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NeoCon War-Monger Nikki Haley Joins Board of Weapons Manufacturer Boeing

v4vapidMay 7, 2019, 1:48:56 AM

A Perfect Match

Where do high ranking US government officials go after serving their ~~country~~ corporate masters?

Well in the case of Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the UN, received a plush position on Boeing's board of directors.

The Military Industrial Complex takes care of its own and war-mongering Nikki Haley unabashedly aligned her politics with defense industry special interests on almost every occasion. As ambassador to the UN, Haley's aggressive war-mongering and deliberate provocations doubtlessly contributed to increasing hostilities on the international stage. With heightened fears of conflict inevitably result in increased national defense spending.

image source: zerohedge.com

UN Ambassador

If we are to believe the corporate media, Nikki Haley was characterized as a 'moderate' within the Trump administration but her tenure at the UN certainly dispels any notion that she was anything other than an antagonistic figure beating the drums of war at every turn.

As described by Journalist Glenn Greenwald,

Haley was probably the most pro-war, pro-imperialist high-ranking Trump official, and therefore the most beloved Trump official by the war-loving U.S. media. She held every conventional foreign policy view that has generated so much destruction.

To be bestowed with such praise is no small achievement considering one of her predecessors is none other than Trump's current National Security Advisor and war-pig extraordinaire John "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Iran" Bolton.

A man so hell bent on 'providing humanitarian assistance' to Venezuela and 'restoring democracy' that he tweets non-stop about regime change and military intervention 24/7 until he's blue in the face.

However, It's still a toss up but I think John has a good chance to reclaim his crown as the number one uber imperialist and blood thirsty villain in season 3 of the GOT (Government of Trump).

While at the UN, Haley vehemently defended Trump's decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Haley threatened retaliation, both financial and political, against the nations of the UN General Assembly who voted in favor of a resolution seeking to prevent the move to Jerusalem.

America will put our embassy in Jerusalem, that is what the American people want us to do, and it is the right thing to do. No vote at the United Nations will make any difference on that, but this vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the U.N. and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the U.N. and this vote will be remembered.

Here's Haley using photographs of dead children to urge for war with Syria. This speech was made the day after the supposed chemical attack that Haley claims was certainty carried out by the Assad regime.

...We cannot close our minds of the responsibility to act. We don't yet know everything about yesterday's attack but there are many things we do know. We know that yesterday's attack bears all the hallmarks of the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons.
There is one more thing we know, that if nothing is done, these attacks will continue.

Sound familiar?

War mongering and war profiteering go hand in hand and with an already bloated US defense budget future defense industry profits rely on the growth of international instability.

When we pause and take a look back upon Haley's years at the UN, her track record speaks for itself. Her antagonistic approach increasingly isolated the United States and triggered an escalation in tensions between member nations of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly. As UN ambassador for the US her diplomatic team:

* Removed the US from the UN Human Rights Council

* Defunded UN peacekeeping missions worldwide

* Openly threatening nations that did not back Washington's will

* Consistently portrayed Israel and the US as being under attack from hostile nations of the UNGA

After serving the Trump administration for 2 years as ambassador, Haley abruptly announced she would be stepping down at the end of 2018 creating a buzz as to where she might land after holding such a high profile position.

It appeared that it was high-time to cash in her defense industry chips and collect her reward.

Boeing Loves Haley

Ambassador Haley brings to Boeing an outstanding record of achievement in government, industry partnership, and successfully driving economic prosperity for communities in America and around the world," said Boeing Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg. "Boeing will benefit greatly from her broad perspectives and combined diplomatic, government and business experience to help achieve our aspiration to be the best in aerospace and a global industrial champion.

source: Boeing.com

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Earlier this year, Boeing announced that Nikki Haley had been nominated for a position on their board of directors. Her election to the board has been overshadowed as Boeing is struggling to contain the fallout form two deadly 737 MAX crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia. While the CEO of Boeing has faced calls for his resignation from some of Boeing's shareholders, Haley was quietly elected to the board of directors.

According to Boeing's website, along with her election to the board of directors Haley has become a member of two company committees: the Audit Committee and the Finance Committee.

Boeing - Corporate Governance & Board of Directors

https://www.boeing.com/company/general-info/corporate-governance.page

Union Busting in South Carolina

Before becoming part of the Trump administration, Haley served as governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and was the first female to hold the governorship.

The state is also home to the Boeing's sprawling Charleston facility one of three massive Boeing manufacturing sites in the US, the other two are located in the state of Washington.

As governor of South Carolina Haley famously railed against union organizers at the Boeing facility. A move that certainly wouldn't be forgotten by Boeing's board.

A 2015 Bloomberg article entitled, Boeing’s Best Union Buster Is South Carolina’s Governor Nikki Haley, highlights her sychophantic subserviance to the aerospace and defense juggernaut.

Many Republican governors, including Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, have staked out anti-union positions, but Haley has been Boeing’s strongest weapon in its fight with IAM. She’s slammed the union on Facebook and Twitter using hashtags like #BoeingStrong and #VoteNo. She appeared in a Boeing radio ad encouraging workers to reject the unionization bid. In January she devoted part of her State of the State address to the issue. “We have a reputation internationally for being a state that doesn’t want unions, because we don’t need unions,” she said. “I have every confidence that the Boeing workers in Charleston will see this play for exactly what it is and reject this union power grab.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) representing Boeing workers in Washington state went on strike to protest the company's decision to build the 787 Dreamliner class airplanes at the non-unionized Charleston facility.

Today, the same union expressed grave concerns about the appointment of Haley to Boeing's board of directors.

The IAM has serious concerns about the nomination of Nikki Haley to Boeing’s board,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “As governor of South Carolina, Haley had a record of using anti-union rhetoric and inserting politics into working people’s decisions. The freedom to join a union is a fundamental human right and the best way to protect workers and their families. We hope that her past statements on unions do not cloud her decision-making while serving on Boeing’s Board of Directors.

source: goiam.org

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As the scandal around the 737 MAX continues to unfold, the New York Times reported that former workers of the 787 Dreamliner class airplanes in Charleston confided that employees regularly complained of substandard manufacturing practices at the Charleston facility Furthermore, they describe being pressured to meet production deadlines outweighed safety concerns during the manufacturing process.

A New York Times review of hundreds of pages of internal emails, corporate documents and federal records, as well as interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees, reveals a culture that often valued production speed over quality. Facing long manufacturing delays, Boeing pushed its work force to quickly turn out Dreamliners, at times ignoring issues raised by employees.

source: NYTimes

Impropriety

For good measure, it's noteworthy to mention that while as ambassador Haley has been accused of violating ethics regulations when accepting multiple flights aboard luxury private aircraft. She and her husband are said to have received flights amounting to approximately $24,000 dollars from three South Carolina businessmen and previous political donors. The non-partisan and non-profit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has called on the State Department Inspector General to initiate an official investigation into the matter. Following CREW's call for a probe by the Inspector General Haley announced her plans to resign the following day.

source: lawandcrime.com

image source: greenvilleonline.com

It is also been reported that Haley has accumulated a substantial personal debt over the years. According to CBS,

A director's spot on such a board would also prove lucrative for Haley, who, after revelations from financial disclosures, was found to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Her office reportedly said her debts had no bearing on her decision to leave her U.N. post.

source: cbsnews.com

Like many before her, Nikki Haley will attempt to leverage contacts she's accumulated in the Trump administration and as ambassador to the UN for the benefit of her new employer. The revolving door between the Military Industrial Complex and government officials seems to be widening to the size of an airplane hangar.

Boeing: Defense Industry Behemoth

image source: boeing.com

When most people think of Boeing they think of travel and the company's fleet of commercial airlines. What is not often discussed in corporate news is Boeing's leading role in the defense industry and military weapons manufacturing. Today, Boeing is the Pentagon's second largest contractor and posted all time high revenue of $100 billion in 2018. Prior to the 737 scandal Boeing's stock was one of the hottest on the market, rising 25% by January 2019.

Boeing is a pillar of the Military Industrial Complex.

If Haley's appointment to the board of directors was not enough, the appointment of Patrick Shanahan as the Secretary of Defense is another example of how deeply entrenched military profiteers are in the US government.

Having served as an executive with Boeing for 31 years, Shanahan is currently the acting secretary of defense. But we're told that there's NO CONFLICT OF INTEREST with his appointment to the Pentagon.

source: @geke

Even though the revolving door between the defense industry and government has been well established for decades, having a arms manufacturing careerist like Shanahan at the Pentagon is unprecedented.

No secretary of defense in recent memory has had such a long career in the arms industry and so little experience in government or the military. For most of that career, in fact, his main focus was winning defense contracts for Boeing, not crafting effective defense policies.

source: thenation.com

Shanahan's expertise relates more to profit making than policy making.

Along with high profile executives in key positions, Boeing deploys an army of lobbyists on capitol hill to the tune of $15 million annually.

At every level, Boeing looks to insure their special interests will continue to be catered to by Washington's political class.