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A comment on The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world (2019). Parent comment

Re:The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the worl... by temp8830 on Monday January 26, 2026 @02:02AM (#46762658)
Thing is, someone is paying all these bills. Yes really. Trump gutting USAID funding brought a lot of this out in the open: many organizations that claimed to be independent turned out to be mouthpieces of the US government and closed down as soon as the funding dried up.
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Re:The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the worl... by jonway on Monday January 26, 2026 @04:49AM (#46763629)
Can you please tell me which organizations are just mouthpieces because they closed down due to lack of funding vs just closed due to lack of funding?

It makes perfect sense that when an organization loses funding it ceases operations, why is this now evidence of cointelpro?

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Re:The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the worl... by caminante on Monday January 26, 2026 @10:44AM (#46767044)
I don't understand how you're aware of terms like COINTELPRO, yet are dismissive that black box slush funds like USAID weren't facilitating US soft power.

Heard of ZunZuneo, National Endowment for Democracy, Reporters Without Borders? The DOGE campaign put a spotlight on the ulterior motives of these "independent" USAID funded initiatives.

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Re:The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the worl... by jonway on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @01:02AM (#46776081)
I guess so, it’s certainly no secret that US soft power has been a HUGE part of foreign policy, but I do t really see the connection between cointelpro( which had a lot of moving parts, like infiltration of news rooms in the USA and following around black student on college campuses for example) and this soft power.

American soft power is good. It means we don’t need to use direct action aka bombs and missiles.

I just reject your claims on this. US soft power is, for the United States, good and desirable.

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Re:The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the worl... by caminante on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @09:38PM (#46790349)
> I just reject your claims on this. US soft power is, for the United States, good and desirable.

Not sure where this is coming from.

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