Michael Makovsky
Former defense department advisor Michael Makovsky is a prominent neoconservative[1] and an expert on neocon icon Winston Churchill,[2] about whom he authored a book called Churchill's Promised Land. He is the younger brother of David Makovsky,[1] a senior WINEP fellow and former executive editor of the pro-Likud Jerusalem Post.[3] Both brothers took up Israeli citizenship after finishing their education in the US.[4]He was part of Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith's intelligence shop, Office of Special Plans,[5] that manufactured the defective intelligence used to sell the invasion of Iraq.[6] In 2006 he joined the Biparistan Policy Center and became its foreign policy director.[7]
History
Makovsky has an MBA in finance and a PhD in "diplomatic history," with his dissertation based on Winston Churchill. In addition to working for the Bush administration and maintaining a lead role in a right-wing think tank, Makovsky also heads MSM Consulting, a "Energy and Political Risk Consulting," which he founded in the same year that he joined the Bipartisan Policy Center.[8] Despite Makovsky's lack of professional training in the oil and energy industry, he "worked over a decade as a senior energy market analyst for various energy trading companies and exchanges, focusing on markets and hedging strategies for oil, petroleum products, natural gas and electric power, as well as regulatory and tax issues"[7] and has written several articles (most frequently in Bill Kristol's the Weekly Standard) about US foreign policy in relation to oil and energy resources.
Role in the US War on Iraq
Makovsky served as a consultant to the controversial Pentagon office set up in the run-up to the Iraq War to find evidence of operational ties between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein as a justification for the invasion.[1]
Ties with Israel
In addition to reportedly obtaining Israeli citizenship,[4] Makovsky is also believed to have lived in an illegal Israeli settlement and was a friend of Yigal Amir who assassinated Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.[9] According to Justin Raimondo, Makovsky: "was reportedly a member, in his student days at least, of the neo-fascist "Betar" organization, which has a military structure (members wear uniforms, and engage in "drills") and calls for a "Greater Israel."[9]
Affiliations
- Office of Special Plans[9]
- Claremont Institute - Former Fellow[10]
- Bipartisan Policy Center - Foreign Policy Director[11]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Jim Lobe, "Stirrings of a New Push for Military Option on Iran", IPS, 9 July 2010
- ↑ Shmuel Rosner, "Michael Makovsky", Haaretz, 28 October 2007
- ↑ WINEP, "David Makovsky", Washington Institute for Near East Policy, accessed on 26 November 2010
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jack Herman, "a whole new ballgame overseas", St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri), 20 February 1989
- ↑ Justin Raimondo, "The Worms in the Apple", Antiwar.com, 18 September 2009
- ↑ Jim Lobe, Pentagon Office Home to Neo-Con Network, Antiwar.com, 7 August 2003
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Bipartisan Policy Center, "Michael Makovsky", Bipartisan Policy Center, accessed on 26 November 2010
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Michael Makovsky", LinkedIn, accessed on 26 November 2010
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Justin Raimondo, "The Worms in the Apple", Antiwar.com, 18 September 2009
- ↑ Claremont Institute, "2006 Lincoln Fellows", Claremont Institute, 28 June 2006, accessed on 26 November 2010
- ↑ Bipartisan Policy Center, "Staff", Bipartisan Policy Center, accessed on 26 November 2010
