Tag Archives: Think tanks

James W. Carden: Neocon Think Tanks Are Driving Biden’s Ukraine Policy

Posted on June 24, 2022 | 1 comment

It’s never difficult to determine what neocon think tanks want: nonstop war. From James W. Carden at usrussiaaccord.org:

In Joe Biden’s Washington, it is the self described national security “expert community” that is at the wheel and driving the administration’s Ukraine policy.

A little remarked upon open letter which appeared in the Washington tabloid The Hill on June 1 put a public face on what had been until that point a discreet, though highly successful effort on the part of Washington think tanks  – many of which, like the disgraced Brookings Institution, are funded by foreign governments –  to direct the White House policy on Ukraine.

The letter reads, in part, that..

The United States and Europe must avoid the urge to encourage Kyiv to negotiate a cease fire that falls short of Ukraine’s goals and could consign millions of Ukrainians to Russian control.

The signatories of the open letter are urging the Biden Administration to stay the course and to continue to arm Ukraine, so that when the time comes, it will be able to negotiate from a position of strength.

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Posted in Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, History, Military, Politics, Propaganda, War

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New report shows more than $1B from war industry and govt. going to top 50 think tanks, by Cassandra Stimpson

Posted on October 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

Surprisingly, it’s the unanimous opinion of those 50 think tanks that we need still more military spending. Imagine that. From Cassandra Stimpson at responsiblestatecraft.org:

Think tanks shape discourse and policy through testimony and media coverage, and employ experts who claim to be unbiased — simply putting forth ideas to win out in the free market. This market, however, is rigged.

It’s well known that Pentagon contractors spend hundreds of millions each year on lobbying, but the other powerful weapon contractors wield to influence U.S. national security priorities — think tanks — is often ignored. A report released today from the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative, or FITI, at the Center for International Policy, where I work, reveals more than $1 billion in defense contractor and U.S. government funds flowing to the top 50 most influential U.S. think tanks from 2014-2019.

It is part of a think tank’s role to recommend policy, and putting ideas forth into debate can be a public good. However, when these ideas are linked to specific defense companies who stand to gain billions of dollars by promoting their systems — and play into the Pentagon’s narrative — think tanks have an obligation to let consumers of their work know if it is funded by those who will profit from their recommendations. Instead, in far too many cases, these funding links are obscured.

The Pentagon’s recent Naval expansion strategy, named “Battle Force 2045,” is a case in point of why this funding matters, as many of the think tanks backing this plan are incentivized to do so because they receive money from those who will benefit most from the plan. Prior to Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s release of the naval strategy at one think tank, CSBA, it was developed in large part by another think tank, the Hudson Institute, and was teased for release at a separate think tank: the RAND Corporation. In addition to these policy shops, which also receive government and defense contractor funding, the Center for a New American Security, or CNAS, has long advocated for and justified additional military investments.

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Your Guide to Top Anti-Russia Think Tanks in US & Who Funds Them, by Bryan Macdonald

Posted on February 8, 2018 | Leave a comment

This is a handy guide for those times when you hear what sounds like  anti-Russian propaganda and you want to check its source. From Bryan Macdonald at  ronpaulinstitute.org:

Countering Russia has become a lucrative industry in Washington. In recent years, the think tank business has exploded. But who funds these organizations, who works for them and what are the real agendas at play?

From the start, let’s be clear, the term “think tank” essentially amounts to a more polite way of saying “lobby group.” Bar a few exceptions, they exist to serve – and promote – the agendas of their funders.

However, particularly in the United States, the field has become increasingly shady and disingenuous, with lobbyists being given faux academic titles like “Senior Non-Resident Fellow” and “Junior Adjunct Fellow” and the like. And this smokescreen usually serves to cloud the real goals of these operations.

Think tanks actually originate from the Europe of the Dark Ages. That’s 9th-century France, to be precise. But the modern American movement is modeled on British organizations from around a millennium later, many of which, such as “RUSI (1831),” still exist today. The concept was possibly brought to America by the Scottish-born Andrew Carnegie. And his “Carnegie Endowment for International Peace” (1910) is still going strong.

Yet, the real boom in the “think tank” industry came with the era of globalization. With a 200-percent rise in numbers since 1970. And in recent years, they’ve become more transnational, with foreign states and individuals sponsoring them in order to gain curry favor in Washington.

One country that largely hasn’t bothered playing this game is Russia. Instead, mostly in the foreign policy and defense sectors, Moscow frequently serves as Enemy Number One for many advocacy groups. Here are some prominent outfits in the think tank racket, which focus on hyping up threats from Russia.

To continue reading; Your Guide to Top Anti-Russia Think Tanks in US & Who Funds Them

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