Organizer behind the antihungarian campaign is a paid lobbyist
Over the course of extended research, Magyar Nemzet has identified the individual managing and executing the ongoing anti-Hungarian campaign, in connection with the Soros-network. In the next few days our paper will reveal in a series of articles, just by what methods and tools Gerald Knaus, president of the European Stability Initiative, has in the past few months, and still is, attacking Hungary.
Political analyst, migration researcher, migration expert, father of the EU-Turkey migration deal—Gerald Knaust is known by a slew of names. The Austrian born, 50-year-old social scientist and founding chairman of the European Stability Initiative (ESI) has the power to maneuver the waters of the mainstream media like few others.
In the first part of our series we will be examining the relationship between Knaus and stock market guru George Soros—and just how the Austrian politician acts according to the interests of the infamous speculator.
Our supporting research stemmed from numerous sources: we spoke to multiple sources familiar with Berlin and Brussels who chose to disclose anonymously given the topic’s sensitivity; we read hundreds of articles, posts and interviews; we strived to substantiate our claims mainly with publicly known facts and sources.
We will also present financial documents that have not yet been revealed in the Hungarian press in order to make it crystal clear: Gerald Knaus is not just ideologically devoted to Soros, but financially as well with direct monetary ties.
Thematization ang sharing online
The series of informational attacks waged in the past years did not let up now, during the coronavirus-crisis—instead, these attacks were amped up in the past few months by the ESI leader. Knaus systematically, with near-cinematic-directorial flair, shared reports from Dutch public TV accusing Hungary of inadequate patient care during the pandemic.
Given the personal recommendation, it would seem that the Dutch reporter is Knaus’ friend. The tv show was “validated” by the Helsinki Commission and the Political Capital—two Soros NGOs—and painter Szeleczki Lilla, Athina Németh’s partner. (Just as a reminder, Athina Németh and Lilla Szeleczki were the two main actresses in the Hungarian Socialist Party [MSZP] video attempting to blacken the Hungarian healthcare system during the pandemic; the political party was later forced to delete the video as the fake news campaign failed. The video is being investigated by the European Anti-Fraud Office.)
The Dutch version of the story of Lilla Szeleczki’s mother’s death implied that the woman did not even receive hospital care.
However, this was a total lie: the Dutch version failed to mention that the elderly woman was offered care from the Jahn Ferenc South-Pest Hospital, but she chose to forgo this service and later passed away in her home.
In the variant of the Dutch story mentioned above, the obvious emphasis of the message was to attack Hungary, and the truth came merely second. And anyways, the question emerges: how can a Dutch viewer validate the basic truths behind the “report on Hungary”?
Two citizens of the world meet
Knaus carries out his public career under the guise of the European Stability Initiative that he founded in 1999 with several others. The Austrian, who completed studies in Oxford, Bologna, and Brussels has changed posts quite frequently despite the establishment of his institution. He taught in Ukraine, worked in Bulgaria and Bosnia for five years for several NGOS, lived in Istanbul in 2004, and in 2007 was a fellow at the Soros-established Open Society Foundation. In the past year he again worked with the millionaire speculator on the establishment of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in London. This organization will have significance in our story later on.
However, this wasn’t the first time that Knaus, the true world citizen worked together with the stock market shark who for decades has been trying to create a new European future without any sort of democratic legitimization. In 2004, Soros hosted Knaus in New York where they agreed, according to the ESI website: they will support cooperation between the Open Society Foundation and the European Stability Initiative and embark on many new projects together, exchanging intel. In 2011, they co-authored—along with 94 other influential individuals including former Hungarian PM, Gordon Bajnai—a call to save the eurozone in the Financial Times, the economic elite’s paper.
Euros poured into lobbies?
Having said that, it’s not surprising that the Soros-foundation appeared (evidenced on the old ESI website) as a supporter for Knaus’ organization. Soros’ receipts from his funds to ESI are labelled under auspicious, unclear terms leaving room for a wide range of services. On the archived, 2016-version of the ESI website (that actually features a picture of the lit-up Chain Bridge) they wrote that the Open Society Foundation, among others, had helped them “in their efforts to reform key European institutions.” According to a 2016 documentary—that was first leaked on Twitter—this “help” was no less than three hundred thousand euros.
It’s an interesting coincidence that, according to the EU lobbyist registration site, the ESI lobby-costs were just around the 300-400-thousand-euro mark. This too proves that we’re not talking about a simple NGO or a traditional research institution, but instead a well-disguised lobbying organization.
Of course, it would be odd if the ESI supported European reforms that Soros doesn’t agree with. So instead, this is more of a case of lobbyists paid by Soros who are representing his main ideals and striving to realize them. Therefore, in Knaus’ organization the ideological conviction and the financial interest are both present as motives for serving the speculator.
(To be continued)
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