Report on the National Endowment for Democracy

This report was prepared on the basis of public source material and presents a summary of the criticisms directed against the various forms of manipulation used by the U.S. organization National Endowment for Democracy through various other private, non-government or humanitarian organizations. Among them, emphasis is placed on four entities: International Republican Institute (IRI), National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), American Center for International Labor (connected with the International Labor Union AFL-CIO) and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). NED was established after U.S. Senate hearings on illegal CIA activities in the 1970s. It was conceived as an organization which having declared itself a private foundation could thus openly finance those activities the CIA had previously used in its secret operations.This involved co-opting politicians, journalists, and other individuals from public life in order to create what were termed in earlier times „agents of influence“. Toppling or installing governments were typical NED activities. This goal was achieved through media campaigns, manipulation of elections, pressure applied on governments, and so forth. Based on examples in this text, Croatia was, from the time of its declaration of independence, a clear focus of such operations