From The Independent and the Boston Globe comes news of a development that is less surprising than it might seem.
Two billionaires on opposite ends of the political spectrum, left-wing financier George Soros and right-wing industrialist Charles Koch, are to finance a new think tank which its co-founders say will challenge America’s military-industrial complex by promoting an end to “endless war” abroad..
The think tank will advocate for a mix of policies opposed by Washington’s bipartisan foreign policy elite but supported by progressive Democrats and libertarian conservatives: a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal; withdrawal of US troops from Syria and Afghanistan; and a less confrontational approaches to perceived adversaries such as Russia and China.
The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft will launch in September, having received an initial $500,000 from Mr Soros and Mr Koch apiece. The Boston Globe said a handful of other donors had contributed an additional $800,000 to the project.
One of the co-founder, Stephen Wertheim, Columbia University historian, emphasized the problematic role of the United States in the world cannot be solely blame on President Trump.
The US, Mr Wertheim tweeted, keeps on “inflicting violence” on people through its interventionist foreign policies, which benefits neither the victims nor American citizens, other than a “handful of massive ‘defence’ companies”.
“American foreign policy is in crisis — a crisis of morality and strategy alike. The crisis goes well beyond the current occupant of the White House and afflicts both political parties,” he added. “If we are serious about building a new, 21st-century foreign policy, centred on diplomatic engagement and military restraint, we need to work together to take on the military-industrial complex.”
Source: George Soros and Charles Koch to fund new ‘anti-war’ think tank |The Independent
