By Alex Emmons - August 18, 2017 at 12:38PM
The United Arab Emirates created a “slush fund” using money meant for domestic economic development projects and funneled it to a high-profile think tank in the United States, emails obtained by The Intercept show.
Last week, The Intercept reported that the UAE gave a $20 million grant to the Middle East Institute, flooding a well-regarded D.C. think tank with a monetary grant larger than its annual budget. According to an email from Richard Clarke, MEI’s chairman of the board, the UAE got the money from offset investments — development investments by international companies that are made as part of trade agreements.
The idea behind offset agreements is simple: When a country buys weapons from a firm overseas, it pumps a large amount of money out of its economy, instead of investing in its own defense industry or in other domestic projects. So to make large weapons deals more attractive, arms companies offer programs to “offset” that effect. As part of a weapons package, they often sign an agreement to invest in the country’s economy, either in defense or civilian sectors.
Offsets provide a way to sell weapons at inflated prices, when companies offer juicier offset packages. Critics say the lack of transparency in how offset investments are carried out leaves a window open for a form of legalized corruption. The emails lift a veil on what has long been an obscure element of the arms trade.
According to an email from Clarke, the UAE accepted unpaid offset obligations as cash payments to a large financial firm called Tawazun Holding. Tawazun sent the $20 million to a UAE think tank called the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research. ECSSR then began sending that money to the Middle East Institute, a prestigious D.C. think tank that has a history of promoting arms sales to Gulf dictatorships. ...
So essentially, in a roundabout way, the UAE took money from international firms that was meant for economic development and funneled it to a supportive think tank in the United States.
Fair use excerpt. Full article here.
from Ron Paul Institute Featured Articles
via IFTTT
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Merchandise
Ron Paul America Cloud
Site Credits
Ron Paul America
is voluntarily affiliated with
______________________________
Site created, maintained and hosted by
Tags
#TurnOnTheTruth
2008
2012
4th amendment
911
ACTION
Afghanistan war
Agency
Aggression Principle
al-Qaeda
Alan Colmes
Alert
America
America's Fault
Americans
antigun
AR 15
assault weapon
Audit
Authoritarian
bailouts
Believe
Big Brother
big government
bill of rights
Blame
blowback
bubbles
Bush
Campaign for Liberty
Career Politician Eric Cantor
Central Bank
Charity
China
churches
collapse
Collectivism
Commission
committee
Compassion
Congress
Conservative
constitution
Crash
dangerous person
Democrat
Democrats
Donald Trump
Donald Trump. Planned Parenthood
drones
economic
Economy
Edward Snowden
End the Fed
European Union
Federal Reserve
Floyd Bayne
floyd bayne for congress
force
foreign interventionism
free market
free markets
GOP Nominee
GOP Presidential Debates
Government
Great Depression
gun control
House of Representatives
housing bubble
HR 1745
I like Ron Paul except on foreign policy
If ye love wealth better than liberty
IFTTT
Individual
Individualism
Institute
Irag
Iran
Iraq war
ISIL
ISIS
Judge Andrew Napalitano
libertarian
Liberty
Liberty Letters
Liberty Report
Lost
mass
Media
meltdown
metadata
Micheal Moore
Middle East
Mitt Romney
nap
National
Neocons
New Ron Paul Ad
New York Times
Newsletters
Newt Gingrich
No
Non
non-interventionism
NSA
NSA Snooping
Obama
Overreach
overthrow
Patriot Act
peace
Peace and Prosperity
politicians
Pope Francis
President
Presidential
Presidential Race
programs
prosperity
Race
Racist
Racist Newsletters
Rand Paul
Read the Bills Act
recessions
redistribution of wealth
refugee crisis
Repeal Obamacare
Report
Republican
Republican Nomination
Republican Nominee
Republicans
Revolution
Rick Santorum
Rick Santorum Exposed
Ron
Ron Paul
Ron Paul Institute
Ron Paul Institute Featured Articles
Ron Paul Institute for Peace And Prosperity
Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles
Ron Paul Next Chapter Media Channel
Ron Paul Racist Newsletters
ron paul's foreign policy
Ronald Reagan
ronpaulchannel.com
ronpaulinstitute.org
Rosa DeLauro
russia
Samuel Adams
Saudi Arabia
Second Amendment
Security
Senate
Senator
September 11th attacks
Show
Soviet
Spying
stimulate
Stock Market
surveillance
Syria
tech bubble
terrorist
The
the Fed
the poor
US
US foreign policy
Us troops
USA Freedom Act
Virginia
Virginia Republican Primary
voluntarism. Liberty
Voluntary
Warner
Warning
warrantless
wiretaps
YouTube
No comments:
Post a Comment