June 28, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - ATN) - The US government-funded media platform Prachatai has redesigned its website, further burying its foreign funding disclosure - a disclosure it made in 2011-2012 only after pressure was placed on it by this author to do so.
The disclosure requires readers to scroll down and click "Read More" in order to see it.
Under the redesign, Prachatai does however ensure those who do not need to click to see Prachatai's request for donations - despite Prachatai receiving several million baht a year from the US government, foreign corporate-funded foundations including convicted financial criminal George Sorors' Open Society.
To date, Prachatai has only made one disclosure regarding its foreign funding and ties and has not updated it since 2011 (9 years ago). Virtually all of the 8 million baht it disclosed came from the US government or affiliated corporate and government foundations.
It is still listed by the US State Department's National Endowment for Democracy (NED) as a recipient of funds (1.5 million Thai baht) as of 2019 under the "Foundation for Community Educational Media" after previously being referred to as "Prachatai" in previous NED disclosures.
Prachatai's "executive director" - Chiranuch Premchaiporn - is still listed by the US NED as an NED "Fellow."
NED Fellows admittedly contact counterparts in Washington calling into serious question Prachatai's claims of being "an independent, non-profit, daily web newspaper" rather than an outlet of US State Department-funded propaganda.
Prachatai Does Propaganda, Not Journalism
Beyond merely being funded by the US, Prachatai actively slants its reporting in favor of US agendas and US-backed opposition figures as well as other US-funded fronts including "Thai Lawyers for Human Rights" whose members regularly lead street protests against the current Thai government.
Little to nothing is mentioned by Prachatai regarding the funding and support the "activists" its advocates for on its website receive nor the hypocrisy of supporting "human rights" and "democracy" while supporting an opposition that has trampled both.
Current protests promoted by Prachatai are backed by political parties linked to billionaire fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra who maintains the worst human rights record in Thailand's history. In 2003 alone a politically-motivated "war on drugs" left nearly 3,000 people dead in 90 days. Thaksin has regularly used violence against his political opponents including via his "red shirt" street front whom Prachatai regularly promotes and protects by omitting their violence and only reporting government and military efforts made in response to it.
Thaksin Shinawatra had regularly served US interests while in power from 2001-2006 and since his ousting from power has been represented by some of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington including Edelman. Through Edelman - Kenneth Adelman would lobby for Thaksin Shinawatra while concurrently charing NED's partner organization - Freedom House.
Prachatai's omission of these facts constitutes one-sided reporting, illustrating that Prachatai is not only engaged in propaganda rather than impartial news or journalism - it is engaged in propaganda funded by the very malign special interests real journalism is supposed to expose.
Efforts to contact Prachatai to ask them about their website redesign and why they are begging for donations while further burying disclosures of the millions of baht they receive from abroad are complicated by the fact that this author has been censored on Facebook and Twitter on which Prachatai operates - censorship Prachatai failed to report on or condemn - and censorship its partner organizations helped justify and celebrated.
The National Endowment for Democracy is Run by Corporations & Warmongers, Not Democrats
The National Endowment for Democracy has nothing to do with actually promoting democracy.
Its source of funding and those who chair it are undoubtedly the worst offenders regarding human rights and democracy. They include proponents of the illegal US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria where millions of people have been killed, maimed, displaced, or have otherwise had their lives disrupted based on now verified lies.
These people include Anne Applebaum, Victoria Nuland, George Weigel, and Elliott Abrams - all of whom have been vocal pro-war proponents working through a variety of avenues including the US mainstream media, the US government, and Washington's extensive corporate-funded think tank networks.
NED is either funded by or includes representatives from large corporations guilty of a myriad of abuses around the globe including weapon manufacturers like Boeing, oil corporations like Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, and corrupt financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.
It would be difficult for anyone serious to try to justify taking money from such interests for the cause of advancing "democracy" or "human rights."
Getting funding, fellowships, and awards from a nation illegally invading, occupying, bombing, droning, and overthrowing the governments of nations around the globe is indefensible.
Prachatai's primary source of funding is from the US and its allies doing precisely this around the globe. In nations where the US cannot invade, occupy, drone, or directly overthrow the governments of - it funds subversion via organizations like NED and through fronts like Prachatai.
It should surprise no one that Prachatai - despite receiving millions of baht a year from the US government and other foreign sources - is shameless enough to beg for donations on its website while attempting to hide its funding from readers.
It is also no surprise that at a time when Thailand needs unity and hard work to stand up after the COVID-19 lockdown - Prachatai's staff who still regularly enjoyed their US funding think more important issues are defending "red shirt" leaders who are being sent to jail and promoting protests with a dozen people celebrating an 88 year old coup.
The disclosure requires readers to scroll down and click "Read More" in order to see it.
Under the redesign, Prachatai does however ensure those who do not need to click to see Prachatai's request for donations - despite Prachatai receiving several million baht a year from the US government, foreign corporate-funded foundations including convicted financial criminal George Sorors' Open Society.
To date, Prachatai has only made one disclosure regarding its foreign funding and ties and has not updated it since 2011 (9 years ago). Virtually all of the 8 million baht it disclosed came from the US government or affiliated corporate and government foundations.
It is still listed by the US State Department's National Endowment for Democracy (NED) as a recipient of funds (1.5 million Thai baht) as of 2019 under the "Foundation for Community Educational Media" after previously being referred to as "Prachatai" in previous NED disclosures.
Prachatai's "executive director" - Chiranuch Premchaiporn - is still listed by the US NED as an NED "Fellow."
NED Fellows admittedly contact counterparts in Washington calling into serious question Prachatai's claims of being "an independent, non-profit, daily web newspaper" rather than an outlet of US State Department-funded propaganda.
Prachatai Does Propaganda, Not Journalism
Beyond merely being funded by the US, Prachatai actively slants its reporting in favor of US agendas and US-backed opposition figures as well as other US-funded fronts including "Thai Lawyers for Human Rights" whose members regularly lead street protests against the current Thai government.
Little to nothing is mentioned by Prachatai regarding the funding and support the "activists" its advocates for on its website receive nor the hypocrisy of supporting "human rights" and "democracy" while supporting an opposition that has trampled both.
Current protests promoted by Prachatai are backed by political parties linked to billionaire fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra who maintains the worst human rights record in Thailand's history. In 2003 alone a politically-motivated "war on drugs" left nearly 3,000 people dead in 90 days. Thaksin has regularly used violence against his political opponents including via his "red shirt" street front whom Prachatai regularly promotes and protects by omitting their violence and only reporting government and military efforts made in response to it.
Thaksin Shinawatra had regularly served US interests while in power from 2001-2006 and since his ousting from power has been represented by some of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington including Edelman. Through Edelman - Kenneth Adelman would lobby for Thaksin Shinawatra while concurrently charing NED's partner organization - Freedom House.
Prachatai's omission of these facts constitutes one-sided reporting, illustrating that Prachatai is not only engaged in propaganda rather than impartial news or journalism - it is engaged in propaganda funded by the very malign special interests real journalism is supposed to expose.
Efforts to contact Prachatai to ask them about their website redesign and why they are begging for donations while further burying disclosures of the millions of baht they receive from abroad are complicated by the fact that this author has been censored on Facebook and Twitter on which Prachatai operates - censorship Prachatai failed to report on or condemn - and censorship its partner organizations helped justify and celebrated.
The National Endowment for Democracy is Run by Corporations & Warmongers, Not Democrats
The National Endowment for Democracy has nothing to do with actually promoting democracy.
Its source of funding and those who chair it are undoubtedly the worst offenders regarding human rights and democracy. They include proponents of the illegal US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria where millions of people have been killed, maimed, displaced, or have otherwise had their lives disrupted based on now verified lies.
These people include Anne Applebaum, Victoria Nuland, George Weigel, and Elliott Abrams - all of whom have been vocal pro-war proponents working through a variety of avenues including the US mainstream media, the US government, and Washington's extensive corporate-funded think tank networks.
NED is either funded by or includes representatives from large corporations guilty of a myriad of abuses around the globe including weapon manufacturers like Boeing, oil corporations like Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, and corrupt financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.
It would be difficult for anyone serious to try to justify taking money from such interests for the cause of advancing "democracy" or "human rights."
Getting funding, fellowships, and awards from a nation illegally invading, occupying, bombing, droning, and overthrowing the governments of nations around the globe is indefensible.
Prachatai's primary source of funding is from the US and its allies doing precisely this around the globe. In nations where the US cannot invade, occupy, drone, or directly overthrow the governments of - it funds subversion via organizations like NED and through fronts like Prachatai.
It should surprise no one that Prachatai - despite receiving millions of baht a year from the US government and other foreign sources - is shameless enough to beg for donations on its website while attempting to hide its funding from readers.
It is also no surprise that at a time when Thailand needs unity and hard work to stand up after the COVID-19 lockdown - Prachatai's staff who still regularly enjoyed their US funding think more important issues are defending "red shirt" leaders who are being sent to jail and promoting protests with a dozen people celebrating an 88 year old coup.
