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<h1 class="title">StratforLeaks: Google Ideas Director Involved in
‘Regime Change’</h1>
<div class="leading-image"> <img
src="cid:part1.09010406.09090008@gmail.com" alt="" title="Google
CEO Eric Schmidt gives a speech during the opening ceremony of
the CeBIT computer fair in Hanover 5 March 2012. (Photo: REUTERS
- Fabian Bimmer)" class="imagecache imagecache-5cols
imagecache-default imagecache-5cols_default" height="498"
width="780">
<div class="image-caption">Google CEO Eric Schmidt gives a speech
during the opening ceremony of the CeBIT computer fair in
Hanover 5 March 2012. (Photo: REUTERS - Fabian Bimmer)</div>
</div>
<div class="meta">
<p class="authors">By: <a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/author/yazan-al-saadi"
title="Articles by Yazan al-Saadi">Yazan al-Saadi</a></p>
<p class="dates"> <span class="published"> Published <span
class="date-display-single">Wednesday, March 14, 2012</span>
</span>
<span class="updated">
</span>
<span class="original"> </span> </p>
</div>
<div class="content-wrap">
<p>Top Google execs, including the company’s CEO and one of Barack
Obama’s major presidential campaign donors Eric Schmidt,
informed the intelligence agency Stratfor about Google’s
activities and internal communication regarding “regime change”
in the Middle East, according to Stratfor emails released by
WikiLeaks and obtained by Al-Akhbar. The other source cited was
Google’s director for security and safety Marty Lev. </p>
<p>The briefings mainly focused on the movements of Jared Cohen,
currently the director of Google Ideas, a “think/do-tank” billed
as a vehicle for spreading American-style liberal democracy.
Cohen was also a former member of US Secretary of State’s Policy
Planning Staff and former advisor to Condoleezza Rice and
Hillary Clinton. </p>
<p>Email exchanges, starting February 2011, suggest that Google
execs were suspicious that Cohen was coordinating his moves with
the White House and cut Cohen’s mission short at times for fear
he was taking too many risks. Stratfor’s vice-president of
counter-terrorism Fred Burton, who seemed opposed to Google’s
alleged covert role in “foaming” uprisings, describes Cohen as a
“loose Cannon” whose killing or kidnapping “might be the best
thing to happen” to expose Google. </p>
<p><strong>The Cohen Conspiracy</strong></p>
<p>Stratfor’s spotlight on Cohen began on 9 February 2012 after
Burton forwarded to the secure email list a Foreign Policy
article discussing Cohen’s move from the State Department to
Google Ideas. With this article, Burton noted that Cohen had
dinner in Cairo with Wael Ghonim on January 27, 2011 just hours
before the Egyptian Google Executive was famously picked up by
Egypt’s State Security. (<a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/gi-files/1122191egypt-google-suggest-you-read"
target="_blank">doc-id 1122191</a>)</p>
<p>On the same day, Stratfor’s staff make reference to a
Huffington Post article which highlighted Cohen’s role in
“delaying the scheduled maintenance on Twitter so the Iranian
revolution could keep going” and a Foreign Policy article that
noted that Cohen “was a Rhodes scholar, spent time in Iran,
[and] hung out in Iraq during the war…”. These casual discovers
further perked Stratfor’s curiosity about Cohen. (<a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/gi-files/1629270more-cohen"
target="_blank">doc-id 1629270</a>)</p>
<p>The following day, Burton forwarded a message to the secure
email list from “a very good Google source” who claimed that
Cohen “[was] off to Gaza next week”. Burton added, “Cohen, a
Jew, is bound to get himself whacked….Google is not clear if
Cohen is operating [with a] State Dept [or] WH [White House]
license, or [is] a hippie activist.”</p>
<p>Korena Zucha, another senior analyst on the list, queried, “Why
hasn’t Google cut ties to Cohen yet? Or is Cohen’s activity
being endorsed by those higher up in the [company] than your
contact?”</p>
<p>In turn, Burton replied, “Cohen’s rabbi is Eric Schmidt and
Obama lackey. My source is trying to find out if the billionaire
owners are backing Cohen’s efforts for regime change.” (<a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/gi-files/1111729goggle-shitstorm-moving-gaza-internal-use-only"
target="_blank">doc-id 1111729</a>)</p>
<p>Later on, Burton forwarded information from the “Google source”
of Cohen’s links in establishing <a
href="http://www.movements.org/" target="_blank">Movements.org</a>.
The source added, “A site created to help online organization of
groups and individuals to move democracy in stubborn nations.
Funded through public-private partnerships.” Burton pointed out
that the US State Department is the organization’s public
sponsor.” (<a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/gi-files/1118344googles-cohen-activist-role"
target="_blank">doc-id 1118344</a>)</p>
<p>Indeed, the State Department, partnering with a number of
corporations, was the main sponsor for the 2008 inaugural
Alliance of Youth Movements summit in New York City that
subsequently established Movements.org. Hillary Clinton endorsed
the organization and presented a video message during the second
summit held in Mexico City a year later. </p>
<p>On 11 February, Burton wrote to the secure email list that
Cohen was still planning to head to Gaza. He added, “The dude is
a loose can[n]on. GOOGLE is trying to stop his entry into Gaza
now because the dude is like scorched earth. It’s unclear to
GOOGLE if he’s driving without a license, but GOOGLE believes
he’s on a specific mission of “regime change” on the part of
leftist fools inside the WH who are using him for their
agendas.” (<a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/gi-files/1113596movementsorg-founder-cohen"
target="_blank">doc-id 1113596</a>)</p>
<p>Throughout this day, the idea proposed by Burton, and seemingly
felt by his Google contacts as well, of Cohen and the White
House’s involvement in the uprisings was actively discussed
among the analysts, especially in regards to who would be
targeted next. (<a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/gi-files/1113965discussion-who-next"
target="_blank">doc-id 1113965</a>)</p>
<p>By Monday, 14 February 2011, Burton shared intelligence with
George Friedman, Stratfor’s founder, and Scott Stewart,
vice-president of Stratfor’s tactical department, from his
source in Google that Cohen was ordered not to go to Gaza.
Burton’s Google source further stated, “Also, thinking I [the
unnamed source] may be on the right track about him despite his
denials [in reference to Cohen working for the White House/State
Department].”</p>
<p>When asked to clarify his sources on Cohen, Burton claimed that
they were Marty Lev, Google’s director for security and safety,
and Eric Schmidt, the current CEO of Google. (<a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/gi-files/398679googles-jared-cohen-update"
target="_blank">doc-id 398679</a>)</p>
<p>A week later, Burton forwarded an internal Google email
obtained from a ‘senior Google executive’. This email was
seemingly sent by Cohen to the senior Google executive to
discuss Cohen’s planned trip in March.<br>
In it, Cohen wrote, “I wanted to follow-up and get a sense of
your latest thinking on the proposed March trip to UAE,
Azerbaijan, and Turkey. The purpose of this trip is to
exclusively engage the Iranian community to better understand
the challenges faced by Iranians as part of one of our Google
Ideas groups on repressive societies. Here is what we are
thinking: Drive to Azerbaijan/Iranian border and engage the
Iranian communities closer to the border (this is important
because we need the Azeri Iranian perspective).”</p>
<p>After reading Cohen’s email, Stewart remarked, “Cohen might end
up having an accident if he is not careful. This is not child’s
play.”</p>
<p>Burton responded, “GOOGLE is getting WH [White House] and State
Dept. support and air cover. In reality, they are doing things
the CIA cannot do. But, I agree with you. He’s going to get
himself kidnapped or killed. Might be the best thing to happen
to expose GOOGLE’s covert role in foaming up-risings, to be
blunt. The US Gov’t can then disavow knowledge and GOOGLE is
left holding the shit bag.” (<a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/gi-files/1121800google-iran-internal-use-only-pls-do-not-forward"
target="_blank">doc-id 1121800</a>)</p>
<p>On 10 March 2011, Burton forwarded another message from his
‘senior Google executive’ source detailing how Cohen was
requested not to travel on his proposed trip. The source
explained that Google had concerns over Cohen’s “baggage” as a
“US State Dept. policy maker, his research and publications on
Muslim extremists and youth movements and his presence in Egypt
just as the uprising started.”The source also stated that Cohen
was recommended to “take a lower profile on this specific trip
and let time pass before being visible and associated with
people known by their states to be active in challenging
repressive societies.” (<a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/gi-files/1164190google-loose-canon-bound-turkey-uae-sensitive-do-not-forward"
target="_blank">doc-id 1164190</a>)</p>
<p>A subsequent message from Burton’s source on 22 March 2011
affirmed that Cohen “heeded the advice not to go to Turkey or
UAE for those meetings.” (<a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/gi-files/1133861google-cohen-hosting-terrorists"
target="_blank">doc-id 1133861</a>)</p>
<p>The final email dealing with Cohen was on 30 March 2011.<br>
Here, Burton forwarded to the alpha (secure) email list a
response by his source to Burton’s question of whether Cohen was
playing any role in Libya at the time. The source stated, “Not
that I’m aware of. He heeded the advice to avoid Turkey and UAE
and didn’t go on that trip.” (<a
href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/gi-files/1160182jared-cohen-google"
target="_blank">doc-id 1160182</a>)</p>
<hr noshade="noshade">
<p><strong>Google Ideas: Politicizing Technology</strong></p>
<p>Certainly, there is more than meets the eye to Cohen and his
actions; even his superiors in Google seem to think so.</p>
<p>The belief, chiefly by Burton, that Cohen had seemingly played
a role in fermenting the uprisings that toppled Zine el Abidine
Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak underplays, and at times entirely
disregards, the ability and agency by local movements in Tunisia
and Egypt.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Google Ideas, which Cohen directs, is a new
animal. According to a <a
href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/b8e8b560-a84a-11e0-9f50-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1oMmNLULH"
target="_blank">report</a> by the Financial Times published
last July, Google Ideas seems to bond idealistic activist
sensibilities with Google’s pursuit for continued global
expansion - blurring the lines between business and political
action. Schmidt and Cohen dub Google Ideas as a “think/do-tank”
that aims to tackle political and diplomatic matters through the
use of technology. </p>
<p>The first public event for the think/do-tank, in partnership
with the Council on Foreign Relations and the Tribeca Film
Festival, was held last June in Dublin. It gathered around 80
‘former’ extremists, including former Muslim radicals,
neo-Nazis, US gang members, and others, in a “Summit Against
Violent Extremism”. The <a
href="http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2011/06/google-ideas-launches-summit-against.html"
target="_blank">announcement</a> by Google declared that the
summit’s aim is “to initiate a global conversation on how best
to prevent young people from becoming radicalised and how to
de-radicalise others” and that “the ideas generated at the
Dublin summit will be included in a study to be published later
in the year.” </p>
<p>One spin off was the creation of the <a
href="http://www.againstviolentextremism.org/" target="_blank">Against
Violent Extremism</a> group, apparently a network for those
who attended the Dublin Summit. Beyond merely networking, the
group also advertises certain projects that are in need of
funding. Notably, much of the projects pertain to the Middle
East, including an “Al-Awlaki Counter-Campaign” - Anwar
al-Awlaki, an American citizen of Yemeni origin, was
assassinated in September of last year by the US for his alleged
al-Qaeda connections. </p>
<p>But the Against Violent Extremism site does not seem to be
presently active. The last update for projects in need of
funding was made in September and the last announcement
regarding the workings of the site was made in October. </p>
<p>More recently, Foreign Policy reported in January that the
Brookings Institute, one of the oldest and most influential
think-tanks in Washington, DC, named Google Ideas as “the <a
href="http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/01/18/brookings_tops_2011_think_tank_rankings"
target="_blank">best new think tank</a> established in the
last 18 months.” Such accolades arguably suggests that Google
Ideas is expected to be a major player in the near future.<br>
</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/stratforleaks-google-ideas-director-involved-%E2%80%98regime-change%E2%80%99">http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/stratforleaks-google-ideas-director-involved-%E2%80%98regime-change%E2%80%99</a><br>
</p>
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