Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and CIA made $600 million business deal in 2013 which isn't disclosed in Washington Post articles reporting on the agency. In 2016 Bezos was named to a Pentagon advisory board. Bezos also has financial interest in a new engine for military use

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Dec. 2013 article

"Amazon, under the Post’s new owner, Jeff Bezos, recently secured a $600 million contract from the CIA."...

12/19/2013, "Amazon, ‘The Washington Post’ and That $600 Million CIA Contract," The Nation, Greg Mitchell

"It’s been a rough couple days for The Washington Post. Word emerged that hackers invaded its internal system—for a few days, no less—all of its staffers had to change their passwords as the company tried to figure out how much data had been compromised. 

Meanwhile, a petition campaign was launched related to news that Amazon, under the Post’s new owner, Jeff Bezos, recently secured a $600 million contract from the CIA. That’s at least twice what Bezos paid for the Post this year. Bezos recently disclosed that the company’s Web-services business is building a “private cloud” for the CIA to use for its data needs

Critics charge that, at a minimum, the Post needs to disclose its CIA link whenever it reports on the agency. Over 15,000 have signed the petition this week hosted by RootsAction.

In a statement released by the Institute for Public Accuracy, media writer/author Robert McChesney observes:

When the main shareholder in one of the very largest corporations in the world benefits from a massive contract with the CIA on the one hand, and that same billionaire owns the Washington Post on the other hand, there are serious problems. The Post is unquestionably the political paper of record in the United States, and how it covers governance sets the agenda for the balance of the news media. Citizens need to know about this conflict of interest in the columns of the Post itself.
If some official enemy of the United States had a comparable situation—say the owner of the dominant newspaper in Caracas was getting $600 million in secretive contracts from the Maduro government—the Post itself would lead the howling chorus impaling that newspaper and that government for making a mockery of a free press. It is time for the Post to take a dose of its own medicine.”
See article by Norman Solomon for a fuller accounting. He notes:
Bezos personally and publicly touts Amazon Web Services, and it’s evident that Amazon will be seeking more CIA contracts. Last month, Amazon issued a statement saying,
“We look forward to a successful relationship with the CIA.”"
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Added: Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is named to new Pentagon advisory board. He also has financial interest in a new engine for military use....

7/26/16, "Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jeff Bezos Join Defense Innovation Board," DefenseNews.com, Aaron Mehta

"Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Amazon head Jeff Bezos and former Obama administration official Cass Sunstein are among the newest names to join Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s new Defense Innovation Advisory Board.

Carter announced those names as part of a list of ten new members for the board, which he created in March to advise the Pentagon on technology innovation issues. The board is headed by Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet, the Google parent company....

"We’re always doing everything we can to stay ahead of potential adversaries.” [Ash Carter said]...

But the biggest names are Tyson...and Bezos, the Amazon founder who also owns The Washington Post. Bezos is also the head of Blue Origin, a space launch company working with the United Launch Alliance to develop a new engine for military launch.

Although not as flashy a name as some of the others, the inclusion of McQuade is notable, as United Technologies is the only legacy defense contractor involved in the board.

The board will work over the summer before providing initial recommendations to Carter by October."

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More: Endless wars only happen with endless US taxpayer dollars:

7/26/16, "There’s No Business Like the Weapons Business," Scott McConnell, The American Conservative, William D. Hartung (via TomDispatch.com) 

"As long as the world stays at war or on the verge of it, Lockheed Martin’s profits won’t suffer — and, of course, its products will help ensure that any such “volatility” will prove lethal indeed.

Under Hewson, Lockheed has set a goal of getting at least 25 percent of its revenues from weapons exports, and Boeing has done that company one better. It’s seeking to make overseas arms sales 30 percent of its business.

Good News From the Middle East (If You’re an Arms Maker) 


Arms deals are a way of life in Washington. From the president on down, significant parts of the government are intent on ensuring that American arms will flood the global market and companies like Lockheed and Boeing will live the good life. From the president on his trips abroad to visit allied world leaders to the secretaries of state and defense to the staffs of U.S. embassies, American officials regularly act as salespeople for the arms firms. 

And the Pentagon is their enabler. From brokering, facilitating, and literally banking the money from arms deals to transferring weapons to favored allies on the taxpayers’ dime, it is in essence the world’s largest arms dealer."...


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Added: 12/20/16, "The CIA, Washington Post, And Russia: What You’re Not Being Told," Mintpressnews, By


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