PRESS ROOM

In this mystifying moment, the post-electoral sentiments of most Americans can be summed up either as “Ding dong! The witch is dead!” or “We got robbed!” Both are problematic, not because the two candidates were intellectually indistinguishable or ethically equivalent, but because each jingle is laden with a dubious assumption: that President Donald Trump’s demise would provide either decisive deliverance or prove an utter disaster.

While there were indeed areas where his ability to cause disastrous harm lent truth to such a belief -- race relations, climate change, and the courts come to mind -- in others, it was distinctly (to use a dangerous phrase) overkill. Nowhere was that more true than with America’s expeditionary version of militarism, its forever wars of this century, and the venal system that continues to feed it.

“While many progressive organizations may be reluctant to publicly oppose Michele Flournoy’s nomination given the likelihood that she would be confirmed, we do however expect our allies in the Senate during the confirmation process to seek clarity with respect to... whether she would be willing to recuse herself especially if she worked on major weapons programs,” Yasmine Taeb, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, said in a statement. “It’s important to shed light on what Flournoy previously did, and if those former clients will have an expectation that they’ll have a leg up with her as Defense Secretary.”

The U.S. war on Afghanistan is in its 19th year. Enough is enough!

To walk that tightrope (along with the defense contractors that will benefit financially from the further militarization of the region), Japan spends heavily to influence thinking in Washington. Recent reports from the Center for International Policy’s Foreign Influence Initiative (FITI), where the authors of this piece work, reveal just how countries like Japan and giant arms firms like Lockheed Martin and Boeing functionally purchase an inside track on a think-tank market that’s hard at work creating future foreign-policy options for this country’s elite.

Once in office, Biden may have a chance to overturn the Trump administration’s plans, said Bill Hartung, the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy.

“The rush to ram through this sale before the Biden administration comes in is a transparent maneuver to tie their hands by locking it in as soon as possible,” he said. “But if the deal clears Congress, there may be an opportunity for the Biden administration to reverse course and nix the deal.”

One of the most consequential appointments that a new president must make is director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Unfortunately, this appointment is usually made late in the transition process, getting insufficient attention and typically ending up with a mediocre selection. There will always be great tension between secrecy and democracy, and Biden will do great harm if he appoints a director who is more interested in keeping secrets from Americans than in keeping secrets to protect Americans.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration notified Congress of plans to sell over $23 billion in U.S. arms to the United Arab Emirates. The offers included advanced F-35 combat aircraft, armed MQ-9 drones, and an astounding $10 billion worth of bombs and missiles. The Trump team is seeking to rush through the sales in an effort to tie the hands of the incoming Biden administration. This gambit must not be allowed to succeed.

Congress needs to recognize the actual challenges to our national security and thereby sustain our people’s health and promote a prosperous and just economy. We are not in danger of being invaded by Russians, Chinese, Venezuelans, or Iranians; we are in danger of having the fabric of our society undermined by our failure to invest in and protect our national health and welfare.

“The UAE continues to maintain a contingent of forces in Yemen, and to arm and train militias that have engaged in systematic human rights abuses,” writes William Hartung and Elias Yousif in a recent Security Assistance Monitor brief. They also point to the UAE’s use of drones in Libya, which is in violation of a United Nations embargo.

The Center for International Policy’s Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative is out with a new report today unwinding Japan's “massive influence operation in the U.S.” and Tokyo’s heavy emphasis on securing advanced American weapons. The report tracks 51 different firms registered as foreign agents that were paid $32 million in 2019 by the Japanese government.

“The Libya piece of it would be important to that debate because it’s ongoing,” said William Hartung, the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy.

“To some degree they’ve been Haftar’s air force,” added Hartung, who has co-authored an issue brief raising concerns about the sale. “It’s not some sort of minor involvement. They’re really full-on breaking the sanctions and engaged in the civil war.”

Danny Sjursen appears on a podcast where two social studies teachers discuss history, American empire, U.S. politics, and their own lives. Traditional narratives regarding American history are challenged in a tone that ranges from playful to hostile.