As the American press has shone a spotlight upon alleged Russian involvement both in the U.S. presidential election and its aftermath, Disobedient Media has identified a number of foreign public and private sector groups using DNC operations to peddle influence in American politics. An investigation into a shadowy world of shell companies and chains of influence stretching all over the globe has revealed that Democratic propaganda figure David Brock’s organization Shareblue appears to be a apparent front group being used by a number of Chinese, Middle Eastern, British, Israeli, Mexican and American special interests to spread anti-Trump and anti-democratic rhetoric both during the presidential election as well as in its aftermath.

David Brock is a one-time Republican turned Democrat operative once labeled by Time Magazine as one of the most influential players in the DNC. Brock has a long history working for the Democrat Party in media promotion and propaganda, starting with his organization Media Matters. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Brock ran the group Correct the Record, which paid an army of online trolls to “harass, censor Trump supporters and spread their own propaganda” across various forums and social media outlets online. In the aftermath of the election, Brock has returned to continue to fight an information war online, armed a $40 million budget and a renewed will to resist President Donald Trump. The group, Shareblue, continues the same tactics used by Brock’s past organizations and has been criticized by fellow Democrats as harming more than helping due to its reliance upon online harassment and censorship. An investigation into the corporate paper trail behind Shareblue reveals what is likely the true reason for concern among DNC members: Shareblue appears to be supported by a raft of foreign interests in China, Britain, Israel and various Middle Eastern entities to interfere in American politics.

Shareblue’s website was registered by their Chief Operating Officer Joshua Nerpel on behalf of True Blue Media LLC. True Blue Media LLC is owned by David Brock and was used to purchase Shareblue’s political commentary platform when it was known as Blue Nation Review. Blue Nation Review had previously been used during the Democratic primary as a way for paid trolls working for Hillary Clinton’s campaign to target Bernie Sanders supporters online and was described as having an extreme left bias.

Brock purchased an 80% stake in Blue Nation Review from Moko Social Media Ltd., who retained a 20% equity stake. Moko Social Media Ltd. is a holding company located in Arlington, VA. Oddly for a social media company, Moko Social Media’s Board of Directors includes “Non Executive Chairman” by the name of Malcolm Raymond Scott James, an Australian mining project manager. Mr. James serves as Non Executive Finance Director at Eureka Mining PLC, a mining group located in the City of London. Since 2002, James has also acted as an Executive Director at Tianshan Goldfields Ltd.  (天山金田). Tianshan Goldfields is registered in Australia holding various exploration projects in China. Its largest asset was the Gold Mountain Project located in the Tian Shan Gold Belt in Xinjiang, China. Gold Mountain, or 金山 (Jīnshān) in Mandarin, is a commonly used Chinese nickname historically for the western region of North America, specifically California due to the state’s historic gold rush.

As outlined by the Department of State in their 2016 Investment Climate Statement on China, foreign companies seeking to gain entry to industries designated “restricted” by the Chinese government must create a joint venture with a Chinese partner. China’s ostensible goal of this restrictive Foreign Investment Catalogue is to protect sensitive industries that the government hopes to shield from foreign exploitation. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries, last updated in 2015, lists the exploration and mining of gold as a Restricted Foreign Investment Industry. To enter a restricted industry sector, a foreign firm must undergo a permit application process prone to corrupt abuses and share a minority stake with a domestic corporation which often is chosen because of its close ties to the Chinese government.

The Xinjiang Province of China has for years been beset by ethnic violence and Islamic terrorism, with attacks reported by the South China Morning Post as recently as February 2017. The area is heavily regulated by Chinese government authorities. Foreigners are seldom inclined to seek access to the region and foreign investments are seldom realized due to the unrest as well as Xinjiang’s lack of ocean access. The mining industry in particular has beenmade a target in large scale terror attacks.

Tianshan Goldfields Ltd.’s entry to the volatile marketplace was a strange choice in a country with many more secure operations to offer an investing firm ostensibly seeking to maximize profit and minimize risk. Their Chinese business partner raises questions about the incentive to grant the company access to a restricted industry sector in China given Malcolm James’ ties to the holding company that managed Blue Nation Review and continues to hold a 20% stake in Shareblue.

Tianshan Goldfield’s partner holding 10% in the Gold Mountain project was revealed in Tianshan’s mining permit approval obtained by mining website 24hGold to be a Chinese mining organization called Xinjiang Gold Mountain Mining Co., Ltd. (新疆金川矿业有限公). Xinjiang Gold Mountain Mining, in turn, is held entirely by Hengxing Gold Holding Company Ltd.  (恒興黃金控股有限公司), a shell company registered in the Cayman Islands in an apparent attempt to conceal Xinjiang Gold Mountain’s true owner. Hengxing Gold’s List of Directors shows that the company’s Chairman is Ke Xiping, a Chinese billionaire from Xiamen, China whose Xiamen Hengxing Group Co., Ltd.  (厦门恒兴集团有限公司) holds a diverse range of assets in the construction material, auto parts, electronics, transportation, dairy, real estate and mining sectors.

Even stranger, Tianshan almost immediately sold off their coveted holding in the restricted sector project to Sino Hydro, a Hong Kong holding group of Chinese state owned corporation PowerChina  (中国电建). PowerChina’s holdings are commonly used by the Chinese government as a means of economic diplomacy, and were involved in an economic dealstruck with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte in October 2016. Immediately after the sale to Sino Hydro, Tianshan Goldfields was merged with Australian firm Corvette Resources flush with cash from the sale but with almost no other holdings in actual mining projects. The sale and immediate merger indicates that Tianshan’s ventures in Xinjiang were intended to disguise a large cash transfer from the Chinese government in return for influence in Shareblue.

The involvement of Mr. Ke in the Gold Mountain Project, and the steps taken to conceal his involvement in it raise questions about the true nature of Hengxing’s dealings with a group whose executive had deep ties to Shareblue. The immediate sale of the entire project to a Chinese state run enterprise and Tianshan’s merger into another Australian firm indicates that the group’s involvement with the Gold Mountain Project may have been a well disguised agreement to peddle influence in Shareblue in return for financial reimbursement.

Following the various connections of Shareblue employees leads to a global chase wading through a number of other “charitable” Foundations and front companies being used as vessels to maintain lines of communication between global players hoping to pull strings and use Brock’s propaganda to influence the minds of American voters. Many of the individuals involved with Shareblue have troubling histories as corporate lobbyists and consultants for a large list of special interest groups, raising questions about the various sources of influence pulling strings in the Democratic propaganda machine.

Peter Daou is the CEO of Shareblue’s holding company, True Blue Media LLC and played an integral role in the site’s transformation from True Blue Media to Shareblue. Mr. Daou was a former advisor to Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and former Senator Arlen Specter. His website reveals that he has also advised the Clinton Foundation, the now shuttered Clinton Global Initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy, the United Nations Foundation, Microsoft, Intel, AARP, Inc., Action Against Hunger, PR Newswire and Bloomberg Philanthropies, two news organizations which both have close ties to the City of London-based UBM plc.

Lastly, Mr. Daou has played an advisory role for OneVoice International, an “international grassroots movement that amplifies the voice of mainstream Israelis and Palestinians, empowering them to propel their elected representatives toward the two-state solution.”OneVoice’s partners include an impressive list of global special interests including the Association of British Muslims, the UK Conservative Party, Google, Crown Family Philanthropies, the European Commission (part of the European Union), High Atlas Foundation, the UK Labour Party, the Rayne Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Peter Daou’s involvement with OneVoice creates a very apparent conflict of interest given the massive number of foreign interests who are affiliated with the organization.

OneVoice is a part of the PeaceWorks Foundation, founded by Mexican-American billionaireDaniel Lubetzky and run with business associates Alon Kastiel, Uri Weiss and S. Daniel Abraham. Mr. Lubetzky is the founder and CEO of KIND Snacks. Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom has stated that the PeaceWorks Foundation maintains branches in Tel Aviv, Israel, Ramallah, Palestine and London, England. PeaceWork’s website mentions that the Foundation does business with Israelis, Palestinians, Egyptians, Australians, Turks, Indonesians and Sri Lankans.

The wide range of foreign connections and interests associated with PeaceWorks indicates additional conflicts of interest given the apparent presence of intermediary figures such as Peter Daou in leadership positions at Shareblue and its holding company. The large number of foreign political parties, special interests and foundations associated with PeaceWorks and OneVoice raise serious concerns about their influence within Shareblue and how that influence might be affecting decision making processes in the group. David Brock’s various propaganda machines are by nature already problematic. With the revelations that Chinese moguls, state run enterprises and Foundations with deep ties to the financial world of London, Israel, Saudi Arabia and a number of other players have ties to Shareblue and its affiliated companies, Brock, Daou and others in the propaganda group could be in violation of the Foreign Agent Registration Act for failing to declare their roles as actors working on behalf of foreign principals. The large number of foreign interest groups connected to Brock and other officers in positions of control indicate that, far from being an organization that promotes liberal ideals, Shareblue exists as an outlet for political interests to subvert democratic institutions in America and hijack liberalism to promote the interests those who wish to take advantage of American citizens.