By Redowan Ibne Saiful
When the information that US President Joe Biden allocated $2.7 million for a transgender dance festival in Bangladesh spread, a massive uproar took place in the US at the beginning of 2023. But surprisingly, the media in Bangladesh remained silent about this event.
Former US State Department official and current cybersecurity expert Mike Benz appeared on the Tucker Carlson podcast and revealed the actions by the Biden administration, USAID, NED, and deep state conspirators to overthrow the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh.
This podcast is very significant because Tucker Carlson is probably the most influential journalist in the world right now and is very close to US President Donald Trump. Even the American media tries to understand what moves the Trump administration will make by analysing Tucker Carlsonโs moves. Currently, Bangladesh is a trending topic across US politics.
This podcast received huge attention in Bangladesh and across the globe after Elon Musk reposted Mike Benzโs tweet regarding Bangladesh.
Benz spoke about Bangladesh for ten straight minutes from 24:30 onwards in the podcast. He brought up Bangladesh again at 40 minutes, 55 minutes, and 2 hours 5 minutes 30 seconds, making a total of four mentions. This clearly shows how important the Bangladesh issue has become in American politics.
This podcast is linked to several relevant pieces of information: Under pressure from the Biden administration, Bangladesh included a third gender option in its census. The Deep State considered this a major success.
Summary of the discussion from the podcast
Sheikh Hasina did not allow the U.S. to build a military base in Bangladesh, prioritising the countryโs security. The US wanted to set up a military base in Bangladesh to counter China, but it could not convince Sheikh Hasina under any circumstances. Mark Benz quoted directly from a deep state document that stated, โPolitically Destabilise Bangladesh.โ
After Sheikh Hasinaโs victory in the 2018 elections, the Biden administration and the deep state became even more furious. To remove her government, they started influencing the country’s media, cultural activists, indigenous people, LGBTQ groups, and even student movement leaders.
They formed a separate team with 77 activists from the Bihari and LGBTQ communities, along with 326 citizens, and carried out operations for several years.
Yunusโ National Citizen Party (NCP) convener, Nahid Islam, made a statement about creating an inclusive society only to appease his deep state superiors. In the recent incident, where Dhanmondi 32 was burned and destroyed, the Biharis were at the forefront.
From the beginning of August, most artists in the country changed their Facebook profile pictures to a red background, probably as a signal from the deep state for Sheikh Hasinaโs downfall.
USAID funds many bands, Kureghor being one of them. Everyone knows about Tashrif Khan, who received money from USAID. Artists like Azmeri Haque Badhan, Fuad, and Elita Karim, among others, have sung for USAID projects.
During the movement, USAID suddenly promoted rap music in Bangladesh to incite anti-government riots.
According to Benz, the deep state created a song and made it popular among the masses to provoke public anger. State Department documents state that students were involved in the protests only when the BNP repeatedly failed politically, since the Awami League was still popular in the country. When a few students died in the protests, some rap songs suddenly went viral.
Meanwhile, on July 15, Matthew Miller spread rumours in a State Department press conference that two protesters had died, even though no one had died at that time.
Benz further stated: โThese actions caused people to question their faith in a popular government and led them to the streets. The US attempted a similar coup in Cuba in 2009 using drugs, prostitutes, and cultural activists. The deep state, USAID, and the US fought hard for the BNP in two elections.
โAn IRI report to the State Department mentions that since 2018, the US has supported BNP and tried to bring them to power in various ways, but BNP failed to mobilise the people.
โThe deep state invested in 170 pro-democracy activists in Bangladesh and placed 304 informants in various key locations to collect sensitive information.โ
For a transgender dance festival alone, USAID provided $2.7 million. This funding created widespread controversy in the US.
Between October and December 2020, IRI organized three separate dance festivals in Bangladesh. Details: https://tbsnews.net/worldbiz/usa/us-president-biden-criticised-florida-governor-desantis-promoting-transgenderismโฆ
Benz also revealed surprising information about disinformation in Bangladesh.
USAID formally trained Muhammad Yunusโs current foreign advisor, Md Touhid Hossain, in the US in 2021 on countering disinformation. The training focused on how to suppress information that the US State Department disapproves of and how to control the flow of information.
Currently, Touhid Hossain is not speaking out against mob justice; instead, the government is actively preventing any related media reports from being published.
The reason why there was no discussion in Bangladesh about the $2.7 million funding for transgender groups is that this money was diverted elsewhere.
Additionally, Grameenphone in Bangladesh works on various projects in collaboration with the Deep State and USAID. Among universities, BRAC University is another major agent of these institutions. In 2020, BRAC University received a $1 billion grant from NED and the Open Secret Wing of the State Departmentโs Soros Foundation, with conditions promoting open society, freedom of expression, and diversity, specifically supporting LGBTQ and transgender communities in Bangladesh.
The State Department and NED also run two media projects in Bangladesh, Netra News and Bangla Outlook. Journalists linked to these newspapers have been engaged in building perceptions against the Awami League for several years.
There are also two Facebook fact-checking platforms in Bangladesh that have ties to USAID and NED. I will write a separate post about their scam. These platforms also played a role in the fall of Sheikh Hasina. IRI has made significant investments in Bangladesh.
After Sheikh Hasinaโs fall, on November 14, IRI hurriedly provided ($7.5 million) Tk900 crore in grants to 18 NGOs, likely due to Trumpโs election victory the following week, named the Bangladesh-America Friendship Project.
Before the riots started in July last year, the Social Business Day event, organised by the Yunus Centre, was held on June 27-28 in Manila, Philippines. Attendees included Muhammad Yunus, Asif Nazrul, Shahidul Alam, Lamiya Morshed, Farida Akhter, and North South Universityโs current Vice-Chancellor, Abdul Hannan Khan.
This conference took place just a week before the riots began. Did the key figures of the Yunus network really travel to Manila just for a business event? Itโs worth noting that this festival was hosted by Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF), an NGO in the Philippines that is USAIDโs main partner there.
The Yunus Centre and NWTF jointly organised the Social Business Day. The NWTF has received USAID funding at various times.
It seems that under the guidance of the devil Democrats, the Deep State had planned every aspect of Sheikh Hasinaโs removal in a coordinated manner.
Redowan Ibne Saiful: Writer, activist
English