Anti-Russia Think Tanks in US: Who Funds Them?
By Bryan MacDonald
February 08, 2018 "Information
Clearing House"
- 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.
The Atlantic Council
Founded: 1961What is it? Essentially the academic wing of NATO. The Atlantic Council serves to link people useful to the organization’s agenda across Europe and North America. However, in recent years, its recruitment has increasingly focused on employees who directly attack Russia, especially on social media. Presumably, this is to give them a guaranteed income so they can continue their activities, without needing to worry about paying the bills.
What does it do? Promotes the idea of Russia being an existential threat to Europe and the US, in order to justify NATO’s reason for being.
Who are its people? The Atlantic Council’s list of lobbyists (sorry, ‘Fellows’!) reads like a telephone directory of the Russia bashing world. For instance, Dmitri Alperovitch (of Crowdstrike, which conveniently alleges how Russia hacked the Democratic National Congress) is joined by the perennially- wrong Anders Aslund, who has predicted Russia’s impending collapse on a number of occasions and has, obviously, been off the mark. Then there’s Joe Biden’s “Russia hand,”Michael Carpenter and their recent co-authored ‘Foreign Affairs’ piece suggests he actually knows very little about the country. Meanwhile, Evelyn Farkas, a fanatical Russophobe who served in Barack Obama’s administration has also found a home here. Another interesting Atlantic Council lobbyist is Eliot Higgins, a “geolocation expert” who has made a career out of spinning tales from the Ukraine and Syrian wars but is, naturally, mostly disinterested in covering Iraq and Yemen, where the US and its allies are involved, but Russia has no particular stake. Lastly, we can’t forget CNN’s Michael Weiss, the self-declared “Russia analyst” who, by all accounts, has never been to Russia and can’t speak Russian.
Who pays for it? The Atlantic Council has quite an eclectic bunch of patrons to serve. NATO itself is a big backer, along with military contractors Saab, Lockheed Martin and the Raytheon Company, all of which naturally benefit from increased tensions with Moscow. The UK Foreign Office also splashes the cash and is joined by the Ukrainian World Congress and the US Department of State. Other sugar daddies include the US military (via separate contributions from the Air Force, Navy, Army and Marine Corps), Northrop Grumman and Boeing.
The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA)
Founded: 2005What is it? Despite the name, CEPA is based in Washington, not the ‘old continent’, but it does have an outpost in Warsaw. This club specifically focusses on Central and Eastern Europe and promoting the US Army and foreign policy establishment’s agenda there. Or, in its own words, creating a “Central and Eastern Europe with close and enduring ties to the United States.”
What does it do? CEPA amounts to a home for media figures who devote their careers to opposing Russia. It whips up tensions, even when they don’t really exist, presumably in order to drum up business for its sponsors, who are heavily drawn from the military industry. For example, it spent last year hyping up the ‘threat’ from Russia’s and Belarus’ joint "Zapad" exercises, even running a sinister-looking countdown clock before the long-planned training commenced.
CEPA grossly overestimated the size of the event, saying it “could be the largest military exercise since the end of the Cold War” and dismissing basically all Moscow’s statements on its actual nature as “disinformation.”
Who are its people? Times of London columnist Edward Lucas has been part of CEPA for years.
The dedicated "Cold Warrior" doesn’t appear to have spent much time in Russia for a long while and still seems to view the country through a prism which is very much rooted in the past. Thus, he’s more-or-less an out-of-touch dinosaur when it comes to Russia expertise. He will soon be joined by Brian Whitmore, who comes on board from RFE/RL and appears to be even more ill-informed than Lucas. His work for the US state-run broadcaster led to him being described as the “Lord Haw Haw of Prague,” where he has been based for some years. CEPA is a pretty fluid organization and, until recently, Anne Applebaum and Peter Pomerantsev were also on its list of lobbyists. The former is a Polish-American Washington Post columnist who obsessively denigrates Russia and the latter has previously worked with the Atlantic Council’s Michael Weiss, which shows you how small and incestuous the Russia-bashing world is.
Who pays for it? While other think tanks at least try to make their funding look semi-organic, CEPA looks to have zero hang-ups about its role as a mouthpiece for defence contractors. Which is, at least, honest. FireEye, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Bell Helicopters and BAE systems pump funds in and they are joined by the US State Department and the Department of Defence. Another notable paymaster is the National Endowment for Democracy – ‘regime change’ experts who are surely interested in CEPA’s remit to also cover Belarus. The US Mission to NATO and NATO’s own Public Diplomacy Division also provide cash.
German Marshall Fund of the United States
Founded: 1972What is it? Don’t be fooled by the name, the German Marshall Fund (GMF) is a very American body these days with little input from Berlin. It was founded by a donation from Willy Brandt’s Bonn-government to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Marshall Plan. Ironically, Brandt is today best remembered as the father of "Ostpolitik," which sought a rapprochement between Germany and Russia.
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What does it do? After
the fall of the Soviet Union, the GMF
transformed into a vehicle promoting US
influence in Eastern Europe, with outreaches
in Warsaw, Belgrade and Bucharest. However,
in the past 12 months, it’s taken a very
strange turn. Following the election of US
President Donald Trump (ironically a
German-American), the lobby group launched
the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD)
project. Its centerpiece is the ‘Hamilton 68
Dashboard’, which seems to classify social
media users which reject the US liberal
elite’s consensus as “Russian trolls.” The
reaction has been highly critical, with even
the secretly-funded Russian opposition
website Meduza asking “how
do you identify 'pro-Russian amplifiers’ if…
themes dovetail with alternative American
political views?”
Who are its people? The GMF,
especially through its new ASD plaything,
has a high-profile bunch of lobbyists. They
include Toomas Ilves, an American-raised son
of Estonian emigrants who once headed the
Estonian desk at erstwhile CIA cut-out Radio
Free Europe and eventually became president
of Estonia. Also on board is Bill Kristol,
known as the ‘architect of the Iraq War’ and
former CIA Director Michael Morrell. Former
US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, who
recently announced he was partially
abandoning his Russian scholarship and has “lost
interest in maintaining my (sic) ability to
speak/write Russian” is another team
member.
After serving on Obama’s team, McFaul has
re-invented himself as a network TV
personality since 2016 with 280,000 Twitter
followers, 106,000 of which are fake,
according to Twitter
audit.
Who pays for it? USAID are
big backers, throwing in a seven-figure
annual sum. This, of course, raises some
questions about US taxpayers essentially
funding the Hamilton 68 dashboard, which may
be smearing Americans who don’t agree with
their government’s policies as Russian
agents. The State Department also ponies up
capital, as does
NATO and
Latvia’s Defense Ministry. Other interesting
paymasters are George Soros, Airbus and
Google. While Boeing and the ubiquitous
Raytheon are also involved.
Institute for the Study of War
Founded: 2007What is it? This lobby group could as easily be titled "The Institute for the Promotion of War." Unlike the others, it doesn’t consider Russia its primary target, instead preferring to push for more conflict in the Middle East. However, Moscow’s increased influence in that region has brought the Kremlin into its crosshairs.
What does it do? The IFTSOW agitates for more and more American aggression. It supported the Iraq "surge" and has encouraged more involvement in Afghanistan. IFTSOW also focuses on Syria, Libya and Iran. Just last week, one of its lobbyists, Jennifer Cafarella, called for the US military to take Damascus, which would bring Washington into direct conflict with Russia and Iran.
Who are its people? Kimberly Kagan is the brains behind this operation. She’s married to Frederick Kagan, who was involved in the neocon "Project for the New American Century" group along with his brother, Robert Kagan. Which makes Kimberly the sister-in-law of Victoria “f**k the EU” Nuland.
Another lobbyist is Ukrainian Natalia Bugayova, who was involved in Kiev’s 2014 EuroMaidan coup. She previously worked for the Kiev Post, a resolutely anti-Russian newspaper which promotes US interests in Ukraine. However, IFTSOW’s most notorious lobbyist was Elizabeth O’Bagy, who emerged as a ‘Syria expert’ in 2013 and called for American political leaders to send heavy weaponry to Syrian insurgent groups. She claimed to have a PhD from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, but this was fictional and once the media twigged to it, she was dismissed by the IFTSOW. Two weeks later, she was rewarded for her deception by falling up to a job with fanatical Russophobe Senator John McCain. O’Bagy has also collaborated with the Atlantic Council’s Michael Weiss, which is further evidence of how tight-knit the world of US neoconservative advocacy really is.
Who pays for it? Predictably, Raytheon has opened its wallet. Meanwhile, other US military contractors like General Dynamics and DynCorp are also involved. L3, which provides services to the US Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and government intelligence agencies is another backer along with Vencore, CACI and Mantech.
This article was originally published by "RT" -
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