Reprinted with the permission of Philanthropy benefactions

Mini-Mouse vs. Megalodon By Karl Zinsmeister

his issue of Philanthropy could pull into one of the facilities and representing large investments of labor, T magazine is an extended grab a few moments to look around and expenditure, and effort. look at little versus big, at take photos until we got kicked out. The And in the Balkans, China’s aid versus arm-twisting, at inspiration man at the wheel, a former Special Forces interventions are unfolding cheek- versus intimidation. It asks whether lots soldier, was instantly game, and steered by-jowl with major manipulations by of helpful little mice can fend off huge our SUV off the highway and down a the Russians. Russia runs extensive scary sharks. And it does all this within gravel road to one of the Chinese camps. propaganda, intelligence, and military an unusual philanthropic niche—charities I jumped out and strode quickly operations in the region. Russians have that support foreign-policy and national- down a tidy row of spartan offices marked captured control of the major energy defense goals. “Payroll,” “Engineering,” “Contracts,” companies in Serbia. In the southern Begin by examining the photograph and such. I reached a sign marking the part of that country they recently on the opposite page. I shot it a “Commissary,” and then a series of large built a large secure facility labeled couple months ago in the heart of the buildings labeled “Dorm 1, 2, 3, 4” and so in one-foot letters, “Russian-Serbian Caucasus—a strategic crossroads ringed forth. This is a major operation. Hortatory Humanitarian Center.” Experts, by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, placards in Chinese and broken English however, say that the windowless gray and other hot-button nations. As this urge that “Proper behavior lead a better building next to an airport is a lightly picture was taken, there were separatist future,” and trumpet “The Belt and Road: disguised intelligence and military boundary lines, gun trucks, propaganda Building Prosperity Together.” base. When I try to visit, a soldier tells broadcasters, foreign-funded madrassahs, Very soon, large unsmiling Chinese me I cannot enter or take pictures. ethnic extremists, and armed forces of men appeared and told us we could not In Iraq, where I also traveled on this all stripes looming over the horizon. take photos and must leave immediately. trip, the Chinese very recently clinched What you are looking at is one of the The Special Warfare and PsyOps a 20-year oil-for-infrastructure deal that hundreds of work camps organized and backgrounds of my two ex-military will send more than 100,000 barrels of paid for by China through its so-called colleagues immediately kicked in. They petroleum to China every day. Beijing gets “Belt and Road Initiative”—a vast play for explained in a mix of languages and the simultaneous right to build factories, influence across the low-income world. In pantomime that we needed to get off the railways, and other facilities in Iraq that scores of frail countries, the Chinese are highway because the human bladder has a will be overseen by Chinese managers laying down rail lines, bridges, highways, mind of its own. That all these big signs and use Chinese materials and operating and docks. They are building telecom covered with red kanji got us hoping we systems, making them a seamless networks, shipping hubs, and ports. They might find a good Chinese buffet down extension of China’s domestic operations. are creating facial-recognition networks this gravel road. That it sure did feel All of this financed by loans from the and other police infrastructure. They nice to stretch our legs and breathe the Chinese government. Meanwhile, the are snatching up manufacturing plants, mountain air. A burly Chinese officer state-owned Russian oil company Rosneft, pipelines, and refineries. In the first 11 took a picture of our license plate as we operating as a tool of the Kremlin, has months of 2019, Chinese entities signed pulled away. provided the Kurdistan government with 6,055 contracts in 61 countries for Belt $4 billion over the last couple years to and Road projects costing $128 billion. gain effective control over the large oil During a half-day drive across the wo weeks later in Serbia I and gas resources in Iraq’s north. tiny but strategic country of Georgia I T saw more Belt and Road And it’s not just countries I visited peered down into half a dozen camps like projects: A bridge across like Georgia, Serbia, and Iraq. Across the one pictured here, where Chinese the Danube in Belgrade. The new the globe, Russians are newly assertive laborers, engineers, and equipment were A2 motorway. Tunnels. Rail lines. in their foreign policy, and hundreds digging, blasting, and pouring concrete. Huge tire and steel plants taken over of thousands of Chinese are toiling I asked my traveling companions if we by Chinese state-owned firms. All in Belt and Road work camps. The

4 PHILANTHROPY Chinese are building thousands of miles might employ big industrial policies to to complete similar projects would be of road and rail, 42 seaports, and plan curry favor with poor citizens abroad many multiples of what the Chinese to spend $900 billion in 70 countries just makes us giggle. Our bureaucratic are spending. We can’t beat them at over the foreseeable future—drawing agencies can‘t run a reliable health that game. many strategic, resource-rich, contested service for Native Americans or So are we powerless to respond? countries into their orbit. veterans, oversee efficient train or Have we been checkmated by today’s postal operations, or keep homeless savvy, if sometimes brutal, exercises encampments from blocking in power politics by the Chinese and oes the U.S. government commuter traffic. Russian regimes? Must we just sit on our D need its own mega programs Building edifice complexes across hands and watch contested parts of the to mirror these aggressive the developing world is not something globe turn sullen toward us and indebted Chinese and Russian moves? A new our federal government could pull to our opponents? Marshall Plan for the information era? off. The Chinese send thousands In a word: No. An infrastructure blitz for huddled of workers to remote regions for masses all around the world? multi-year stints, where they sleep Or maybe we need our version of in dormitory bunk beds and live on irst of all, most of the Chinese the Chinese military mobilization that cafeteria food. Our nation lacks the F investments will have less has dredged fresh islands in the South social regimentation to accomplish ultimate value to the recipient China Sea and then armed them? Is that. At American levels of wages, nations than might appear. Belt and their system of high-tech personal worker protection, capital expense, and Road contracts stipulate that most work monitoring and dissent-suppression the environmental care, the costs for us be carried out by Chinese workers, that way of the future? Must we organize a counterpart to the disinformation and commando operations the Russians have used to seize territory in Ukraine, Georgia, Syria, and elsewhere? Mega projects sometimes create mega problems. Lord save us! Those strong-arm Human-to-human contact tactics are not American methods.

Karl Zinsmeister Karl And the notion that Washington can be a good counter measure.

SPRING 2020 5 benefactions

machinery must be bought from Chinese A gauntlet has been thrown down firms, that capital goods will be imported Commissioner Johannes Hahn. There for Americans. Hard military actions from China tax exempt. All of the trucks is simply “pressure that things are and savvy economic measures will and machines in the adjoining photo were transferred into their ownership” if a be required to navigate it. We’ll also brought in from the People’s Republic. beneficiary can’t repay. need efforts to win hearts and minds, Same with materials. With little local Even as China expands its Belt using the soft strengths of our nation: sourcing, this kind of construction and Road initiative, some countries are the good faith of our people, and the doesn’t offer much economic boost to the beginning to object. Big construction allure of our liberty-based culture. recipient nation. efforts in Pakistan, Malaysia, Nepal, This latter work is often done best To make these transactions easy for Sierra Leone, Myanmar, and other outside of government. host countries, the Chinese offer massive places have been put on hold. Critics It’s far from inevitable that loans. But of course loans must eventually are expressing concern about “debt-trap megalodon will gobble us up. But we be paid back. Experts accuse the Chinese diplomacy,” an attempt to create “tribute can’t just sit still while it circles. We need of hiding the fact that a large fraction of states” that kowtow to Beijing, and a to defend ourselves. And the creativity the public-works projects they sponsor will “new colonialism.” and independence of America’s privately never return their investment, requiring B&R projects often bring funded civil society can be very helpful either permanent subsidies or forfeiture. environmental damage. As the treatment in this. When the Sri Lankan government of the mountain river in my photo hints, The feature article you will read recently found it couldn’t meet the little care is taken on that front, and there starting on page 19 is an embedded payments on a new port, it had to give are complaints of deteriorated land, water, travelogue that sketches some of the ways China a 99-year lease on the facility and air quality. There are also objections donor-funded operations can contribute plus 15,000 acres of surrounding land to safety and job conditions from those to today’s stiff foreign challenges. The in exchange for debt forgiveness. Indian working in Chinese-managed facilities. tale will carry you through war-wracked and U.S. intelligence have long warned So the sharkish megalodon countries so you can observe the work the Chinese want a naval base there. A strategies of China and Russia aren’t of an innovative charity called Spirit highway the Chinese are now building invincible. They have weaknesses, can of America that is tightly focused on in Montenegro (despite E.U. warnings it be overbearing, and have inflamed national security. If you think of defense was uneconomic) has sent debt soaring some recipient nations. Mega projects and foreign policy as the ultimate so high in that small nation that a freeze sometimes create mega problems. government monopoly, this reporting may on wages, an end to family supports, This creates openings for U.S. change your perspective. and a tax increase have been necessary. countermeasures, if we will act. The story suggests one of the best Even so the road is likely to end up as an ways we can win friends and influence incomplete highway leading nowhere. enemies around the world is through Many countries—Pakistan, he first step is to recognize decentralized human-to-human Mongolia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, T that America’s global philanthropy—taking advantage of Djibouti, the Maldives, Laos, Tajikistan, competitors are making grassroots American inventiveness and Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, and others—are formidable power plays in ways that the capacity of our values to inspire similarly drowning under their Belt and endanger peace, prosperity, and freedom. others. This narrative documents a Road obligations to China. The Center The Chinese and Russians are pressing practical working model, not a theory. for Global Development estimates that us with greater economic power, more It suggests that the classic mechanisms 31 countries already have debt problems dangerous technology, and at least as of U.S. charitable action are a realistic linked to B&R work. “China never much determination and mental cunning way of building international trust cares how and if a country is able to as the Soviet Union managed during its and cooperation. pay its loans,” says European Union long struggle for world ascendancy. While our sprawling, multi- viewpoint, individual-centered free society will never be good at ten-year plans and big-hammer, heavy-power, Overseas power plays are endangering peace central-investment strategies, we don’t need to be. We have our own secret and freedom. America needs to draw on the weapons. Very different ones from what generosity and good faith of our people, and the the Chinese and Russians wield. Our secret weapons can be seen in the photos allure of our liberty-based culture, in responding. just to the right.

6 PHILANTHROPY Thousands of small, personal, suspicion and reassurance, war and feed the hungry, provide pure water, etc. transparent, humane transactions, peace. America already makes many Those are marvelous causes where we offering others a hand in heartfelt friends around the globe this way; it has can be proud of our leadership. These ways—these are our strength. Such the potential to do much more. Donors gifts have no expedient aim, they just interventions often require only modest and social entrepreneurs merely need come out of religious feeling, gratitude amounts of money, channeled quickly to recognize that they can play a role in for our economic good fortune, and to the right person in the heart of a national security just as they do in every desires to reduce human suffering. community in need. We can provide that other sector of society. But there is nothing illegitimate kind of grassroots aid in myriad places, Readers of Philanthropy magazine about also providing charity in support to people of every sort. More than a and our Almanac of American of U.S. military and diplomatic million charities do that kind of work Philanthropy know that small goals: More freedom and individual across our country every day, changing charitable acts don’t necessarily mean self-determination. More prosperity. lives without central orchestration, small results. We’ve illustrated over Rule of law. Reduced bullying and without coercion, without squashing and over how localized deeds of civil domination of weak persons, minority individual or cultural dignity. U.S. society can accumulate, as small groups, or states. And stability across philanthropy can work the same magic streams join into mighty rivers, to regions so that everyday people can in conflict zones overseas. create major transformation. There is live unthreatened, build families, Of course, small-scale, rapid- nothing automatic about this, though. and pursue their dreams without the response aid works only if it is We need to work at it, to reach out intrusion of ideological clashes or executed with careful discernment, to freedom-loving allies in other calamitous violence. genuine kindness, prudent judgment, countries, to take national-security Will the prevailing international and respect for local conditions. But philanthropy seriously. norm 20 years from now be a USA- American charitable groups have inflected system of liberty? Or will been learning how to do this well for shadowy mixes of surveillance, more than three centuries. We are f course a huge volume manipulation, and subordination now expert at translating individual O of American charitable of individual rights to state power aid and encouragement into effective activity already takes place predominate across the globe? How social change, and are able to do this in foreign lands. In fact, we give a lot safe will it be for U.S. travelers to walk internationally as well as domestically. more to struggling people abroad every foreign streets? Will our companies be And by the way, philanthropic year acting as individuals, through welcomed? Will the world be friendly action can be especially effective against philanthropic mechanisms, than we do as to American values? threats that are more limited than our a national government. But the activities The answers to those questions competitions with Russia and China. described in this issue’s two feature will have something to do with Both in our long feature article and in stories are different from what our purely whether we make more room in our Ashley May’s story on page 38, we touch humanitarian charities do overseas. philanthropic universe for groups that on ways that donor-funded efforts are Hardly any of today’s charitable support U.S. servicemembers and reducing dangers from terror attacks, and gifts made to foreigners by Americans diplomats—through person-to-person “irregular” warfare. are oriented toward explicit security and generosity and small-scale community Deft micro-actions can make the diplomatic goals. We give aid simply to action—as they battle tumult over the

Karl Zinsmeister Karl P difference between hatred and trust, battle disease, shelter disaster victims, next generation.

SPRING 2020 7 National Security Philanthropy

By Karl Zinsmeister

Take an overseas tour with a one-of-a-kind nonprofit that uses charitable micro efforts to blunt foreign threats

and continues to be cherished by many as Spirit of America to go to work. Spirit is residents. The region’s haunting multi- a unique nonprofit that works closely with REPUBLIC voice singing is the oldest polyphonic U.S. military forces and diplomats to help music in Christendom (and alive and them be successful. If you think defense OF GEORGIA well—I only had to stand next to an and national security are fields with little THIS WAY open window in Tbilisi to take in a room for charity work, the reporting that glorious rehearsal). The world’s most follows may surprise you. antique strains of wine grapes are cultivated here, then vinted in unusual A Russia problem ways. Christianity arrived in Georgia way When I first visited Georgia in 1982 it he ancient nation of Georgia huddles back in the first century. And for the 10 was a territory of the Soviet Union. In Tright where Europe, Asia, and the percent of the population that is Muslim fact, Joseph Stalin grew up here. During Middle East grind together in rocky you will find here a mosque where my November 2019 inspection tour I snowclad peaks. For millennia, the adherents of Islam’s Sunni and Shia stopped by the museum commemorating mountainous terrain protected its people, branches pray side by side—something the dictator’s birthplace. Back in the days allowing a venerable culture to grow almost unheard of anywhere else. of the USSR it was built as a shrine. up. Georgia has its own alphabet (one The last century, however, has brought Today it feels like a mausoleum, mostly of only a dozen or so in use). The local conflict to Georgia. That makes it an ignored since Georgia joyfully became a literature dates to the fourth century excellent place for the 501c3 charity known free nation again in 1991.

18 PHILANTHROPY In the capital city of Tbilisi there is now an alternative attraction— the national Museum of the Soviet Occupation. It uses photos, artifacts, and statistics to document the damage and death that flowed from Russia’s over- running of Georgia in 1921. The exhibits climax in a set of blood-red letters: “Total victims 880,000.” That out of a national population of 4 million. Today, Georgia still has a serious Russia problem. That’s the reason Spirit of America operates in the country. It’s what I am here to observe. After Georgia withdrew from the Nick Israel (center) and Chris Van Johnson of Spirit of America talk to wheelchair factory manager Giorgi USSR, a long build-up of tension finally Dzneladze and one of his disabled workers. This social enterprise— supported by the U.S. embassy and flashed into hot war in 2008. Over 80,000 military and assisted by Spirit of America—was set up by Georgia’s main charity for handicapped citizens, Russian troops poured into two Georgian which was created by Dzneladze’s father after a broken neck left him paralyzed. provinces, and Russian warplanes and artillery bombarded other cities, including wheelchairs, and a large computer- “Our next goal, working with the capital. Simultaneous with their controlled laser cutter labeled, “Provided the U.S. embassy’s Office of Defense physical invasion the Russians launched by USAID.” A grant from our Agency Cooperation, is to help Georgia’s cyberattacks and an information war—their for International Development allowed agency for veterans smooth out some first use of a tactic they have since honed. a local nonprofit serving disabled people cumbersome bureaucratic procedures The Georgian security forces were to establish this workshop. The aim was so they can provide these efficient, quickly routed, with 184 killed and to create personal transport machines locally made machines to the remaining another 1,200 wounded, plus hundreds adapted to the rough streetscapes and wounded veterans who need one,” says of civilian casualties. The Russians never modest incomes of Georgia. We inspect Nick Israel, who is managing this project left the two invaded provinces, which are the operation’s all-terrain designs— for Spirit of America. “We’re thanking now administered by Russian civilians including a battery-powered wheelchair Georgians for their military assistance backed by Russian forces garrisoned at that costs about half as much as a U.S. during the War on Terror, supporting permanent bases. Their residents use model, and is much lighter to lug in and a local social enterprise, and standing Russian passports and Russian currency. out of vehicles and apartments. beside them as they cope with a difficult Local proxies destroyed Georgian Last year the plant was having trouble Russian neighbor.” villages and carried out ethnic cleansing, convincing the Georgian government to During hours of car time as we reducing total population in the two buy its products. Bureaucrats were pecking traverse Georgia I come to know Nick occupied sectors by about half. away at the long list of injured veterans Israel as a bright-eyed man in a high- In the rest of Georgia, meanwhile, by purchasing used electric wheelchairs and-tight haircut whose lips perpetually citizens became even more adamantly pro- made abroad. So Spirit of America made curl in a ready smile, hinting at the ease Western, pro-NATO, and pro-American. a quick grant of $4,500 to purchase with which he turns new acquaintances More than 6,000 Georgian soldiers the first three models of the new local into fast friends. Judging by his intense participated in the Coalition effort in Iraq. product. These prototypes were donated curiosity, he was almost certainly the Some were killed there and a few hundred to disabled Georgians and used every day, kind of child who drove adults crazy came home injured. proving the design. with perpetual “why?” and “how come?” The first Spirit of America project With this small investment delivered queries. This sense of wonder, however, I visit in Georgia is a factory set up to just when the company needed support, has turned him into something extremely build wheelchairs. Spirit discovered that Spirit was thus able to help the firm valuable to a philanthropy that aims to electric mobility devices were needed pass through a debt crisis and toward understand and influence overlooked for a national backlog of 160 disabled prosperity. Today it manufactures more societies: He is a walking, talking veterans (some from the Russo-Georgian than 200 wheelchairs per month, and encyclopedia of obscure ethnic, political, war, some from Iraq). So the charity is about to move to a larger factory to and cultural knowledge. offered to help. accommodate its growth. It is making We enter a ramshackle industrial sales inside and outside of the country, Karl Zinsmeister is editor in chief of building filled with drill presses, and includes several disabled men among Philanthropy magazine and creator of Karl Zinsmeister; Spirit of America Spirit of Zinsmeister; Karl metal saws, posters of pinup girls in its employees. The Almanac of American Philanthropy.

SPRING 2020 19 by a mix of grants from Americans and Europeans, plus advertising. Though it avoids overtly anti-Russian messaging, the station’s commitment to openness and freedom has periodically gotten its transmitters bombed and its signal jammed. Recently a pro-Russian station in Abkhazia commenced programming on the exact same FM frequency. But Radio Atinati now has 100,000 Internet listeners who need only a computer connection to tune in. (You can listen yourself at radioatinati.ge.) This useful resource, in this strategic region, is supported by Spirit of America not with money but with expertise. Several years ago, the Gerson Lehrman Group became one of Spirit’s supporters. A network of thousands of technical experts organized by Mark Gerson and Thomas Lehrman, GLG makes its money by brokering the advice of scientists, academics, and businesspeople At the boundary with Abkhazia, a province of Georgia occupied by Russian troops, Pakhulani’s schoolmaster, to investors in need of industry far right, talks with Spirit of America staff and security personnel, with European Union monitors in the background, and the Caucasus looming above. knowledge. Thanks to the generosity of the GLG founders (Mark Gerson’s personal philanthropy was profiled in As hinted by his cornfield-flat accent Airwave diplomacy the Spring 2018 issue of this magazine), and guileless warmth, Israel grew up in Now Nick is leading us across Georgia some of its experts are also made our Midwest, the son of a lawyer and toward the Black Sea and Abkhazia— available to Spirit of America and other an art teacher. After studying Russian one of the two provinces occupied by charitable groups on a pro bono basis. and Eastern European history at the Russian military forces. This contested Spirit arranged for a GLG expert University of Michigan he took his region is a natural focus of U.S. military on the operation of prisons, for instance, honors degree into the Army. During his and diplomatic interest. Our first stop to guide U.S. military advisers in eight-year career in the full-time military is a private broadcaster that shares Bangladesh who were eager to help (he is still a reservist) he served first as entertainment, news, and community tamp down Islamic radicalization in an armor officer, then, after completing feeling across the armed boundary that nation’s lockups. Another GLG Russian language courses and special- line that now separates the rest of expert who was an experienced Bechtel warfare training, moved into psychological Georgia from what only Russia, Syria, Corporation executive assisted Spirit in operations within the Special Forces. Nauru, Venezuela, and Nicaragua have Panama, where locals needed assistance PsyOps specialists are known as recognized as the Republic of Abkhazia. in fending off predatory contract the Army’s nerdy “Goths.” In almost Radio Atinati—loosely translated provisions in infrastructure projects any gathering of subject-matter experts, as “a ray of light in the dark”—was offered by the Chinese. Nick’s long marination in Zionism, established by an idealistic couple Tom Schurr, formerly a top executive Baltic history, Slav demography, obscure who also run nonprofit schools in the at U.S. market leader Clear Channel political parties of the Caucasus, various Georgian city of Zugdidi (which was Radio, was first recruited through religious splinter groups, and other temporarily occupied by Russian troops GLG to help Spirit set up ArmyFM. European and Middle Eastern arcana during the Russo-Georgian War). Its That is a radio broadcaster created in would qualify him as a wizard. He reads aim is to support the free exchange of Ukraine to balance a barrage of Russian voraciously, and is the kind of autodidact information and maintain relationships propaganda and improve morale among who can get lost for hours plowing across the boundary with Abkhazia. soldiers battling Russia’s invasion of through chronicles of Estonian culture or Today a station staff of 18 journalists the eastern part of their country. With Balkan language. And his spaniel-puppy and program hosts beam music, chat, Schurr’s expertise and more than exuberance has allowed him to build a vast and news across the region in a variety $100,000 donated by Spirit to buy the collection of friends and useful contacts. of languages. The operation is supported first transmitter and other equipment,

20 PHILANTHROPY ArmyFM quickly grew into a multi- station network popular with its audience, and then a TV broadcaster, both now well supported by Ukrainian officials. In October 2019, Spirit brought Schurr to Georgia. He spent time studying Radio Atinati’s operations, then recommended ways to strengthen them. In particular he encouraged a heavier emphasis on advertising to provide the station with a more stable economic base. Having now donated his expertise in three intensive consulting trips, Schurr is impressed with Spirit’s sharp, dedicated program directors and the group’s ability

to get things done. “My father was an Principal Vakhtang Gogokhia is interviewed on his school playground by a Radio Atinati reporter about Annapolis grad and career military,” he what Spirit of America’s gift of 250 walnut trees will mean to his school and the local economy. says, “and I admire Spirit’s competence and quiet dedication to helping our nation and its friends.” The Georgian schoolmaster, trees should be planted, and instead Vakhtang Gogokhia, has been an of fitting the 250 specimens that were Walnuts and life change educator for 40 years. He fled the Abkhaz ordered, the school plot could fit only At our next stop we watch Radio Atinati side himself a couple decades ago, so 170. If this were a government grant, journalists in action. We drive to a little he has a heart for the migrant children. noted the U.S. embassy personnel rural school in the village of Pakhulani. He doggedly reports detainments at the collaborating with Spirit in this Located at the western edge of Georgia, border, complains that parents of the project, changing the purchase size and hard up against one of the few remaining littlest children should be allowed to amending the accompanying paperwork road crossings into Abkhazia, this is escort their youngsters, and otherwise would have been a months-long a sensitive area closely monitored by makes himself persona non grata with the bureaucratic nightmare, leaving a trail European Union observers and American Russians and their separatist allies. of cracked nuts all the way from Tbilisi diplomatic and military personnel. In June, Gogokhia made a proposal to Washington, D.C. The Abkhazian and Russian guards to the U.S. military team that does But because this was a private allow a small flow of goods to cross into the civil work in this area. This agricultural charitable transaction, the Spirit managers separatist province. Few people, however, region needs economic stimulus, and he were able to make an on-the-spot get through. A Georgian man tells me proposed planting an orchard of walnuts adjustment. They told the vendor to just it has been 20 years since he has seen his (popular in Georgian cuisine) as a way bring all the trees originally contracted relatives who live just three houses over the to train his students in horticulture for. He would be paid in full, and the boundary line. Some very insistent parents while encouraging a new local cash crop. 80 leftover plants, each standing about on the Abkhazian side, however, manage to The military team called in Spirit of three feet tall in its plastic pot, would get their children across the checkpoint to America. After consulting agricultural be sent home with the children, one per attend school in Pakhulani. experts, Spirit agreed to purchase enough family. That way the horticulture lessons At one point 50 youngsters would walnut trees to plant a grove in the field imparted at school would be repeated in cross daily in order to be educated in immediately behind the school. Only local backyards, and cemented even more Georgian language and history, and avoid weeks after the schoolmaster initially deeply. A procurement problem was thus the Russian indoctrination of Abkhaz raised his idea I watched the first tree turned into an educational opportunity, schools. After increased interference from go into the ground as students clustered and parents were delighted. security personnel, that number is down around. That speed and flexibility is a key At the planting ceremony, area to about a dozen today. Every morning to Spirit’s ability to excite partners. leaders turn out to celebrate. As though, a determined knot of youngsters Further proof of the nonprofit’s schoolmaster Gogokhia is interviewed crosses the barriers, sometimes in nimbleness came two days before the by a Radio Atinati reporter for later mountain fog, rain, or snow, then trudges public ceremony with local officials broadcast and web-video posting, the past the European Union monitors and and media that had been scheduled to leader of the U.S. Special Forces team on to the Georgian school located about commemorate the gift. The arborist working with Spirit on this project a third of a mile from the boundary. At supplying the saplings called to say points to the educator standing in front Karl Zinsmeister Karl night they return. he had miscalculated how densely the of the camera and says, “That’s the

SPRING 2020 21 reason we do this kind of work. We get to assist local people in voluntary along the gorge floor are of the same young males. A national champion named efforts to improve their lives, while ethnic group as the Chechens. Jemal Gigauri was recruited to coach a other residents of the region observe When the second Chechen war broke new team based at a community center in directly or through their media. That’s a out in 1999, up to 8,000 Chechen refugees the Pankisi valley. valuable way of building friendship.” flooded into the Pankisi Gorge. After But the facility lacked an adequate I ask Nick Israel later about the a later military loss, nearly a thousand heating system for practices. So Spirit influence of small projects like this. “Our Chechen, Arab, and Turk fighters joined quickly installed a gas furnace in 2018, only agenda is to help our friends obtain them, licking their wounds and training in and the team was in business. U.S. Army what they value and need, so that their the secluded region. Some reports say Abu Special Operators are in contact with communities will succeed, by their own Musab al-Zarqawi, the ISIS founder who the coach, and at their suggestion Spirit lights,” says Nick Israel. “And we achieve subsequently killed thousands in Iraq and supplied the club with wrestling uniforms that a lot. elsewhere, sheltered for a time in Pankisi. in the spring of 2019. FOUNDING “I can say for certain that the projects It’s certain that a red-bearded gorge “The hard part of my job,” I’ve been involved in with Spirit over the native named Tarkhan Batirashvili, summarizes Nick Israel, “is convincing SPIRIT OF AMERICA last couple years have had life-changing who had been radicalized while battling people that I’m for real! American effects. Sometimes country-changing Russians as a member of the Georgian charitability is a completely foreign effects. I can’t think of another group or military, joined the foreign fighters. concept in much of the world. People are agency where I could have accomplished Adopting the nom de guerre Abu Omar shocked when they hear how many things these things.” al Chechani he turned into the most Americans do with donated money and Once the shovels are put away after dangerous military leader of ISIS at its time. And they’re very surprised when we the tree planting, Spirit employees and peak. About 20 other Georgians from the offer to help them in the same way.” the U.S. military team are invited to the Pankisi Gorge also became jihadists after Even fellow Americans are second floor of the school for a traditional being exposed to Salafist propagandizing sometimes surprised as Spirit arrives on supra feast of khachapuri, Mingrelian in local mosques set up by Saudi and the scene. One three-star Marine general cheese, minced cauliflower, fruit, grape Pakistani funders. briefing his team on how SoA could gelatin, local wine, and homemade Today, all 20 of those Georgian help their military operations opened hazelnut liqueur. Nick Israel offers a toast. jihadists are believed to be dead—along his remarks bluntly: “You guys are going “The American Revolution was unusual with al Chechani, who was killed in a to think, ‘This is too good to be true.’ in being founded on individual liberty. U.S. air strike in Iraq in 2016. But U.S. ‘There has to be a catch.’ ‘What’s in it We sometimes say, ‘Every man is a king.’ military teams and diplomats are keen to for them?’ But I’m here to say—put that Georgians have a very similar saying. head off further radicalization of Muslims aside. This group exists solely to help you And our shared commitment to personal in the Pankisi region. In addition to succeed. You should use them.” freedom is one of the links between our encouraging the Georgian government Nick once had to do some explaining ways of life. Gaumarjos!” to maintain order in the gorge, and end after offering a Slovakian military its economic and cultural isolation, U.S. officer Spirit’s help in acquiring video Wrestling against Islamists embassy staff have suggested initiatives equipment so his unit could make While pressure from Russia and poverty to provide healthier alternatives to young training films for disaster-response units. are the two main forces that Spirit men growing up there. The officer visited Spirit’s website to of America has tried to counteract in As part of this, Spirit was asked if research the nonprofit, then shot back: “I Georgia, there is also a small Islamist it could give a quick boost to a wrestling saw your projects in Somalia and other threat here. The Pankisi Gorge is a team that was being formed. Georgia’s places. But we aren’t Africans. We don’t remote valley that threads through traditional wrestling, called chidaoba, dates accept charity.” Nick spelled out that the northeast mountains bordering back to medieval times, and continues to there is no notion of moral superiority Chechnya, the Russian region that has be highly popular. Dozens of Olympians when Americans make charitable gifts, produced many Islamic extremists. The have come out of Georgia, so the sport that our citizens just understand the 10,000 people who live in villages strung is a good way to capture the attention of limitations of government and are very comfortable using private gifts to get There is a tradition in the U.S. of around bureaucracy, obstacles, delays. “Whenever we take part in a project, businesspeople supporting our military. we make sure our partners understand But Spirit of America lets everyday folks that we get no government funding. That Spirit is supported voluntarily by become involved in defending the nation. everyday people. That our gifts come from Americans who want to help our It’s a new category of philanthropy. friends overseas make a better life.”

22 PHILANTHROPY FOUNDING “In every undertaking I’ve been part of, the best results come from supporting SPIRIT OF AMERICA the initiative of the people who are closest to the problem. American soldiers and marines and sailors tend to be very all and rangy, Jim Hake is a high- There is a tradition in the U.S. of entrepreneurial. So we listen to them. And Tenergy, back-slapping entrepreneur businesspeople supporting our military in try to help them do what they judge best. with an indelible boyishness he will carry to various ways. But Spirit lets everyday folks “Our goal is that whenever our the grave. During our trip he revels in his become involved in defending the nation. nation sends our people abroad, the recent discovery, via a commercial DNA It’s a new category of philanthropy. American people will be by their sides. test, that he is in the 98th percentile of “We’re not the Peace Corps; they For our national defense and foreign humans for the fraction of Neanderthal are an agency of government. We are policies to succeed, we need to apply heredity in his genome. He laughs easily an independent organization that is 100 not just our military might but all and often, slings nicknames, and teases his percent donor funded. Plus we carry out of America’s capabilities—our broad staff mercilessly. our work in cooperation with our defense wealth and generosity, our can-do spirit, Beneath the joshing exterior, though, forces, in zones of dangerous conflict. our goodwill toward others. Hake is devoted to the work of Spirit of The reason U.S. military special operators “It’s impossible for our government America. The 9/11 attacks jolted him. He are in those places is because something to do everything. The hidden strength realized that as a successful businessman worrisome is going on.” that built our country is citizen service— he had benefited in many ways from Spirit of America is not “neutral.” ordinary Americans doing their part. America’s freedoms, and that a violent Other international charities, and all U.N. We carry this out internationally in very global argument was now taking place humanitarian organizations, vehemently practical ways, in the same way that between “voices of intimidation and voices proclaim that they are impartial observers domestic philanthropy accomplishes vital of inspiration.” If “inspiration” was going of strife and simply distribute their aid work in the U.S. to triumph, America would need to draw to relieve the suffering of innocents “Spirit adds only small increments on her clever voluntary sector. “I realized without favoring any political, economic, of resources to a problem. But they are we need to use all aspects of our nation’s or military objectives. Spirit is different. aimed and timed extremely precisely. We power, not just our fighting forces.” “Everything we do is to support the are flexible, and we are cost-efficient. So in 2003 he set up a privately funded success and safety of U.S. troops and And sometimes small increments of help 501c3 to support U.S. servicemembers diplomats and their local partners,” at the right place and moment make the in ways that would make them, and the explains Hake. difference between success and failure.” local partners they collaborate with, safer “There’s no politics. We don’t take and more successful. In an unprecedented positions on policy. But when America’s Startup mentality charitable alliance, Spirit of America began men and women are sent abroad, we Hake freely confesses that he didn’t offering resources to meet needs suggested reinforce their work, as a charitable force know a single member of the military, by deployed troops and diplomats. “When multiplier. The first thing we do when we and had zero knowledge of defense our troops or embassy personnel identify arrive in a new region is listen to the U.S. operations or the inner workings of our a local need they can’t address quickly, military and State Department members government, when he created Spirit we provide flexible, citizen-funded working there. We ask them what they after the 9/11 attacks. Yet he has made assistance. We help them build trust and are trying to accomplish, and how we many shrewd decisions in shaping his goodwill, prevent conflict, and strengthen can help. We don’t set our own agenda. organization to bolster our nation’s America’s security. In the world’s roughest We invest, from the bottom up, in the security. With the savvy instincts of corners, people experience the best of who initiative and humanity of Americans who a successful entrepreneur, he learned Karl Zinsmeister Karl Americans are, and what we stand for. are serving on the front lines. fast, made wise gut assessments of

SPRING 2020 23 and women just out of those services would know how to comport themselves in combat zones. They would bring valuable language and culture skills, and experience at navigating military bureaucracies. They would have instant credibility with otherwise highly reticent SEALs, Marine commandos, Green Beret and Delta Force operators, and military attachés working in sensitive spots all around the planet—individuals who would never open up to traditional charity workers. So in 2009, more than half a decade after founding Spirit of America as a remote filler of shopping lists created by deployed troops, Jim Hake made it his full-time work to run the organization. He began to hunt down the unusual Spirit founder Jim Hake shares lessons of successful and unsuccessful business start-ups with former military operators he would need Kurds hoping to create their own organizations. to take his group to the next level. And he turned it into a full-fledged, charitable problems, hired great staff, recruited a with more sophistication and follow- enabler of the men and women who glittering board of advisers, and built a up. To build on its successes the group defend our nation. sustainable operation. needed employees who could observe “I was ignorant,” admits Hake. “But in the field, deepen connections with That would take an act of Congress in some ways that helped me. I had an local leaders, confer with military and Soon, Spirit’s innocent, idealistic founder open mind, and knew I had to invent embassy officials, and make judgment collided with a stubbornly intractable new systems. No one had drummed calls. Spirit was evolving from a merely opponent: the Department of Defense into me that what I was trying to do reactive crowdfunding website into bureaucracy. For the first seven years was ‘impossible.’ I learned without an organization with institutional Hake had run his charitable startup in preconceptions.” memory, a rich web of grassroots allies, line with the Uber model: Nobody has In classic start-up fashion, Hake and more sophisticated insight into the ever done anything like this before, so let’s launched the effort out of his California best ways to further American values in just make things happen, show people home, as something simple and small. In dangerous places. our product is valuable, and we’ll worry the beginning it was just a mechanism for Field directors could build up about the legal framework later. Because fulfilling soldiers’ wish lists: He’d zero in sources capable of sharing valuable commanders on the ground were so on the most practical ideas, advertise them information. They would nurture glad to have Spirit’s help, the group was on his website and collect the donations people and groups in a position to solve able to thrive in practice even though no needed to fund them, then ship the problems. Spirit’s ability to have long- official rules existed to define its charitable resources to a war zone. Medical packages term positive effects would ratchet up to collaborations with security forces. for allied security forces, school supplies a much higher level. Starting in 2010, though, as Spirit for Iraqi families, money to allow Special Placing employees in spots like proposed to embed personnel with U.S. Forces to stage a dinner uniting tribal Kurdistan, Kandahar, Niger, Colombia, forces in Afghanistan, DoD lawyers leaders, sewing machines that helped Baghdad, Mindanao, and other began to splutter. Not only did they Afghan women make a living, soccer contested areas is not easy, though. object to Spirit employees mixing with balls and winter clothing for children in The first decision Hake made about troops at operating bases, and traveling strategic areas, motorbikes and GPS units his field directors was to recruit them and working under military umbrellas, for local police. All fulfilled in a matter of from the ranks that Spirit already they informed Hake that they viewed weeks, from start to finish. leaned on to execute its programs— the fundamental work of the charity as After a few years of that formula, smart, tough, regional specialists from illegal collaboration with a non-Federal Hake realized that Spirit’s resources the U.S. Special Forces, Marines, and entity. Attorneys at CentCom argued needed to be targeted to vital regions Civil Affairs units of the Army. Men that if a soldier or marine sent Spirit an

24 PHILANTHROPY e-mail suggesting that, say, providing shoes to Afghan children might improve local cooperation with U.S. forces, that constituted an “improper solicitation of gifts” in violation of government ethics regulations. “These legal interpretations of 2010 would have ended Spirit’s operations, and forbidden our model of involving American citizens in national defense,” Marine general (later Secretary of Defense) James Mattis, Army general Joe Dunford, and a few other top notes Hake. So he convinced a high- military officers were early and energetic supporters of what Spirit of America brought to combat zones. powered attorney named John Bellinger, Here Jim Hake meets with Mattis at CentCom headquarters in 2010. well versed in government ethics rules and experienced at the National Security Council and Department of State, to beneath that gravestone. But with his for other nonprofits that might join them advocate for Spirit on a pro bono basis. characteristic guilelessness, energy, and in the future. Hake also garnered support refusal to take no for an answer, Hake By early 2020, Spirit of America from military officers frustrated by began visiting Members of Congress, and had 22 people on staff—up from eight legal barriers that hinder private and enlisted further help from flag officers employees less than a decade earlier. charitable collaborations. In a 2012 and diplomats who appreciated Spirit’s The group has carried out 1,276 study by the Defense Business Board, work. (The advisory board of Spirit of projects in 77 different countries, 71 percent of commanders reported they America is a veritable Who’s Who in thanks to millions of separate gifts had encountered significant obstacles to the world of national defense, currently coming from 16,100 individuals. The civilian-military partnerships. Many of including generals like James Jones, Stanley current annual budget of about $6 them complained that “a strong aversion McChrystal, Ben Hodges, and H. R. million is supplied entirely by donors. to risk results in most attorneys finding McMaster, several retired ambassadors, General Stanley McChrystal, it easier to say no,” instead of allowing former Secretary of State George Shultz, former commander of U.S. forces in new initiatives. and former Secretary of Homeland Afghanistan, says that Spirit “brings Under pressure from field officers, Security Jeh Johnson.) all the nation’s strength together and top DoD lawyers eventually acquiesced Hake and his allies sought a formal focuses it at the point of need.” The and brought Spirit’s operations out of the memorandum of understanding from the ex-Special Ops chieftain refers to the shadows. In November 2010, CentCom Defense Department blessing Spirit, and group as a “philanthropic rapid-response issued a new regulation that allowed Spirit special language in the annual Defense team.” Former Secretary of Defense of America, and potentially other charities, Authorization Act passed by Congress. A James Mattis likewise characterizes to regularize operations within the Central very tall bill. There were the predictable SoA as “agile. It is responsive.” Retired Command region—provided they met objections and turf battles, but Spirit’s general Ben Hodges explains that during specific conditions. Within weeks, Spirit advocates kept talking and visiting, and his commands in Iraq and Afghanistan, had two Army veterans working in late in 2018 this improbable effort finally “they provided me and my soldiers a Afghanistan’s Helmand province. succeeded both at the Pentagon and on unique capability to increase influence With the existential crisis deferred, Capitol Hill. Spirit and the USO are and strengthen relationships with our James Mattis, Ray Odierno, James Amos, now the only charities officially approved partners and allies.” The bottom line on William McRaven, and other top officers to work in direct concert with our Spirit of America for Mattis: “It has been requested that Defense Secretary Leon military, though the new language allows worth its weight in gold.” Panetta broaden the CentCom guidance and apply it to all regions and branches of Hake started Spirit of America U.S. military operation. Despite this tiptop support it took many more years to align following a kind of Uber model: Nobody the government rules and bureaucracy. Eventually Hake ran into the old has ever done anything like this before, argument-ending stumper: full legalization so let’s make things happen, and we’ll of Spirit of America would require an act Karl Zinsmeister Karl of Congress. Many noble causes sleep worry about the legal framework later.

SPRING 2020 25 State terrorists was crumbling, and the Spirit’s instant action saved lives. It climactic fights displaced large numbers created vital civilian trust that allowed ENTERING of residents. Many ISIS fighters and their our Special Forces teams to identify IRAQI collaborators (women especially) were dangerous fugitives. And it put pressure KURDISTAN using the opportunity to hide within the on USAID and other agencies to provide refugee flow. necessary follow-up assistance after the Separating the war criminals from emergency response. innocent civilians was a slow process. The simple food bought in local Syrian Democratic Forces (the mostly markets for this intervention cost Spirit Kurdish-American allies in Syria equipped, only $32,000. No government agency, ack Bazzi is a friendly, bubbly bear trained, and backed by U.S. Special Forces) though, had the capacity to deliver Z of a man. A stocky Lebanese- were working with local sheikhs to visually such aid in the time it was needed. American with a neatly trimmed beard identify the individuals who had tyrannized “Our entire budget is a rounding error just beginning to send up gray flares, he the region. Meantime, pent-up refugees compared to government agencies, or speaks useful Arabic, and brings Middle were facing thirst and starvation. big humanitarian charities like Oxfam,” Eastern volubility and warmth to his job The Special Forces officer who notes Bazzi. “We succeed not by volume where relationships are so important. contacted Bazzi said U.S. emergency but by speed. By precision of action. By In his capacious mental rolodex, Bazzi assistance funds were in the wrong our reliability as a partner.” collects fixers, merchandise buyers, accounts, and it would take weeks to foreign and American soldiers, Middle reprogram them to save these Syrians. Tens Generating goodwill Eastern politicians, and various of thousands of people were in danger. Now Bazzi is guiding us to another scene diplomats, then mixes and matches Could Spirit provide emergency help? where he and Spirit have had success at the pieces to form networks capable of Bazzi and others at Spirit sprang into speed dating. solving an array of problems. action, and by that very night, vendors We are right up against the border During four years with the 101st who Spirit has relationships with in where Iraq, Syria, and Turkey touch, Airborne, he deployed to Bosnia and Erbil, Iraq, were packing boxes with arriving here just days after President Kosovo. He later served two tours lentils, rice, and water, then delivering Trump withdrew U.S. forces from in Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army them to a U.S. base outside the city. A northern Syria. As soldiers from Turkey reservist. Today he oversees Spirit of quarter of these aid boxes were put on invade to fill the power vacuum and America’s work in the U.S. military’s Chinook helicopters and flown to Syria cleanse Syria’s north of Kurds (for whom Central Command region—covering for immediate distribution. The rest were they have long enmity), a new horde of Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, trucked to Syria in military convoys. refugees surges toward Iraq. The central Egypt, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Just 96 hours after Bazzi’s phone Iraqi security forces won’t let them enter, Tajikistan, and other countries. buzzed, Syrian refugees were eating but in Iraq’s north the Kurdistan regional For a picture of the kind of work and drinking again. And as soon as government offers protection to those Bazzi does on a regular basis, start with they realized they were safe and being who are fleeing. In the two weeks prior to an urgent WhatsApp message he received protected, the displaced civilians began our arrival about 10,000 displaced people in January of 2019 from the leader of to point out to SDF and U.S. forces have crossed the border where we are now a small U.S. military team operating the Islamic State fighters in their standing, most of them after paying $200 in Syria and Iraq. At that moment the midst. In the first day alone, 45 ISIS per person to smugglers who lead them last Syrian stronghold of the Islamic partisans were taken into custody. through the wadis under cover of night.

26 PHILANTHROPY They arrive possessing only what they are wearing and carrying in their hands. This is the middle of a bare, brown, dimpled desert. All the land stretching downhill from us is Syria, from which black smoke rises at a spot off on the horizon. Every morning, Kurdish military trucks collect border crossers out in the sands and bring them to the transit facility we are now inspecting. Asayish, the Kurdish intelligence and policing service, is in charge here. New arrivals are checked to make sure they’re not armed or wearing suicide vests, their identities are established, they are fed, and then bused to the nearby Bardarash refugee camp operated by the United Nations. Problem is, the power run up to the transit point from the closest village at Sahela goes off regularly, putting an end to the security checks, the cooking, the lights that illuminate the facility. Two weeks before we arrived, a refugee specialist at the U.S. consulate in Erbil, knowing about Spirit of America’s rapid-response capabilities, had contacted Bazzi. She reported that the collection facility was overwhelmed and needed reliable power—both to carry out a humanitarian mission and to prevent ISIS supporters from sneaking into Iraq. Bazzi quickly connected with the local Asayish commander, met him in person on October 26, and agreed that Spirit would A Kurdish mother feeds her twin daughters at the Sahela transit station, after being smuggled from Syria supply a 40-kilowatt electric generator and into Iraq the night before (top). While Asayish Colonel Nawroz Majid witnesses (bottom), Zack Bazzi, with $7,500 worth of fuel to keep it humming. beard, pays fuel merchant Ziad for 1,745 liters of diesel fuel to power the transit station generator. Bazzi immediately hit the Kurdish bazaars, where almost anything can be purchased, and on October 28 the large generator was Spirit’s program directors have to the transit station. By conducting this delivered to the transit point, along with experience in poor countries and know three-way transaction in public with all all the necessary cabling and connection to be careful they don’t encourage the principals and several other witnesses boxes plus an electrician Spirit had hired corruption. Bazzi provided half of the present there is a precedent for open, to do the installation on the spot. $7,500 fuel allotment up front. Now he accountable, and honest transactions in Now we are inspecting the generator wants to establish a process for drawing the future. and the camp operations it is allowing. on the remainder in a transparent way. “We have corruption here that needs Needless to say, the security-service officers He asks Colonel Majid to call in the to be guarded against,” acknowledges are impressed and grateful for the lightning owner of the nearby fueling station, so he Ismail Mohamed Ahmed when I talk to response. “We only have space here for can pay him directly for the next refill. him the same day this fuel transaction 2,000 people, who we can keep for only 24 Very soon, Mr. Ziad, owner of Artin takes place. He heads the board overseeing to 48 hours. We have a process we must Oil, pulls up in an SUV and strides into more than 20 camps in this region, which get the immigrants through. But almost the office where the colonel and Bazzi house a third of all the refugees in Iraq. every day we lose power here for two to are talking while aides serve sweet tea “But our corruption problem in Kurdistan four hours, and this was causing problems and fruit. Bazzi counts out $800 in cash, is very different from the rest of Iraq. Here before we got the generator,” says Asayish and gets a stamped receipt saying that the police are trusted. Growth is strong. Karl Zinsmeister Karl Colonel Nawroz Majid. 1,745 liters of diesel fuel are now owed Whereas in Baghdad, or in Basra in the

SPRING 2020 27 in camps, due to their inability to return to the rural regions where they were terrorized by ISIS) often labor during the day in agricultural jobs. Now we arrive in the Bardarash refugee encampment. This is where the border-crossers scooped up at the Sahela transit point are bused after being checked into the country. It is the main site sheltering Syrians who fled the recent Turkish incursion into northern Syria, and as we visit it holds 14,000 men, women, and children. On that day, a few hundred new arrivals came in, more than a hundred residents permanently relocated themselves to housing in Erbil, and 180 people returned to Syria. These Syrians are mostly Kurds, with a sprinkling of Christians and Yazidis. U.N. agencies plus Western charities like Save the Children provide basic needs in this rough-and-ready setting. As we stroll lanes separating the tents, the entire camp is being fumigated by a truck spewing thick choking clouds that appear to be diesel and paraffin smoke, presumably laced with some insecticide. Fleas and mosquitoes can transmit dangerous Another day ends for 14,000 refugees sheltered in a Kurdistan camp (top). Syrian Kurds in flight diseases if they take root. from Turkey’s invasion, having entered Iraq the day before, flood into the Bardarash refugee camp The Spirit personnel talk to residents carrying all their remaining worldly possessions (bottom). of the camp and get their stories. “If you’ve seen one refugee camp, you’ve seen them all,” says Zack Bazzi quietly. south, the services and infrastructure of the province population is made up of “A lot of sadness. Not my favorite places. are barely changed since the days of displaced persons. If you have the severe Everything we do on a daily basis is aimed Saddam—a terrible mess!” misfortune to have your life wrenched by at preventing the kinds of conflict and military or foreign-policy failure, this is a collapse that drive desperate families into Where people go when all else fails less bad place to end up than what most places like this.” Ahmed is right: Kurdistan is dramatically victims endure. more functional than the rest of Iraq. Because of Kurdistan’s growing Donors against the explosive Having spent many months down in the economy and tradition of toleration, once remnants of war Shiite and Sunni provinces, I’m staggered the new arrivals make an initial recovery Joshua Brandon is wiry, with a jaw by the contrast in the north. Up here there is a big flow from the temporary covered by grizzled stubble that blends the streets are swept, the power in cities camps into nearby cities. A majority of seamlessly into short-cropped hair is reliable, the water is clean. People are the displaced people here are already that can’t decide whether to settle on employed, new buildings are popping up integrated into Kurdish neighborhoods, blond or gray. He’s laconic and soft- everywhere, and the agricultural fields are while a quarter million remain in tent spoken, rasping out the words of his large and well-tilled by tractors. settlements. Even those who continue in rich vocabulary between tight lips, and The Duhok governate that we are the camps often go out and work every laughing in a kind of slow, grunting, visiting is a magnet for war victims. Half day in the Kurdish economy. Nearly all triple chuckle. He has a history B.A. a million Iraqis who fled Islamic State of the waiters in the restaurant where I from the Citadel (“West Point for bad terror starting in 2014 now live here, talked to Ismail Ahmed, for instance, kids,” as he describes it), and a master’s along with about a hundred thousand were Syrian refugees. The Yazidis (who in International Affairs, but wide reading refugees from Syria. More than a third are 90 percent of the displaced Iraqis still on his own produces most of the allusions

28 PHILANTHROPY from classic literature or ancient history that you’ll hear about any time he opens his mouth. Brandon had an intense Army career with the 101st Airborne and a Stryker brigade, collecting a Silver Star and two Bronze Stars with Valor in Iraq. He was a U.S. Special Ops adviser to an Iraqi army battalion in the midst of the 2006 ethnic war in Iraq, where he used information warfare to try to defend civilians from opposing death squads. Then came what he calls his “hippie” phase where he snowboarded and mountain-biked, sweat-lodged and meditated, and led charitable mountaineering trips for vets. There can’t be a lot of American men who The highly trained explosive-sniffing Belgian Malinois named Max works a plot, seeking dangerous have trained simultaneously at yoga and landmines that even metal detectors can’t find. mixed-martial-arts fighting, but he is one. While trying to figure out what to do next he climbed the Dolomite houses and buildings have still not been told me. “Yet without dogs that is one of Mountains of Italy, wandered the reoccupied because they were booby- the hardest security tasks imaginable.” American West, and assisted anti- trapped by ISIS terrorists. During the To manage their serious problem poachers on the plains of Namibia. Saddam era there was also promiscuous with so-called “explosive remnants It was his time in Namibia that made mining around military facilities, and of war,” Kurdish armed forces asked Brandon realize he wanted to get back during the Iran-Iraq War the border was for help from the Marshall Legacy into work overseas. Spirit’s mix of life- littered with landmines. Institute—a U.S. nonprofit whose enhancement and terror-suppression were Explosives placed in everyday settings mission is to alleviate suffering in a good match for him. His infantryman’s have killed thousands in Iraq. And war-torn countries, with a particular sympathy for little guys who do the nobody knows where dangerous devices emphasis on protecting populations hard work made it easy for him to earn still lurk today. There are 3,202 areas in from mines and similar dangers. In the trust of foreign soldiers. And the Kurdistan that are confirmed or suspected 2016, MLI agreed to establish a corps leadership skills he picked up in the Army of being hazardous. A regular stream of explosive-detecting dogs and handlers let him talk easily with SEAL teams, of farmers, schoolchildren, and security in Kurdistan. diplomats, generals, and foreign officials. forces get blown up every year. When Training dogs to unerringly sniff out Brandon works in the same families moved back into the ancient city weapons (including plastic mines that no CentCom region as Zack Bazzi, and of Nineveh after ISIS was driven out, metal detector can spot) is a painstaking takes particular responsibility for Spirit 27 people were killed by booby traps in task with life-and-death consequences projects in Uzbekistan, Tajikstan, and houses. Dogs are the best way of locating that leave no margin for error—so the rest of central Asia. He has a serious these vestigial threats. each fully certified Belgian Malinois girlfriend who is Uzbek. He also works In addition, dogs are vital to or German Shepherd costs $25,000. in Iraqi Kurdistan. identifying suicide bombers before they It was donors like the Perot family, One of Brandon’s latest projects drive their vehicles into populated areas. Edelmann family, Hilda and Preston for Spirit is now on display for me. “For K9 security units, accurately clearing Davis Foundation, schoolchildren in Thanks to some generous American a vehicle as having no explosive danger is Woodland, Texas, General Dynamics philanthropy that took place before Spirit easy and quick,” one military dog handler Corporation, and the West Point Class got involved, Kurdish security forces have built up a valuable K9 corps for detecting “Our entire budget is a rounding error explosives. During their fight to expel the Islamic State, 60 percent of the casualties compared to government agencies. suffered by Kurdistan’s Peshmerga We succeed not by volume but by speed. military force were inflicted by landmines Karl Zinsmeister Karl or buried explosive devices. Many By precision of action. By our reliability.”

SPRING 2020 29 So Spirit bought seven light protective suits and four carbon-rod detectors. Around the world, Spirit of America has purchased more than 160 mine detectors and donated them to local partner forces being trained by U.S. military advisers. During our visit Brandon starts arranging for a trainer to come to the base and instruct the soldiers on usage of the new mine detectors. His partner Karzan offers ideas for the next ways to improve this unit. The two men discuss whether Spirit might acquire a top-level bomb suit to protect handlers dealing with a particularly tricky explosives removal. “Those are expensive, but let’s work on that, along with our military friends in the Sergeant Karzan Khalid, who spearheaded creation of a Kurdish K9 explosives-detecting unit after his U.S. consulate,” suggests Josh. grandfather was blown up by a landmine, talks through issues with Joshua Brandon (l) and Zack Bazzi (r) Khalid also points out they lack a in the office of the Peshmerga unit commander. proper van to carry the dogs to jobs. The trucks they use now offer the animals no of 1970 who put up the funds necessary recently detonated an explosion. They protection from the brutal heat and rough to create a K9 unit of 18 dogs and skilled have also been clearing lots of houses in roads of the area, sometimes endangering handlers within the Kurdish combat- areas where civilians are now trickling them. “Maybe you could raise that. engineering regiment. back after the rampages of the Islamic You have better channels with the U.S. State. “We don’t care who the houses military than we do. And you may even be Man’s best friend belong to—we just want to save lives and better than us at getting our own Ministry This morning we watch the dogs work. make the cities safe,” says Khalid. of Peshmerga to consider requests like On a plowed field outside the concrete “Our dogs and handlers are the first this! Your good relationship could be a walls and concertina wire of their home ones to open doors and enter buildings, big help,” suggests the Kurdish sergeant, base, they sniff the chocolate soil for knowing that ISIS liked to leave behind sparking a wide grin from Josh Brandon. explosive residues, earning treats from buried explosives with hair triggers. We their handlers when they “indicate” recently opened new passages for cars west Those who face death successfully. Then we watch the suspect- of Kirkuk. Our dogs are the first feet to The long-suffering Kurds have an old capture skills of the same animals. A tread in places not stepped into since the saying: The mountains are our only friends. soldier wrapped in heavy protective Iran-Iraq war,” he explains. Over the last generation, a more padding hides out of sight down the field. Spirit of America got involved with accurate statement would be that their When he steps into view, rapid voice this lifesaving, security-enhancing K9 sheltering mountains and their sheltering commands from a handler send one large corps after a snafu between the U.S. allies in the U.S. military are their only canine at a time racing toward the suspect. military, the Kurds, and the Marshall friends. First American Air Force and With a final burst of speed and then a Legacy Institute created a six-month Navy pilots, then the U.S. Army and leap, each dog knocks the human to the break in the contract covering the dogs’ Marines, and most recently our SEAL ground and holds him there with bites care. No food or veterinary medicine teams, Delta Force, and Ranger battalions on a limb. Coming just two weeks after was going to be available, which would have been partners in war with the Kurds. ISIS terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was have caused the dogs to be pulled. So Americans and Kurds often fight shoulder incapacitated by the exact same kind of Spirit leapt into the gap and covered to shoulder these days, and when a Kurd military dog in nearby Syria, leading to his maintenance of the animals until the is hurt in battle, our Special Forces death, this is a gripping demonstration. Kurds could figure out how to pick up medevac him to the same hospital an The Peshmerga K9 unit is led by responsibilities that had previously been American casualty goes to. Sergeant Karzan Khalid, who was trained paid for by the U.S. A classic SoA niche. This is not just friendliness; it reflects in the U.S. His own grandfather was Once Josh Brandon was on the American respect. In a part of the world blown up by a mine in northern Iraq, so scene, he noticed another problem. The where the commitment and courage of he is devoted to this work. In the days dog handlers didn’t have basic protective local allies often disappoint U.S. troops, before we arrived, the dogs and their equipment for their own bodies, or modern the Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers stand handlers had been cleaning up a Saddam- mine detectors to use in confirming and and fight. The most basic translation of era military base where an itinerant sheep extracting devices flagged by their animals. Peshmerga is “those who face death.”

30 PHILANTHROPY Many Americans who have gone into battle with them will attest that Peshmerga do not quail. Their bravery and willingness to sacrifice to protect their beleaguered people have also made the Peshmerga beloved among their own citizens. This is, however, the Middle East. As with everything here, there are problems with corruption, nepotism, and partisanship. Power grows out of the barrel of a gun in this region, and the Peshmerga force is actually divided into separate brigades and areas of operation that reflect the two main political parties in Kurdistan. “In the Middle East, if you don’t have your own loyal soldiers and loyal officers, your own private army, you are nothing,” hisses Major Abu (as I will call him for security reasons), an impressive Shoulder patches tell the story. Peshmerga stand and fight—often with Americans next to them. 32-year-old, many-times-wounded officer who commands a Peshmerga brigade of about 1,000 men. His fighters are part of funding with the Kurds, but almost no 25 rain jackets, 25 individual first-aid Kurdistan’s so-called 70 Unit—one of two support makes its way north. So most of kits, and $500 worth of supplies for large divisions that essentially combine the Peshmerga arms are things they have medical training. the functions of commando force and captured in battle. In the courtyard of this Aside from lacking an air wing Praetorian Guard. The 70s are affiliated base I count 15 U.S. armored humvees (which the U.S. provides), the weakest with the PUK party. “The current vice- plus some other heavier and lighter tactical links in the Peshmerga are absence of president of Kurdistan” (a PUK kingpin) vehicles. All of these had been given to a medical corps and a communications “is the only guy I take orders from,” Abu the Iraqi Army, but then abandoned when backbone. During the ISIS offensive tells me. The equivalent 80 Unit aligns ISIS forces attacked. The Peshmerga that started in 2014, one village was with the KDP party. captured them back and now husband repeatedly raided by Islamic State Navigating these political fault them carefully. The small well-organized fighters to confiscate (or burn) harvests, lines requires quick understanding, arsenal is likewise full of recycled weapons. so U.S. Marines distributed cheap cell diplomatic savvy, and occasional holding Major Abu has a U.S. green card phones to farmers, allowing them to of the nose among Americans who and previously lived in Los Angeles send alerts on nights their antagonists work with the Pesh, including Spirit for several years before moving back to showed up. Shortly after, Peshmerga staff. And then there is the financing, Iraq to help with the war against ISIS. commandos received a call, raced to the or lack thereof. A wealthy businessman He returns to the U.S. annually to visit scene, and killed all the ISIS raiders. friend of Major Abu paid for all of the relatives in Nashville’s Little Kurdistan Throughout the ISIS fight, Pesh materials to create the tidy, secure base, and other locations across the country. He commanders were hindered by their lack training ground, and firing range where hustles and gets things done more like an of reliable radios. Sometimes they could this unit is located. Abu organized American than a typical Iraqi. communicate only by firing warning shots volunteer labor to do the building. He and his Unit 70 troops share into the air in crude patterns. “The few Most of the soldiers live off in the this base with a small contingent of U.S. Chinese radios we have are junk, and stop city of Kirkuk and serve here on a one- Special Forces operatives from SEAL working after a couple months. This is the week-on-one-week-off basis, sharing Team 7. There is strong sympathy biggest logistical problem we face,” says the limited beds, weapons, and gear in between the two groups, and not long Major Abu. His latest appeal to Spirit is alternating shifts. The average grunt is ago the SEALs reached out to Zack for some good handheld military radios. paid roughly $400 per month. “Basically, Bazzi to ask if Spirit could offer some Both the Peshmerga and the SEALs you could say most of them are volunteers. non-lethal assistance that would make show great interest in continuing to work By the time they pay for cabs or gas to get a commando platoon of their Pesh with Spirit. here, uniforms, and so forth, half of their comrades more effective. Spirit soon Our conversations and tour finally lead stipend is gone,” Major Abu notes. provided the 25-man unit with five us to a lavish lunch put on by the Kurdish The Iraqi central government is GPS units, 15 compasses, seven pairs of officers for their Spirit of America and Karl Zinsmeister Karl supposed to share military equipment and binoculars, 10 tool units, 15 rucksacks, SEAL brothers. The Americans munch

SPRING 2020 31 ‘Sir, Spirit and I don’t want your money. That would just slow things down.’” With support from Spirit of America and an educational charity in Erbil, two initial classes of 12 Peshmerga soldiers each began their training the month before I arrived. Spirit is now considering offering similar language training to the Asayish security and intelligence service. The U.S. consulate would like to see this happen, and Zack Bazzi is negotiating with Asayish commanders over what a sustainable English-instruction program for them might look like. To coordinate this H.R. and language assistance, Spirit of America became A platoon of elite Peshmerga commandos ring three Spirit of America staff to talk about friendly with Brigadier General Hazhar future collaborations. Omer Ismail within the Ministry of Peshmerga. An impressive officer who speaks excellent English himself, the on pieces of chicken shredded and placed military professionalize and unify the general completed his own training in on their plates by hand by the Major as his Peshmerga forces. One was a major effort national-security policy at the University of sign of hospitality. Everyone in the room to modernize the personnel system that Delaware earlier in the year, and attended seems comfortable. administers and pays soldiers. The existing the U.S. Army War College before that. “Relationships like these are invaluable structure uses hand-written records, In the long run, Ismail would like to in carrying out the work of U.S. Special carried by couriers, requiring multi-hour have within the Peshmerga a language- Operators, and the work that Spirit does to trips in cars, with much room for error instruction wing like America’s Defense bolster them,” says Josh Brandon. “That’s and misallocation of pay. Officials in the Language Institute, to make it easier for his one advantage of a veteran-led group like U.S. consulate in Erbil identified this officers to coordinate with and learn from ours. We can instantly bro-bond with the as a priority and asked Spirit to provide foreign allies. military teams from both countries, who servers, laptops, and software to the General Ismail, who is close control access to the contested areas. That Peshmerga’s H.R. section. to Kurdish president Nechirvan way, a small project like our package of A second Spirit project provided Barzani, has been charged with the tactical gear can be leveraged into bigger, funding for language classes, instructor delicate work of gradually merging higher-level collaborations.” training, laptops, and projectors to establish the various Peshmerga factions into new courses for training Peshmerga officers one cohesive body. He co-authored a Subsidizing professionalism in English. The goal is to get classes of well-regarded long-term reform plan Our next stop is indeed higher level. leaders sufficiently up to speed in English that aims to unite, professionalize, and For years now, the U.S. government so that they can participate in military equip Kurdistan’s fighters, eliminate has pushed our Kurdish allies to shift professional classes in the U.S., which corruption and nepotism, pull them their Peshmerga units from sectarian will both raise the competence of the under unified government control, and control into a unified command Peshmerga and improve interoperability convince the central Iraqi government structure and loyalty under the of their forces with U.S. fighters. Other to supply the resources promised to the Ministry of Peshmerga. As much as graduates of Spirit’s language course will Kurdish military under the national possible, U.S. aid is channeled through become responsible for teaching English to constitution but rarely delivered. “I had the ministry, which has allowed the larger numbers of Peshmerga officers. a good meeting with President Barzani Kurdish government to slowly gather “I was explaining this language yesterday,” he tells us. “He is a strong more control of the partisan brigades. initiative to a U.S. general in Baghdad supporter of the Peshmerga reform plan.” When this happens, each unit is given who has authority over hundreds of Ismail says he also met recently a balanced rotation of officers carefully millions of dollars, and he got super with top officers of the Iraqi military drawn from each of two dominant excited about it,” says Army Captain in Baghdad. “My counterparts in the political parties. Connor Love, a military attaché Spirit Ministry of Defense were complaining Spirit has participated in several works with in the Erbil consulate. “He of Iranian interference in Iraqi affairs. projects aimed at helping the U.S. offered to put resources into it. I told him, Many Iraqi people are tired of this.

32 PHILANTHROPY Anything which forces Iran to pay attention to their own problems and leave us alone would be good.” Ismail continues to lobby his colleagues in Baghdad to share resources and re-establish joint operating mechanisms that used to exist before southern Iraqis and Kurds clashed during the fight to push out the Islamic State. “Corruption in Kurdistan is a serious problem,” notes the general, “but it’s one hundred times worse in the south. With terrible effects. Basra, for instance, is the third biggest city in Iraq, producing much valuable oil. Yet thousands of its residents are having their health harmed by dirty drinking

water,” due to misgovernance. Jim Hake shakes hands with aspiring Kurdish entrepreneurs after delivering his lecture at a U.S.-style In addition to Iraqi fractures, and business incubator and shared workspace run by an American 501c3, and supported by Spirit of America. problems from Iran, Ismail points out that ISIS remains a threat. Though it no longer commands territory and issues One offers, in addition to the U.S.-Iraq eventually acquired by IBM. Not long currency and marriage certificates as it Investor Exchange, webinars, panels, and after, he got his first glimpse at the used to, Islamic State fighters still lurk seminars for businesspeople, an intensive brand-new Mosaic web browser—which in rural and mountainous areas of Iraq. three-month bootcamp for training popularized use of the World Wide Local leaders continue to be harassed and young entrepreneurs, and a shared Web. He explains that he instantly killed. In one attack last year a half-dozen workspace where would-be owners can understood it would make the Internet people gathering truffles in the desert, a generate business plans, get advice, and the backbone of future business, favorite Iraqi tradition, were murdered by test their ideas. inspiring him to create one of the first ISIS thugs. Many thousands of displaced The Lab has a slick glass-walled, Internet media companies. people are still afraid to return to their high-ceilinged facility in Suleimaniya. Then Hake tells his audience some previous homes. Popularly known as “Suli,” this is a stories that are more painful. With his “More than 1,800 Peshmerga university town considered the most failed company Big Buttons he arrived too fighters were martyred defeating ISIS. Westernized city in Iraq. You can get a early at the concept of freestanding apps. Over 10,000 were wounded. They were good espresso here and imagine as you This leads to a discussion of stumbling right on our doorstep, and threatened to drink it that you’re sitting in a java house blocks, and classic mistakes that many overrun even Kurdistan’s capital of Erbil. in Dallas. entrepreneurs make. Big societal events The danger is not gone.” As Five One Labs collaborated (like the dot-com implosion in his case) with Spirit on the Investor Exchange, can sweep aside dreams, Hake explains, if Free enterprising in a brutal world it invited Jim Hake to address some of you don’t have a strategy for responding Prosperity is, of course, an essential its entrepreneurs-in-training during his and surviving. precursor of peace. With this in mind, next visit to Iraq. So now we are strolling “I love creating things. And I imagine U.S. diplomats aim to encourage through the open tables, breakout rooms, all of you do too. That’s great, and I want business and free enterprise in and shared kitchen of the airy Lab offices. to encourage you. But you need to be Kurdistan. Not long ago, Zack Hake climbs up on a stool and begins to crystal clear about what you are creating, Bazzi was asked whether Spirit of describe to a gathering of about 25 business what it is useful for, and why you think America would be willing to support a aspirants what it takes to succeed with you can succeed where others haven’t. program that brings together Iraqi and a startup, drawing directly on his own Because competition in the real world is American businesspeople in an Investor prominent successes and a few failures. brutally unforgiving. Clarity about what Exchange. Spirit agreed to pay $15,000 “When I was ten, I had a little stand you’re doing, and honesty with yourself to make the program feasible. at the beach where I sold seashells,” he and others about the advantages you can The grant went through an starts, noting that business is a kind of exploit, and the weaknesses you need to American nonprofit based in Kurdistan instinct for many of its practitioners. patch, are absolutely crucial. Otherwise called Five One Labs. Founded by a He goes on to describe his first you will fail. And I can tell you—let me Karl Zinsmeister Karl Stanford business school graduate, Five company in Silicon Valley, which was tell you—failing hurts.”

SPRING 2020 33 realized there was no wifi in the offices SPIRIT OF AMERICA where millions of dollars of computer gear FILLS NICHES was about to arrive. We hadn’t anticipated that, and our contracts don’t allow us to retroactively order and pay for that kind of work. This would have brought problems here is a structural factor that of military equipment is coming. And and delays. So we just relied on Spirit to Thelps make the field work carried they’ll say, ‘Sure,’ but not really believe quickly provide wifi gear.” out by Spirit of America valuable: it until they see it, because it could be In another case, a military simple continuity. Almost all Special a good while before it arrives. So when office supplied a medical clinic with Operations teams deployed by the U.S. Spirit produces an operating English- sophisticated radiology software. But rotate home on six-month cycles. That language lab within a matter of months, after it was installed, doctors found means new faces are constantly arriving it grabs people’s attention. The speed their computer monitors were too fuzzy and needing introductions to the local with which they complete things helps us to take advantage of the new images. movers and shakers, their issues, and produce a different psychology, a closer So Spirit quickly stepped in and their culture. Often it’s the local Spirit heed from our allies. That makes all of provided high-resolution monitors. representative who links a fresh SEAL our other work easier.” “Our philanthropic and government lieutenant or Marine commando team “Even a little bit of assistance at roles complement each other beautifully,” to the relevant players in their hotspot. the right time can change momentum,” asserts Hake. “This kind of work would And Spirit tries to help new arrivals Hake points out. “It was just at the peak be hard to get done without the full score points right away. “A new U.S. of the battle against ISIS for Kirkuk force of the military and federal agencies military friend shows up, shakes hands, that we delivered a small package of behind it. But the government ecosystem has coffee, then departs, leaving nothing GPS units, tourniquets, and other has weak spots that need to be filled in. behind. And six months later he’s gone medical supplies, and this gave a boost to That’s our role.” from the country altogether. Locals Peshmerga units under real stress.” The military and USAID offices sometimes get engagement fatigue,” one Though their terms aren’t as short as in our embassies have budgets for local Spirit operative tells me. “We aim to help the Special Forces teams, U.S. diplomats projects. But there are twisty contract fresh Special Ops teams have an instant and military attachés also rotate out of requirements, metrics demands, success, some small ‘give’ they can deliver country regularly, and sometimes rely on and other attached strings that bog at their very first meeting. That can get the regional Spirit manager to provide projects down. For instance, the funds things moving in the right direction.” institutional memory and relationship appropriated to our Defense Department Each Spirit program director is continuity. “Government action takes for supposedly time-sensitive Overseas authorized to approve on-the-spot forever. I’m overseeing projects today that Humanitarian, Disaster Assistance, and projects of up to a few thousand dollars. were proposed five years ago. By the time Civic Aid projects have 18-24 month Larger projects can often be approved the ideas I’m pushing now come to fruit, turnaround times that make them too after just a quick consultation with the I’ll be long gone,” notes Captain Love. slow for urgent priorities. D.C. headquarters. This allows Spirit to “But when I rotate out, Zack will be part Another Spirit niche is grant size. be a sparkplug. of the glue that keeps my projects going.” Most SoA gifts are micro-grants. “Here in the Middle East, to be “In addition to their speed, the other Lots are just $500-$7,000. Five- taken seriously you need to be able to huge benefit that Spirit brings to our joint figure expenditures are common. Only show you can actually make something work is their ability to fill gaps,” Love occasionally does Spirit do projects happen, on a timely basis,” explains reports. “For instance, when we were costing $100,000 or more. Government Connor Love, the U.S. military adviser rolling out our big effort to professionalize agencies and private NGOs rarely in the Kurdistan consulate. “I can tell the payroll and H.R. functions at partake in small offerings of that sort; our Peshmerga friends that $10 million Peshmerga headquarters, we suddenly they just don’t have the flexibility at

34 PHILANTHROPY headquarters, and the boots in the field, to execute multiple small ventures. One clever Spirit protocol requires some institutional humility. Rather than trying to be “innovators” imposing ideas from outside, the group often prefers to be complementary. It aims, in most cases, to come into a project after the community has already taken some action. Then Spirit will fill in missing pieces to keep momentum going. Like the wifi install and the medical monitors mentioned above, the gap-funding for the Peshmerga K9s, and the heating system installed at the community center to make the Pankisi Gorge wrestling team a reality. “Too often, aid teams parachute into some place and give something that no one Nick Israel (wearing Spirit cap and blue coat) toasted liberty and friendship at a supra feast offered locally was really asking for,” Nick Israel by Georgians to their American guests. tells me. “Like the community center for Roma families that someone in the State Department decided should be built in Vietnam, a nation vexed by China’s small-footprint approaches to achieve Serbia before I arrived. There was no local power grabs, is an emerging interest our security objectives,” states the grand buy-in, it never got used much, and quickly for Spirit. While I travelled with Spirit strategy document covering U.S. military became a disaster. The air conditioner was staff, plans were unfolding to distribute operations today. Special Operations teams stolen, the windows taken out, the wires medical supplies, share records that working out of U.S. embassies are ideal for stripped. It now looks like something in a could help local officials identify remains executing such work, the report proposes. Syrian war zone. Because it was imposed of their missing soldiers, and provide That is exactly the hub that rather than generated locally.” educational materials that the wife of the Spirit of America spins most of its U.S. Secretary of Defense could present operations around. One recently retired Winning hearts and minds to Vietnamese schoolchildren. Special Forces soldier I interviewed Spirit of America operates in these In many of these cases, it is local estimated that nearly 100 percent of distinctive ways all across the globe, in a hearts and minds that are being appealed her colleagues knew what Spirit could riot of different settings. In Niger, where to. “The future of war is winning people, bring to civil-affairs work in contested jihadists have killed local military and not territory,” suggests John Phelan, countries, and valued its help. “The U.S. servicemembers, Spirit bolstered a financier who donates to Spirit, in operators have learned who we are,” economic stability among the poor tribes explaining why he thinks the group agrees a Spirit field director. “We now that Islamists recruit from by launching a serves our national interest. have a reputation that makes it much vaccination effort to improve the health of Much of what SoA does can be easier to get involved at the core of cattle herds—which provide all subsistence viewed as trust-building. That is often tough problems.” Indeed, briefings on in the area. Spirit brought in veterinarians, a precondition for improving security what Spirit of America can bring to the supplied dirt bikes so they could reach today. And it is something that everyday fight have become part of the normal isolated places, and created 27 scholarships citizens can help with. Tampa training of Special Ops soldiers. to allow local youths to attend vet school. These ideas are now part of the In Central America, Spirit is official defense strategies promulgated Citizen support for national goals reducing recruitment of vulnerable by the Pentagon. “Whenever possible, Even as new mechanisms allow youth into narco-trafficking gangs. we will develop innovative, low-cost, and Americans to directly support our Working with the U.S. Marines and Army, it has equipped an auto-mechanic course that leads to Spirit aims to come into a project legitimate job opportunities, supplied after the community has already taken uniforms for sports teams that keep kids out of gangs, and delivered some action. Too often, aid teams medical supplies to local military forces parachute into some place and give doing dangerous drug interdiction in Karl Zinsmeister; Spirit of America Spirit of Zinsmeister; Karl the countryside. something no one was asking for.

SPRING 2020 35 security forces, and military officials And Spirit itself, despite steady embrace private collaborations, there growth, is far from the size it could be. are simultaneous sparks of resistance to It has the organizational vision and staff civilian involvement in national defense. competence to execute on a much larger Over the last year or two, some employees scale. The organization currently runs on at tech companies in particular have a shoestring, and I estimate it could grow objected to any collaboration with the to several times its current scope without Pentagon. In December 2019, Amazon bloat, waste, or creation of dependency CEO Jeff Bezos answered these critics. among recipients. Even without a “If big tech is going to turn their substantial personnel increase, Spirit backs on the Department of Defense, could funnel perhaps ten times as much this country is in trouble,” said Bezos. through its existing pipelines as it does “Do you want a strong national defense now—annually distributing something or don’t you? I think you do. So we like $30 million of careful aid instead of have to support that…. This country is $3 million. All that is wanting is donor important…. We are the good guys. I support as more givers become aware of really do believe that.” this unusual philanthropic niche. Certainly this is the view of Spirit Jim Hake’s medium-term goal of America’s philanthropic supporters. is to roughly double staff and triple In 2019 the charity had 803 individual spending. One model he cites is the contributors. This included many small CDC Foundation, the private charity donors, and 12 people who gave at least that supports the U.S. Centers for $100,000. Major funders have included Disease Control. Much as Spirit supports investor and charter-school innovator frontliners in our departments of Defense Bob Oster, Ross Perot, Jr., Palantir and State, the CDC Foundation offers cofounder Joe Lonsdale, medical-device private resources to medical threat entrepreneur Fred Khosravi, private- controllers to make them more effective. equity investor Philip Hammarskjold, Over the past two decades the CDC the Paul Singer Foundation, the Smith Foundation has raised more than $800 Richardson Foundation, the Sarah million from donors, and backed about a Scaife Foundation, and others. thousand separate interventions to secure Home Depot co-founder Bernie Americans from illness. Bernie Marcus Marcus has been a stalwart backer, and has been vital to the success of the CDC recently offered $4.5 million so Spirit of Foundation, just as he has been a linchpin America can do more in support of “the of Spirit of America. 1 percent of Americans who volunteer The one thing Jim Hake is certain of to serve our great country through the is that he doesn’t want his group to take U.S. military.” Marcus says he funds the any government money. “It would kill group because it helps servicemembers the Spirit of America model if we started navigate “the world’s most complex accepting government money. Right now problems,” which “bureaucracies can’t we can call in anyone. We can try crazy solve on their own. Spirit of America things. We can move at the speed of brings entrepreneurial values, speed, and light. Because we don’t belong to anyone. flexibility to bear against the enemies of Being a contractor of USAID or the the United States.” Department of Defense would choke the While now well proven, the SoA life out of us. It would be our end.” formula is arguably taking place on much Spirit’s key allies and admirers, too small a scale today, given the colossal (From top to bottom) Spirit donors even within government, share Hake’s security pressures that exist across the Bernie Marcus, Joe Lonsdale, Paul Singer, understanding that the group is able to globe. Ideally there would exist a dozen and Bob Oster. do much more as a private actor than Spirit-like entities offering philanthropic it could accomplish if it became just amplification of security-related duties another adjunct of the public sector. like police work, border control, first- “As Americans, we have never accepted response, medical aid, courts and that government has all the answers,” detention systems, disaster aid, culture notes James Mattis. Even in areas like training for troops, and so forth. national defense. Forum Economic World America; Spirit of

36 PHILANTHROPY withdrew his forces from Kosovo and friendship. Serbs are now regularly the raids stopped. About 1,000 Serbian invited to have a role in NATO SERBIA troops and 500 civilians were killed training exercises. STRAIGHT during the campaign. But frosty relations at the top Today’s Belgrade ruin was the of politics frequently interfere with AHEAD Ministry of Defense back in 1999. the healing process. The current Not being attacked until the fortieth president was propaganda minister day of the NATO intervention, it under Milosevic, the media are was unoccupied when the missiles state-controlled, and the government struck. The hulk has been used by the finds it convenient to nurse continuing merica’s problem in Serbia is visible government, though, to symbolize “the resentment against America. When A in one glance at the heart of the suffering of Serbia,” with the U.S. cast the U.S. embassy recently published capital. Hard amidst Belgrade’s top as the main villain. a photo of a Serb and an American at government ministries, high courts, fancy Negative perceptions of the U.S. joint military instruction in Germany restaurants, and British Embassy loom remain pronounced in segments of they were chastised “You can’t show two large, grimly bombed-out buildings. the Serbian population, particularly that!” and force-to-force cooperation For more than 20 years they have stood in areas where the NATO jets and was cut off for a period. amidst the surrounding parks and historic helicopters did their work. At a One clever way of getting around structures, prominently proclaiming fuel stop as we drove across the this has been to use state National their downbeat message. The Serbian country, two American Army officers Guardsmen rather than regular Army government has even put a memorable title accompanying us in uniform crossed as U.S. representatives in mil-to-mil on this “protected monument of culture”: paths with a Serb as they entered the relations. Ohio National Guard troops, Poklon Gradana Amerike Gradanima Srbije gas station. “Lutajuci kriminalci!” who don’t spark resentment among 1999 … Gift of American Citizens to (wandering criminals) he interjected Serbian leaders as other U.S. military Serbian Citizens 1999. before walking away. do, have had a continual presence To stop government bloodshed The U.S. military has tried hard in Serbia since 2006. Their soldiers against provinces that were breaking to make friends in Serbia during the drill with Serbs. Combat medics on away from the former Yugoslavia, two decades since the air strikes. both sides exchange information. NATO in 1999 commenced a bombing The defense attaché from the U.S. Guardsmen have trained Serbia’s campaign against the Serbian military embassy reports that one Serbian army Border Police. Female Guardsmen and state. After three months of company taking part in international instruct their counterparts in precision attacks, mostly led by peacekeeping operations is being self-defense. The military chaplains American pilots, President Milosevic equipped by the U.S. as a gesture of on both sides collaborate. Serb officers have repeatedly been invited If civilians “turn their backs to U.S. classes by the Ohio Guard. And Guardsmen participate in on the Department of Defense, humanitarian, social, sports, and this country is in trouble,” said Jeff Bezos. charitable projects across Serbia. “Do you want a strong national defense Green Beret with a head for green Another clever way of getting beyond Spirit of America; World Economic Forum Economic World America; Spirit of or don’t you? I think you do.” the official antipathy has been to reach

SPRING 2020 37 and overcome, even painfully.” With seven years of hard-won achievement under his belt, Frost returned to college and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology that tempted him to try a career as a therapist. Interesting duty in the Special Forces reserve, however, eventually led him to Spirit. Once he had the Latin American shop operating, Frost then spent three years at Goldman Sachs. He loved finance, but as he began to feel the itch for a family life the office hours at Goldman pushed him away. The bombed-out shell of its Ministry of Defense right in the heart of Belgrade has been preserved by Still attracted to the patriotic ideals the Serbian government as a tool to keep resentment alive against the U.S. for its opposition during the and colleagues at Spirit, he returned in Balkan wars. 2018 to run all field ops.

Finding friends for America out to Serbs through U.S. civil society set up the group’s operations in Latin Now Ryan and I are talking to a woman instead of government—specifically America—a place he knew well after who loves kickboxing, business, and through Spirit of America. The serving in Honduras and Guyana as a organizing huge mass demonstrations. charity has recently invested more U.S. Special Forces soldier, blowing While she probably weighs 100 pounds than $50,000 in small projects across up airstrips used by drug traffickers, with her boxing gloves on, pony-tailed the country, laying groundwork for training Honduran troops, and Nadica Stosic is a firecracker. In some a gradual person-to-person thaw working with the CIA to tamp down very American ways she is blunt, in relations. Spirit’s main focus has the narcotics trade. brimming with energy, friendly, funny, been the south of the country, where “Ever since I saw Clear and Present and uninterested in ideology. She is also Russia (protector of Yugoslavia during Danger, the Tom Clancy movie with streaked with an unmistakable fierceness. its warring phase, and vetoer of any Harrison Ford, I wanted to be a Green When still a teenager, she was international efforts distasteful to the Beret!” he says with a smile. He started part of the opposition to Slobodan old regime) has concentrated its own college in Colorado but it left him flat. Milosevic. She personally organized efforts to influence Serbian opinion “At my first go, college did nothing for some of the largest rallies staged in and governance. me. I wanted hard challenges. I wanted her country against his policies. With “We’re looking for a high volume to learn by doing things. I just wasn’t support from the U.S. embassy she of small-scale projects where we can interested in classwork, so I dropped established a nonprofit to push for work with local partners, produce out and enlisted in the Army.” integration of Serbia into the West, clear benefits for residents, mix U.S. He worked his way up the military and an end to its reliance on Russia. and Serbian armed forces, leverage food chain, including time in Iraq Yet when Milosevic stepped down, work already being done by the where he got the opportunity to earn and Serbia and NATO exchanged U.S. government, and gain media his Special Forces Green Beret. “I ambassadors, Stosic left politics completely. attention,” summarizes Ryan Frost, realized at one point that the things we “For me, it was all defensive. I didn’t Spirit’s director of field operations. remember and relish most in life are want to live in a rogue nation, constantly Wiry, bearded, with a shaved head not the times we were comfortable and battling, where normal life was impossible. and sharp handsome features lit easy and having fun. What we really As soon as I could see a path for Serbia to by gray-blue eyes, Frost was one of end up cherishing are the times that become peaceful and integrated with other Spirit’s first program directors. He were tough, that forced us to struggle decent countries, I shifted my energies into business.” Now she is an administrator and H.R. specialist at a busy corporation, A clever way of getting beyond the antipathy though she still keeps an eye on public life of the Serbian government has been to reach just as a good citizen. A few years ago the U.S. embassy out to Serbs through U.S. civil society. came to Spirit of America to let it

38 PHILANTHROPY know an influential community leader in Vranje, a city in the far south of Serbia near Kosovo, was asking for help to renovate a dilapidated kickboxing gym that had become a center of community activity and pride. Numerous local kickboxers had risen to the national team, and the gym unified a cross-section of young people, including some Roma boys who might otherwise have had trouble integrating. The community leader— who was Stosic—reported that the two kickboxing clubs using the gym taught good character and required Nadica Stosic is an influential community leader in southern Serbia who worked with Spirit of America solid school effort from any youngster to get a kickboxing gym renovated. Here she is flanked by two products of the gym who became who wanted to train. “This is a poor members of the Serbian national team. border area, just the kind of region where resentments turn to hatred if you don’t have constructive institutions kickboxer posed for a picture with idea. “What if we had a contest asking for young people,” she argued. Spirit a U.S. soldier and a Serbian soldier residents of this area for proposals on agreed to help her. on either side, and walked away with how to spend a charitable donation of Spirit supplied all of the building both printed and digital copies of the a few thousand dollars? Maybe set up a materials needed to transform the shot. The young people posted these Facebook page and let people vote for decrepit facility, an old garage tacked to their Facebook pages and other their favorite project?” onto the back of a city firehouse. Then sites, and a large number of shares A good concept, the young men it organized a mix of volunteer laborers and likes accumulated. It was a nice seem to think. Then Hake asks, “If to carry out the renovation: Spirit staff, advertisement for cross-national you personally had a couple thousand Ohio National Guard, a bunch of young cooperation through volunteer work. dollars given to you by everyday athletes, other U.S. soldiers, Serbian “Spirit of America is very different Americans for a charitable venture, soldiers, and U.S. embassy personnel. It from other groups I know,” observes what would you use it for?” The boxers took two weeks of hard toil to replace Nadica Stosic. “It doesn’t have think, wheels turning as we watch. the windows, walls, and roof, then finish bureaucracy, but works directly with “I would protect homeless street the interior. Spirited also donated several real people, all around the country. dogs,” answers one. “Improve a city thousand dollars of athletic gear. This is the right way to show someone park, with exercise equipment,” says As I visit the gym now, one year you care for them.” another. “Maybe another kickboxing later, Stosic and Jim Hake ask a group In collaboration with the U.S. club at a nearby village 12 kilometers of kickboxers what they thought when embassy and a Serbian ad agency, away,” suggests a third. a bunch of Americans first showed Spirit has recently commissioned some “We always want to test new up and said they were going to fix the public polling and group testing. They approaches, and find new partners,” moldy training center in their little city. want to map out Serbian perceptions Hake tells me later. “Get our friends “Candid Camera! We thought it was of America, of local problems, and of thinking about ways that help from a spoof,” answers one in Serbian. The how the two societies might better U.S. citizens could allow them to boxers were surprised by the helpfulness, collaborate. Identifying cultural improve their own societies. They energy, and passion of the U.S. soldiers obstacles and turning them into shouldn’t just focus on what someone who spearheaded the physical work. opportunities is an important part of might give them.” These men and women were very Spirit’s operation. The moral effects of this gym different from what their parents had led As a dozen or more young boxers renovation are on display throughout our them to expect of Americans. swarm around us, talking about their morning visit. That same afternoon we One day toward the end of training, showing off their tattoos, and get to observe some of the physical fruits. the project Spirit set up a little reminiscing about when the Americans Several of the Vranje kickboxers will fight social-media operation in the cramped descended and started swinging in a big competition in the city of Nis, an changing room of the gym. Each local sledgehammers, Jim Hake tests an hour and a half north. We all pile into cars.

SPRING 2020 39 but these were sold off by corrupt politicians for private enrichment, so burns now rage on and on. As a grassroots response, Spirit is supplying 50 water-dispensing backpacks and the necessary support gear. There is a ceremony attended by local media as the donation is handed off to city hall. The Russians have taken a very different approach to influencing strategic southern Serbia. Several years ago they built a large secure facility near the airport in Nis. Prominent signage labels it as the “Russian-Serbian Fighters trained at the gym renovated by Spirit won honors at this year’s Balkan kickboxing championship. Humanitarian Center.” Experts, however, say it’s a lightly disguised intelligence and military base. When I As we enter the “Balkan’s Best a nice penjing planting on his desk, attempt to visit, a soldier tells me I must Fighters” auditorium, 400 competitors and a lacquered doll of a soldier in leave, and may not take photos. from Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, traditional Chinese armor. I inquire, Two weeks before we arrived Hungary, Bosnia, Macedonia, and and find the mayor was recently hosted in this area, while serious blazes several other countries have already on an all-expenses-paid “friendship were leaping through nearby forests, begun to face off. The youngest tour” of China. a Russian firefighting plane was athletes are battling on mats covering Hoping to tamp down this area’s dispatched to the Nis airport, and a basketball court. A large roped multiple schisms and make friends, trumpeted as an emergency response. ring hosts the older and most skilled the U.S. Agency for International Yet the plane never flew a mission. fighters. Punches and kicks are flying. Development has recently invested It merely sat there, while a hotel and At the end of the two-day more than $6 million in the region. surrounding region burned to the competition, several of the boxers from U.S. military teams are also trying to ground a few kilometers away, then little Vranje emerge as victors. Stosic help. While the mayor is explaining to quietly flew back to Russia without sends us photos of the champions, guests from Spirit of America and the making the slightest contribution medals draped around their necks. U.S. embassy some of the challenges against the crisis. “Who are they They look proud. She is beaming. he faces, Major Rob Hamilton reminds kidding, claiming that’s a civil-defense him that the American military would center!” scoffs Nadica. Other locals Power plays like to supply de-mining equipment give the same response. Next we head to the city of Novi and training to the Serbian army so While skepticism about Russian Pazar, right on Serbia’s contested the mothballed local military airfield motives, and concomitant friendliness border with Kosovo. This area is rife can be made safe and opened to toward the U.S., are slowing rising with smugglers, money launderers, commercial air traffic. That would among the Serbian public today, leading and various stripes of gangsters. It is boost the economy of this isolated politicians still strongly favor Russia. subject to aggressive Russian influence. region. Yet Serb commanders keep Putin’s representatives press them hard And the religious tensions that were rebuffing the offer, under Russian to resist Serbian integration into Europe at the root of the Balkan wars are pressure. “The military is the military,” and NATO. And Russia has seized much bubbling up again here. Saudis, Turks, the mayor shrugs with resignation. of Serbia’s energy sector in underhanded and other outside funders are pushing “We can’t influence them either.” ways, and influences other industries. more stringent varieties of Islam in the Spirit has found two places to be The state media remain full of local mosques. helpful here. It supplied some medical pro-Russian narratives, which enables To further complicate matters, equipment to a local clinic. And it is additional manipulation and predatory this is the part of Europe where the just now donating, as we visit, $12,000 behavior. Serbs tell pollsters today they Chinese are trying hardest to expand of equipment for fighting wildfires— believe Russia is the top investor in their their influence under the Belt and which are a serious problem in this country. Actually, Russia is #15. The Road Initiative. During our visit to mountainous landscape. The region E.U. is Serbia’s #1 source of finance, and the Novi Pazar mayor’s office, I notice used to have fire-suppressing aircraft, the U.S. is #2.

40 PHILANTHROPY Charitable acts at a real humanitarian center With signs of the big, hard power plays of the Russian bear fresh before us, we next head off to observe an even softer intervention by Spirit of America. The Mara Center is a home that cares for several dozen mentally disabled Serbians. Drawing from a district of 400,000 residents, it provides long-term custodial care and sheltering for seriously handicapped people. For this visit by Americans, plus local The “humanitarian center” Russia built in southern Serbia a few years ago appears to be anything but. media, a group of residents puts on a sweet It’s big and located in a strategic location, but visitors are forbidden and nothing visible happens here. dancing and singing demonstration. The center director stands up and says, “The Mara Center is no longer alone. We have a religious and moral reasons, not utility. or backing!’ My papers started to win friend. A friend we can invite to celebrate That said, Spirit’s assistance here has prizes, and ended up in the top U.S. with us. But also one we can rely on accrued a bit of unexpected payoff: journals. Then I realized, ‘This is what when we have a hard time. Thank you to respect from influential people. a meritocracy looks like!’ How can you Spirit of America for your humanity and Meeting us at the door of the Mara not fall in love with a place that gives support, which no separation of kilometers Center, and sitting with the Spirit an outsider like me such chances?” can erode.” staff and accompanying U.S. military “One of the tests of any society,” officers as residents put on their dance Medical healing plus culture mending states Jim Hake, “is how well they performance, is one Dr. Dragan Milic. Today Dr. Milic is the sole physician take care of the least advantaged. I Wearing a crisp blue suit and sporting in Serbia with three licensures: as a have had experience in my own family thick gray hair that threatens to cardiac surgeon, as a general surgeon, with people touched by disabilities. explode into wildness at any moment, and as a vascular surgeon. He has So I am very happy to see dedicated Milic looks like an eccentric Italian published many frequently cited staff making life better here in Nis for count. When he begins to speak, papers in the medical literature. The disabled individuals.” though, he bubbles with the productive American Association for Vascular “Spirit of America’s support began energy one might encounter in any Surgery named him the best surgeon in when we visited the Serbian-American professional or commercial Master of that craft outside the United States. Friendship Club in this city, and asked the Universe in the U.S. And he is the dynamo who has how we could deepen links between Milic is in fact a Serbian with a built up the most remarkable medical our countries. They suggested the lot of America in his bloodstream. He clinic in the Balkans. His center does Mara Center was a worthy community spent considerable stretches at Mayo, a large volume of heart surgeries and organization.” First Spirit donated the Cleveland Clinic, and other stateside organ transplants on the most difficult some computer equipment, furnishings, institutions completing his medical cases, while rapidly growing into new and electronics that could be used by education. He was noticed there for his areas like genetic medicine. He is also residents. Then they gave an EKG innovations in phlebology and other vice dean of a nearby medical school machine and some other equipment fields, including several new treatments that is being lifted to new heights by so clients can get health exams on site and surgical methods he created. his whirlwind contributions. instead of enduring difficult transport to “When I was young and unknown In a country where few professional a hospital. I started getting invited to speak in sectors are anywhere near the cutting To be blunt, there is no national- prime-time slots at major U.S. medical edge, the Nis clinic sparkles with modern security value in supporting the Mara conferences—2,000 people in the efficiency. Last year it treated 12,000 Center. This is pure, lovely charity. room. I thought to myself, ‘These patients for heart ailments alone, operating It reflects a respect for life and an Americans really are cowboys! They’re on 1,100 of them (many of those done by inclination to protect the vulnerable taking a big risk by giving me such Milic himself). And among those 1,100 that many Americans cherish for opportunities, when I have no fame heart surgeries there were only 15 deaths.

SPRING 2020 41 “I was advised very sternly not to re-install the sign after we removed it. I was told, ‘You now have a good excuse to make disappear something that has offended powerful people.’ I refused. I told them no matter if it is attacked ten times I will repair it over and over. Next time we have it down for repairs I may gild it before putting it back up!” “It’s ridiculous to be wedded to the old idea that anyone sympathetic to the U.S. is a traitor! We must rebut that. Many Balkan people want America’s friendship and help. Everybody who leaves my clinic gets a pamphlet telling them exactly who provided the equipment that saved or improved their life. So they can get used to the fact that Americans are actually our best friends.” Milic understands very well the recent history he is working against. His city of Nis, the third largest in Serbia and a military center, was the most heavily hit part of the country during the Tribute to U.S. aid on the cardiovascular clinic in Nis, Serbia. 1999 NATO bombing runs. He himself lived through 78 days of attacks, lost friends in the bombardments, and once “You cannot have a lower death rate than an old habit of significant parts of had the windows of his operating room that among urgent patients,” he notes. the population, the main entrance to blown out while he was working in the Sharp eyes at the U.S. embassy Milic’s clinic is crowned by a massive chest of a patient. But he knows this in Serbia knew a star when they 400-pound medallion bearing the Great was collateral damage brought on by his saw one, and some years ago they Seal of the United States, with the eagle own government’s bloody-mindedness. started helping Dr. Milic build clutching a quiver of arrows in one And he calculates that the number of up his remarkable establishment. talon and an olive branch in the other. lives saved by the equipment donated to They provided funds from various Large silver letters underneath state in his clinic has already exceeded all the defense-cooperation accounts, and Serbian: “We owe a debt of gratitude casualties of the prior war. negotiated big discounts for him on to the American people, the American His hospital is actually achieving American medical equipment. U.S. government, and foremost the U.S. two triumphs simultaneously. It is a gifts now totaling in the millions Army for donating equipment that will top-flight establishment of medical furnished his operating theater and be used to treat patients at this clinic.” healing. And it is also a revolutionary bought a heart-lung machine. They “People warned me, ‘Don’t teaching facility that encourages provided an intensive-care unit, make fireworks with these American humanitarian, historical, and cultural radiology gear, and equipment to donations,’” explains Milic. “But we put mending. Literally dozens of plaques, support transplants of kidneys, livers, up signs that nobody could miss or ignore. photos, military insignia, paintings, and hearts. Most recently, an advanced I needed a very big sign because we have and storyboards lay out a long tradition genetics lab was fitted out. a very big problem with propaganda. of Serbian-American cooperation, Milic insists with every fiber of his Dishonest, filthy Russian misinformation.” and bring to life many forgotten body that, “People must know where He reports, “That sign has been contributions of Americans to Serbian all of this comes from!” Remarkably, defaced by Russians and hooligans. I success and happiness. in a country where anti-Americanism know who did it. We have cameras. We For instance, the brand-new is official government policy, and took it down and cleaned it.” genetics lab bears large signs

42 PHILANTHROPY dedicating it to Douglas Dold, an American doctor fresh out of Columbia Medical School who traveled to this part of Serbia to offer humanitarian care when World War I broke out. In addition to doing much lifesaving himself he intervened to stop atrocities. At one point he presented himself to a Bulgarian general and warned, “If there are any bloodbaths in Nis, you will have trouble with me, and the American government, and the American people.” After German saboteurs interfered with the alcohol he used to bathe his hands Dr. Dragan Milic stands in the new intensive-care unit established with American help in his clinic, and arms before doing surgery, Dold one of the most productive in the Balkans. went blind. (“So his last sights were of Serbia,” interjects Milic poetically.) Nonetheless the nearly sightless Russia vs. USA resources to corrupt and pollute. You American stayed on, volunteering to Driving much of his effort is use yours to help people in need.” help the Red Cross with an anti-lice Milic’s dread of Russian influence. “The only hobby I have outside campaign aimed at stopping diphtheria “Communism would never have my work,” Milic tells me, “is the outbreaks among Serbs. “We must blanketed my country except for Serbian-American Friendship Club.” keep these stories alive, to rebut the the Russians overrunning us,” he He founded the group in 2014 and lies from the east!” exclaims Milic. states. The raw violence of Russia’s astonished observers at the U.S. A new laboratory at the medical occupation is very real to him. His own embassy by building it to more than school funded with U.S. support grandmother had her spine broken by 3,000 participants. Members we met midwifed by Dr. Milic will be named their soldiers. at a local restaurant included a defense for John Frothingham, an American “The Russians create mayhem. attorney, writers, businesspeople, and philanthropist who donated a fully They are killers, and sophisticated liars. other independent and influential equipped field hospital to Serbia during But they are not stupid. They will never Serbs. Milic continues as club World War I. He later became concerned allow us to escape their orbit if they can president; the group’s symbol of about Serbian orphans and provided help it. They will never allow Bulgaria to intertwined Serbian and U.S. flags the necessities for 6,000 of them to be break free. They have destroyed Ukraine. adorns the lapel of his suit. cared for. And he legally adopted 260 They have nothing positive to offer, but “America is not perfect. But the orphaned Serbs himself, to protect them. they are powerful. I am a doctor, and I principles Americans believe in and Frothingham also fell in love with Serbian see the way they operate as much like a stand for are perfect,” says Milic. “I folk music, and built a series of tennis malignancy in the body.” love that statement by my friend Ben courts to help Serbian troops relax—the “We cannot compete with Russian Hodges” (a retired American general root of today’s excellence in this sport propaganda and manipulation on our who serves on the advisory board of among Serbs like Novak Djokovic. own. Every day there is a blizzard of Spirit of America). Also covering the halls of the clinic lies. All resentment, anger, envy— “All societies change and evolve, are images of contemporary American reptilian emotions.” with ups and downs. The U.S. is the medical pioneers who are heroes to “All we can do is try patiently and only country I know that evolves into Milic for advancing his profession— realistically to share a fuller truth. something better after each peril. I am a like Houston cardiac surgeon Michael The Americans are our most precious devoted student of American Civil War DeBakey, and U.S. Army vascular allies in this. The Russians use their history, and it is an inspiration to me to surgeon Norman Rich. There is even a painting of the day Woodrow Wilson flew the Serbian flag over the White Spirit’s assistance here—pure lovely charity— House to honor Serbia’s military has accrued an unexpected payoff: bravery. The aim of all this teaching is cross-cultural accommodation. respect from influential people.

SPRING 2020 43 across the table from me had had his father’s heart repaired by Dr. Milic. “Strangely, I find I am accumulating friends in the Serbian army,” Milic tells me. While we were with him the doctor was invited to attend Serbia’s annual military celebration day. It’s doubtful there is much warmth behind that, but this at least suggests some authorities have developed a grudging respect for his influence.

The power of the personal To conclude the visit of Spirit of Dr. Milic and Jim Hake speak about friendship between Serbia and America during America’s field operators to his a half-hour interview on Serbian television. city, Dragan Milic arranges for the television station to air an extensive discussion between him and Jim Hake, see how your country used that horrible service, and a close friend of the guided by the local anchorwoman. event to evolve upward, to become country’s pro-Russian president. Milic puts on his good-citizen/ more noble. That is the huge difference When Milic was slated to be in the impresario/translator hat and between the U.S. and other nations.” U.S. for some advanced medical training, spearheads an interesting exchange. “Sometimes it is difficult for the director nearly succeeded in firing “I’m very happy to see a strong Americans to see what a beautiful him from his post. Only the accident of relationship growing up here between society they have. The biggest success. a delayed flight allowed the doctor to be Americans and Serbs,” says Hake on The fairest place. The cradle of present as the trap was sprung. So that air. “I of course heard things about philanthropy. True individual freedom. attack he was able to fend off. Serbs before I arrived. So I was A Constitution that prevents these In addition to the grave risks really glad to come here and meet things from being washed away. And a to his career, Milic’s outspokenness extraordinary Serbs myself.” U.S. military that never, ever, breaks.” has brought threats to his life. He is, “And I’m sure Serbs hear things “Americans who take these things however, wildly brave, and charges about America. In Vranje, where our for granted should recognize how ahead on sheer nerve and energy. His organization helped rebuild a kickboxing rare they are. You must conserve and irreplaceable expertise, his intellect gym, I recently learned that many of the strengthen those institutions. Those and stamina, and his folk popularity young men there had been told bad things of us who hope for a better world look have so far propelled him around many about Americans before we showed up. to America when we get discouraged. stumbling blocks and thuggish pressures. Working shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S. That’s our best proof that these things “When I walked the streets of the soldiers and volunteers, though, gave are not dreams. The U.S. will always city with him once, perhaps a quarter people a chance to make up their own be a beacon and a pillar for people who of the people we passed acknowledged minds. And many misconceptions on love freedom.” or thanked him for something,” one both sides were dispelled.” For proclaiming his bold views, Dr. American colonel explained to me. Hake has the personal touch that Milic has encountered many obstacles “His medical work alone has touched is often so important to the success of and threats. He is often at odds with the thousands of families.” Indeed, at a charitable work. This is his fifth visit administrators of his government-owned dinner in a different part of the country, to Serbia, and the third time he has hospital. A brother of the hospital I discovered that the Lieutenant Colonel driven down to spend time with Milic. director is head of Serbia’s intelligence in the Serbian army who was sitting The doctor’s admiration for Spirit’s willingness to support the Mara Center “The Russians use their resources to corrupt. quickly extended into shared friends and overlapping values, and the two men You use yours to help people in need. have built a sturdy bond. America is not perfect. But the principles Hake’s gift for making pals has come in handy more than once. At one Americans stand for are perfect.” point he was included in a long-sought

44 PHILANTHROPY meeting between the U.S. military attaché at our Belgrade embassy and And the citizens attracted to our Serbia’s Commander of the Army, ideals are often the most impressive, Milosav Simovic. The room was set up resourceful, brave, and productive with a formal array of military flags in their society. “Many of us have and a 12-foot separation between the discovered in life that if you really tables of each side, as is conventional want something done, you should ask at the generally frosty mil-to- the busiest person you can find,” Hake mil meetings between Serbs and observes paradoxically. “The community Americans. Then the U.S. attaché got leaders that Spirit connects with overseas sick. Unexpectedly, Hake was handed certainly illustrate that.” the floor. He quickly improvised remarks But is it enough? about the importance of making Spirit of America expresses U.S. human connections between their two altruism and partnership through acts A selfie snapped by Jim Hake after he hit it off with nations. He explained what Spirit does. that could reasonably be criticized Serbian Commander of the Army Milosav Simovic. That it is funded entirely by voluntary as pinpricks. The Russians and contributions from real Americans. Chinese build multimillion-dollar With a goal of building bonds of infrastructure and manipulate national Charitable action is a soulful mutual knowledge and respect. politics. We plant walnut trees, undertaking, a humane rather than General Simovic was charmed. teach English, and fund kickboxers. scientific process. It’s an imprecise, The meeting went much longer than Do our pinpricks sum to anything gradual, sometimes-messy task. Yet in anticipated. The confab ended with the consequential? Can they balance the the end it often has surprising power. general’s arm draped around Hake’s leviathan efforts of our antagonists? Even modest personal giving can yield shoulders—so of course the American did Certainly our nation could use thunderbolt results. what every modern tech-entrepreneur- a lot more Spirit of America-like In any case, we have little choice but turned-philanthropist does: He took a grassroots intervention overseas. to work in humble human increments. selfie with his new pal. Not long after this There is a large untapped upside for America is not going to sweep across it was agreed that Serbian soldiers could philanthropy that directly undergirds the globe erecting Belts and Roads or help Spirit and the Ohio National Guard the security of our nation. Yet even Humanitarian Centers wrapped in sneaky with the renovation of the kickboxing as it has had to invent a new form of provisos and predatory demands. Even if gym in Vranje. Meanwhile, the official philanthropic action from scratch, we wanted to, we’d make a botch of that defense attaché in our American embassy Spirit has already sprayed thousands of kind of Machiavellian big-state work. still finds it impossible to get meetings its pinpricks across some of the planet’s Instead, Americans like to water with Simovic. saddest societies. And there are lots of little local gardens. Within American ingenuousness and hundreds of other U.S. philanthropies coherent communities. As partners with goodwill make friends everywhere. Some representing our values overseas, even natural allies and compatriots. In loose of these friendships are conditional. when they aren’t explicitly aiming to concert with as many friends as possible. Many are full-blown love affairs. undergird the security of our nation as Repeating this hundreds and thousands Philo-Americans like Dragan Spirit does. of times, in small acts that build, as Milic and Nadica Stosic exist all over As for the ultimate effectiveness of modest creeks join to become mighty the globe, even in the most inflamed, little actions—mass repetition of small rivers. That’s our way. harshly governed, tyrannized successes is how good philanthropy We live in a world where cruel countries. They cluster around works. Person to person, town to town, men have increasing opportunities to outposts of U.S. culture and ideas, one human case at a time. One must reach across long distances and hurt blooming forth whenever they are have some faith that such efforts are those they disdain. Generous men and watered by our miracles of commerce, not wasted, that they cumulate and add women and clever social entrepreneurs our schools, our books and films, our up, that they move people. People are need to be equally active in reaching churches and charities. The principles rarely motivated by anonymous actions out to strengthen and heal fractured of our founding retain a great power carried out mechanically on a mass societies. So bringing more of the tools to draw people, especially when they level by officials, but they remember of philanthropy to U.S. national-security are put into concrete action through sincere and timely responses when they problems could be a valuable aid to P personal generosity. were in need. international peace and stability.

SPRING 2020 45