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Roya News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Roya News
US considers cutting nearly all international pro-democracy aid programs
Nearly all US-funded pro-democracy programs operating under the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) are at risk of termination, according to internal briefings on a sweeping foreign assistance review led by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The review, sources say, recommends slashing nearly USD 1.3 billion in grants, leaving just two programs untouched: one in China and one in Yemen, The Guardian reported. 'This would terminate about 80 percent of all US government foreign assistance at the State Department,' said a department official briefed on the matter. The recommendations signal a dramatic shift in US foreign policy priorities under the Trump administration. Critics warn that cutting these programs would leave pro-democracy activists in authoritarian countries vulnerable, with many of these initiatives focused on digital freedom, election support, transnational repression, and emergency protection for at-risk civil society figures. Most DRL-backed programs are kept confidential due to the sensitive nature of their work in hostile regimes like Venezuela, Cuba, and China. However, the sudden recommendation to terminate hundreds of grants stunned many inside the State Department. Officials said leadership in both DRL and the Office of Foreign Assistance were 'in shock.' Adding to the controversy, a newly appointed senior adviser to DRL, Samuel Samson, a recent college graduate and rising conservative figure, has reportedly proposed repurposing Congressionally allocated funds to support administration-linked priorities, including resettling Afrikaners to the US and backing the legal defense of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Samson also led a US delegation in May that met with senior officials from Le Pen's National Rally party. Though Le Pen did not meet with him personally, the group rejected a US offer of public support, according to Reuters. Samson's recent writings have drawn criticism as well, particularly a State Department Substack post in which he questioned the designation of Germany's far-right AfD as an extremist party, claiming it undermines democratic elections in Europe. It remains unclear whether his recommendations were included in DRL's official budget planning. The review's release follows OMB Director Russell Vought's Senate testimony, during which he claimed the State Department's foreign assistance programs remained fully operational. Just days later, the results landed at DRL, coinciding with the department's plan to lay off up to 3,400 staff and shutter around 300 offices as part of a massive restructuring championed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Under this reorganization, DRL is expected to be gutted, its aid programs stripped, and its staff laid off. Sources noted this would make it nearly impossible to challenge the funding cuts or defend terminated grants, as employees would lose access to the very resources and email systems required to do so. 'If you cut all the programs in DRL, then, why would you need to keep the staff if they're not doing any work,' said one source familiar with the plan. The proposed dismantling of DRL has sparked outrage from Democratic lawmakers. Ten senators recently wrote a letter to Rubio urging him to reconsider. 'The proposed reorganization would result in a structural and substantive demotion of human rights promotion,' they wrote, arguing it runs counter to Rubio's past as a vocal advocate for oppressed peoples. Citing Rubio's own prior testimony, they added, 'Millions of people around the world who live in societies dominated by fear and oppression look to the United States of America to champion their cause… There are no greater champions more capable of advancing this noble cause than the dedicated staff in DRL.' Despite mounting concerns, the State Department's official line remains cautious. When asked for comment, a senior official said, 'The provision of any foreign assistance, including for democracy programming, will be guided by whether it makes America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.' Still, many inside and outside the department worry that once these programs are gone, and the personnel with them, America's global human rights leadership will be diminished for years to come.
Middle East Eye
3 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
US to slash nearly all funding for overseas pro-democracy initiatives: Report
The US State Department has been advised to cut nearly $1.3bn in grants for global pro-democracy initiatives, according to a report in The Guardian on Thursday. The move would cut approximately 80 percent of programmes that sit under the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour (DRL), except for two programmes that operate in China and Yemen. The State Department oversees the DRL. The overhaul was reportedly outlined in a foreign assistance review produced by the Office of Management and Budget and would impact 391 active grants. The review was seen by three State Department officials, who were sourced by The Guardian. Such programmes fund pro-democracy activists or communities overseas in places like Cuba and Venezuela, with little information on these initiatives available, as the State Department fears it will put involved individuals in danger. According to the State Department website, DRL was created in 1977 to 'help advance individual liberty and democratic freedoms around the world' and supports people who wish 'to live in freedom and under democratic governments as a means of combating terrorism and the spread of authoritarianism'. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The report went on to say that a new senior adviser to DRL recommended using funds earmarked by Congress to cover key administration projects, such as the resettlement of White South African refugees to the US, and to support the legal defence of right-wing French politician Marine Le Pen. It is currently unclear whether DRL will follow the recommendations. The senior adviser providing the recommendations, as outlined in a DRL white paper, is a recent college graduate named Samuel Samson, according to the report. Samson is one of a number of young people to rise under the Trump administration, and his recommendations reflect a change in how the US is approaching foreign intervention. Samson recently wrote a controversial post on the State Department's Substack page, titled 'The Need for Civilizational Allies in Europe', in which he criticises Europe for having 'developed into a hotbed of digital censorship, mass migration, restrictions on religious freedom and numerous other assaults on democratic self-governance'. State Department cuts In April, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he was restructuring the State Department by cutting jobs and scaling back human rights offices. "The Department is bloated, bureaucratic and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great-power competition," Rubio said in a statement, referring to the US rivalry with China. Middle East activists unable to relocate and survive after Trump's USAID cuts Read More » "The sprawling bureaucracy created a system more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America's core national interests." One key change will be the elimination of a division in charge of "civilian security, democracy and human rights", the statement went on to say. It will be replaced by a new office of "coordination for foreign assistance and humanitarian affairs" that will absorb the functions of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The agency was gutted by the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency at the start of the Trump administration. The cuts at USAID eliminated more than 80 percent of programmes. The new office will oversee a bureau on democracy, human rights and religious freedom - a shift from the current democracy, human rights and labour bureau, which included advocacy for workers' rights overseas. In an opinion piece, Rubio aired grievances about previous work within the bureau, including its unsuccessful internal push to restrict weapons sales to Israel on human rights grounds. "The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor became a platform for left-wing activists to wage vendettas against 'anti-woke' leaders in nations such as Poland, Hungary and Brazil, and to transform their hatred of Israel into concrete policies such as arms embargoes," he wrote in the piece on Substack. Almost 3,400 employees are set to be laid off at any time now. Withering US soft power Since President Donald Trump took office, he has been eroding the traditional pillars of American diplomacy and soft power worldwide. Middle East Eye reported on the impact of the initial USAID cuts on 1.8 million Sudanese experiencing famine. Food boxes sent by the US were rotting in warehouses because the agency no longer provided the necessary funds for actual distribution. Since 1946, the Middle East and North Africa have been the biggest recipients of US financial assistance. Between April 2023 and April 2024, Congress appropriated approximately $9bn for the region. While most of the aid went towards military assistance, a fraction was funnelled into democracy programmes via USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy, a quasi-autonomous agency funded largely by the US Congress. MEE reported in May that the Trump cuts to USAID have already impacted human rights defenders in the region who were reliant on the small grants to relocate and resettle abroad.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
US state department told to terminate nearly all its overseas pro-democracy programs
The US state department has been advised to terminate grants to nearly all remaining programs awarded under the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), which would effectively end the department's role in funding pro-democracy programming in some of the world's most hostile totalitarian nations. The review could affect nearly $1.3bn in grants, three state department officials told the Guardian, citing briefings on the results of a Foreign Assistance Review produced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Of 391 active grants, only two were not recommended to be cut, the officials said. They concerned one program in China and one in Yemen. The recommendations would 'terminate about 80% of all US government foreign assistance at the state department', said a state department official briefed on the findings of the review. In a separate incident this week, a new senior adviser to DRL recommended that the bureau's leadership use funds earmarked by Congress for foreign assistance to cover pet projects for the administration including the resettlement of Afrikaaners to the US and to support the legal defense of the rightwing French politician Marine Le Pen. Most of DRL's programs are not listed publicly because they support vulnerable individuals or minorities in nations with authoritarian governments that could retaliate against recipients of US aid. But the secretary of state, Marco Rubio – along with staffers from the so-called 'department of government efficiency' – named some programs cut in previous reviews of foreign assistance, an act that state department officials have said could put the recipients of that aid at risk. Some of the programs targeted under the OMB review would include a rapid response team meant to support pro-democracy activists abroad who may require urgent relocation or other protection if their lives are deemed to be in danger. The programs 'provide a lifeline to organizers and civil society doing the work to try to bring democratic values to these countries', one source said, adding that they referred to places like Cuba and Venezuela. Other programs focus on internet censorship, media literacy, human rights and atrocity prevention programs, election assistance programs, and efforts to combat transnational repression by countries such as China. According to the state department officials, Samuel Samson, a recent college graduate appointed as senior adviser to the bureau under the new administration, made the recommendations on a DRL white paper being drafted to program hundreds of millions of dollars in congressional funding before they expire later this year. Samson, one of a number of young conservatives to rise under the Trump administration, reflects the White House's changing priorities for foreign assistance. He recently wrote a controversial post on the state department's Substack page titled 'The Need for Civilizational Allies in Europe' in which he also criticised the labeling of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party as an 'extremist' organisation, saying that this 'environment also restricts Europe's elections'. It is not clear whether his recommendations were adopted by DRL's leadership in the white paper. Termination orders for the grants recommended to be cut by the OMB could be sent imminently, but may be delayed if contested by Rubio. Rubio in the past was a passionate defender of foreign assistance but has helped cut the bureau's programming since joining the Trump administration. The sources said that DRL's leadership and the state department's office of foreign assistance, informally called 'F', were in 'shock' over the results of the OMB review. The fight reflects the divisions within the Trump administration between foreign policy hawks like Rubio who have tailored their views on foreign assistance to the new administration, and hardline conservatives like OMB director Russell Vought who have sought to use the 'power of the purse' to rein in and slash government spending. 'It's a fight between Rubio and Vought,' one person said. The results of the review were delivered to DRL only after Vought gave testimony before a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday, during which he claimed that the state department grants for foreign assistance remained active. The results of the OMB foreign assistance review arrived just days before the state department is set to lay off as many as 3,400 employees and eliminate or consolidate about 300 offices under a major reorganisation ordered by Rubio that he said would bring the department into line with Donald Trump's 'America First' agenda. Under the reorganisation, DRL is expected to be gutted. The sources said that eliminating the aid programs could make it easier to process layoffs (called reductions in force, or RIFs) for DRL employees by relieving them of budgets for the programs that they administer. 'If you cut all the programs in DRL, then, then why would you need to keep the staff if they're not doing any work,' one person said. It would also make it difficult for the bureau to appeal terminated awards because the employees responsible for that would have been laid off and no longer have access to their state department emails. Ten Democratic senators earlier this month called on Rubio to preserve the state department's human rights bureau. In it, they criticised Rubio for proposing the reorganisation that would shutter most offices in DRL and for abandoning his past support for pro-democracy programming around the world. 'The proposed reorganization would result in a structural and substantive demotion of human rights promotion that runs counter to the spirit of the law and your personal legacy working on these issues,' they wrote. 'As you stated in the subcommittee hearing previously mentioned, 'millions of people around the world who live in societies dominated by fear and oppression look to the United States of America to champion their cause to fully exercise their God-given rights,'' they wrote. 'There are no greater champions more capable of advancing this noble cause than the dedicated staff in DRL.'
New Straits Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- New Straits Times
US offer of support seen as liability by Le Pen's far-right French party
A US State Department delegation met with senior officials from France's National Rally (RN) in late May, but their offer to publicly support figurehead Marine Le Pen after a court barred her from office was rebuffed by the far-right party, two sources said. Le Pen, one of the most prominent figures of the European far right, was a frontrunner for the 2027 French presidential election before a court in March banned her from the contest after she was convicted of embezzling EU funds. US President Donald Trump and other right-wing leaders were quick to rally behind her, alleging political censorship. The US delegation that visited Paris was led by Samuel Samson, an official at the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour (DRL). He is part of an influx of young conservatives rising up the ranks of Trump's administration. Samson met with senior RN officials but Le Pen and her popular No. 2, party president Jordan Bardella, were not present, the two sources said. The aim, one of the sources said, was to discuss ways the Trump administration could offer public support to Le Pen, who wants to overturn her conviction. However, the offer was declined, the two sources said. The RN officials said an endorsement from Trump's State Department could hurt the party's hopes of winning the 2027 election, one of the sources said. The RN officials also told Samson there was no need to support Le Pen as Bardella stands a good chance of winning if she cannot run, the source said. A longtime pariah for many in France, Le Pen has worked hard to clean up the image of her eurosceptic nationalist party, pitching it more broadly as a defender of family incomes, jobs and French identity. A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the meeting took place, but disputed the characterisation that an offer for help was rebuffed. The official said RN representatives "indicated the fact that they need to act in their own interest as independent parties." The RN welcomed Washington's engagement, the official added. The RN's response is an illustration of how despite areas of ideological proximity, Trump's support is seen as a liability by some European nationalists. A source close to Le Pen confirmed the meeting, saying "support for our party from a foreign administration isn't exactly something we're accustomed to." The RN did not respond to a request for comment. Samson's meeting with RN officials and their rejection of US support have not been reported. Earlier this month, the DRL said on X that its officials "met with French officials, political parties, and other stakeholders to reaffirm a shared commitment to free speech, democratic choice, and religious freedom ... Echoing (Trump) we are concerned by those in Europe 'using lawfare to silence free speech and censor their political opponent.'" Polls show a majority of French people did not take issue with her ban. The day before the RN meeting, writing on the State Department's Substack, Samson cited Le Pen's case as evidence that "Europe has devolved into a hotbed of digital censorship, mass migration, restrictions on religious freedom, and numerous other assaults on democratic self-governance." The State Department official rejected criticism from Trump's opponents that his administration was only concerned about the "censorship" and human rights of far-right figures. "The unfortunate reality of the current human rights discourse is that it is politicized and it does cherry pick," the official said, adding that the Trump administration was simply trying to "fix" that. Samson has been the driving force behind a push to support UK anti-abortion protesters, one of the sources said. In March, the DRL wrote on X, he met with anti-abortion activist Livia Tossici-Bolt. She was found guilty in April of breaching an order which banned protest outside a clinic in southern England. His stated concerns about a European attack on free speech echo those made by US Vice President JD Vance during a bombshell speech in Munich earlier this year.
India Today
22-06-2025
- Automotive
- India Today
Matter Aera 5000+ review, first ride: Say hello to India's first geared electric motorcycle
Ahmedabad isn't the first place that pops to mind when one thinks of an electric motorcycle revolution. But that all changed back in 2019, when a few enthusiastic individuals came together to create Matter. For those who may not have heard this name before, Matter is an Indian electric mobility startup headquartered in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Matter isn't just assembling EVs, it's building them from the ground up. The company designs and manufactures its motors, battery packs, software systems, and vehicle platforms in-house. Unlike many EV brands that rely on white-labeled imports, Matter has focused on indigenous innovation, with an emphasis on performance, technology, and rider engagement. Its first product, the Aera 5000+, is India's first geared electric motorcycle, aiming to provide a more traditional riding experience. To answer whether Matter succeeded in this quest, we were recently invited to their home base, to visit the production facility, hit a go-kart track and ride it in the the point of the gears?The Aera 5000+ is India's first geared electric motorcycle, and not in a gimmicky way. This is a ground-up motorcycle designed by a homegrown startup that's building its own powertrains, software stack, and even batteries in-house. There is a clear emphasis on controlling the entire production system from the ground up, allowing for more factors to be monitored and adjusted as needed. Sure, the facility isn't the most cutting-edge, but it can be one day, which is good enough for me. And from the moment you see the Aera in person, it doesn't scream 'eco-commuter.' It looks like a modern 200cc street-naked which has a muscular tank, sharp panels, LED lighting, and a distinct DRL signature. It's an EV that isn't apologising for being one. And that's refreshing. After we toured the facility, it was time to head to the track, which is nearly 30km away from the production facility. Subscribe to Auto Today MagazineMust Watch
