Most think tanks and their denizens are nothing more than high-falutin lobbyists for whoever pays their bills. From James Carden at amgreatness:
The odious ritual whereby representatives of foreign governments travel to Washington to tell us our business has become so routine it hardly even registers. And, down the years, hosting such rituals has become a (if not the) primary function of Washington’s think tanks which, also to no one’s surprise, draws millions and millions in funding from these very same governments.
Such was the case at mid-week when the Foreign Minister of Norway, Espen Barth Eide, appeared on a dais at the Brookings Institution. Since Brookings was, some years back, discovered to be snout-deep in the trough of foreign money, the Institution’s Vice President, Susanne Maloney (who, to be fair, is one of the more sensible, i.e. not certifiably insane, Middle East ‘experts’ in town) was at pains to stress that while Brookings does accept funding from the government of Norway, that will in no way impede upon the integrity of the ritual.
And with that out of the way, the FM proceeded to make his case for why the war in Ukraine ”matters to America.” Eide also said that Norway welcomes the addition of Finland and Sweden to NATO “big time” as it will add “strategic depth” to the region. The other very real possibility, that it will instead make the region more volatile, as those of us who understand the implications of Robert Jervis’ Security Dilemma expect, was not aired.
Excellent article, thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome.