Shaping the War Narrative: a War Industry Resisters Network Webinar

Shaping the War Narrative: How military contractors use think tanks and lobbying to lead us to war

Wednesday, September 27 @ 8pm

A War Industry Resisters Network webinar

We all know that war contractors make lots of money by providing the weapons of war — as is the case in Ukraine today. But this webinar will look at how the policies that get us into wars are actually developed and promoted in the first place. Our two prominent speakers will bring to light key tools used by these companies to shape U.S. military policy for Ukraine and around the world: powerful think tanks, lobbyists and the revolving door.

Ben Freeman: Among a number of other impressive positions, Ben Freeman is director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at the Quincy Institute. His June article “How weapons firms influence the Ukraine debate” exposes how America’s top foreign policy think tanks are awash in funding from the defense industry and how they have dominated media coverage of the Ukraine war. He provides the names and orientation of these influential think tanks and shows how they shape the narrative. Ben points out that these think tanks have generally publicly advocated for more militarized U.S. responses to the Ukraine war and that they seldom, if ever, disclose that many of the weapons they are recommending the U.S. give to Ukraine are made by their funders.

Daniel Auble: As a Senior Researcher at Open Secrets, Daniel Auble knows where the money in politics comes from and where it goes. Open Secrets is the premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics. Daniel oversees databases that track lobbying and the revolving door. He has been doing this work for 20 years, investigating foreign political influence and political action committees. Of special interest is his investigation of the personal investments of politicians. Dan currently specializes in the political influence efforts of the defense industry.

You won’t want to miss this opportunity to get a close look at how the stew is made and why and how we are fed a steady stream of misinformation that leads us down the path of toward war and constant preparations for war.