Soros-Backed Group that Helped Sell Iran Nuclear Deal Funds Media, DC Think Tanks

Soros-Backed Group that Helped Sell Iran Nuclear Deal Funds Media, DC Think Tanks

by Aaron Klein 20 May 2016

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2016/05/20/soros-backed-group-helped-sell-iran-nuclear-deal-funds-media-dc-think-tanks/

TEL AVIV – A group that advocates a nuclear-free world and that was identified earlier this month by the White House as central in helping to market the Iran nuclear deal to the news media has funded National Public Radio since 2005, an Associated Press investigation has revealed.

Think tanks funded by the Ploughshares Fund include the Arms Control Association, Brookings Institution, and the Atlantic Council, the AP reported.

Unmentioned by the AP is that the Ploughshares Fund is financed by billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Institute.

The involvement of Ploughshares in selling the Iran agreement to the public was revealed in an extensive New York Times Magazine profile of Obama’s deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes titled, “The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama’s Foreign-Policy Guru.” The article contains interviews with Rhodes and scores of top Obama administration officials.

Robert Malley, senior director at the National Security Council, explained the genesis and execution of the marketing plan to sell the Iran deal.

Malley explained “experts” were utilized to create an “echo chamber” that disseminated administration claims about Iran to “hundreds of often-clueless reporters” in the news media.

In the spring of last year, legions of arms-control experts began popping up at think tanks and on social media, and then became key sources for hundreds of often-clueless reporters. “We created an echo chamber,” he admitted, when I asked him to explain the onslaught of freshly minted experts cheerleading for the deal. “They were saying things that validated what we had given them to say.”

Rhodes told Times reporter David Samuels that the marketing strategy took advantage of the “absence of rational discourse” and utilized outside groups, including Ploughshares.

When I suggested that all this dark metafictional play seemed a bit removed from rational debate over America’s future role in the world, Rhodes nodded. “In the absence of rational discourse, we are going to discourse the [expletive] out of this,” he said. “We had test drives to know who was going to be able to carry our message effectively, and how to use outside groups like Ploughshares, the Iran Project and whomever else. So we knew the tactics that worked.” He is proud of the way he sold the Iran deal. “We drove them crazy,” he said of the deal’s opponents.

Now the AP has revealed the extent of Ploughshares funding to NPR and to influential foreign policy U.S. think tanks.

Besides $100,000 to NPR last year, the AP reports:

Ploughshares has funded NPR’s coverage of national security since 2005, the radio network said. Ploughshares reports show at least $700,000 in funding over that time. All grant descriptions since 2010 specifically mention Iran.

“It’s a valued partnership, without any conditions from Ploughshares on our specific reporting, beyond the broad issues of national and nuclear security, nuclear policy, and nonproliferation,” NPR said in an emailed statement. “As with all support received, we have a rigorous editorial firewall process in place to ensure our coverage is independent and is not influenced by funders or special interests.”

Ploughshare’s president was interviewed on NPR, the AP reports:

Another who appeared on NPR is Joseph Cirincione, Ploughshares’ president. He spoke about the negotiations on air at least twice last year. The station identified Ploughshares as an NPR funder one of those times; the other time, it didn’t.

Cirincione was an adviser on nuclear issues to Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Ploughshares documents show funding last year to other groups to “advance its nonproliferation agenda,” according to the AP.

The Arms Control Association got $282,500; the Brookings Institution, $225,000; and the Atlantic Council, $182,500. They received money for Iran-related analysis, briefings and media outreach, and non-Iran nuclear work.

Other groups, less directly defined by their independent nuclear expertise, also secured grants.

J-Street, the liberal Jewish political action group, received $576,500 to advocate for the deal. More than $281,000 went to the National Iranian American Council.

Princeton University got $70,000 to support former Iranian ambassador and nuclear spokesman Seyed Hossein Mousavian’s “analysis, publications and policymaker engagement on the range of elements involved with the negotiated settlement of Iran’s nuclear program.”

Ploughshares says it has awarded hundreds of grants “whose aggregate value exceeded $60 million.”

A previous investigation by this reporter showed Ploughshares has partnered with a who’s who of the radical left, including Code Pink, the pro-Palestinian J Street, United for Peace & Justice, the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and Demo, a progressive economic advisory group where President Obama’s controversial former green jobs czar, Van Jones, has served on the board.

The group says its mission is to support the “smartest minds and most effective organizations to reduce nuclear stockpiles, prevent new nuclear states, and increase global security.”

Ploughshares is in turn financed by Soros’ Open Society Institute, the Buffett Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Another Ploughshares donor is the Tides Foundation, which is one of the largest funders of the radical left. Tides is funded by Soros.

Ploughshares has donated to the Institute for Policy Studies, which calls for massive slashes in the U.S. defense budget.

It has also financed the International Crisis Group, a small organization that boasts Soros on its board.

National Security Council

Morton H. Halperin was a senior staff for the National Security Council, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, is the chairman for J Street, and a senior adviser for the Open Society Foundations.

Note: Joseph A. Sestak Jr. was a director for defense policy for the National Security Council, and a director at the Ploughshares Fund.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress, Demos, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and the Tides Foundation.

George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a director at the Drug Policy Alliance, a board member for the International Crisis Group, was a supporter for the Center for American Progress, the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and a benefactor for the National Public Radio (NPR).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress, Demos, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Brookings Institution (think tank), the National Public Radio (NPR), the Tides Foundation, and the International Rescue Committee.

Van Jones was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, is the founder of Demos, and the founder of Green for All.

Arnold Hiatt was a funder for Demos, and a director at J Street.

Jodie Evans is a director at the Drug Policy Alliance, a co-founder for Codepink, and a trustee at the Institute for Policy Studies.

Robert Malley was the Middle East & North Africa program director for the International Crisis Group, and a director for democracy, human rights & humanitarian affairs for the National Security Council.

Joseph Cirincione was the VP for the Center for American Progress, a director for nonproliferation for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and is the president of the Ploughshares Fund.

Shirley M. Tilghman is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and was the president of Princeton University.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).

Ted Turner is a co-chairman for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), the founder of the Turner Broadcasting System Inc., and the founder of CNN.

Louise S. Sams is the EVP & general counsel for the Turner Broadcasting System Inc., and a trustee at Princeton University.

Paul R. Krugman is an economist at Princeton University, and a columnist for the New York Times.

Vivian Schiller was the Russian interpreter for the Turner Broadcasting System Inc., an SVP for the CNN Productions, and the president & CEO for the National Public Radio (NPR).

Warren E. Buffett is an adviser for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and a friend of Byron D. Trott.  

David A. Hamburg is an adviser for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and the president emeritus for the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Carnegie Corporation of New York was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), a director of the Office of Global Issues, director of the Office of Global Issues for the National Security Council, was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a board member for the International Crisis Group, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), a trustee at the Rockefeller Foundation, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).

Ed Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd in 1982

(The investigation into the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the United States in war)

http://www.illuminati-news.com/110106a.htm

Rockefeller Foundation was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Tides Foundation.

Ann M. Fudge is a trustee at the Rockefeller Foundation, and a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Rockefeller Brothers Fund was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).

Vali Nasr is a trustee at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Lee H. Hamilton is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a co-author of Without Precedent.

Benjamin J. Rhodes is a co-author of Without Precedent, and a deputy national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration.

Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.   

Commercial Club of Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)

Tuesday, December 17, 2013       

http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2013/12/commercial-club-of-chicago-members.html

Byron D. Trott is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a friend of Warren E. Buffett.

R. Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.

Newton N. Minow is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and an honorary trustee at the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Carnegie Corporation of New York was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), the Arms Control Association, and the Brookings Institution (think tank).

John D. Steinbruner is the chairman for the Arms Control Association, and was a director of the Foreign Policy Studies Program for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.

Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.

Sidley Austin LLP is the lobby firm for Israel.

Shimon Peres was the president of Israel, and is a friend of Haim Saban.

Haim Saban is a friend of Shimon Peres, a benefactor for the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Kenneth M. Pollack is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), was a director for Persian Gulf affairs for the National Security Council, and a senior fellow, Middle East policy for the Saban Center for Middle East Policy.

Saban Center for Middle East Policy is a policy center at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Antoine W. van Agtmael is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was a foundation chair for the National Public Radio (NPR).

David H. Romer was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and an assistant professor at Princeton University.

Lawrence H. Summers was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), the National Economic Council chairman for the Barack Obama administration, is a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a board member for the International Crisis Group, a director at the ONE Campaign, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).

Morton H. Halperin was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a senior staff for the National Security Council, is the chairman for J Street, a senior adviser at the Open Society Foundations, and a director at the ONE Campaign.

International Rescue Committee is a partner with the ONE Campaign.

Samantha Power was a director at the International Rescue Committee, a board member for the International Crisis Group, a senior director for multilateral affairs for the National Security Council, Barack Obama’s aide, and is married to Cass R. Sunstein.

Cass R. Sunstein is married to Samantha Power, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Antoine W. van Agtmael is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was a foundation chair for the National Public Radio (NPR).

Kenneth M. Pollack is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), was a director for Persian Gulf affairs for the National Security Council, and a senior fellow, Middle East policy for the Saban Center for Middle East Policy.

Saban Center for Middle East Policy is a policy center at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the National Public Radio (NPR).  

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and a benefactor for the National Public Radio (NPR).

Antoine W. van Agtmael is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was a foundation chair for the National Public Radio (NPR).