Source: International Business Times
Trump said America's USAID agency was 'run by radical lunatics' while his advisor Elon Musk said it needed to be put 'through the woodchipper' AFP Language used by President Donald Trump and his government to slash US-funded foreign aid is being adopted by other governments to attack NGOs and independent media, rights groups warn. Civil society groups in parts of Eastern Europe and beyond -- long targeted by discredit-and-defund campaigns because of the light they shone on corruption and lack of transparency -- are now also dealing with Trumpian rhetoric, they said. Trump administration statements "are being weaponised in real-time by autocrats and dictators across Eastern and Southeastern Europe to justify and deepen their crackdown on independent media, NGOs, and human rights defenders," Dave Elseroad, of the Human Rights House Foundation, told AFP.
