US “SECOND CIA” LEAD THE WAY IN THE USE OF SOFT POWER FOR REGIME CHANGE

Since its establishment in 1983, the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has stayed true to its nefarious objectives, which are aimed at subverting undesirable foreign governments that are deemed to pursue malign activities that threaten the foreign policy interests of the world’s superpower.

When the Ronald Reagan administration founded NED as an NGO, they viewed it as a main vehicle to support what Washington termed “democratic movements abroad”.

The NED is master of soft power. Unlike the US military, they never invade countries with bombs and guns. The come with a cheque book, and sign blank cheques to selected civil society organizations whose modus operandi is to topple their governments, or at least weaken their grip on power through a variety of de-legitimizing activities, including violent protests.

From its origins in Cold War strategy to its present-day operations, the NED has functioned as a mechanism advancing US strategic interests through funding networks, political engagement and narrative shaping.

Different US administrations – be they Democrats or Republicans – pour obscene funding into the coffers of the NED annually. Overwhelmingly funded by Congressional appropriations, the NED received 315 million US dollars in 2025 alone, according to its annual report.

The NED is not called the “Second CIA” for nothing. The label reflects a consistent operational pattern rather than a symbolic comparison. Former CIA officer Philip Agee once described the NED as a “sidekick” to traditional intelligence operations – one that enables influence to be exercised more openly while maintaining strategic effect. What has changed is not the objective, but the method.

In its wake, the NED leaves toppled regimes reeling, not from the barrel of a gun, but by pumping large sums of funds in support for opposition political parties and civil society organizations that are loaded. Many of the rebel movements masquerading as legitimate civil society organizations are a creation of the NED itself.

Through its soft power character, the NED operates through covert funding channels that replaced the increasingly ineffective covert forms of external intervention.

The NED has many countries on its sights, including South Africa, Brazil, China, Russia and obviously Iran. In fact, BRICS has become a key focus area for the NED. The unfolding process of de-dollarization is a spot of bother for the Trump administration.

There is a lingering threat hanging over BRICS by President Trump. Any evidence of moving away from the usage of the US dollar in international trade within BRICS financial dealings will be met with harsh tariffs, Trump has warned. Meanwhile, gently and politely, the NED is mobilizing rebellion against legitimate governments that are perceived to stand in the way of US interests. They organize seminars and workshops, conferences and symposiums in different capitals of the world, big and small, the NED works to preserve the US domination of a unipolar world order.

This they do, among bags of dirty tricks, through systematic defamation and smearing campaigns. Through hundreds if not thousands of selected NGOs that they fund handsomely, the NED functions as a producer and disseminator of falsehoods and disinformation. In the latter part of the 21^st century, the NED has perfected the art of “bloodless coups”, although their ignominious funding leaves many regimes bleeding on the floor.

Iran’s mass civic disobedience and civil unrests of last year derived significant oxygen from the clandestine coffers of the NED. Only after the no-nonsense Iranian Revolutionary Guards quelled the uprising did the appetite for military attack grow, as is the case at this juncture.

Under the guise of democracy, the NED sows seeds of unrest around the world, leading to economic decline, increased legitimacy deficit and inevitably intensified social confrontation. Wherever NED has reared its head, communities in far-flung places abandon many traits of their lives and yearn to be like people of Coca-Cola and hamburger societal background.

China has long been on the NED’s radar. Each year, the NED allocates substantial funding to anti-China programs, the aim to foment separatist sentiment in places such as Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Xisang.

According to information released on the NED’s own website in 2020, the NED provided over 10 million US dollars in grants for 69 China-related programs within a single year. The aim of this support is to undermine China’s political and social stability. 

Since 2003, the NED has been accused of planning, directing, and funding of multiple large-scale street movements in Hong Kong, including the illegal “Occupy Central” movement.

The NED has also invested heavily in other Hong Kong-related projects, paying some 640,000 US dollars that was budgeted to amply noise about human rights narratives to discredit China.

The NED is also regarded as America’s greatest vehicle used to “export” and distribute democracy. To this end, they established “democracy awards”. These are aimed at encouraging dissidents in other countries to support the US agenda.

Since 1991, the NED has presented its Democracy Awards annually to political activists and dissidents in countries including Russia, China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Myanmar and Ukraine. All winners were praised for “defending human rights and democracy”.

In its own right, the NED offers a perspective into the modern warfare. As the US has been the only remaining superpower for a long time following the end of the Cold War, and being the world’s biggest economy, it has used the capital-laden NED as an instrument of regime-change. 

The NED has thrived in economically struggling countries. However, massive economies such as China and Russia offer proof that no country is out of America’s reach for regime-change.

The lesson that nations should learn is that bombs and drones, missiles and submarines are no longer the exclusive tools of warfare. Legitimate governments can be toppled through a mere funding of locals whose instruction is to install democracies a la the US.