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Freedom House Several other examples of consultants in the pay of authoritarians are worth mention: ¢ Until rather recently, Azerbaijan was represented by a battalion of lawyers, political operatives, and public relations specialists in Washington, London, and Brussels. While some worked for the national energy company, others were hired directly by the government to explain away the regime's miserable human rights record to the ad- ministration, members of Congress, think tanks, and other opinion makers in the United States. ¢ Bahrain spent over $32 million between 2011, when political protests broke out, and 2015 on political consultants in the United States and Britain. During that period, the country experi- enced an explosion in the number of political prisoners as the Sunni Muslim monarchy carried out an often violent persecution of the Shiite majority.*® ¢ Despite their efforts to hollow out Venezuela's democratic infrastructure and their virulent anti-Americanism, the late Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, had no difficulty in finding American consultants who would repre- sent the interests of their government and the national oil company.” ¢ Richard Burt, a former U.S. diplomat in Re- publican administrations, earned hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting a critical Rus- sian energy project while also helping to shape candidate Trump's foreign policy positions. According to Politico, Burt received $365,000 in the first half of 2016 for lobbying on behalf of Nord Stream ||, a Russian-backed pipeline plan that would deliver more natural gas directly to Western and Central Europe via the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine and Belarus. At the same time, Burt was helping to write a major Trump foreign policy address. That speech, among other things, called for greater cooperation with Russia.?® ¢ In early 2017, an Egyptian intelligence agency hired two Washington public relations firms to lobby on the country’s behalf and boost its image. Filings with the Department of Justice showed the General Intelligence Service hired Weber Shandwick and Cassidy and Associates in a deal worth $1.8 million annually.'® e Michael Flynn, who served briefly as President Trump’s national security adviser, did lucra- tive consulting work for a firm with ties to the government of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan before and immediately after the 2016 election. Among other things, Flynn wrote an op-ed that urged the American government to expel Fethullah Gillen, a controversial cleric who was accused by the Turkish government of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt. Flynn's consulting firm was paid $535,000 for work between September 9 and November 14.” Balance sheet Even as they declare their disdain for liberal values, modern authoritarians take maximum advantage of the freedoms that are embedded in democratic systems. Russia, China, Venezuela, Iran, and others have established television networks that broadcast beyond their borders to countries around the globe. Viewers in the United States or Europe can watch Russia's RT or China Central Television on their local cable systems. Pro-Beijing tycoons have gained a strong foothold in the Hong Kong press landscape, and Chinese businesses are making substantial investments in Hollywood studios and production companies. Russia would not tolerate a foreign power providing funding for an opposition political party. Yet it helps to finance France's National Front and quite possi- bly Hungary's Jobbik. In 2013, Greenpeace activists attempted to scale a Russian offshore drilling platform as part of a protest against Arctic oil exploration; the authorities arrested the protesters, charged them with piracy, and held them for two months before their release.”' Yet at the same time, the Kremlin was al- legedly fostering anti-fracking demonstrations in parts of Central and Eastern Europe.”? Russia organizes bogus election-monitoring missions that give a stamp of approval to polling in Crimea and other authoritar- ian settings, while effectively preventing legitimate election observation teams from functioning on its own soil. Authoritarian states also rent the services of former gov- ernment officials and members of Congress, powerful lawyers, and experienced political image-makers to per- suade skeptical audiences that they share the interests of democracies. These lobbyists work to advance the economic goals of their clients’ energy companies and other businesses, but they also burnish the reputa- www.freedomhouse.org 45 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019279