 Nicaraguan journalists have left the country, and four were arrested in the last 12 months, according to RSF. Nicaragua "no longer has independent media" operating within the country, where only state-run and media groups in "total self-censorship" survive, said Herrera. - "USAIDcalypse" - In Venezuela, the media industry is "suffocating, drowning, and we can't even scream for help," said the editor of an online paper who requested anonymity for fear for his safety. More than 200 media outlets in the South American country have closed since the 1999-2013 presidency of socialist leader Hugo Chavez, according to the rights NGO Espacio Publico. Several journalists are under investigation for receiving foreign funds, suspected of being anti-government "agents." "Traditional media have stopped fulfilling their informational role in a climate of self-censorship and brutal censorship," said Rodolfo Rico, a Venezuelan free press activist. Whatever critical media remains depend on foreign funding due to domestic advertisers' fear of reprisals, and for them, Washington's withdrawal amounts to a "USAIDcalypse," added Rico. "Journalists have less and less space to practice their profession, and people have fewer ways to stay informed," a Venezuelan reporter who recently lost his job told AFP, also declining to be named. lp-jb-mis-erc/nn/mlr/dc
Russia Today
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Pro-Western ex-Georgian president gets new prison term
A court in Georgia has sentenced former President Mikhail Saakashvili to four and a half years in prison for illegally crossing the country's border in 2021. The ruling on Monday adds to the 57-year-old politician's existing sentences: Nine years for embezzlement and six years for abuse of power. 'Taking into account the combination of sentences,' the judge said, his total prison term is now set at 12 years and six months. Saakashvili came to power in Georgia on the back of protests in 2003 as a Washington-backed politician, and served as president until 2013. After his term in office ended, he fled the country amid embezzlement allegations. He moved to Ukraine where he became a citizen, thereby forfeiting his Georgian citizenship. While in Ukraine, he held various political roles following the 2014 Western-backed Maidan coup, but later left the country, accusing the authorities in Kiev of corruption. He was stripped of Ukrainian citizenship in 2017, becoming stateless. After being sentenced in absentia to six years in prison for abuse of power, Saakashvili secretly returned to Georgia in 2021, defying a warrant for his arrest, and was detained by the authorities. The court ruled on Monday that the time he has already served will be counted toward the sentence, which means he will remain in prison until 2034 unless he is pardoned or released on parole. The former president, who is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital, did not attend the announcement of the verdict, and reportedly refused to appear at the previous court session, requesting that the trial be postponed until his recovery. Saakashvili and his supporters have repeatedly denounced the charges against him as politically motivated. His health has reportedly deteriorated in custody, with his legal team and allies alleging mistreatment by the Georgian authorities. Commenting on the ruling in a video address, the former leader claimed he was being unlawfully punished for 'daring and managing to transform Georgia into a successful state.' He called the sentences against him an 'executioner-like, illegal, shameful series of decisions.' Saakashvili is also currently on trial for a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters in 2007. His presidency was marked by a brief military conflict with Russia, which followed his order for Georgian troops to invade the then-breakaway republic of South Ossetia in August 2008, in which Russian peacekeepers stationed in the area were targeted.
