Wikileaks Dump Shows Russia Funding Radical Environmentalists

Our report “From Russian With Love?” showed the nexus between a Bermuda law firm with ties to Russian oligarchs and an entity that appeared to exist only on paper funneling $23 million to the U.S. environmental movement. While lacking a smoking gun, we explored the possibility and heavy incentives from Russia to fund anti-energy campaigns by U.S. environmentalists. After all, if a pipeline can’t get built here, it helps Russia by reducing its competition. Along with the Bermuda firm, there were reports in Eastern Europe that Russia had funneled $100 million to anti-fracking activists.

It turns out that we were on to something. In a 2014 speech given by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—someone who would know about Russian activities—she revealed that, yes, Russia was indeed financially supporting environmental groups. The International Business Times reports:

In a purported excerpt of another speech in 2014, the document shows Clinton portraying some environmental groups’ opposition to fracking and pipeline construction as a Russian plot.

“We were up against Russia pushing oligarchs and others to buy media,” the document shows her saying. “We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand against any effort, oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you, and a lot of the money supporting that message was coming from Russia.”

In recent weeks we’ve seen radical environmentalists getting arrested in Iowa and North Dakota to try to stop a pipeline from being built, receiving public praise from the usual cohort of celebrity hypocrites. The only question is, are these protesters useful idiots, or just idiots?

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