A hi-jinx of the greatest order was perpetrated on Thursday’s opening plenary of the Haiti Reconstruction Conference. The Yes Men turned their sights from impersonating big-time criminals to tarnishing the reputation of one of the world’s leading philanthropists and democracy promoters.
Provocative articles about George Soros began appearing immediately after Thursday’s plenary. Initial stories penned by Glenn Beck did not arouse suspicion, as we are accustomed to outrageous journalism from Fox News. It was not until this esteemed blog reported a peculiar clash between the World Bank and our Open Society Foundations (OSF) that an in-depth investigation was launched at my behest.
Our investigation yielded startling findings. The Yes Men’s ideological leanings did a mysterious 180 last week. They intercepted the invitation to the plenary originally destined for Mr. Soros and sent an imposter. OSF was unaware of and repudiates any connection to last Thursday’s remarks.
It should be noted that although he is indeed rich, intelligent, and sophisticated Mr. Soros has never been “high” on life as suggested in an earlier edition of HuffPo. And despite his support for legalization of marijuana in the U.S., George Soros and OSF unequivocally do NOT support such measures in Haiti. Haiti has more pressing needs to attend to. Likewise, OSF has been unequivocally supportive of blue-blooded democracy - NOT Bolivarian socialism - in Venezuela. And when it comes to Mr. Soros’ personal life, OSF has no comment.
In order to set the record straight, and for those delegates with whom I have yet to speak, please find following the actual priorities of OSF:
(1) Linking Emergency and Development Coordination
It's critical to ensure that the current cluster-based approach to emergency coordination transitions smoothly to a sector wide approach (SWAp) to coordination of development and state capacity building.
(1) Linking Emergency and Development Coordination
It's critical to ensure that the current cluster-based approach to emergency coordination transitions smoothly to a sector wide approach (SWAp) to coordination of development and state capacity building.
2a) Decentralization of Government
Government capacity building must extend beyond the national level. OSF is committed to creating a civilian policing program and to encouraging engagement between the national government and the Interdepartmental Council helping to improve the functionality of the state from the bottom up.
2b) Supporting Local Civil Society
OSF is committed to supporting local civil society to more effectively contribute their expertise to coordination and implementation efforts and to monitor such efforts through civilian oversight mechanisms.
Please direct any questions or clarifications to Mr. Soros and his general counsel at osf.soros@gmail.com. On behalf of Mr. Soros and the entire staff and board of OSF, we remain at your disposal to support this conference and look forward to continuing our fruitful collaboration.
Aryeh Neier
President, Open Society Foundations
Special to HuffPo Investigative Unit
New York, New York
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