Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Yves Smith — What Do Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Dick Cheney, Oprah Winfrey, Erin Brockovich, Stephen Hawking, Harrison Ford, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Jon Krakauer, Michelle Obama, Dan Rathers, Malcolm Gladwell, and Yours Truly Have in Common? Smeared by a Soros-Funded Think Tank for Appearing on RT

The New McCarthyite program of demonizing anyone and anything associated with Russia continues apace. A Soros-funded think tank called European Values has put out a screed (no exaggeration, read the hyperventilating tone of the “report”) which has as its major aim chilling the participation of guest speakers on RT, per its title, The Kremlin’s Platform for ‘Useful Idiots’ in the West.
This self-styled think tank posted a list of people who had appeared on RT on a series of its shows since 2013. Despite its claims of being comprehensive, the former producer of the RT show Boom Bust, Ed Harrison, quickly identified some names that were missing, and I am sure if he thought further, he could come up with more.

The list is so lengthy and includes so many highly respected people that I doubt including will hurt them in any way. But some were mighty annoyed anyhow:
Blowback.

Naked Capitalism
What Do Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Dick Cheney, Oprah Winfrey, Erin Brockovich, Stephen Hawking, Harrison Ford, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Jon Krakauer, Michelle Obama, Dan Rathers, Malcolm Gladwell, and Yours Truly Have in Common? Smeared by a Soros-Funded Think Tank for Appearing on RT
Yves Smith

7 comments:

Matt Franko said...

Why doesn’t Soros just get his own network?

Tom Hickey said...

Why doesn’t Soros just get his own network?

Because he is not Rupert Murdoch?

Matt Franko said...

He has more dinero than Murdoch...

Matt Franko said...

Keen must not be easily intimidated:

https://twitter.com/rtuknews/status/925394446585176064

Tom Hickey said...

He has more dinero than Murdoch...

The point is that Soros is not a business person but rather a trader. He is not interested in running a business but rather seeding organizations that are dependent on his generosity.

Of course, he could purchase a channel and get an Ailes to run it, but that is not his style.

Soros likes to present himself instead as a philanthropist, and seeding non-profits and NGOs fits that style. That way he can appear to be above the fray.

It's a matter of positioning as they say in PR, marketing and advertising.

Noah Way said...

He's positioning himself for profit. Those "donations" are just another form of trading.

Tom Hickey said...

It's bullshit liberalism. Bullshit liberalism is at the center of capitalism — the pretense of promoting "freedom and democracy" while positioning for control and extraction.