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> A think tank can be there to manufacture support for an ideological position, but it can also be used to do actual thinking.

The latter kind is of course the origin of the whole concept, but one can't help feeling that the overwhelming majority nowadays is the former.

Or put more correctly, think tanks are collections of analysts who get paid to do research and generate reports on said research. This is often done to support an agenda on behalf of the one paying for it. But doesn't automatically make the research invalid.

There are very few real think tanks left.

A typical Western "military analyst" these days often comes with a law degree, MBA, or even a financial guy, sometimes with few years of service, or a stint in Westpoint, clinging for a claim of being "serious subject matter expert," and making money off that.

As I said few times over this week, a lot of them don't even know the difference in between a tank, and an APC, so bad it is really.

And Western politicians listen to them...