State Department Funds Interventions in Slovakia’s Media, Legal Systems

May 20—The U.S. State Department, over the last four years, has shunted at least $750,000 into 10 NGOs in Slovakia, for purposes aimed at shaping public opinion, and influencing its judiciary, through grants from the office of the Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Other U.S. government offices are involved in the same interference, along with such private outfits as George Soros’s “Open Society.” The Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs office states that its grants are for “achieving the goals and objectives of American foreign policy … by informing and influencing foreign publics….”

A full seven of the ten grant projects were designed for controlling public opinion: The Institute for Strategic Policies—€25,000 to “design measures related to combatting disinformation and building cognitive resilience.” The Center for European Policy Analysis—€20,000 to “facilitate and support expert dialogue and analytical content on U.S. trans-Atlantic cooperation in the fight against disinformation.” The Adapt Institute—€50,000 in September 2023 to “increase support for Ukraine by combatting Russian disinformation and addressing war fatigue in Slovakia.” The Konspiratori.sk website—€55,000 to build fact-checking capacities. The Slovak Institute for Security Policy—€14,000 to raise awareness of disinformation and hybrid threats. The Institute for Building Resilience—a grant to “build societal resilience” through “applied communication strategies for modern patriotism in information warfare.” The Comenius University—€15,000 to map “increased anti-Western sentiments among the general population.” The Jan Kuciak Investigative Center—€85,000 to “strengthen evidence-based media content” on “Russian interference in the V4 [Visegrad Group] countries.”

The other three State Department grants dealt with the “rule of law.” The Institute for a Well-Governed Society—€322,000 to increase independence and responsibility of judges. Via Iuris—€77,000 for “the reform of the prosecutor’s office in Slovakia.” Transparency International—€35,000 to aid NGOs on building new leaders to “strengthen democratic resilience through the support of institutional independence….”