In the past I have written about the role of think tanks as an interface between business and policy-making. It is always informative to research which think tanks have the most influence over a politician’s policy recommendations, then further research those think tanks’ financing. It is not remarkable, then, when you find that corporate-funded intellectuals promote policy recommendations favorable to their sponsors, complete with imaginative political rationales.
The Foreign Policy article which did its best to demonize me and to create alarm about the new strategy of some revolutionary factions to hold multinationals accountable for their decisive support for the Coup; was written by two thinkers-for-hire, Mokhtar Awad and Samuel Tadros, who work for The Center for American Progress and the Hudson Institute, respectively.
Interestingly, these two think tanks are officially on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but shoulder-to-shoulder in defense of big business.
The Center for American Progress, an ostensibly “liberal” think tank, was one of the major forces promoting escalation of the US military invasion of Afghanistan. So it is a George W. Bush kind of liberal, I guess. It is secretive about its funding, but it is known at least, that Walmart is a major financial contributor.
The Hudson Institute is a neoliberal think tank funded by a who’s who of multinationals. Monsanto Company, DuPont, Dow, ConAgra, Cargill, and Procter & Gamble.
Not terribly surprising that this lot would be alarmed about the poor, exploited and oppressed turning their attention to those who are actually impoverishing, exploiting, and oppressing them.