Wealthy donors have long funded think tanks with official-sounding names that produce research that reflects the interests of those funders (Extra!, 7/13). The weapons industry is a major contributor to these idea factories; a recent report from the Quincy Institute (6/1/23) demonstrates just how much influence war profiteers have on the national discourse.
Report Shows How Military Industrial Complex Sets Media Narrative on Ukraine
The U.S. public has been conned, once again, into pouring billions into another endless war.
Chris Hedges: They Lied About Afghanistan. They Lied About Iraq. And They Are Lying About Ukraine.
The US Build-Up for War with China
– Visit by US Secretary of State attempts to portray the US as “reasonable” versus a “belligerent” Chinese “dictatorship;”
– Secretary Blinken recited the US “One China” policy, omitting the many ways the US has and still is blatantly violating it and provoking China;
– US strategy follows similar pattern of the US “reset” with Russia or the US-Iran “nuclear deal,” where the US sought to appear to have exhausted diplomatic options before moving on “reluctantly” to economic sanctions and war;
– Such a strategy is necessary for consensus building among US allies who would otherwise be hesitant to join the US in both economic sanctions and eventual military intervention versus China;
– US policymakers are already busy planning sanctions against China, which includes an already ongoing public relations campaign to sell Russia-style sanctions against China, as well as preparations for military operations to follow the sanctions;
– The US has a long-standing strategy to encircle and contain China spanning decades, indifferent to presidential administrations;
References:
Washington’s REAL Policy on China – “Repairing Ties” is Theater Ahead of Sanctions, War (Rumble) via The New Atlas
Despite being far more powerful than its adversaries on paper, the US has had limited success in building a global coalition to support Ukraine.
A world without hegemons
At some point over the past few years, the Biden administration revoked one of the few progressive policies that Trump-era officials implemented in the effort to bring greater transparency to foreign influence in Washington. The New Republic has learned that with little fanfare, and with even less explanation, the White House has stopped requesting that American think tanks disclose funding from foreign governments. “This is not the policy of the U.S. State Department,” an agency spokesperson said last month.
Biden Is Letting Think Tanks and Dodgy Foreign Funders Get Cozy Again (archived)
The US president signed an order allowing active duty reserve troops as needed to fight international drug trafficking
Biden green-lights deployment to Mexican border
Related:
U.S. says it ‘infiltrated’ the Sinaloa drug cartel in the fight against fentanyl
Fentanyl Is Smuggled for U.S. Citizens By U.S. Citizens, Not Asylum Seekers
Editor’s Note: The degree of respect for LGBTQ people has increasingly become a measure of democratic health in former Soviet states. If Russia were a place where Pride parades were allowed, its quarrels with the United States, and ours with it, would possibly diminish, writes James Kirchick. This article originally appeared in the Washington Post.
What does a Pride parade have to do with NATO? More than you might think.
Related:
Meet the true journalists: James Kirchick and Lawrence O’Donnell
*Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Ms. Cat’s Chronicles.
A true story censored by the media bubble
There are two Volodymyr Zelenskys: the one we have known since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, who has since been celebrated every day in the Western media as a hero with a spotless white (or green) vest; the other, who was less well-known prior to this significant escalation of the war, which, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, began in 2014. (Here are details on the actual start of this war in 2014).
How Zelensky was Prevented From Making Peace in the Donbas
“The invasion of Iraq was twenty years ago, but the U.S. government hasn’t learned a single lesson,” said American journalist and activist Eugene Puryear, also an organizer of Saturday’s anti-war rally north of the White House.
Washington protesters call for stop to endless U.S. wars, reflection on Iraq invasion
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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