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Tag Archive: Arab Spring

Palestinian lobbyists meet with key decision makers

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The Palestine Liberation Organization recently filed their bi-annual lobbying documents that show outreach to top decision makers, media and academia, and list meetings with up and coming policy leaders.

Lobbyists met with Dan Shapiro of the National Security Council a few months before before President Obama appointed him to be the U.S. envoy to Israel.

The general delegation of the PLO to the U.S. also honored General James Mattis on December 2011 at an event hosted by the Ambassador of Yemen. The event took place before he was named U.S. Central Command, replacing General David Petraeus. 

Another ...

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Egypt’s PR shop terminates their US operation

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A few weeks after Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in response to the public outrage against his 30 year rule, the Egyptian government’s PR outfit in Washington terminated their operation, records show. Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Associates ended their representation of the Egyptian press office on February 28, 2011, shortly after Mubarak resigned on February 11.

From November 2010 to March 2011, the Egypt Press and Information Bureau paid the lobbying group $200,000 in fees and expenses. The lobby shop was hired in April 2009 and was paid a total of $985,000 during that period ...

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Lobbyists for Morocco go on a meeting spree soon after political upheaval

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A nonprofit established by the government of Morocco went on a lobbying frenzy earlier this year, coinciding with the time when pro-democracy demonstrations in the country took an ugly turn. The Moroccan-American Policy Council, which is the registered agent of the Moroccan government met with 130 congressional offices on February 23, 24 and 25 just days after the riots broke out, FARA records show.

Protests in the country started on February 1, when a protestor lit himself on fire, immitating the incident that sparked the Tunisian revolt and in a few weeks turned violent with riots on February 21. A ...

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Unofficial Libyan ambassador registers with FARA

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In a sign of the ambiguity of international policy toward Libya, Ali Suleiman Aujali, the diplomat who made headlines when he defected from the Gadafi Government in February, has registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Justice Department to represent the Transitional National Council of Libya, the umbrella group representing the forces opposed to the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.

The State Department has not officially recognized the opposition rebels as the legitimate government of Libya. If it had, as the Foreign Agent Registration Unit notes on its website, no filing would be necessary. "Diplomats and officials of foreign ...

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Libya and Algeria rocked by recent protests, have history of US lobbying

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As the dissent against dictatorial rulers spreads in the Middle East, two countries – Libya and Algeria – experiencing unrest have spent millions lobbying the U.S. government in the past few years on various issues including improving trade relations with the United States and cleaning up tarnished images of their country.

The government of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who has been in control after he took over in 1969, hired DC lobby shops Blank Rome, The Livingston Group and White and Case for over $2 million to lobby on their behalf in 2008 and 2009, Foreign Agent Registrant Act (FARA) records ...

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Egypt’s Washington lobby helped country’s military and U.S. defense firms

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At the Atlantic, Chris Good identifies some of the U.S. lobbyists who have registered to work for the Egyptian government. Filings required by the Foreign Agent Registration Act, and digitized and made searchable by Sunlight's joint project with ProPublica, the Foreign Lobbyist Influence Tracker, show that among foreign governments, Egypt has been one of the most prolific spenders. FARA filings show that the U.S.-Egyptian bilateral relation benefits American military contractors. The United States ships aid dollars to the Egyptian government, which in turn buys pricey items from American contractors, with deals often arranged with the help ...

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