{"id":134558,"date":"2019-06-03T12:01:08","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T11:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=134558"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:42:24","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T13:42:24","slug":"u-s-government-seeks-ngo-help-for-removing-iran-from-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/06\/u-s-government-seeks-ngo-help-for-removing-iran-from-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Government Seeks NGO Help for Removing Iran from Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><em>Americans have intoxicated themselves for two and a half years on the vapors emanating from the alleged Russian &#8216;interference&#8217; in the 2016 election affair&#8211;never proven. The strongest odor, if one bothers to inhale, is from the stench of hypocrisy.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>29 May 2019 &#8211; <\/em>The U.S. Department of State is offering a grant of $75,000,000 to non-government-organizations to help it to further meddle in Syria.<\/p>\n<p>The grant <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.grants.gov%2Fweb%2Fgrants%2Fview-opportunity.html%3FoppId%3D316384&amp;data=02%7C01%7C%7Cc76c2e95bccb4a6cbfb908d6e44f027f%7C9ef9f489e0a04eeb87cc3a526112fd0d%7C1%7C0%7C636947425330997485&amp;sdata=rInfAE5Rn%2FSu2yJJjOLnnHlIx5KfbyhonNJtYBgVo%2F4%3D&amp;reserved=0\" >SFOP0005916 &#8211; Supporting Local Governance and Civil Society in Syria<\/a> will go to &#8220;Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/usa-grant-iran-syria-1.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-134562\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/usa-grant-iran-syria-1-1024x950.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"649\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/usa-grant-iran-syria-1-1024x950.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/usa-grant-iran-syria-1-300x278.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/usa-grant-iran-syria-1-768x712.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/usa-grant-iran-syria-1.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The task description is quite interesting as the NGOs which will eventually get the grant will have to commit to counter one of Syria&#8217;s military allies:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>The purpose of this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) is to advance the following U.S. Government policy objectives in Syria: <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><em>Ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and counter violent extremism, including other extremist groups in Syria;<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Achieve a political solution to the Syrian conflict under the auspices of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2254; and,<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>End the presence of Iranian forces and proxies in Syria<\/em><\/strong><em>.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>The Department of State&#8217;s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Office of Assistance Coordination (NEA\/AC) aims to advance these policy objectives by supporting the following assistance objectives:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><em>Strengthen responsive and credible governance and civil society entities to capably serve and represent communities liberated from ISIS.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Advance a political solution to the Syrian conflict under the auspices of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2254; and,<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Counter extremism and disinformation perpetuated by Iranian forces<\/em><\/strong><em>, designated terrorist organizations, and other malign actors through support for local governance actors and civil society organizations.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The operational field for the grant is not only the Syrian northeast which U.S. troops currently occupy, but also the al-Qaeda infested Idleb governorate as well as all government controlled areas.<\/p>\n<p>The related Funding Opportunity Description (available through the above link) does not explain what an NGO could do to advance the highlighted U.S. government goals.<\/p>\n<p>Work on the three year project is supposed to start on January 1 2020. It must be applied for by August 2 2019.<\/p>\n<p><em>________________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/michael-Brenner-e1546611581191.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-125356\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/michael-Brenner-e1546611581191.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><\/em><em>Michael Brenner is professor of international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh; a senior fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, SAIS-Johns Hopkins (Washington, D.C.), contributor to research and consulting projects on Euro-American security and economic issues. Publishes and teaches in the fields of American foreign policy, Euro-American relations, and the European Union. <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"mailto:mbren@pitt.edu\">mbren@pitt.edu<\/a> &#8211; <\/strong><\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pitt.edu\/~mbren\/Background.htm\" >More<\/a>\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>29 May 2019 &#8211; The U.S. Department of State is offering a grant of $75 million to non-government-organizations to help it to further meddle in Syria. Americans have intoxicated themselves for two and a half years on the vapors emanating from the alleged Russian &#8216;interference&#8217; in the 2016 election affair&#8211;never proven. The strongest odor, if one bothers to inhale, is from the stench of hypocrisy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":125356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,57,66,204],"tags":[120,1014,433,267,1050,504,950,583,234,767,291,780,91,86,109,287,818,278,880,413,265,95,70,126,118,172,75],"class_list":["post-134558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america","category-militarism","category-middle-east-north-africa","category-syria-in-context","tag-conflict","tag-energy","tag-europe","tag-geopolitics","tag-imperialism","tag-international-relations","tag-invasion","tag-isis","tag-media","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-military-intervention","tag-nato","tag-occupation","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-proxy-war","tag-russia","tag-state-terrorism","tag-syria","tag-terrorism","tag-us-military","tag-usa","tag-violence","tag-war","tag-west","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275252,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134558\/revisions\/275252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}