The Truth About George Soros

(Tablet) Back in the days when I worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty covering the politics and societies of a vast expanse of territory stretching from Belarus to Kyrgyzstan hardly a day went by without my encountering the good works of George Soros. It was in Prague my home base where the Hungarian-born financier began as a backer of worthy causes by presciently supporting Charter 77 the pro-democracy movement led by the dissident playwright Vaclav Havel. My boyfriend at the time hailed from neighboring Slovakia a country whose authoritarian leader Vladimir Meciar had been brought down in 1998 partly through the dedicated work of groups funded by Soros Open Society Foundations (OSF). Another ex took his graduate degree from Central European University the Budapest-based institution founded by Soros and which is currently under threat of being expelled from the country by right-wing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbn. By the time I finished my European tour of duty it had become axiomatic that were I to encounter a democracy activist in Baku a lesbian-rights campaigner in Bishkek or a press freedom advocate in Belgrade more likely than not they would have been beneficiaries of a Soros grant scholarship or in his employ. To take but one example of his generosity and foresight usually overlooked both by his detractors and fans he is by far the largest private benefactor to the cause of the Romathose long-persecuted socially excluded forgotten people of Europe. Read More