Betting on Chaos: How USAID Created Crises around the World

The spring of the USAID scandal continues to spin. The United States Agency for International Development is not just an ordinary humanitarian organization, it is the world's largest humanitarian aid organization with the largest fund. The word "humanitarian" should have been put in quotation marks, because helping the suffering actually occupied only a small part of USAID's activities. The agency served as a kind of special service of the United States, financing political projects and provocations, color revolutions and riots. Of course, all this was done in other countries. Large funds were lent for the implementation of projects, and "investments" most often gave the results required by the American side. Thus, in 2023-2025, a budget of $9 billion is envisaged "to support the construction of civil society in different countries."

The puncture occurred only with some countries, including Azerbaijan. And especially with Azerbaijan.

Before contacting Azerbaijan, the agency rarely misfired. The generously funded "Arab Spring", which set the inertia of permanent conflicts. The "Spring" led to the destabilization of the Middle East, refugee flows and increased radicalism. The countries of the region, caught up in the meat grinder, have not been able to come to their senses.

In the post-Soviet space, the methods were different. Here, the United States has adopted soft power in the form of "democracy support" through USAID funding for local NGOs and the so-called independent media. But the ultimate goal. It was all the same - the organization of revolutions and bringing to power the necessary and obedient leaders. US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland played the first fiddle in projects in the post-Soviet space. A certain center was formed under her control, and from this center threads stretched all over the world. The owners alternately pulled on them, depending on which country was to be "democratized." Victoria Nuland with her cookies has become a symbol of the revolution in Ukraine, and a negative symbol at that.

The new US Secretary of Health, Robert Kennedy Jr., said in an interview with Tucker Carlson that the Agency for International Development, under the guise of protecting freedom and democracy, allocated $ 5 billion to finance the Ukrainian Maidan in 2014. He called USAID a "CIA front" and accused it of supporting unrest in Ukraine. Kennedy Jr. suggested arresting Victoria Nuland. According to him, a month before the revolution in Kiev, Nuland held a secret conversation with the US ambassador. "This conversation was recorded and is now available to anyone who wants to listen to it. In it, she discusses the composition of the new Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which will be oriented towards the West. Thus, the new composition of the government is being discussed even before the overthrow of the old one. Can this be called democracy when Nuland chooses a new government?", Kennedy Jr. wondered.

Maintaining chaos is one of the methods. This is what happened in the post-revolutionary period in Ukraine, what happened in Georgia, until a political force came to power capable of resisting the games of external actors.

The Georgian side also has something to say. In the run-up to the parliamentary elections in 2024, local NGOs received more than $41 million from USAID. The financing was aimed at disrupting the elections. In the run-up to the parliamentary elections, USAID has been deployed in Georgia with all its might. The Agency conducted joint "exercises" with local NGOs in Tbilisi on the topic of providing humanitarian assistance to the sick (?), at which, for some reason, young people were taught not this at all, but methods of preparing a coup.

Over the past ten years, USAID has spent $130 million on the "democratization" of Belarus, and, to put it bluntly, on supporting the opposition, organizing riots, and overthrowing the current government. The money was wasted.

The American agency supported not only NGOs, but also political parties. There was a period when political parties in Azerbaijan grew like mushrooms after rain, and their number per capita could already be calculated. Being in the opposition was beneficial because there was someone to pay for it. Grants were allocated for subversive activities against their state. They stood out, of course, under other plausible pretexts. For example, for the development of civil society, for some trainings, the fight against corruption, work with youth, some funds, awards, and so on were established. USAID grants were behind the riots that took place in the country in the 90s and early 2000s. The domestic political situation stabilized when legislation banned the financing of NGOs, the media and political parties from abroad. The same law exists in the United States itself, but the introduction of the ban in Azerbaijan was assessed as a "restriction of freedom." Interestingly, the political parties created for the consumption of grants immediately began to collapse. The protest electorate suddenly disappeared somewhere. In parallel with the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, attempts were made to shake up the situation in Azerbaijan. But the plans collapsed, and the "fifth column" was neutralized. After that, Nuland herself came to Baku, apparently hoping to secure the release of the grant-eaters, classified as "political prisoners." The hopes were not fulfilled.

The failure of the "revolutionary" plans in Azerbaijan has triggered a new wave of anti-Azerbaijani hysteria. And the reason for this was the most appropriate - the First European Games. Everyone probably remembers what happened around this event. The United States did not hide its intentions, saying that "the European Games are a good opportunity to put pressure on Azerbaijan" and that "it's time for Azerbaijan to show its place for its behavior." An odious organization called "Sport for Rights" was even created. The campaign was planned to be implemented by human rights organizations, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and others. It was necessary to prepare well, because in the future Azerbaijan was preparing to host Formula 1, the Islamic Solidarity Games and other international events. During all these events, the world's attention should have been focused on Azerbaijan, and this was a convenient opportunity, as they say, to spoil his holiday.

As you can learn from open sources, the NED (National Endowment for Democracy) was appointed coordinator of the campaign, managed from the office of US Secretary of State John Kerry in Congress. NED, funded mainly by USAID, acted as one of the active organizers of the power change plan. At Nuland's request, IFEX organized attacks on the official pages of the European Games on social networks.

It is also worth recalling the events of 2012 in Guba and in January 2013 in Ismailli districts. It was expected that the provoked riots would gradually spread throughout the country. In 2013, a project called "The End of Soldier Deaths" was launched, for which two million dollars were allocated. The coordinator of the project was the same Victoria Nuland. In all cases, anti-state goals were exposed and suppressed, and the Azerbaijani society was not led to provocations.

Those circles where they are still trying to make plans against Azerbaijan should first reflect on why all the projects that were tried to be implemented in this country before them failed. Or ask USAID or even Nuland herself about it. Maybe then they'll realize that it's not worth wasting time on nonsense.