Head of the Leftwing Foreign Policy Influence Shop The Brookings Institution" Is an Illegal Agent of Qatar, Court Records Allege

The Washington Post smeared Ron DeSantis' press secretary Christina Pushaw. They really hate her. Because she humiliates them.

She worked briefly for the former President of Georgia, a liberal reformer opposed to Putin and the stooges supported by Putin to run the country.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stood up for his press secretary, Christina Pushaw Wednesday, after a hit piece in the Washington Post accused her of violating the FARA Act.

"I am not deterred by any smear piece from these legacy media outlets," DeSantis said during a press conference in West Palm Beach. "The only reason they’re attacking her is because she’s doing a great job."

According to the Post, Pushaw belatedly registered this week as a foreign agent of a former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, regarding work she did for the politician between 2018 and 2020. She made the disclosure after being contacted by the Justice Department, her attorney Michael Sherwin said.

Christina Pushaw

@ChristinaPushaw
Lib logic:

Put a Ukraine flag in your bio, and you’re a hero standing up against Russia

Actually spend years living and working in a foreign country for a leader who went to war with Putin, and you’re a Russian agent

Not serious people

Gee, I wonder why the DOJ would have chosen to leak this story today to a corrupt propaganda paper that carries its water for it.

Might it have leaked this in order to offset the story that General John Allen, a leader at the leftwing, extremely Clinton-aligned Brookings Institution -- essentially an incubator for the Russiagate Conspiracy Theory, as it employed "Primary Sub-Source 1," Igor "Iggy" Danchenko, who will go on trial soon -- is now being investigated for acting as an illegal, undisclosed agent of Qatar?

Dave Reaboi has been screaming about all the DC Swamp Creatures -- especially those allied with the Democrats -- who are paid foreign agents of Qatar, but who are permitted to continue operating without registering under FARA because so many of them are on the take that to start calling out any of them would bring down the entire dirty whorehouse.

Dave Reaboi has been making the case that a substantial part of the DC foreign policy Swamp is not-so-secretly on Qatar's payroll for years. He wrote a book about it: Qatar's Shadow War: The Islamist Emirate and its Information Operations in the United States.

Federal prosecutors have obtained records indicating that John R. Allen, the retired four-star Marine general who commanded all American troops in Afghanistan and now heads a venerable Washington think tank, secretly lobbied for the government of Qatar, lied to investigators about his role and tried to withhold evidence sought by a federal subpoena, according to court documents.

The court records are the latest evidence of a broad investigation by the Justice Department and F.B.I. into the influence that wealthy Arab nations like Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia wield in Washington.

The records about General Allen were filed in April in Federal District Court in central California in an application for a warrant to search General Allen's electronic communications.

So yes, I strongly suspect the DOJ leaked the bullshit about Christina Pushaw to offset this major, major scandal about a four start general getting caught acting as a secret agent for Qatar.

Given that half of DC is on Qatar's payroll, I don't know if I'd expect this go any further than Allen. The whole town has a strong personal interest in making this investigation short and laser-focused on a single individual.

Though that might be a little tricky:

Other filings in the case appear to remain sealed, and the public release of the warrant application may have been accidental. The filing lays out evidence that General Allen joined in the secret lobbying plan along with Richard G. Olson, a former United States ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, and Imaad Zuberi, a business executive with ties in the Middle East.

They accidentally released the warrant application, so they rushed out the leak about Christina Pushaw.

Mr. Zuberi is serving a prison sentence for violating foreign lobbying, campaign finance and tax laws, as well as for obstruction of justice. Mr. Olson has agreed to plead guilty for participating in the Qatari lobbying effort in violation of a prohibition on such activity during the first year after leaving diplomatic service.

Reaboi writes about this at his substack, Late Republic Nonsense:

The work product generated by Brookings' experts often reflected the foreign policy priorities of the US intelligence community. When the CIA wanted to engage with the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, for example, a Brookings report would helpfully conclude--erroniously, of course--that the Ikhwan had abandoned violence and had become a constructive and legitimate force in Egypt's domestic politics. (My old friend, the late Middle East expert Barry Rubin, was approached to write this very report on behalf of Langley. He declined.)

Of course, the US intelligence community wasn't the only influential force that saw the importance of think tanks like Brookings. As a non-profit "research" institution, it depended on money from private donors: wealthy individuals, corporations and, increasingly, foreign governments.

Having influence over a think tank like Brookings became a prize, and at least one energy-rich Gulf monarchy wanted it. Qatar donated an estimated $24 million to Brookings, becoming its largest foreign donor.

But that wasn't anywhere near the extent of it. In 2008, the Qatari government essentially licensed Brookings' name to affix to a new think tank called the Brookings Doha Center, based in the emirate's capital city. This was advantageous for both parties, as it created a multi-million-dollar influence-peddling slush-fund, with no possibility of oversight or disclosure required by American law.

According to a WikiLeaks cable from 2009, one Doha-based expatriate told a U.S. diplomat that, "their drive for international conferences, their hosting of U.S. military bases, and their relentless engagement with others were all part of a strategy to protect Qatar. 'We have no military," one Qatari told him, "so think of the conferences as our aircraft carriers, and the military bases as our nuclear weapons.'"

This week, news broke that federal prosecutors have evidence that the former head of US Central Command, retired Marine Corps 4-star general John Allen--who also, for the last year, ran the Brookings Institution--secretly lobbied for the Emirate of Qatar and lied about it to federal agents.

It's a relatively complex sentence, but none of it should be surprising--aside from the fact that this particular influence-peddling scheme on behalf of Qatar seems as though it's moving from the shadows into the light. The little we know so far confirms nearly five years of my reporting and analysis on Doha's influence schemes in the United States; indeed, it seems like it could've been pulled directly from my 2020 book, Qatar's Shadow War.

If there's anyone who'd be working to advance Qatar's interests in Washington, it would of course be the head of Brookings, long compromised by tens of millions from Doha and weaponized as an propaganda attack-dog against the Islamist Emirate's enemies. And, if that Qatari agent of influence were to be the former head of CENTCOM--with its massive al-Udeid Airbase located outside the Qatari capital--it might be almost too perfect.

More at the link.

Here's a tid-bit that Rich Higgins -- R.I.P. -- told me. A lot of these generals go to work for Middle Eastern kingdoms and sheiks, ostensibly as "security consultants." They collect big checks advising them on "security."

But here's the grift: The sheiks and princes have their own people for security. They're not really hiring these guys for "security consultation." They're not hiring them for their advice.

They're hiring them because they want highly-placed Americans on their payroll who will act as their mouthpieces and agents of influence when they want something from the United States government.

And this is understood. And this is how a lot of our generals and admirals avoid having to ever register under FARA. They're not agents of foreign interests, oh no. They're just "security consultants" to foreign interests, you see.

And maybe if their Foreign Interest Pals want them to carry a message back to DC and whisper it in another pal's ear -- well, that's what friends are for, isn't it?

posted by Ace at 03:36 PM

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