US Senators Challenge Trump to Probe Obama’s Regime-Change Plots - Ex-Diplomat

Six US senators have presented President Donald Trump with a test of his determination to end Barack Obama’s efforts to foster regime change around the world, especially in the Balkans, retired Canadian diplomat Patrick Armstrong told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, a group of six US Senators led by Mike Lee from the state of Utah called on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to investigate US funding political factions within other sovereign nations, including through a George Soros-backed organizations funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

"The administration's reaction to this letter will be a test," Armstrong said. "To many in the general public Soros retains a reputation as a benign do-gooder, but the senators’ charge that the US mission in Macedonia has intervened in party politics of Macedonia, as well as in the shaping of its media environment and civil society."

The senators’ letter specifically mentioned Macedonia, where credible organizations have noted US and EU interference in the country’s political process by aiding leftist and radical groups to foment unrest, as well as interfere in elections, courts and the media.

More recently, US-supported political candidates and Soros-supported groups have promoted the "Tirana platform," which calls for establishing a bilingual, federalized Macedonia with an Albanian part in it that can eventually lead to partitioning of the country. More than 150,000 Macedonians have demonstrated daily in Skopje and 30 other towns in the past two weeks in opposition to redefining their nation state by the Tirana platform.

Armstrong warned that Soros could respond by trying to boost the domestic US opposition to Trump.

"Soros has many connections to the anti-Trump movement and was a significant donor to the Clinton campaign. So, the reaction will be interesting," Armstrong added.

The US government and the billionaire financier have spearheaded the efforts ostensibly working to support democracy and free markets in former communist and other nations through bodies like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Open Society Foundations (OSF).

"’Left’ and ‘right’ is hardly the real issue here: [The senators’] letter is a start at openly questioning Washington's obsession with undermining and overthrowing governments it doesn't like via the agency of so-called independent foundations," Armstrong noted.

In their letter, the senators "also refer to other [US] interferences in other countries. They ask Tillerson to investigate and review these activities. Whether this will lead anywhere remains to be seen," Armstrong also said.

Soros' organizations and so-called GONGOs, or government-organized non-governmental organizations, are inextricably linked in regime change operations around the world, Armstrong added.

GONGOs are usually set up to further the sponsoring-government’s political interests by mimicking civic groups and civil society at home, or promoting its international or geopolitical interests abroad.

Until his retirement, Armstrong was a Canadian diplomat who was a specialist on the Soviet Union and Russia. He previously served as political counsellor in the Canadian Embassy in Moscow.