3 ms·

> China has realized what Russia knows so well. You don't compete with the USA, it's cheaper and more effective to buy its politicians. Maybe the Cold War woul

> China has realized what Russia knows so well. You don't compete with the USA, it's cheaper and more effective to buy its politicians. Maybe the Cold War would've ended differently if the Soviet Union had just hired better lobbyists. There's a saying that goes something like "a capitalist will sell you the rope you'll hang him with," and I think there's more than a grain of truth to it. If Huawei wants to lobby the US government, let the Chinese Ambassador do it. I don't think foreign companies should be able to hire lobbyists to manipulate the US government, let alone companies from non-democratic countries. And it should be illegal for an American to take such a job. Edit: also TIL this isn't the Podesta emails guy (that's John), rather it's his brother.

ashtonkem 5y ago
Technically you’re supposed to register as a foreign agent under FARA. This law has gotten a lot of ex trump guys in trouble, including just last week his inauguration committee chairman. So as the laws currently stand you can work for a foreign government lobbying the US government, you just need to be transparent about what you’re doing.
- tablespoon 5y ago
  > So as the laws currently stand you can work for a foreign government lobbying the US government, you just need to be transparent about what you’re doing. While that's better than nothing, it doesn't go far enough. And frankly, there's also an issue of reciprocity: why should the Chinese be able to hire connected government insiders, when I'm pretty sure the CCP would absolutely disallow such work by their own political insiders (and probably do bad things to anyone who was stupid enough to take a job like that).
- sremani 5y ago
  Tom Barrack is not arrested under FARA.
  - ashtonkem 5y ago
    He was arrested under a related statue, 18 U.S.C. § 951, for which FARA provides an explicit exception for if you’re registered. An interesting legal technicality, but not something that changes the lay person’s understanding of the situation. He was charged with being an illegal foreign agent, and if he’d registered under FARA’s rules he wouldn’t be in trouble.
dirtyid 5y ago
>let the Chinese Ambassador do it ... And from comment below >CCP would absolutely disallow such work by their own political insiders It's Track 1 vs 1.5 vs 2 diplomacy. CCP allows "legal" foreign influence as well. A PRC equivalent-ish of FARA was new NGO laws / local partners. Un-sanctioned foreign influence (i.e. all the CIA assets) got purged. There's going to be need for less official track 1.5/2 work in managing complex relationships especially if tensions between US&PRC is going to heatup in future. The nuance is recalibrating different tiers of policy instruments to determine level of appropriate engagement. Over the last few years, US has been neutering PRC orgs like Confucius institutes, pursued the extremely broad China Initiative and other measures to establish reciprocity in response to CCP crushing unwanted US influence ops in PRC. Work in progress, but track 1.5/2 is not going anywhere.

ashtonkem 5y ago

Technically you’re supposed to register as a foreign agent under FARA. This law has gotten a lot of ex trump guys in trouble, including just last week his inauguration committee chairman. So as the laws currently stand you can work for a foreign government lobbying the US government, you just need to be transparent about what you’re doing.

tablespoon 5y ago
> So as the laws currently stand you can work for a foreign government lobbying the US government, you just need to be transparent about what you’re doing. While that's better than nothing, it doesn't go far enough. And frankly, there's also an issue of reciprocity: why should the Chinese be able to hire connected government insiders, when I'm pretty sure the CCP would absolutely disallow such work by their own political insiders (and probably do bad things to anyone who was stupid enough to take a job like that).
sremani 5y ago
Tom Barrack is not arrested under FARA.
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  He was arrested under a related statue, 18 U.S.C. § 951, for which FARA provides an explicit exception for if you’re registered. An interesting legal technicality, but not something that changes the lay person’s understanding of the situation. He was charged with being an illegal foreign agent, and if he’d registered under FARA’s rules he wouldn’t be in trouble.

dirtyid 5y ago

>let the Chinese Ambassador do it ... And from comment below >CCP would absolutely disallow such work by their own political insiders It's Track 1 vs 1.5 vs 2 diplomacy. CCP allows "legal" foreign influence as well. A PRC equivalent-ish of FARA was new NGO laws / local partners. Un-sanctioned foreign influence (i.e. all the CIA assets) got purged. There's going to be need for less official track 1.5/2 work in managing complex relationships especially if tensions between US&PRC is going to heatup in future. The nuance is recalibrating different tiers of policy instruments to determine level of appropriate engagement. Over the last few years, US has been neutering PRC orgs like Confucius institutes, pursued the extremely broad China Initiative and other measures to establish reciprocity in response to CCP crushing unwanted US influence ops in PRC. Work in progress, but track 1.5/2 is not going anywhere.