When 'Freedom' Equals Fascism

By Mark Ames, The eXile. Posted January 13, 2006.

Western countries are shrieking about Vladimir Putin's crackdown on foreign NGOs, but in the case of Freedom House, it is an act of self-defense.

Vladimir Putin's moves to tighten controls over foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) has recently been portrayed in the West as yet another example of Russia's savage authoritarianism and anti-Western paranoia. While only a drunken apologist could deny Putin's authoritarianism, the real question is whether or not the crackdown on NGOs is a symptom of classic tyrant-paranoia, or if it has a valid basis.

If the Putin regime is being paranoid, then the case of blue-chip NGO Freedom House -- an American NGO whose name seems to pop up more than any other in this part of the world, particularly when it comes to the push for democracy -- provides a clear example of Henry Kissinger's dictum that "even a paranoid has some real enemies."