When Is a TV News Interview Not Just an Interview?
TRANSCEND VIDEOS, 23 May 2022
Matt Taibbi and Matt Orfalea | TK News - TRANSCEND Media Service
When TV News Won’t Identify Defense Lobbyists
As war rages, viewers watch commercials for weapons dealers, often without knowing it.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDqBHjDHkvw
26 Apr 2022 – Leon Panetta was the nation’s top security official under Barack Obama, famous for his hangdog eyes and soft-spoken, equivocating defenses of torture and assassination of Americans while serving as both Secretary of Defense and CIA director. That was years ago. Today, he’s a senior counselor at Beacon Global Strategies, which represents a host of security companies, including famed munitions maker Raytheon. In Matt Orfalea’s booming video above, we see Panetta on a recent CNN broadcast stumping for Raytheon products like Javelin and Stinger missiles, with host Bianna Golodryga saying only that he “was America’s defense secretary and CIA director.” Orfalea goes on to capture how Panetta and other military “experts” chant WEAPONS WEAPONS WEAPONS over and over like they’re trying to open magic treasure chests, their commercial ties never revealed.
As war rages, there will be officials on TV with sincere opinions about how the U.S. can help Ukraine. Very often, however, what you’re watching is a paid lobbyist plugging for a weapons maker.
Joe Biden last week authorized another $800 million in military aid to Ukraine. This second major tranche of weapons came on the heels of weeks of passionate advocacy from former national security officials calling for heavy spending on reinforcements. Somewhere in the past, these commentators usually have impressive credentials. However, the more recent jobs of these commentators are often paid gigs helping military contractors “achieve their business objectives.” This phenomenon was embarrassing before Iraq, but the last months have seen near-total saturation of the airwaves by such figures.
______________________________________________
Matthew C. Taibbi is an American author, journalist, and podcaster. He has reported on finance, media, politics, and sports. He is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, author of several books, a winner of the National Magazine Award for commentary, co-host of Useful Idiots, and publisher of a newsletter on Substack.
Go to Original – taibbi.substack.com
Tags: Anglo America, Arms Industry, Arms Race, Arms Trade, Capitalism, Casino Capitalism, Catastrophe Capitalism, Corporate Media, Corruption, Disaster Capitalism, Elites, Finance, Fiscal Paradises, Greed, Inequality, Military Industrial Media Complex, Military Supremacy, Pentagon, Post-capitalism, Predatory Capitalism, Profits, Pyramid schemes, Super rich, US Military, USA, War Economy, War Journalism, Weapons
DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
“As war rages, there will be officials on TV with sincere opinions about how the U.S. can help Ukraine” Not really. They do not care about Ukraine, which they are destroying, but just hurting Russia, which in their pitiful ignorance they are failing to do. The USA has to have an enemy (or many) and is always attacking someone. The MIC is the only real winner.
Cheers to Matt Taibbi and the TMS site for Taibbi’s intro and short commentary on the MIC’s constant harping on the need to weaponize poor–and getting poorer!–planet Earth!
This article should be paired with another major piece at the current issue of TMS, mainly this:
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2022/05/pandemic-created-1-new-billionaire-every-30-hours-now-millions-could-face-extreme-poverty/
While Panetta and the mouthpieces like him–including presidents like Obama and Biden–rant about our need to support Ukraine in its war of survival against Russia, many of us wonder:-Before this shameful Russian invasion, what in hell was Hunter Biden–and others like him–doing in Ukraine, making millions of dollars… doing what? Blowing bubbles of pain and paint on an empty canvass, while assuring his Ukrainian hosts that the US would back the Ukrainian nationalists against the Russian-speaking and Russia-related Ukrainian separatists in the western Donbas region of Ukraine?
MIC (“Military Industrial Complex”) is an old term, coined by Eisenhower (or his speech-writers) for Ike’s last address to the nation before turning the mantle over to his doomed successor, JFK (nearly 60 years later, that assassination still needs serious probing!).
Living in an era of acronyms and slogans, let’s think about broadening our concepts: from MIC to MIEIC, for example: the “Military-Industrial-Education-Information-Complex.”
“As war rages, there will be officials on TV with sincere opinions about how the U.S. can help Ukraine.” What else do you want them to say? the corporate British Media says the same about the United Kingdom. What happens is they cannot say “it helps keep our War Industry alive and kicking”, for this is the real reason for wars.
Same the film industry must produce movies and the music industry needs concerts, the war industry needs wars, it can only produce wars.
Whether the lobbyist is paid or unpaid is not important. What matters is that death products sell, people die and buildings are destroyed. This is how Government can safeguard or protect the jobs of millions.
As for ‘publicity’, it is interesting to see in military news bulletins, how companies advertise their products “more bullets per second” “proven lethality”, etc