Of Francesco Galofaro

Source: The Antidiplomat
With this article Marx XXI is about to publish a series of in-depth studies on Soros Papers. These are confidential documents of the Open Society Foundation which is headed by the controversial naturalized American financier George Soros, published by the site DC Leaks. Our investigation starts from the European Parliament and the way in which the Foundation carries out lobbying activities on a third of the deputies elected in 2014. In the next issues we will deal more specifically with the electoral campaign of 2014 and how the Foundation attempted to influence her. In the end, we will delve deeper into the aims of the Open Society Foundation, to ask us whether his way of proceeding does not constitute a threat to democracy.
The source
DC Leaks is a site known for leaking, in the past, the emails of the participants in the democratic congress of 2016 [1], rivelando come il gruppo dirigente avesse sabotato la campagna elettorale di Bernie Sanders. In August of 2016 DC Leaks published 2600 files relating to the foundation's activities and strategies Open Society. According to accusations from US security agencies, The Russian group would be hiding behind the page Fancy Bear, specialized in cyber espionage. How the documents were obtained is uncertain. By Laura Silber's admission, spokesperson of the foundation, the data comes from one intranetused by members of the board of directors, by the foundation's staff and partners [2], which suggests a deep throat (whistleblower) internal to the organization, moved by ideal motivations, or to the technique of spear phishing, with ad personam emails that exploit data on the recipient in order to convince him to collaborate.
The topics covered
Whatever the origin of the data, they are therefore authentic. Divided by continents, include material on Soros' offer to help Clinton handle the Albanian crisis 2011; about the foundation's policy regarding Israel; efforts to arouse criticism of those who advocate a hard line against Islamic radicalism [3]. At the time of writing these lines, the DC Leaks site is no longer online [4]. In any case, it is still possible to find some of the documents relating to the Open Society, if you know how to look for them. In the notes I refer to the addresses where I found them and I will make a copy available to the editorial staff of Marx XXI.
I 14 Italian MEPs involved
In recent days the news has spread in print and online newspapers: according to a confidential document from the Open Society Foundation, billionaire George Soros can count on 226 Members of the European Parliament. And since the total number of deputies is 751, it is evidently a political group of some importance. Among the "reliable" 14 they are Italian: 13 belonging to the PD (Benifei, Cofferati, Cozzolino, Del Monte, Gentile, Gualtieri, Kyenge, Morgano, Mosca, Panzeri, Pittella, Schlein, Viotti) e 1 to the Other Europe for Tsipras (Barbara Spinelli). Journalistic articles do not delve further into the matter; upon careful reading, it is clear that they copy from each other and rarely refer to the source, which however is no longer available. For this reason it was necessary to research the original documents and verify how much truth there is in this story.
The lobbyist's guide
The document we refer to consists of many things 177 pages [5]. The first part is a useful and detailed introduction to the structure of Parliament, of the political groups that compose it, of the commissions and issues that individual parliamentarians deal with. The second part lists the reliable components, name by name.
How it works
Let's take the case that Simon De Augiana, giovane lobbyist rampante, be charged by Soros with pleading the cause of free movement of capital between states. The boy is new to Brussels and disoriented in front of the hundreds of unknown deputies from the most disparate countries. Luckily for him, the Open Society Foundation provided him with guidance. A p. ix will learn that the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) has the skills you are looking for (economic and monetary policies, free movement of capital, international monetary and financial system, taxes, financial services, financial activities of the European Investment Bank). Below is a list of 39 parliamentarian reliable, divided by role: president, vice president, coordinators, members, substitutes. Because our young man aims high, consult the president's card immediately, or Roberto Gualtieri, Italian, belonging to the S. parliamentary group&D (Socialists and Democrats). A p. 64 will discover that Gualtieri has been in Parliament since 2009, he is a historian and university professor closely involved in the recent renewal of his party, which led to a major gain in popularity. His interests lie in constitutional affairs, to European integration, to monetary and economic affairs, to the stability mechanism, to foreign affairs etc. The young person will also be able to read a section of "characteristic notes" which specify how Gualtieri is one of the most authoritative voices of the S group&D, elected to one of the most strategic positions in the European Parliament. Obviously they follow his contacts, telephone, mail, post, twitter. At this point our lobbyist will have understood that Gualtieri is precisely the man for him. However, out of scruple, consult the profile of another Italian on the list, or Andrea Cozzolino. So he learns that he has a secondary school diploma, has been involved in communist youth organizations since 1970, with responsibility from 1983. E’ been a regional councilor since 2000, while from 2005 he was regional councilor for agriculture and industry. E’ MEP from 2009. Its interests go to the structural use of funds, health, the geopolitics of the Mediterranean, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Decidedly, it would seem a less relevant profile for the purposes of our young lobbyist, and then in the ECON Cozzolino is merely a substitute. Therefore, our Simon decides to save his energy and concentrate on Gualtieri, and to resort to Cozzolino, compatriot and political groupmate, only in case the direct route was blocked for some reason.
What does “reliable” mean??
What does it mean to find the name of a member of parliament in this guide?? Gualtieri, Cozzolino and Spinelli are on Soros' payroll? La risposta è no. L’introduzione spiega ai lobbisti come comportarsi nei confronti delle persone schedate. Si tratta di alleati provati o probabili. Come specifica il documento, oltre a discutere temi individuali, la Open Society mira a costruire relazioni durature e di fiducia con i parlamentari. I loro profili individuali sono stati realizzati utilizzando sia informazioni pubbliche sia “ricerche originali” – il documento non specifica come vengano realizzate queste ultime. So: Gualtieri, o la Kyenge, I am reliable, non corrupt. In passato potrebbero aver avuto contatti con la Open Foundation. For example, un’organizzazione con cui sono in contatto potrebbe aver ricevuto dei finanziamenti, secondo un meccanismo che approfondiremo nelle prossime puntate della nostra inchiesta. E’ possibile che la loro campagna elettorale sia stata finanziata da Soros, at all legitimately.
Whatever it is, to have relations with Soros the MEPs gain the support of a foundation that, as we will see soon, it is capable of carrying out campaigns on a European scale and has an almost unimaginable spending capacity. So, the problem does not arise in terms of illegality, but rather of political expediency. If you owe your seat to a large loan or if you are hoping for future support for your re-election, it's hard to forget this when you're asked to judge a proposal that affects the financier's interests.
Soon
The political geography of Soros' MEPs. Martin Schultz. The strange loves between Soros and the GUE. The functions of the deputies. The risks associated with lobbying activities.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Democratic_National_Committee_email_leak
[2] http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/216382
[3] http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/291486-thousands-of-soros-docs-released-by-alleged-russia-backed-hackers
[4] http://soros.dcleaks.com/
[5] For example here: https://legacy.gscdn.nl/archives/images/soroskooptbrussel.pdf
SOROS PAPERS I:
How the Open Society Foundation controls a third of the European parliament
by Francesco Galofaro – Polytechnic of Milan