Lately I’ve been giving everything in my life a soundtrack. SeaLight now has one.
Powell’s article on gaslighting plays like Aretha Franklin’s Who’s Zoomin’ Who? — ironic, considering the U.S. government has long mastered that very art. His analysis reads like someone stranded on a Philippine island, cut off from the headlines, oblivious to the tactics he’s describing.
In another piece, he laments that the Communist Party of China held an event in Manila with business and civic leaders. Yet it sounds much like something the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines might do.
Powell anticipates the question: “Ray, aren’t you also a foreign influence?” He calls it fair, then quickly dismisses it — presenting himself as a private U.S. citizen and non‑profit director who simply advocates for transparency in the South China Sea. But what he leaves unsaid matters just as much as what he admits.
On his own About page, there’s no mention that the Department of the U.S. Navy sponsored Stanford’s Gordian Knot Center, where he directs programs — nor that the Center holds contracts with the U.S. government. He also omits his work with Stratbase in the Philippines, an organization that convenes seminars for the U.S. government and its allies.
So when Powell frames himself as a neutral advocate, readers should ask: whose transparency, and on whose terms?
And for those omissions — Navy sponsorships, government contracts, Stratbase ties — the track shifts to Lady Gaga’s Government Hooker. The title alone says what Powell won’t.
Related:
The August 11 SCS Incident & US-Backed Fisherfolk Collectives in the Philippines
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 