TASS — Pushkov says US’ criticism of Russian law on ‘undesirable organizations’ staggering

The law that was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday and posted on the official web portal of legal information says that a foreign or international, but only non-governmental (NGO), organization can be recognized as undesirable if it "poses a threat to fundamentals of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation, to the country’s defence capacity and security." A decision to this effect is passed by Russia’s prosecutor general or his deputies in coordination with the Russian Foreign Ministry. The Ministry of Justice is to be in charge of making up lists of ‘undesirable organizations’ and of publishing them. 

The law imposes, in particular, a ban on activities, setting up and opening of structural subdivisions of an ‘undesirable organization’ in the Russian Federation and distribution of its information materials.

This is actually funny. The US criticizing Russia for outlawing NGO's that fund opposition groups in Russia aimed at regime change, when the US has made such activity illegal from the anti-Communist days and requires disclosure of foreign lobbying. There is even a push underway to get rid of Chinese-government funded Confucian Institutes at American universities that teach about Chinese culture. The level of hypocrisy is astounding.

And of course the feigned outrage over human rights is ridiculous in light of historical and recent US behavior.

Oh, and when was the last time that the US criticized human rights violations by allies like Saudi Arabia.

It's shocking that the US would even bring this up and invite comparisons.

TASS
Pushkov says US’ criticism of Russian law on ‘undesirable organizations’ staggering

Also

EU expresses concern over Russia’s new law on "undesirable organizations"

The puppets echo their puppet master even as they have to admit hosting US black torture sites.

USA: Law on "undesirable organizations" leads to Russia’s international isolation

On the other hand

Is the most dangerous country in the world the United States of America? According to a new poll from WIN and Gallup International, the U.S. represents the largest threat to world peace today. 

In their annual End of Year [2013] poll, researchers for WIN and Gallup International surveyed more than 66,000 people across 65 nations and found that 24 percent of all respondents answered that the United States “is the greatest threat to peace in the world today.” Pakistan and China fell significantly behind the United States on the poll, with 8 and 6 percent, respectively. Afghanistan, Iran, Israel and North Korea all tied for fourth place with 4 percent.

International Business Times
In Gallup Poll, The Biggest Threat To World Peace Is ... America?By Eric Brown

CTuttle — World’s Richest One Percent Undermine Fight Against Economic Inequality

UNITED NATIONS – The growing economic inequalities between rich and poor – and the lopsided concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the world’s one percent – are undermining international efforts to fight global poverty, environmental degradation and social injustice, according to a civil society alliance.

Comprising ActionAid, Greenpeace, Oxfam and Civicus, the group of widely-known non-governmental organisations (NGO) and global charities warn about the widening gap and imbalance of power between the world’s richest and the rest of the population, which they say, is “warping the rules and policies that affect society, creating a vicious circle of ever growing and harmful undue influence.”

The group identifies a list of key concerns – including tax avoidance, wealth inequality and lack of access to healthcare – as being unduly influenced by the world’s wealthiest one percent.

In a statement released Thursday, on the eve of the World Social Forum (WSF) scheduled to take place in Tunis Mar. 24-28, the group argues the concentration of wealth and power is now a critical and binding factor that must be challenged “if we are to create lasting solutions to poverty and climate change.”....

Peace and prosperity versus poverty and war. Social justice versus neoliberalism, neo-imperialism and neocolonialism.

Firedoglake
World’s Richest One Percent Undermine Fight Against Economic Inequality
CTuttle

Robert Parry — CIA’s Hidden Hand in ‘Democracy’ Groups

Special Report: Documents from the Reagan presidential library reveal that two major institutions promoting “democracy” and “freedom” — Freedom House and National Endowment for Democracy — worked hand-in-glove, behind-the-scenes, with a CIA propaganda expert in the 1980s, reports Robert Parry.

Indeed, NED and Freedom House often work as a kind of tag-team with NED financing “non-governmental organizations” inside targeted countries and Freedom House berating those governments if they crack down on U.S.-funded NGOs.
For instance, on Nov. 16, 2012, NED and Freedom House joined together to denounce legislation passed by the Russian parliament that required recipients of foreign political money to register with the government. 

Or, as NED and Freedom House framed the issue: the Russian Duma sought to “restrict human rights and the activities of civil society organizations and their ability to receive support from abroad. … Changes to Russia’s NGO legislation will soon require civil society organizations receiving foreign funds to choose between registering as ‘foreign agents’ or facing significant financial penalties and potential criminal charges.”
Of course, the United States has a nearly identical Foreign Agent Registration Act that likewise requires entities that receive foreign funding and seek to influence U.S. government policy to register with the Justice Department or face possible fines or imprisonment. 

But the Russian law would impede NED’s efforts to destabilize the Russian government through funding of political activists, journalists and civic organizations, so it was denounced as an infringement of human rights and helped justify Freedom House’s rating of Russia as “not free.” 

The Russian government’s concerns were not entirely paranoid. On Sept. 26, 2013, Gershman, in effect, charted the course for the crisis in Ukraine and the greater neocon goal of regime change in Russia. In a Washington Post op-ed, Gershman called Ukraine “the biggest prize” and explained how pulling it into the Western camp could contribute to the ultimate defeat of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

“Ukraine’s choice to join Europe will accelerate the demise of the ideology of Russian imperialism that Putin represents,” Gershman wrote. “Russians, too, face a choice, and Putin may find himself on the losing end not just in the near abroad but within Russia itself.” 

With NED’s budget now exceeding $100 million a year — and with many NGOs headquartered in Washington — Gershman has attained the status of a major paymaster for the neocon movement with his words carrying extra clout because he can fund or de-fund many a project. 

Thus, three decades after CIA Director William Casey and his propaganda specialist Walter Raymond Jr. struggled to arrange funding for Freedom House and other organizations that would promote an interventionist agenda, their brainchild – the National Endowment for Democracy – was still around picking up those tabs.

And the US is concerned about Chinese government backed Confucius Institutes on US campuses, because the purpose of these institutes is to portray Chinese culture in a positive light. They also provide Chinese language instruction.

Consortium News
CIA’s Hidden Hand in ‘Democracy’ Groups

Robert Parry

See also

Deep Resource
The Face Behind the Maidan Coup

The so-called NGO National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has been run by a Carl Gershman ever since its founding in 1984. But an organisation that is funded by the US government to the tune of $100 million/year can’t be called a “non-governmental organisation”, in reality it is just another tool for US subversion. The USSR had its Comintern, the US has its NGOs, it is as simple as that. And the single purpose of both the Comintern of former fame, as well as these present day NGOs was/is the overthrow of foreign governments on behalf of the governments of the USSR/USA. And the end goal of both the USSR as well as the US was/is a global empire, run by the likes of Carl Gershwin.

Antik Panda — China to 'Regulate' Foreign NGOs

No fomenting regime change.

The Diplomat

China to 'Regulate' Foreign NGOs

Antik Panda