this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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I think the bigger problem is that it assumes that the CIA is the center of US foreign policy and that all other parts of the government are fronts for it. Obviously USAID is a vehicle for US soft power, and the CIA is absolutely a bunch of ghouls and vampires masquerading as a government agency. But a legacy of villainous stupidity doesn't make them the shadowy secret masters of the world that the kinds of conspiracy theories that call USAID a "front" would suggest they are.
The way that I look at the US (when it is not operating under trump*) is that it is a machine that is trying to maintain and/or grow its hegemony. To that end, the CIA is a vital part of that machine. Is it the centre of foreign policy? Well, barring some sort of conspiracy, no, the US State department is the centre of foreign policy. However, the CIA is categorically the foreign intelligence-gathering arm of the US. As incompetent as I'd like to pretend the US is, I don't think the State Department is operating without CIA intelligence and analysis. In sum, I don't believe that the CIA is a shadowy evil organisation secretly controlling the US; I think the US is a shadowy evil organisation trying to control the world, and the CIA is part of it.
I think the thing that sucks about all this is that, on paper, USAID does good! They provide a ton of aid around the world, and that's great. However, they have enough blemishes on their record that show that the US isn't necessarily purely charitable in its actions. Aid shouldn't be weaponised!
*trump and his goons, of course, are just stripping the US of its copper wiring for a quick fix, while letting the establishment lapdogs deal with the drudgery.
I think history justifies a sufficient level of jadedness and cynicism to believe that, at least at the scale that a government can operate on, foreign aid as a soft power tool is kind of the best we're ever likely to see. And if we're going to be looking for soft power I think it's better for everyone to do so by doing good things and making us look less like goddamn supervillains.
I agree, to some extent, but with the caveat that I have second order cynicism that might present as hope or naivete. I think a lot of the messaging from mainstream US politics is that “this is the only way, there is no alternative.” Of course this extends to weaponised foreign aid.