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Jamestown Foundation Posts Commentary: Moscow Reconsidering Europe's Role in Ending War Against Ukraine
WASHINGTON, March 24 -- The Jamestown Foundation posted the following commentary on March 23, 2026, by Pavel K. Baev, senior researcher at the International Peace Research Institute Oslo, in its Eurasia Daily Monitor:
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Moscow Reconsidering Europe's Role in Ending War Against Ukraine
Executive Summary:
* Russian President Vladimir Putin believes negotiating an end to his war against Ukraine directly with the United States will maximize his chances of success. Putin's understanding that Washington's attention has shifted to Iran informs his perception that the "situational pause" could be
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, March 24 -- The Jamestown Foundation posted the following commentary on March 23, 2026, by Pavel K. Baev, senior researcher at the International Peace Research Institute Oslo, in its Eurasia Daily Monitor:
* * *
Moscow Reconsidering Europe's Role in Ending War Against Ukraine
Executive Summary:
* Russian President Vladimir Putin believes negotiating an end to his war against Ukraine directly with the United States will maximize his chances of success. Putin's understanding that Washington's attention has shifted to Iran informs his perception that the "situational pause" could beindefinite.
* Kremlin narratives have long rejected European participation. Increasing diplomatic activism by actors linked to European Union initiatives and outreach by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, is gradually reshaping Russian expectations about negotiation formats that include Europe.
* Mounting Russian economic problems, battlefield stagnation, and declining public support for the war are compelling Russian elites to consider greater diplomatic engagement with Europe even as Moscow continues to frame European states as adversarial actors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to believe that negotiating an end to his war against Ukraine directly with the United States will maximize his chance of success. Putin hopes to revive the "spirit of Anchorage," even though the abridged summit at the Elmendorf-Richardson base in August 2025 was ultimately a missed opportunity for the Kremlin (Meduza, February 11; RIA Novosti, March 5). Putin's understanding that U.S. President Donald Trump's attention has shifted profoundly to the Middle East is, nevertheless, informing the Kremlin's perception that the "situational pause" in talks on a peace deal will be indefinite (RBC; Izvestiya, March 19). The Kremlin believes that the United States will not soon have the bandwidth to focus on Ukraine because it assumes that Tehran will outlast U.S.-Israeli airstrikes and the United States will have a dubious claim to victory in Iran (Rossiiskaya Gazeta, March 20). Russian commentators have speculated that the United States may then attempt regime change in Cuba to cover up events in Iran. U.S. engagement in Cuba would expose Russia's inability to help yet another traditional ally and further weaken U.S. engagement on ending Russia's war against Ukraine (Rossiiskaya Gazeta, March 17; The Insider, March 18).
Russian mainstream commentators increasingly focus on messaging from Europe about playing a more active role in negotiations with Russia (RIAC, March 19). These commentators are hesitant to criticize Trump directly. For many months, Kremlin-approved discourse portrayed Europe as a "party of war." It asserted the unfeasibility and unacceptability of a peace plan that would deploy a European "coalition of the willing" to guarantee Ukraine's post-war security (Rossiiskaya gazeta, February 24). The Kremlin did not release any official information about top French diplomat Emmanuel Bonne's visit to Moscow, but Russian experts have dubbed the meetings a complete failure (News.ru, March 16). Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ridiculed the French, German, U.K., and Italian national security advisers' visits to Geneva during the last round of the Russia-U.S.-Ukraine talks because these officials were not directly included (Vedomosti, February 22). The Kremlin continues to reject European participation in the established negotiation formats, but the apparent lack of any progress may make it practical and perhaps even necessary to open new channels (Argumenty i Fakty, March 18).
Putin may be counting on the United States' apparent reluctance to involve the Europeans in peace negotiations (Izvestiya, March 16). Still, he can hardly expect generous offers from Washington. Some European capitals, in contrast, are signaling possible flexibility. Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on March 17, "Finland or any European country will never ever accept a de jure land swap. De facto might be a reality, but de jure, it's simply not going to happen" (YouTube/@DRMNewsInternational, March 17; RBC, March 18). The Kremlin was apparently surprised that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ended the pause in peace talks by dispatching his top negotiating team to Miami on March 20 (RIA Novosti, March 21). Zelenskyy's recent visits to Paris, London, and Madrid, which Russian pundits eagerly portrayed as him begging for more aid, apparently influenced this move (Rossiiskaya Gazeta, March 18; Komsomolskaya Pravda, March 19). Zelenskyy's European trips over the last few weeks have forged the consensus underpinning German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's proposal to change the format of peace talks to include more European participation (Novaya Gazeta Europe, March 13; Gazeta.ru, March 19).
Russian media described the March 19 European Council meeting as a complete fiasco that exposed the European Union's inability to defend its interests even amid the Iran conflict (Kommersant, March 20). The meeting concluded with a clear message that the European Union will not join U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran and a firm re-assertion that the European Union should have diplomatic involvement in ending Russia's war against Ukraine. These messages may signify an important advance in building a coherent European foreign and security policy. Russian pundits are eager to claim that the European Union's inability to overcome Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's veto on disbursing the 90 billion euro ($104 billion) support loan to Ukraine signifies a crisis in EU policy (RIA Novosti; Vzglyad, March 20). European leaders' outrage over Orban's veto, however, is a testament to the strength of overall European solidarity with Ukraine and its resolve to continue supporting Kyiv (Meduza, March 20).
Sober Russian voices still argue that Russia can ill afford a long pause in peace talks (Nezavisimaya gazeta, March 16). Though Russian jingoist propaganda keeps beating its drum, government-affiliated economists are discussing the depth and duration of the unfolding recession, which cannot be mitigated by another small interest rate cut by Russia's Central Bank (Izvestiya; The Bell, March 20). Economic expectations in the business community and among the populace are growing darker, and the calculated increase in oil revenues following shortages resulting from the Iran conflict makes little difference (The Moscow Times, March 20). Russian tiredness from the 49-month-long war keeps accumulating, and combat operations are not yielding even symbolic territorial gains (The Insider, March 20). Opinion polls show that Russians, while largely in favor of ending the war, do not expect peace anytime soon (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, March 17). The as-yet fruitless peace talks inform this pessimism. Some pro-war pundits seek to deepen this attitude by asserting that the United States cannot be an impartial mediator because it remains the leader of the hostile coalition (RIAC, March 16).
The U.S. attack on Iran has made Putin believe that U.S. attention is changeable. Even though he clearly prefers engaging with Washington rather than Brussels, the Kremlin is increasingly likely to view working with Europe as the most reliable path to stable peace. Moscow sees Europe as a major threat to its autocratic regime, but has good reasons to assume that this intrinsically hostile neighbor would not attempt a "decapitating" strike on Russia. Putin has become so obsessed with personal safety that he cancelled his public appearances for the twelfth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea last week. Even street cameras are treated as a security risk (TopWar.ru, March 17). Staying on the war course has been Putin's preferred option for many months, but the undeniable disappearance of military gains means that persisting with the demand for Ukraine's retreat from all of Donbas will only dig Russia into a deeper hole.
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Dr. Pavel K. Baev is a senior researcher at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO).
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Original text here: https://jamestown.org/moscow-reconsidering-europes-role-in-ending-war-against-ukraine/
[Category: ThinkTank]
Ifo Institute: Business Climate in Bavaria Approaching Level for Germany as a Whole
MUNICH, Germany, March 24 -- ifo Institute issued the following news release on March 23, 2026:
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Business Climate in Bavaria Approaching Level for Germany as a Whole
Sentiment in Bavaria's economy has improved since the start of the year, with the ifo Business Climate Index for Bavaria rising in February to minus 6.6 points, up from minus 9.9 points in January. "Sentiment in Bavaria's economy had been lagging behind the German economy as a whole for around two years. However, it is now almost at the same level as the national average," says ifo researcher Daria Schaller.
In October 2024,
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MUNICH, Germany, March 24 -- ifo Institute issued the following news release on March 23, 2026:
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Business Climate in Bavaria Approaching Level for Germany as a Whole
Sentiment in Bavaria's economy has improved since the start of the year, with the ifo Business Climate Index for Bavaria rising in February to minus 6.6 points, up from minus 9.9 points in January. "Sentiment in Bavaria's economy had been lagging behind the German economy as a whole for around two years. However, it is now almost at the same level as the national average," says ifo researcher Daria Schaller.
In October 2024,the Bavarian business climate was the furthest below the national figure with a difference of 9.8 points. By February 2026, however, the business climate in the state had noticeably recovered, while sentiment for Germany as a whole largely stagnated in the same period. As a result, the difference shrank to 0.2 points. The recovery in the business climate in Bavaria can be attributed primarily to a less pessimistic sentiment in manufacturing. "A lack of orders in the automotive industry and electrical equipment manufacturing dragged down sentiment in the Bavarian economy for a long time. In the meantime, recovery can be seen there," says Schaller.
The Bavarian business climate also climbed to the level for Germany as a whole in the service sector. The main drivers were transport and warehousing. In trade, particularly textile and furniture retail, the Bavarian companies assessed their situation and expectations as even better than the German average. The regional business climate in Bavarian construction, on the other hand, has been consistently below the German average since July 2020. The poor sentiment was mainly due to public sector and commercial building construction, and road construction. "In view of current global political events and the increasingly unclear conditions they bring, further recovery is far from certain," says Schaller.
While the German economy stagnated or grew only very slightly overall in 2024 and 2025, the industrial location of Bavaria with its traditionally strong international links was particularly influenced by the world's crises and global weak demand. Bavaria's industrial production experienced a significant decline, as key sectors such as the automotive industry and mechanical engineering came under pressure from high energy costs, US tariffs, and the flagging global economy.
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2026 Article in Journal
Bayerns Wirtschaft auf Kurs? Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung Bayerns im nationalen Kontext
Tom-Nicolai Alber, Felix Leiss, Daria Schaller, Klaus Wohlrabe
ifo Schnelldienst, 2026, 79, Nr. 3 57-66
Learn more (https://www.ifo.de/en/publications/2026/article-journal/bayerns-wirtschaft-auf-kurs)
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Original text here: https://www.ifo.de/en/press-release/2026-03-23/business-climate-bavaria-approaching-level-germany-whole
[Category: ThinkTank]
Empire Center: SeeThroughNY Updated With Latest Union Contracts
ALBANY, New York, March 24 -- Empire Center, a non-profit think tank, issued the following news release on March 23, 2026:
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SeeThroughNY updated with latest union contracts
New York's most comprehensive online database of state and local government union contracts has been updated with the latest collective bargaining agreements for local teachers, police, firefighters, libraries, and public authorities.
Among the 832 new local government and school district employment contracts on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center's transparency website, are 131 Superintendent contracts, 107 public
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ALBANY, New York, March 24 -- Empire Center, a non-profit think tank, issued the following news release on March 23, 2026:
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SeeThroughNY updated with latest union contracts
New York's most comprehensive online database of state and local government union contracts has been updated with the latest collective bargaining agreements for local teachers, police, firefighters, libraries, and public authorities.
Among the 832 new local government and school district employment contracts on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center's transparency website, are 131 Superintendent contracts, 107 publicschool teacher association contracts, 72 police contracts, and 10 firefighter contracts.
Among the public authorities, the list includes updated contracts between the MTA and its various bargaining units.
Broken down by region, the contracts are distributed as follows:
* Capital Region: 91+ contracts including Bethlehem teachers and Colonie police;
* Central New York: 80+ contracts including teachers in Oswego City School District and the Syracuse police and fire;
* Finger Lakes: 91+ contracts including Rochester City teachers and Ontario County police;
* Long Island: 130+ contracts including Sewanhaka teachers and Quogue village police;
* Mid-Hudson: 156+ contracts including Rockland and Sullivan BOCES teachers, and police in City of White Plains;
* Mohawk Valley: 49+ contracts including the Schoharie teachers and Amsterdam police;
* North Country: 62+ contracts including Massena teachers and Lake Placid village police;
* Southern Tier: 76+ contracts including the Johnson city teachers and Tompkins County police; and
* Western New York: 82+ contracts including Williamsville teachers and Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police.
More than 18,000 current and expired public-sector union and school superintendent employment contracts are now searchable on SeeThroughNY's contract database, the most comprehensive in the state.
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The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank dedicated to promoting policies to make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.
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Original text here: https://www.empirecenter.org/publications/seethroughny-updated-with-latest-union-contracts-2/
[Category: ThinkTank]
Capital Research Center Issues Commentary: Peace Bombers? Meet the Weather Underground (Part 2 of 2)
WASHINGTON, March 24 -- The Capital Research Center issued the following commentary on March 23, 2026, by Managing Editor and Director of Content Ken Braun:
(Continued from Part 1 of 2)
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Likewise, Rick Ayers said he and his compatriots were "dangerously poor" while his brother Bill, along with Jones and Dohrn, "always ate good food," and "always slept between clean sheets." According to Rick Ayers, the leadership level "lived off radical lawyers and moneyed friends who told them what they wanted to hear--what courageous revolutionaries they were--while all the rest of us did the shit work
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, March 24 -- The Capital Research Center issued the following commentary on March 23, 2026, by Managing Editor and Director of Content Ken Braun:
(Continued from Part 1 of 2)
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Likewise, Rick Ayers said he and his compatriots were "dangerously poor" while his brother Bill, along with Jones and Dohrn, "always ate good food," and "always slept between clean sheets." According to Rick Ayers, the leadership level "lived off radical lawyers and moneyed friends who told them what they wanted to hear--what courageous revolutionaries they were--while all the rest of us did the shit workand went around blowing things up to maintain their reputations."/2
FBI Investigations
Federal law enforcement made apprehension of the Weathermen a high priority immediately after the March 6, 1970, discovery of bombs planted in Detroit and the explosion of the New York City townhouse that same morning. The order came directly from President Richard Nixon, who within the week called a meeting of top advisors and--according to historian Arthur Eckstein--told them he was worried the Weathermen represented a "serious physical threat (including kidnapping and possibly outright assassination)" against "high officials in the government, including himself."/1
On March 19, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover sent a memo to all of his field offices, stating the Weathermen had "implemented plans to go underground and form commando-type units to engage in bombing, arson and assassination as political weapons to bring about the revolution." All FBI agents were instructed to locate nearly three dozen suspected top Weather leaders, including Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, Jeff Jones, and Mark Rudd./1
In July 1970, federal law enforcement secured indictments of thirteen Weathermen for "conspiracy to commit terrorism."/2 Bernardine Dohrn and Mark Rudd both appeared on the FBI's ten "Most Wanted" list by fall 1970./1
A special Weatherman Squad within the FBI was formed on March 26 and would spend $14 million ($86.6 million in 2020 dollars) pursuing the Weathermen. During its six years in existence the Squad captured only one significant member of the Weathermen, Howard Machtinger. He was released on just a $2,500 bond to await trial, and within three weeks had jumped bail and disappeared underground once again./1
In 1976, following the discovery of illegal activities used by the FBI in pursuit of the Weather Underground, the U.S. Justice Department disbanded the FBI's Weatherman Squad and began a criminal investigation targeting senior federal law enforcement officials./1
Despite the large commitment of resources, Eckstein and Days of Rage author Bryan Burrough both concluded that the federal government misunderstood and exaggerated the threat posed by the Weathermen./1/2
In the aftermath of the townhouse bombing, according to Burrough, the Weathermen were "in shambles," even though federal officials believed "exactly the opposite: that Weatherman constituted a dire threat to national security." 2 According to Eckstein, the FBI was "creating a bogeyman" by absurdly inflating the size and impact of the Weathermen, with one official telling Time magazine the group was responsible for 150 bombings and had as many as 1,000 underground terrorists and 5,000 above ground supporters./1
By 1972 the FBI's Weatherman Squad had learned their target was far smaller and responsible for only a limited number of bombings. According to Burrough, the agents began to doubt the threat justified the expense and time they were dedicating to it. The Weatherman Squad began to refer to their prey as the "terrible toilet bombers"--a reference to the Weather Underground's preference to placing bombs in public restrooms and then calling in a warning to prevent injuries./2
Missed Opportunities
With few exceptions, according to historian Arthur Eckstein, the Weathermen reported rarely feeling a significant threat that the FBI would capture them. Even as Bernardine Dohrn was one of the Bureau's ten most sought-after fugitives during the fall of 1970, she and Bill Ayers were vacationing in California with above-ground allies Dennis and Mona Cunningham. Later, illegal FBI listening devices placed at Mona's home "failed to comprehend" the help she was providing by allowing her children to be used as cover by Ayers and Dohrn as the bombers moved about scouting locations for future attacks./1
In 1975, filmmaker Emile de Antonio produced a documentary about the Weather Underground after both locating and interviewing his subjects. Asked by the FBI to provide information about Weather, he refused and mocked the much-better funded federal investigators for failing to "locate a network of fugitives that a middle-aged film director had found with little difficulty."/1
The FBI came close to apprehending Jeff Jones and Bernardine Dohrn in early 1971, after an investigation revealed both Dohrn's false identity and an apartment the pair was using. An elaborate attempt to capture them led to a car chase in which Dohrn (driving) and Jones (the passenger) successfully eluded the agents. Dohrn and Jones disappeared once again./2
A similar close call occurred a few months earlier, in December 1970, when the then-girlfriend of Ron Fliegelman was identified entering a New York City movie theater near the local FBI headquarters. Agents confronted her inside the theater, and she was captured after leading them on a brief chase. The agents did not notice or did not realize that Fliegelman, Bill Ayers and possibly other Weather leaders were seated nearby and quietly escaped as the girlfriend was being pursued./2
The women had been a participant in the Days of Rage and as a result, after capture by the FBI, served a brief sentence in an Illinois jail for charges related to that event. She continued to help the Weathermen as an above-ground supporter after her release./2
FBI Misconduct
The only defendants ever brought to trial by the federal government in a case involving the Weathermen investigation were two senior level FBI officials: former assistant director Edward Miller and former associate director Mark Felt, later famous after he revealed that he was the anonymous source used by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in reporting on the Watergate scandal known popularly as "Deep Throat." Miller and Felt were convicted in 1980 by a jury on charges that they had authorized more than a dozen warrantless break-ins of the homes of family members and supporters of the Weathermen, usually for the purpose of planting a telephone wiretap or other surveillance device./1
Both men were pardoned by President Ronald Reagan. The FBI misconduct they were involved in led directly to the federal government dropping nearly all major charges against the senior leadership of the Weather Underground./1
According to historian Arthur Eckstein, the warrantless break ins and surveillance occurred because of the FBI's inability to find or obtain information about the Weathermen in any other fashion. A hasty arrest of two low-level Weather participants in April 1970 on minor charges had exposed Larry Grathwohl as the only remaining FBI informant still working within the Weathermen. After this, the FBI's Weatherman Squad was unable to place another informant within the group./1
The targets of the FBI's warrantless surveillance were Jennifer Dohrn, sister of Bernardine Dohrn, and other friends, family, and alleged supporters of the Weather Underground. Because none of these persons were criminal suspects, and no warrant had been obtained to enter their residences nor listen to their conversations, the prosecution was able to prove to the jury that the FBI had violated their Fourth Amendment rights./1
The Bureau had been operating under a presumption that these break-ins were entitled to a national security exemption from U.S. Constitutional protections because the Weathermen were receiving support from foreign communist governments. This national security concern was believed by President Nixon, but never supported by any evidence, despite an exhaustive search by the FBI and other federal agencies. To the contrary, the FBI knew of only minor contacts between Weather and officials of the Cuban and Vietnamese communist governments, and in both instances, the foreign regimes had tried and failed to dissuade the Weather leaders away from violent behavior./1
At the trial of Felt and Miller, Nixon told that jury that when "authority from the President of the United States is given for surreptitious entry for good cause, under those circumstances, what would otherwise be unlawful or illegal becomes legal."/1
Historian Arthur Eckstein observed that many other FBI and government officials were aware or should also have been aware that the break ins of the Weather supporters were violations of the Fourth Amendment./1 In Days of Rage, Bryan Burrough quotes one agent regarding the behavior of the Weatherman Squad when the internal investigation began:/2
Guys were literally burning files, tossing them in bags and taking them home to throw in their fireplaces. I know. I watched 'em do it. Before long you couldn't find a single folder in the New York office with the name Weather Underground on it./2
In June 1973, Damon Keith, a federal judge in Detroit overseeing the indictment of Weather leaders ordered the FBI to reveal any illegal break ins or surveillance involving the suspects. Lawyers representing the Weather Underground leaders told the judge that the FBI was harassing family members with illegal break ins and warrantless surveillance. Less than two weeks later the FBI provided an affidavit stating that none of this illegal conduct had occurred. Had the Weather Underground leaders been captured and brought to trial, this false assertion may have been disproved with severe legal repercussions for the agents who attested to it./2/1
Later in 1973 federal prosecutors dropped all serious charges against the Weathermen related to their bombings and other illegal actions. This decision allowed most of the major participants to resurface and face no or only minor criminal charges./2/1
End of the Weather Underground
By 1974 the Weather Underground had begun calling itself the "Weather Underground Organization." The top leadership--Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, Jeff Jones, Eleanor Stein, and Robbie Roth--had engaged in what Days of Rage author Bryan Burrough characterized as "months of anguished discussion of Weather's irrelevancy" and about a strategy to resurface from the underground. Burrough quoted Ayers, who said staying under had become a "high-cost fantasy," and Dohrn, who characterized it as "inappropriate."/2
Central to their concern, according to Burrough, was that a secretive existence had cut them off from a radical left that had become reinvigorated by the Watergate scandal and revelations of FBI and CIA abuses. Founded and operating on the assumption that the Weatherman movement was itself the leadership of the radical left, Weather leaders were struggling to obtain a strategy that would allow them to reclaim this supposed position of authority.
Prairie Fire Movement
Their solution was Prairie Fire, a sprawling political manifesto released in May 1974. It was to become the springboard for the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC), what Burrough described as Weather's "most crazily audacious plan ever," a "grand scheme" whereby the Weather leaders would resurface from the underground and seize control of a massive coalition that included all of the radical left./2
The Prairie Fire manuscript, according to historian Arthur Eckstein, represented the full repudiation of the Weatherman Manifesto, the organization's founding document from 1969. Prairie Fire denounced the strategy of trying to spark a revolution strictly through guerilla violence and advocated instead working openly to seek broad alliances with the working class. By comparison, the Weatherman Manifesto had written off the working class as hopelessly racist and a slave to capitalism, while promoting the idea that a small cadre of violent guerillas could spark a revolution by assaulting the state. Prairie Fire, wrote Eckstein, was a "stunning reversal of position."/1
The follow up strategy to Prairie Fire was executed by the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC), the above-ground front for the Weather Underground. Disingenuously promoted as a grassroots movement not attached to the Weathermen, PFOC was designed to clandestinely attract and then consolidate the radical left into a single movement to be led by the Weather leadership. Bryan Burrough wrote that the "dishonest" plan was that the "radical left ... was literally going to be fooled into returning Weather's leadership to the exalted positions they had abandoned on leaving SDS [Students for a Democratic Society] four years before."/2
The PFOC failed in its objective, but not before attracting some genuine supporters who were unaware of the Weathermen-connected puppet strings. Burrough quotes one participant's bitter memories:/2
I was stupid. I fell for it. [. . .] We didn't realize their leadership had already abandoned any pretense at being true revolutionaries and wanted only to surface and take control of the Left and enjoy the middle-class lives they had left behind. None of us knew how we were being manipulated./2
The intended culmination of the Prairie Fire strategy, but what began the unraveling of the Weather Underground itself, was the January 1976 Hard Times Conference in Chicago. At least 2,000 delegates representing a wide cross-section of the radical left were inspired to come to the meeting by the PFOC's desire to create a cohesive movement./2
Instead of unity, Burrough describes a conference that devolved into wild factional disputes based on identity politics. Russell Neufield, a main organizer for the PFOC strategy, said he was "almost lynched by a group of vegetarians because I hadn't provided enough nonmeat meals." A "Black Caucus" organized and opposed the PFOC focus on the "working class" rather than race issues. Likewise, a "feminist caucus" became displeased with a perceived lack of attention to its concerns. The exasperated Neufield remembered that every misfire led to him "constantly being accused of being a racist."/2
Weather's covert plans for the PFOC was exposed as a result. An investigation was launched by disillusioned PFOC participants and led by Clayton Van Lydegraf, who had been thrown out of the Weather Underground but wandered back into the orbit by way of joining the PFOC. "Granted the opportunity to take his revenge" for being thrown out of Weather, wrote Burrough, "he proceeded to do so with grim determination."/2
By the time he was done, near the end of 1976, Van Lydegraf and his faction had expelled Dohrn, Ayers, and others from the movement they had created. The formerly top Weather leaders were accused of "counterrevolutionary crimes," such as abandonment of the African-American cause and trying to wreck the influence of gays, lesbians, and feminists within the Weather Underground./2
During what Burrough wrote was a "Stalin-like purge," Van Lydegraf's interrogations had managed to wring a startling taped confession from even Bernardine Dohrn. She implicated herself, Bill Ayers, and Jeff Jones as participants in the "naked white supremacy, white superiority, and chauvinist arrogance." Dohrn stated she was making the self-critical statement "to acknowledge, repudiate, and denounce the counterrevolutionary politics and direction of the Weather Underground Organization."/2
Under Van Lydegraf's leadership, the Weather Underground deteriorated quickly in 1977 to become just himself and four other people hoping to resume the guerilla bombing campaign. Van Lydegraf enlisted two men to help train his group--both were undercover FBI agents. The first and only major action by this truncated Weather Underground--the planned bombing of a California state senator's office in November 1977--was thwarted by the FBI before it succeeded. The Bureau captured all of what remained of the Weather Underground, the first and only substantive arrests of the Weather movement ever made by federal lawmen./2
Analyzing the total impact of the Weathermen, Bryan Burrough concluded it was a failure:/2
In every conceivable way, the young intellectuals who had come together in 1969 to form Weatherman had utterly failed: failed to lead the radical left over the barricades into armed underground struggle; failed to fight or support the black militants they championed; failed to force agencies of the American "ruling class" into a single change more significant than the spread of metal detectors and guard dogs. /2
Burrough also concluded that Dohrn's confessions before being ejected from the Weather Underground demonstrated the "essential truth" that she and the other leaders had "sold out their dreams in return for their own personal safety."/2
Resurfacing Aboveground
Because FBI misconduct had led to federal prosecutors dropping most of the serious charges against the original Weather Underground in late 1973, only minor charges still confronted some of the Weathermen leaders when they began to abandon their underground life in 1977./2
Bryan Burrough writes that the first to turn themselves in went to a Chicago courthouse in April 1977 to answer for state charges related to their participation in the Days of Rage back in 1969. They weren't arrested--the officer they spoke with told them to return the next day. The totality of their punishment was probation and a $1,000 fine. Many of the rest of the wanted Weathermen surrendered in 1977 and received no more than comparably small punishments./2
Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn
For more see: Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn
Weathermen co-founders Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, in hiding together, later married. When the pair came out of hiding in 1980, Dohrn accepted a plea bargain on state charges, which cost her a $1,500 fine and three years of probation./10
In 2001, Ayers' memoir of his SDS and Weathermen experiences was published. "I don't regret setting bombs," he said in the opening sentence of an article about his book that was published by the New York Times on September 11, 2001./11
"We weren't terrorists," Ayers claimed later in a 2008 interview with the Chicago Tribune. "The biggest challenges to democracy in my youth were the war in Vietnam and racism. The truth is, we weren't extreme enough in fighting against the war, and we weren't extreme enough in fighting racism, which is still a stain on America."/10
Fellow Students for a Democratic Society leader Todd Gitlin disagreed, saying of the Weathermen movement in general, and Ayers and Dohrn in particular, that they "planned on being terrorists" and "wanted to be terrorists," but wound up "failed terrorists," so "let's give them a medal for not killing anybody besides themselves."/10
"He was one of a bunch of people who committed absolutely, I mean literally, incoherent and reckless acts in the name of nonsensical beliefs," said Gitlin of Ayers to the Chicago Tribune in 2008. "They [the Weathermen] wrecked SDS." Gitlin also said Ayers was "not a deep thinker."/10
Ayers later became a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. 12 Dorhn became an associate clinical professor at Northwestern University School of Law, and for 23 years was the director of its Children and Family Justice Center./13
Following the arrest and conviction of Weather Underground guerillas David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin for murder and armed robbery in 1981, Ayers and Dohrn raised their son, Chesa Boudin. In November 2019, Chesa Boudin was elected the district attorney of San Francisco, California./14
According to historian Arthur Eckstein, Dorhn was prohibited from taking the bar exam and becoming a practicing attorney because she had gone to prison for contempt of court following her refusal to testify in the bank robbery case involving Boudin and Gilbert. Eckstein also wrote that Ayers, after his retirement as a university professor in 2010, was denied emeritus status because he had dedicated Prairie Fire to Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin who killed U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY)./1
Eleanor (Raskin) Stein and Jeff Jones
Jeff Jones and Eleanor Stein had a son and were married in 1981. Their son, Thai Jones, later wrote a biography of his parents and their years in the Weather Underground./1
Stein became an associate professor at Albany Law School and an administrative law judge with the New York State Public Service commission./15
Jeff Jones became a political consultant in New York, specializing in helping left-leaning environmentalist organizations./1
Cathy Wilkerson and Ron Fliegelman
Cathy Wilkerson, who claims to have developed her math skills learning to build bombs, became a math teacher for 25 years in Brooklyn, New York. According to historian Arthur Eckstein, she no longer associates with any of her former Weather colleagues. She and fellow bomb maker Ron Fliegelman ended their relationship as the Weather Underground was dissolving. They have daughter from that union./1
As with his former romantic and bomb-building partner, Ron Fliegelman was also a schoolteacher in Brooklyn for nearly three decades./1
Mark Rudd
From 1980 until 2006, Mark Rudd was a math instructor at a community college in New Mexico. The biography on his personal website stated that he retired in 2007, and that he was also an "organizer and nonviolent activist locally on issues of native American land rights, nuclear, US military interventions, Palestine solidarity, unionization, environmental justice, and war and militarization."/16
John Jacobs
Despite predicting he would return to the Weathermen, John Jacobs never returned after being expelled following the 1970 townhouse explosion. He eventually fled to Vancouver, British Columbia, living under an assumed name, and never returned to the United States. Days of Rage author Bryan Burrough wrote that he became a "low-level marijuana dealer" who worked "odd jobs" and died of cancer in 1997./2
Howard Machtinger
Howard Machtinger became a teacher and a university administrator./1
Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert
Kathy Boudin was one of two survivors of the 1970 New York City townhouse explosion accidentally caused by the bomb-making work of her fellow Weathermen. Boudin had been showering in the townhouse at the time of the explosion, exited the rubble naked, received clothing from a neighbor, and then fled the scene, remaining a fugitive for years afterward./17/4
In 1981 she and several other former members of the Weather Underground, now aligned with the so-called Black Liberation Army, participated in the robbery of a Brinks armored car, the murder of one of its drivers, and the murders of two police officers who were ambushed while trying to apprehend the suspects. David Gilbert, the father of Boudin's son and later her husband, received a 75-years-to-life sentence for his participation in the attack./10
According to an account from the TruTV Crime Library, Boudin's father, a civil rights attorney, secured her an expensive private criminal defense lawyer, an advantage not available to the other defendants in the felony robbery and murder case. Also, unlike other defendants, there was no evidence linking Boudin to the firing of the fatal shots that killed the policemen and armored car driver. In 1984, after a protracted prosecution effort, Boudin was offered and accepted a 20-years-to-life sentence in exchange for her guilty plea on murder and robbery charges./18
She was granted parole in 2003. By 2013 she had become an adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work and a scholar-in-residence at the New York University Law School./19
Chesa Boudin, the son of Boudin and Gilbert, was raised by Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn while his parents were in prison. In November 2019, Chesa Boudin was elected the district attorney for San Francisco, California./14
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Ken Braun
As managing editor and director of content of CRC, Ken Braun edits Capital Research magazine. He also conducts investigative research and drafts profiles for InfluenceWatch.org.
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Original text here: https://capitalresearch.org/article/peace-bombers-meet-the-weather-underground/
[Category: ThinkTank]
America First Policy Institute Issues Commentary: In Claude We Trust?
WASHINGTON, March 24 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following commentary on March 23, 2026, by Joel Thayer, senior fellow for AI and Emerging Technology Policy:
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In Claude We Trust?
The lawsuit between Department of War (DOW) and Anthropic's contractual dispute has percolated internet forums and policy discussions at a rate that would make even Claude blush. Despite the volume of commentary, we may be missing the plot: the inherent dangers of the DOW signing away its authority to dictate terms of war to a multi-billion-dollar company that claims its technology could end
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, March 24 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following commentary on March 23, 2026, by Joel Thayer, senior fellow for AI and Emerging Technology Policy:
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In Claude We Trust?
The lawsuit between Department of War (DOW) and Anthropic's contractual dispute has percolated internet forums and policy discussions at a rate that would make even Claude blush. Despite the volume of commentary, we may be missing the plot: the inherent dangers of the DOW signing away its authority to dictate terms of war to a multi-billion-dollar company that claims its technology could endthe world.
To be clear, no company should be able to dictate the terms of war, let alone a rich company with a clear ideological agenda that is developing technology as powerful as AI. That is a job for our federal government, including Congress.
Let's talk about what happened.
Even though most of the negotiations occurred in the twilight of the Biden Administration, the DOW awarded Anthropic a $200 million contract to incorporate Claude in classified U.S. military networks last summer. This was a monumental win for those in the pro-AI movement as it indicated the government's trust in the technology to handle its most sensitive operations. And up until recently, the DOW and Anthropic seemed to be in a never-ending honeymoon phase. Claude may have even assisted the DOW plan the capture of former Venezuelan President, and indicted narcoterrorist, Nicolas Maduro.
So how did good love go bad? According to reports, Anthropic was apparently unaware of Claude's use in the Venezuelan operation. Reports further indicate that Anthropic believed that the DOW's use of Claude in that case may have violated its terms of service.
This raised serious concerns with the DOW, which previously sent out a memorandum clarifying their intent to use frontier AI systems, like Claude, for "any lawful use." Anthropic pushed back asking for certain prohibitions on mass surveillance and greater control over their system's use.
Negotiations became hostile and broke down, which caused Secretary Pete Hegseth to call for the removal of Claude in proprietary DOW systems and to designate it a "supply chain" risk--to ensure neither the department nor its contractors were able to use Anthropic's AI platform.
Legal mechanisms aside, the Pentagon's principal concern is legitimate.
Anthropic's prohibitions are extremely vague, which could give this private company more authority over an essential agency whose preeminent ambit is to ensure our nation's security. Worse, given Anthropic's willingness to throw its weight around with the Pentagon, what's stopping the company from exercising that same ability over other contractors, like Palantir? This has grave implications for not just the Pentagon but how we will conduct military operations altogether.
Anthropic's pearl clutching is histrionic, because this company was not created yesterday. It's a sophisticated, experienced seller that chose to contract with the Pentagon. It's no secret that a primary function of Anthropic is to engage in military operations. It's hard to imagine that the company didn't see this coming, especially as President Trump has made it clear since his first term that he would champion "peace through strength."
What's more, Anthropic is not a regular provider of software. They claim that their AI systems are on track to displace all human labor. Dario Amodei himself has publicly worried that his company could create "the single most serious national security threat we've faced in a century, possibly ever." He believes that the systems his company develops could end up "taking over the world."
Dario says he has moral qualms about how his technology might be used by DOW. But given that he believes there's a 25% chance the technology he is racing to develop destroys humanity, he should perhaps consider whether he should continue building this technology in the first place. He would never be willing to do this--likely for financial reasons--so what moral high ground does he claim to be standing on?
As far as the dispute between Anthropic and DOW is concerned, the likely end to all of this is simple: the government uses another AI system. There is precedent. Google's employees, much like Anthropic's, protested the company working with the Pentagon to "use its AI technologies for deploying and monitoring unmanned aerial vehicles" (i.e., Project Maven). Google backed out--and Palantir was right in line to take its place. Similarly, there are hundreds of companies not using Claude vying for the same contract Anthropic finds morally offensive.
But the broader problem remains. These AI companies currently have primary control over the most important technology of our time. If Anthropic is truly concerned over the government's legal ability to conduct mass surveillance, then that conversation is better had in Congress; not in a contractual dispute with a government agency.
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Joel Thayer is a Senior Fellow for AI and Emerging Technology Policy at the America First Policy Institute.
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Original text here: https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/issues/in-claude-we-trust
[Category: ThinkTank]
America First Policy Institute Issues Commentary to Washington Examiner: Energy Dominance in Action - Why America's First New Refinery in Decades Matters
WASHINGTON, March 24 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following excerpts of a commentary on March 23, 2026, by Energy and Environment Director Jason Hayes to Washington Examiner:
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Energy Dominance in Action: Why America's First New Refinery in Decades Matters
After decades of stagnation in America's refining sector, a significant shift may be underway. The newly announced oil refinery at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, could become one of the first major new U.S. refinery projects in almost five decades. More than just another industrial facility, the project represents
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, March 24 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following excerpts of a commentary on March 23, 2026, by Energy and Environment Director Jason Hayes to Washington Examiner:
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Energy Dominance in Action: Why America's First New Refinery in Decades Matters
After decades of stagnation in America's refining sector, a significant shift may be underway. The newly announced oil refinery at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, could become one of the first major new U.S. refinery projects in almost five decades. More than just another industrial facility, the project representsrenewed confidence that the United States is willing to invest in the infrastructure necessary to sustain its role as a global energy leader.
The refinery, backed by investment connected to Reliance Industries, India's largest privately held energy company, sends a powerful signal to global markets. Large-scale infrastructure projects require long-term policy stability. When regulatory barriers and permitting delays are eased, private investment follows. The Brownsville project illustrates how predictable policy environments can attract billions of dollars in capital to American energy development.
The benefits of such investment extend well beyond construction. A new refinery would create thousands of jobs during development and support permanent high-skilled positions in operations, maintenance, and logistics. With the ability to refine 168,000 barrels of domestic shale oil daily, it would also support American oil and gas producers as it generates billions of dollars in economic activity across regional supply chains--from engineering and manufacturing to shipping and transportation.
To read the full article, click here (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/faith-freedom-self-reliance/4499133/why-new-us-refinery-matters/).
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Jason Hayes serves as the director of Energy and Environment at the America First Policy Institute.
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Original text here: https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/issues/energy-dominance-in-action-why-americas-first-new-refinery-in-decades-matters
[Category: ThinkTank]
AFPI-GA Applauds Committee for Advancing Resolution to Return Education Authority to the States
WASHINGTON, March 24 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following statement on March 23, 2026:
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AFPI-GA Applauds Committee for Advancing Resolution to Return Education Authority to the States
Atlanta, GA--The America First Policy Institute's Georgia Chapter (AFPI-GA) issued the following statement after the Special Rules Committee advanced HR1299, a resolution supporting the dissolution of the U.S. Department of Education and the return of education authority to the states:
"AFPI-GA applauds the committee for advancing this important resolution that reaffirms a fundamental
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, March 24 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following statement on March 23, 2026:
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AFPI-GA Applauds Committee for Advancing Resolution to Return Education Authority to the States
Atlanta, GA--The America First Policy Institute's Georgia Chapter (AFPI-GA) issued the following statement after the Special Rules Committee advanced HR1299, a resolution supporting the dissolution of the U.S. Department of Education and the return of education authority to the states:
"AFPI-GA applauds the committee for advancing this important resolution that reaffirms a fundamentalprinciple: education decisions are best made closest to the students they impact," said Rebecca Yardley, Executive Director of AFPI-GA. "For too long, Washington bureaucracies have imposed one-size-fits-all policies that fail to meet the needs of Georgia families. HR1299 represents a meaningful step toward restoring state and local control, empowering parents, and improving outcomes for students. We commend lawmakers for moving this resolution forward and urge its continued consideration."
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Original text here: https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/issues/afpi-ga-applauds-committee-for-advancing-resolution-to-return-education-authority-to-the-states
[Category: ThinkTank]
