Sportswashing: A masterstroke of foreign influence operations (Video) | Responsible Statecraft

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Analysis | Washington Politics

Sportswashing is the next frontier of foreign influence in the United States. Authoritarian regimes are investing billions of dollars in the sports that Americans love — from the NBA to WWE, UFC, and, the PGA Tour.

In many cases these investments come with strings attached. Foreign powers aren’t just trying to make money, they’re hoping to launder their reputations and censor their would-be critics in the U.S. This can have potentially dire consequences for Washington foreign policy, given that many of these regimes seek to pull the agenda in a decidedly unrestrained direction via U.S. military entanglements.

(Video production by Khody Akhavi)

Analysis | Washington Politics

Is Gaza war feeding ISIS resurgeance in Middle East?

Men carry a coffin of an Iraqi soldier at the Wadi al-Salam cemetery, Arabic for "Peace Valley", who was killed in an attack by Islamic State militants on an army post in a rural area between Diyala and Salahuddin provinces, during the funeral in Najaf, Iraq, May 14, 2024. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani

Is Gaza war feeding ISIS resurgeance in Middle East?

Recent developments suggest that the ISIS threat has metastasized to a level that the United States believes requires stronger action.

In the span of less than a week, U.S. forces conducted two major operations targeting the group’s forces in Syria and Iraq. A broad joint U.S.-Iraqi operation was launched in Anbar province that reportedly killed at least 14 ISIS militants and was followed by the capture of an ISIS leader accused of assisting members of the terrorist group who had escaped detention in Syria.

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China United Staes

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House passes $1.6 billion to deliver anti-China propaganda overseas

Since at least 2016, foreign interference in American elections and civil society have become central to American political discourse. The issue is taken extremely seriously by the U.S. government, which has levied sanctions and called out foreign adversaries for sowing “discord and chaos” through their propaganda efforts.

But apparently Washington takes a different view when it comes to American propaganda operations in foreign countries. On Monday, the House passed HR 1157, the “Countering the PRC Malign Influence Fund,” by a bipartisan 351-36 majority. This legislation authorizes more than $1.6 billion for the State Department and USAID over the next five years to, among other purposes, subsidize media and civil society sources around the world that counter Chinese “malign influence” globally.

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