Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute, founded in 1950 by businessman Walter Paepcke, is a neoconservative think tank. One of its activities is to foster young zionists who are then mentored and placed in policy positions. It also funds zionist activities around the US.

Activities

The Aspen Institute organizes lectures on the preferred topics currently in vogue among neocon circles: relationship between Islam and terror, Iran and nuclear weapons, etc.

Travel

The Aspen Institute also has funded travel by US policy makers to conferences, events, where neocons propound their policy wishes. Several US Congressmen have been sponsored to attend conferences on "terror" and related topics.

Don't mention Israel

Anatol Lieven relates about the Aspen Institute:

The writer Anatol Lieven says he reluctantly took on the issue after 9/11 as a matter of "duty"--when the Carnegie Endowment, where he was a senior associate, asked him to. "I knew bloody well it would bring horrible unpopularity.... All my personal loyalties are the other way. I've literally dozens of Jewish friends; I have no Palestinian friends." Lieven says he was a regular at the Aspen Institute till he brought up the issue. "I got kicked out of Aspen.... In early 2002 they held a conference on relations with the Muslim world. For two days nobody mentioned Israel. Finally, I said, 'Look, this is a Soviet-style debate. Whatever you think about this issue, the entire Muslim world is shouting about it.' I have never been asked back."

People

Presidents

• Walter Paepcke (1950 - 1957)
• Robert O. Anderson (1957 - 1963)
• Alvin C. Eurich (1963 - 1967)
• William F. Stevenson (1967 - 1969)
• Joseph E. Slater (1969 - 1986)
• Colin W. William (1986 - 1988)
• David McLaughlin (1988 - 1994)
• S. Frederick Starr (1994 - 1995)
• David McLaughlin (1995 - 1997)
• Charles B. Knapp (1997 - 1999)
• Elmer W. Johnson (1999 - 2003)
• Walter Isaacson (2003 - )

Members

• Sidney Harman - board member
• Charles Powell

• John P Mascotte is reported in 2008 to be Trustee Emeritus of The Aspen Institute. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Wyeth pharmaceutical company, is a Director (and Chairman of the Audit Committees) for Hallmark Cards Inc. and Crown Media Holdings Inc. He is Chairman of Common Cents Inc. (a non-profit organisation focused on the social development of children in U.S. primary schools) and is a Trustee of the Hall Foundation. Mascotte is also the Vice Chairman of the Aspen Community Foundation and is a member of the Board of the National Catholic Reporter. Mascotte's previous involvements include serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City (1997-2001), prior to this he served as Chairman of Johnson and Higgins of Missouri (from 1996) and was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Continental Corporation (1983-1995). Mascotte is also a former Trustee of The New York Public Library and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.

• Vin Weber - Chief Executive Officer of lobbying firm Clark & Weinstock is reported to be on the Board of the Aspen Institute (where he serves on the Institute’s Middle East Strategy Group). Vin is also Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy, serves on the Board of The Council on Foreign Relations, is a member of the U.S. Secretary of Defense’s Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, serves on the U.S. Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion, is a senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota (where he is co-director of the Policy Forum) and is on the Board of ITT Educational Services and The Lenox Group. He is also Policy Chairman of Romney for President Inc. (overseeing all policy development for Governor Mitt Romney).

Weber served in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1993 and according to his biography,

'Vin is one of the most prominent and successful strategists in the Republican Party and enjoys strong bipartisan relationships across the Legislative and Executive branches of government. He serves as a trusted advisor to senior officials in the Administration and on Capitol Hill, and has counseled numerous Presidential campaigns'.

Weber previously co-chaired a major 'independent' task force on U.S. Policy Toward Reform in the Arab World with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Prior to 1994, Vin was president and co-director of Empower America a public policy advocacy group alongside other co-directors Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick and Bill Bennett. He was a member of the Appropriations Committee and an elected member of the House Republican Leadership and prior to this was campaign manager and chief Minnesota aide to Senator Rudy Boschwitz (1978-1980)

Weber is a contributing columnist to The Hill newspaper and was the publisher of The Murray County Herald from 1976-1978. He has featured in numerous national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, National Journal and The New Republic. He has also appeared on NBC’s Nightly News, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS, ABC’s This Week, the CBS Early Show, Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC.

Related organisations

• Aspen Strategy Group
• Aspen Institute Berlin

Contact, Resources, References

Contact

Website: www.aspeninstitute.org

Resources

• RightWeb Profile, last updated October 2005.
• Nine Trustees Elected to Aspen Institute Board, U.S. Newswire, 7 April 2003.