PRESS ROOM

Joining us on this edition of Parallax Views is Ben Freeman, Director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy. We discuss the Foreign Agents Registration Act and its history as well as the role of Saudi lobbying on the Republican Party and Qatari lobbying on the Democratic Party. Additionally, we discuss the need for transparency when it comes to foreign lobbies and Ben explains why these issues should matter to average American citizens and voters. The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee is also discussed.

The coronavirus pandemic has upended many an industry over the past year, and foreign lobbying has not been excluded from that, according to a new analysis from the liberal think tank Center for International Policy. The think tank examined FARA filings containing various pandemic-related terms through March 31, which revealed a “fundamentally different environment” for foreign lobbying in the U.S., said Ben Freeman, who leads the think tank's Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative.

"We begin with a perspective on what was achieved during last week’s summit in Geneva between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Tom's guest is Melvin Goodman. He served for 42 years in government service, including positions at the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and the National War College. Today he’s a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University." Listen to the full interview here!

“The global increase in spending on nuclear weapons is troubling at a time when countries should be reducing their nuclear arsenals, not expanding or upgrading them,” William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy, told PassBlue. The Washington center focuses on research, public education and advocacy on US foreign policy.

“The increase between 2019 and 2020 represents continuing rearmament and modernization plans on the part of the major nuclear weapons states — especially the United States, which is just at the beginning of a three decades long plan to spend $1.7 trillion on a new generation of nuclear armed submarines, bombers, and missiles, with new warheads to go with them,” Hartung added.

"If you think you’re seeing an unusual volume of news about a rising military threat posed by China, you’re not wrong." This POGOwatchdog article uses CIP data to explain the impact of theoretical threats on the Pentagon budget. The Biden administration is using unsubstantiated claims about China's military threat as justification for US defense overspending.

Finally, ignoring human rights in the Philippines sends a signal to dictators, autocrats and tyrants worldwide that the United States does not take its commitment to human rights seriously, giving a green light to brutal and repressive conduct.

If the Biden administration fails to use all the leverage at its disposal to stop Duterte’s repression in the Philippines, it will be up to Congress to act by passing the Philippine Human Rights Act into law. Passage will help the Filipino people and lead to a more humane and effective foreign policy on the part of the United States.

Congress can and must act to improve oversight of US security assistance.

Given Saudi Arabia’s central role in airstrikes and a blockade that have led to the deaths of more than a quarter of a million people in Yemen, its continuing internal repression, and the need to hold it accountable for the Khashoggi murder, it’s time to end all U.S. military support to that regime as leverage to get it to end its unconscionable and unacceptable conduct, both internally and in the broader Middle East.

Scott talks to William Hartung about America’s nuclear policy and the shocking profit motives that end up determining it. Hartung draws particular attention to land-based ICBMs, which, he explains, aren’t nearly as effective, since they’re fixed in one place, and for that same reason are especially vulnerable to the possibility of an accidental launch. When a country’s government thinks their missile silos are being attacked, they have very little time to decide whether to launch those missiles in a counter-strike before losing the opportunity forever. This is why cutting back on ICBMs is one of the most important steps in reducing the risk of nuclear war. Unfortunately, leading voices in the U.S. government actually want to expand the nuclear arsenal, and since the money for such programs is often spread out in local political districts, opposition can be nearly impossible.

Official Washington has identified China as the primary challenger to the United States in virtually every sphere. This overwhelming emphasis on Beijing as the ultimate threat to the United States is misguided and is more likely to undermine U.S. security than it is to enhance it.

President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met Wednesday and discussed a wide swath of issues including cybersecurity, human rights, and their mutual interest in holding arms control talks in the future. If, or when, those talks do occur, one issue must be on the table: U.S. tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Europe.

In this Law 360 piece on FARA reform, our Ben Freeman, Director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative, is quoted, and CIP's FARA legislation Issue Brief is mentioned.