Mike Benz: The CIA’s Use of NGOs to Coup Foreign Governments, and How They’re Doing It to Trump

What NGOs Are and Why They Matter

1. The Main Idea in a Nutshell

   • Many groups that call themselves NGOs (non-governmental organizations) aren't independent charities but are actually used by the U.S. government and wealthy donors to secretly control events in other countries for their own benefit.

2. The Key Takeaways

   • NGOs as Secret Tools: Many powerful NGOs are not truly "non-governmental" but act as secret arms of the government, allowing agencies like the CIA and the State Department to influence other countries without being officially involved. This is called "plausible deniability" — if something goes wrong, the government can say, "It wasn't us!"
   • A Three-Layer System of Power: The speaker describes a power structure they call "the blob." It has three parts: (1) The government (State Department, CIA), (2) The NGOs they fund and work with, and (3) a "donor drafter" class of super-rich people and giant corporations who use the government's power to clear the way for their businesses to make more money.
   • It's All About Money and Power: This system allows billionaires and huge companies to use their foundations (NGOs) to push for policies that help their own investments. They might start protests or media campaigns that look like they're for a good cause, but are really designed to rig a situation in their favor financially.

   • A Sneaky History: The whole idea of using NGOs for secret missions started after World War II. The CIA used them to carry out its very first covert action: rigging the 1948 election in Italy to make sure a pro-American candidate won.

   • Fun Facts & Key Numbers:

     • Fact: In the 1990s, a top U.S. official said that America's foreign policy had to be "synchronized" with the plans of George Soros's private foundation, showing how much influence it had.
     • Fact: The CIA's first secret operation was to rig the 1948 Italian election. A CIA leader at the time said without their help, their preferred candidate would have lost 60% to 40%.
     • Fact: In a recent election, billionaire George Soros donated $100 million to the Democratic party, two and a half times more than the next biggest donor.

3. Important Quotes, Explained

• Quote: "> [W]e have to synchronize US foreign policy with the foreign policy set out by the Open Society Foundation."

  • What it Means: A high-level U.S. government official basically admitted that they had to make sure America's international plans lined up with the plans of a private foundation run by one super-rich guy, George Soros.
  • Why it Matters: This is a huge deal because it shows that a private organization, funded by one person, had become so powerful that the U.S. government treated it like an allied country (like the UK or France) and adjusted its own actions to match.

• Quote: "> I demand I will I I am not allowed to know... whether that is funded by a foreign government and how much is funding."

  • What it Means: The speaker is sarcastically pretending to be a protester in a foreign country. He's making fun of the idea that people would protest to prevent their own country from passing laws that would show them where the money for NGOs is coming from.
  • Why it Matters: This highlights how strange the situation is. The speaker argues these protests are fake, organized by the NGOs themselves to stop transparency laws that would expose them as tools of foreign governments like the U.S.

4. The Main Arguments (The 'Why')

   1. First, the author argues that NGOs were created with a secret purpose. After WWII, the U.S. government wanted a way to fight "political warfare" against its enemies without officially being at war. NGOs became the perfect deniable front to fund allies, spread propaganda, and even rig elections.
   2. Next, they provide evidence that this system is a partnership between government, NGOs, and big business. Super-rich donors and corporations (the "donor drafter class") use their influence and money to get the government to act in ways that help their international businesses, like securing mining rights or trade routes. The NGOs are the on-the-ground players that make it happen.
   3. Finally, they point out that this is a system of insider trading on a global scale. Using the example of a mine in Mongolia, they show how George Soros's NGOs created protests to stop a deal they claimed was bad for Mongolia. In reality, this was to force a better deal for a mining company, which Soros's fund then bought into for a massive profit before anyone else knew what was happening.

5. Questions to Make You Think

   • Q: Are all NGOs part of this secret system?
   • A: The text focuses on the huge, politically powerful NGOs, especially those involved in foreign policy like the Open Society Foundation. It mentions that the popular idea of an NGO is something like "Doctors Without Borders," but it argues the ones that really shape world events are part of this interconnected system of government and corporate power.
   • Q: Why would the U.S. government want to hide what it's doing?
   • A: The text explains this is for "plausible deniability." If the government uses an NGO to, for example, overthrow a leader in another country and it goes badly, the U.S. can say, "That wasn't us! It was that independent charity group. We had no idea." It allows them to do dirty work without taking the blame.
   • Q: Can a rich person just pay the government to go to war for them?
   • A: The text says this is basically legal and has been happening for over a century. It's not as direct as writing a check to the Pentagon for a war, but powerful corporations and donors can "co-sponsor" government projects with their own money. They also donate huge amounts to politicians, and in return, the government uses its power (diplomacy, military) to help those corporations make money overseas.

6. Why This Matters & What's Next

   • Why You Should Care: This idea changes how you might look at the news. When you see stories about protests, revolutions, or big charity projects in other parts of the world, it's worth asking who is really funding them and what their hidden motives might be. It suggests that global politics is a complicated game where the interests of regular people aren't always the top priority.
   • Learn More: The speaker mentions a famous short book called War is a Racket by Smedley Butler. Butler was a famous Marine Corps general who, after he retired, wrote about how he spent his career basically acting as a "gangster for capitalism," overthrowing governments in Central America for the benefit of big American companies. It's a powerful, easy read that makes a very similar point to this podcast.