Political Observer wonders at the ‘Think Tank’ as the instrument of Propaganda. That Sells the Product of Political Respectability, under the guise of both ‘Mastery’ and ‘Expertise’!
Editor: You have to laugh at the very notion in the first paragraph’s self- congratulatory chatter, I’ll put it in italics:
The European Council on Foreign Relations :
In 2007, ECFR’s founders set about creating a pan-European institution that could combine establishment credibility with intellectual insurgency. Today, ECFR remains uniquely placed to continue providing a pan-European perspective on some of the biggest strategic challenges and choices Europeans need to confront, with a network of offices in seven European capitals, over 90 staff from more than 25 different countries and a team of associated researchers in the EU 27 member states. Find out more about our 2022-2025 Strategy Framework
Editor : The reader might ask how can a Think Tank make the oil and water of various imperatives, explanatory frames cohere/mix, without constant agitation? Or is that the point?
Headline: ‘Kamala Harris takes a different view of the world and America’s place in it’
Sub-headline: The US expert believes the vice president’s foreign policy, should she reach the Oval Office, might be a surprise. While she’s heir to the Democratic Party’s traditional leadership, she’s also sensitive to progressives’ demands.
Editor: Célia Belin has written a book about American politics: she is now an expert? and is followed by the long forgotten, for a reason, Strobe Talbott :
Editor: The first breathless paragraphs resemble Hollywood kitsch!
Little seen by the general public and criticized in the media during her vice presidency, Kamala Harris was propelled into candidacy at the speed of light – in a twist that is sure to inspire screenwriters – but remains unknown to Americans and the rest of the world alike.
A heartbeat away from the presidency, Harris has often represented American interests to foreign partners. It was she who met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February 2022 to urge her to believe that Vladimir Putin was determined to invade his country. It was she again who visited France in November 2021 to seal the French-American reconciliation after the Australian submarine scandal. She gave a speech at the Paris Peace Forum, launched space cooperation and took part in a summit on Libya. At these meetings, partners praised her seriousness and capacity for work, butwithout really being able to clarify her foreign policy views, which has often led them to believe, mistakenly, that a Harris administration would be entirely in line with Joe Biden’s. But this undoubtedly underestimates the evolutions that are sweeping America in terms of foreign policy. Though loyal to the president, Harris nevertheless belongs to a new generation of Democrats, who take a different view of the world and America’s place in it.
Editor: I recall Kamala Harris when she jailed the parents of truant students, and laughed about it! Or her AIPAC speech , where she claimed that she raised funds for Israel, instead of selling Girls Scout cookies, that gave groveling a bad name! Not forgetting her de facto pardon of Steve Mnuchin:
But the investigation into what the memo called “widespread misconduct” was closed after Harris’s office declined to file a civil enforcement action against the bank.
Harris’s statement on Tuesday doesn’t explain how involved she was with the decision to not prosecute, or why the decision was made. She also would not say whether the revelations would disqualify Mnuchin for the position of treasury secretary. “The hearings will reveal if it’s disqualifying or not, but certainly he has a history that should be critically examined, as do all of the nominees,” Harris told The Hill. She added that she would review the background and history of all Trump cabinet nominees.
Senate Democrats have vowed to put up a fight over Mnuchin — even creating a website inviting homeowners to list their complaints against OneWest. And yet not one senator has commented publicly on the leaked memo, which received media coverage in Politico, Bloomberg, the New York Post, CBS News, Vanity Fair, CNN, CNBC, and other outlets.
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Editor : here a selection of Célia Belin’s political refashioning of American Politics Made to Measure :
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Sometimes dubbed “the last Atlanticist president,” Biden embodies a classic version of Democratic foreign policy thinking: faith in the virtuous role of American leadership on the international stage, backed by strong international institutions and solid military alliances.
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American power – “smart power,” as Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state in the first Obama administration, called it – to combat Russian and Chinese revisionism and guarantee the stability of the world order.
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More recently, Gaza has become the main issue for progressives. At the Democratic National Convention, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders both hammered home the urgent need for a ceasefire, echoing the thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside.
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In several respects, Phil Gordon, the vice president’s national security adviser and former assistant secretary of state for European affairs, has demonstrated the pragmatic caution of this current. Preaching a form of humility and realism, they advocate the use of sanctions rather than force but demand from their allies, including the Europeans, a better sharing of the burden with America.
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On Ukraine and Europe, Harris is firmly maintaining the course set by Biden. At the Munich Security Conference in February, she confirmed that American support for NATO is “ironclad.” In her acceptance speech at the convention, Harris promised to stand by Ukraine and defend democracy in the face of tyranny, entirely in line with Biden’s position over the past four years.
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Editor : this final paragraph of Célia Belin’ essay is steeped in Myths of The New Democrats, as somehow expressing political/moral virtues, that have ended in the slaughter of millions: Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, under The Axis of Evil banner of David Frum:
Editor: ‘Harris promised to stand by Ukraine and defend democracy in the face of tyranny, entirely in line with Biden’s position over the past four years.’
Editor: ‘As her Jamaican father’ : He was a Marxist!
Editor : an excerpt from the final paragraph, of this re-writing of Kamala Harris rise to political prominence, is itself infected with the self-serving political enthusiasm, of a Think Tank hireling on assignment!
…on this issue, walking a fine line between recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself and – at the same time – the Palestinians’ right to dignity, security and self-determination. But this balancing act will certainly push her to step up the pressure on Israel, should she enter the Oval Office in January 2025.
Editor: Final thought: Like Leo Strauss @celiabelin attempts to re-write history, yet her Readers were/are witnesses to whole history of Kamala Harris political apotheosis! Pardon the purple!
Rootless cosmopolitan,down at heels intellectual;would be writer.
'Polemic is a discourse of conflict, whose effect depends on a delicate balance between the requirements of truth and the enticements of anger, the duty to argue and the zest to inflame. Its rhetoric allows, even enforces, a certain figurative licence. Like epitaphs in Johnson’s adage, it is not under oath.'
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v15/n20/perry-anderson/diary
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