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Original Content at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beacon-Global-Strategies--by-Danny-Weil-Consultants_Democratic_Democrats_Elections-141105-37.html (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). |
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November 5, 2014
Beacon Global Strategies: Hillary acolytes peddle weapons, neo-con agenda
By Danny Weil
Hilary Clinton and her allies are working with defense and surveillance companies, like Beacon Global Strategies, to assure they can present themselves to the American people, but even more so to the military and the surveillance complex, that they are the most qualified to represent American imperialism and the plutocrats on Wall Street.
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Introduction
Now that the Republicans have grabbed the Senate, the corporate democrats will be calling for the nomination of Hilary Clinton for the presidential candidate in 2016. This would be a dramatic error, for the loss of the Senate by corporate Democrats was fueled by the failure of Barrack Obama and the Wall Street linked Democratic Party to represent the interests of the American people.
Now that the democrats have lost the 2014 elections for Senate the prospects of an entire takeover of all functions and apparatus of the government by the Republican Party seems eminent. And as I wrote for Opednews, this is the plan that has been in the works for decades (http://www.opednews.com/articles/Gerrymandering--Voter-Sup-by-Danny-Weil-Court-Decision_Elections_Electoral-College_Electoral-Politics-141102-243.html) with the help of the reactionary Supreme Court.
In August 2014, I penned an article for The Daily Censored that indicated just what a poor decision a Hilary Clinton nomination would be and why. Hilary is a corporate war monger whose nomination can only lead to another defeat for the interests of the American people and the further ascension into the abyss of war and inequality.
As the following article shows, Hilary Clinton is linked to both Wall Street and the military industrial complex in colossal ways.
Clearly, any resuscitation of the Democratic Party will involve a thorough house cleaning and this seems unlikely. What is more likely is that the reactionary Republicans will run Jeb Bush for presidency in 2016 and seize the White House.
Below, is the article I wrote in August of this year that clearly shows how Hilary Clinton and her allies are working with defense and surveillance companies, like Beacon Global Strategies, to assure they can present themselves to the American people, but even more so to the military and the surveillance complex, that they are the most qualified to represent American imperialism and the plutocrats on Wall Street.
A previous article reported on Hillary Clinton associates who lobby on behalf of for-profit colleges, vulture capitalists, and uranium polluters (http://www.dailycensored.com/hilary-2016-clinton-associates-lobby-for-vulture-capitalists-scandal-plagued-for-profit-colleges-and-uranium-polluters/).
Additional concerns about the nature of a future Hillary Clinton presidency are raised by a new DC consulting firm , Beacon Global Startegies, populated by former Clinton aides. As one publication noted: "Beacon is all Hillaried up (http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/senators-accuse-hillary-clintons-cia-ally-of-lying-about-benghazi-under-oath/).
Should Hillary Clinton become president, it is likely many of the Clinton aides turned lobbyists & consultants will work in her administration. As the Washington Post reported:
" Even as former Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines, former assistant secretary of state Andrew Shapiro and former Panetta chief of staff Jeremy Bash start up Beacon Global Strategies, however, they are making it clear they intend to return to government service in the future" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/09/03/former-hillary-clinton-aides-form-bipartisan-consulting-firm/).
This is part of the revolving door which characterizes Washington. This time the door is being constructed purposely for purposes of entering and exiting. As Fox news reported:
"It [Beacon] is like a revolving door on steroids," Bill Allison, whose Sunlight Foundation is a nonprofit that supports government transparency, told Fox News, adding that Washington's "revolving door" is a bipartisan problem (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/24/revolving-door-ties-between-consultancy-govt-raise-questions-about-benghazi/). Better said, it is a problem for any hope for democracy if there is any.
The Beacon group primarily consults for defense contractors, to help them secure international weapons contracts. As reported by Defense News:
"Together they have quietly set up a consulting group built on providing advice to companies, primarily defense contractors, focused on international defense business as well as cyber, although their first client was Bash's former boss, Panetta.
"And since the group has no plans to do any lobbying, that help will be concentrated in strategic thinking, such as how to handle a complicated weapons sales picture in the Middle East, Shapiro said (http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130903/DEFREG02/309030006/Clinton-Allies-Join-Bush-Alum-Form-New-Consulting-Group).
Yes, strategic thinking about how to fool the American people, loot the treasury of tax monies and feed the permanent war machine.
The principals in Beacon Global Strategies are Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush alums. Again, according to Defense News:
"Clinton's longtime spokesman Philippe Reines and one-time national security adviser turned Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro are teaming with Jeremy Bash and Michael Allen to launch the group. Bash spent years as chief of staff at both the CIA and Pentagon for former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, a close Clinton ally. Allen, the lone Republican in the group, has a longstanding relationship with Bash. The two worked together in a variety of roles while Allen was a White House staffer for President George W. Bush and as staff director of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
(http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130903/DEFREG02/309030006/Clinton-Allies-Join-Bush-Alum-Form-New-Consulting-Group).
The most recent addition to the group is none other than former acting director of the CIA, Mike Morell (http://www.dailycensored.com/corporate-cbs-news-the-cia/).
As Fox News reported:
"Morell, who also is a national security analyst for CBS News and has a book deal, joined the Beacon firm after retiring from the CIA last year. In doing so, he joined an organization already stacked with ex-government officials."
(click hereconsultancy-govt-raise-questions-about-benghazi/).
Questions have been raised as to whether Morell is also positioning himself to be part of a future Hillary Clinton administration. It was reported:
"Some speculate Morell may have higher political ambitions considering his employment at Beacon Global Strategies, a government relations firm founded by close Hillary Clinton confidante Philippe I. Reines. "
Discussion
To speculate what a Hillary presidency might look like, one has to look no further than the former Clinton aides who would likely occupy such an administration.
You won't find these Clinton's acolytes fighting climate change, advocating for disarmament, working to end world hunger, create jobs, or campaigning for criminal justice reform. Where you will find them is lining their pockets representing for profit colleges, uranium polluters, vulture capitalists, weapons manufacturers and ex-Latin American presidents accused of genocide.
Yes, that's right, supporting Latin American dictators. As I recently noted:
"When he ran for Bolivian president in 2002, Sánchez de Lozada was deeply unpopular among the vast majority of Bolivians as a result of his prior four-year term as president in the 1990s. To find a way to win despite this, he hired the consulting firm owned and operated by three of Washington's most well-connected Democratic Party operatives: James Carville, Stan Greenberg and Bob Shrum. He asked them to import the tactics of American politics into Bolivia to ensure his election victory.
As detailed by a 2006 New York Times review of a film about the Democratic operatives' involvement in Bolivia's election, their strategy was two-fold: first, destroy the reputations of his two opponents so as to depress the enthusiasm of Bolivia's poor for either of them; and then mobilize Sánchez de Lozada's base of elites to ensure he wins by a tiny margin (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/09/america-refusal-extradite-bolivia) (http://www.dailycensored.com/the-brothers-grim-criminal-isaias-brothers-investigated-by-homeland-security-for-alleged-money-laundering-the-obama-2012-campaign-received-90000of-stolen-swag/).
Sánchez de Lozada currently resides in the sanctuary for Latin American despots and tyrants, the United States.
Don't be beguiled. Those who seek a progressive agenda or expect a change to the seedy ways of Washington need to wake up and quickly. They won't find progress in a Hillary Clinton administration. Fooled by Obama the thought of a Hilary Clinton presidency is nightmarish and foul. What people will find is a group of squalid grifters and insiders spinning through the newly built revolving door, perpetuating the cycle of corruption which is business as usual in the nation's capital.
Beacon Global Strategies itself provides an insight into the neocon foreign policy which might characterize a future Hillary Clinton administration. Take a look and you can smell the handwriting on the wall (Beacon Global Strategies).
Beacon Global Strategies "We are a strategic advisory firm specializing in International Policy, Defense, Cyber, Intelligence, and Homeland Security. About BeaconMeet our Team
View on beaconglobalstrategies.comAuthors Bio:
I am an author and investigative journalist who has written more than four hundred articles for Truthout, Counterpunch, Dissident Voice, Daily Censored, Project Censored and more. I received two awards from Project Censored, one in 2010 and one in 2012.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/08/24/obama-and-duncan-s-education-policy-like-bush-s-only-worse/
http://www.projectcensored.org/10-hr-347-would-make-many-forms-of-nonviolent-protest-illegal/
I am part of Truthout's "Public Intellectual" project.
I have written seven books on education, most recently:
Charter School Movement: History, Politics, Policies, Economics and Effectiveness
(http://books.google.com.ec/books/about/Charter_School_Movement.html?id=Fk8kAQAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y).
I have been a federally certified public interest attorney for more than 30 years.
I have been a tenant organizer and educational worker and organizer for 40 years.
I lived for one year in Nicaragua during the war, 1985,and worked for The Sandinista Ministry of Culture under Ernesto Cardinal.
I now live in Ecuador.