This is how Soros's network exerts full influence on Slovak politics

Through his confidants in key positions, the American stock exchange speculator keeps control over the (pseudo) civil society sector and the media.

Brüsszel, 2017. április 27. Soros György magyar származású amerikai üzletember, a New York-i Soros Fund Management befektetési társaság elnöke érkezik a Jean-Claude Junckerrel, az Európai Bizottság elnökével tartandó megbeszélésükre Brüsszelben 2017. április 27-én. (MTI/EPA pool/Olivier Hoslet) Fotó: Olivier Hoslet

George Soros established his foundation (Open Society Foundations Bratislava - OSFB) in the future capital of Slovakia as early as 1992. During the period since then

through his unlimited financial resources and confidants in key positions, the American stock exchange speculator has has gained influence over the political life, the (pseudo) civil society sector and the media in Slovakia,

the investigative platform Tuzfalcsoport highlights. Their latest analysis points out that one just has to think of Zuzana Caputova, Slovakia's current head of state, who is rather well-connected with George Soros; the funding amounting to nearly 6.2 million US dollars Slovak (or locally relevant) organizations received between 2016 and 2021; or the acquisition of a stake in Slovakia's second largest publishing company by the Media Development Investment Fund, supported by tens of millions of dollars by OSF.

It is in this setting that early parliamentary elections will take place in Slovakia on September 30. The results of opinion polls show that the race is expected to be decided between Robert Fico's anti-globalist Smer party, which rejects migration, gender propaganda and arms supplies to Ukraine, and the leftist-liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS) party, which works against the minority rights of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia - nevertheless enjoys full support from the Hungarian Momentum Movement and the left-wing media in Hungary - and unconditionally implements Western mainstream ideology, Tuzfalcsoport explains. 

George Soros's network may have infiltrated Slovakia's public life 

In the article, it is pointed out that the current president of Slovakia - who is also the founder of the PS party -  has a history closely intertwined with the stock exchange speculator and his organizational network:

• she completed two courses at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), an organization that is working together with Soros's network to fund far-left activist groups, as revealed by the Judicial watch;
•  she published several studies commissioned by OSF;
• she spent 16 years working with Via Iuris, an organization enjoying funds from the Open Society Foundations.
  However, the above facts did not prevent Caputova from recently launching a defamation lawsuit against Smer party chief Robert Fico, the strongest challenger of her former party, after he repeatedly voiced his opinion that the head of state is George Soros's confidant, serving foreign interests.

There are similar indications of influence exertion in the context of the pseudo civil society sector: 

Open Society Foundations' publicly accessible database shows that between 2016 and 2021, OSF financed 43 Slovakian or locally  active organizations with nearly 6.2 million dollars, and the database does not list all the funds, as is known. 

Organizations and projects supported include, but not limited to, Transparency International Slovakia, Via Iuris, President Zuzana Caputova's organization, Nadacia Zastavme korupciu (Stop Corruption Foundation), Inakost, an association for the protection of rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and intersex people, or the Pontis Foundation, a key actor in Slovakia's pseudo civil society.

Cooperation with the Hungarian Left is also intense

Regarding the media situation in Slovakia,  with the 2021 buyout of the financial group Penta, the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) acquired a 34 percent ownership in Petit Press, the country's second largest publishing company, which publishes more than 30 regional and national newspapers and operates several online news portals. MDIF was supported by the Open Society Foundations with a huge amount of money (nearly 21.5 million UD dollars between 2016 and 2019).

Petit Press also owns SME, a Slovak daily and internet news portal that defines itself as "independent". SME recently interviewed Fedor Blascak, the current director of OSF in Slovakia, "in the spirit of impartiality". In response to the criticism leveled by the Smer party at George Soros, Blascak said that the American billionaire "deserves a state award" because he has "done great things for Slovak democracy".

Another Slovak press outlet promoting the idea of an open society is Dennik N, founded by former SME journalist, who left after Penta's 2014 acquisition of shares - bought by MDIF since then - in Petit Press. Hungarian newspapers funded by George Soros recurrently cooperate with Dennik N, strengthening and justifying each other's narratives.

For example, the Hungarian 444.hu interviewed the director of the Slovak newspaper in connection with the murder of  journalist Jan Kuciak. The Slovak director at the time stressed that compared to Hungary, there are still more numerous positive phenomena in Slovakia, and "real diversity" continues to exist. Denník N's Hungarian-language edition, Napunk, interviewed PS president and prime ministerial candidate Michal Simecka last week. In the interview, the Slovak politician stated that they are intensively cooperating with the Hungarian left (including their "closest partner" Momentum), and described Hungary as "Russia's Trojan horse" because of the country's pro-peace stance. The opinion of the politician, who formerly worked against the interests of ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia, was widely covered in the Hungarian leftist-liberal media, from 444.hu through to Nyugati Feny and Nepszava.

As no Hungarian political formation was able to gain seats in  the Slovak parliament in the previous elections, the outcome of this weekend's elections is indeed crucial for the Hungarian minorities.

With only a few days to go before the elections in Slovakia, we cannot talk about a level playing field, as both the Smer party, which rejects migration, gender propaganda and arms deliveries to Ukraine, and the Hungarian interest groups in Slovakia have to fight the full armada of the international Left, Tuzfalcsoport writes in conclusion of their analysis.

Cover photo: George Soros, Hungarian-born US businessman and chairman of  New York based Soros Fund Management, in Brussels on April 27, 2017 (Photo: MTI/EPA pool/Olivier Hoslet)