Why is my Safari unable to open links from Google under VPN?

Safari 8.0.2, OS X 10.10.1--Problem occurring in Mac Pro 2009 and MBP ret 2012.

Once I log into my employer's VPN, Safari has a quite unique problem:

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  if I go to Google, do a search and click on any result link, I get a "Safari Can't Open the Page" screen

  
  


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  if I do the exact same Google search on Firefox or Chrome (latest versions) they will load the linked page without any problems

  
  


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  if I type any web address in the Safari URL bar, it will load that page normally

  
  


• if I click on a Safari bookmark that page loads normally

This appears to be a problem localized to Safari and how Google redirects a search result to the appropriate URL. This problem does not happen with Yahoo or Bing.

Has anyone seen this behavior or know how to troubleshoot?