from Stefan Molyneux:
Secret Reagan Documents Shed Light on US Manipulation of Foreign Governments
by Robert Parry, The Anti Media:
“Secret” documents from the Reagan administration show how the U.S. embedded “political action,” i.e., the manipulation of foreign governments, in ostensibly well-meaning organizations, reports Robert Parry.
(CN) — “Secret” documents, recently declassified by the Reagan presidential library, reveal senior White House officials reengaging a former CIA “proprietary,” The Asia Foundation, in “political action,” an intelligence term of art for influencing the actions of foreign governments.
The documents from 1982 came at a turning-point moment when the Reagan administration was revamping how the U.S. government endeavored to manipulate the internal affairs of governments around the world in the wake of scandals in the 1960s and 1970s involving the Central Intelligence Agency’s global covert operations.
Instead of continuing to rely heavily on the CIA, President Reagan and his national security team began offloading many of those “political action” responsibilities to “non-governmental organizations” (NGOs) that operated in a more overt fashion and received funding from other U.S. government agencies.
But secrecy was still required for the involvement of these NGOs in the U.S. government’s strategies to bend the political will of targeted countries. If the “political action” of these NGOs were known, many countries would object to their presence; thus, the “secret” classification of the 1982 White House memos that I recently obtained via a “mandatory declassification review” from the archivists at the Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, California.
In intelligence circles, “political action” refers to a wide range of activities to influence the policies and behaviors of foreign nations, from slanting their media coverage, to organizing and training opposition activists, even to setting the stage for “regime change.”
The newly declassified memos from the latter half of 1982 marked an ad hoc period of transition between the CIA scandals, which peaked in the 1970s, and the creation of more permanent institutions to carry out these semi-secretive functions, particularly the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which was created in 1983.
Much of this effort was overseen by a senior CIA official, Walter Raymond Jr., who was moved to Reagan’s National Security Council’s staff where he managed a number of interagency task forces focused on “public diplomacy,” “psychological operations,” and “political action.”
Raymond, who had held top jobs in the CIA’s covert operations shop specializing in propaganda and disinformation, worked from the shadows inside Reagan’s White House, too. Raymond was rarely photographed although his portfolio of responsibilities was expansive. He brought into his orbit emerging “stars,” including Lt. Col. Oliver North (a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal), State Department propagandist (and now a leading neocon) Robert Kagan, and NED President Carl Gershman (who still heads NED with its $100 million budget).
Despite his camera avoidance, Raymond appears to have grasped his true importance. In his NSC files, I found a doodle of an organizational chart that had Raymond at the top holding what looks like the crossed handles used by puppeteers to control the puppets below them. The drawing fit the reality of Raymond as the behind-the-curtains operative who controlled various high-powered inter-agency task forces.
Earlier declassified documents revealed that Raymond also was the conduit between CIA Director William J. Casey and these so-called “pro-democracy” programs that used sophisticated propaganda strategies to influence not only the thinking of foreign populations but the American people, too.
This history is relevant again now amid the hysteria over alleged Russian “meddling” in last year’s U.S. presidential elections. If those allegations are true – and the U.S. government has still not presented any real proof – the Russian motive would have been, in part, payback for Washington’s long history of playing games with the internal politics of Russia and other countries all across the planet.
A Fight for Money
The newly released memos describe bureaucratic discussions about funding levels for The Asia Foundation (TAF), with the only sensitive topic, to justify the “secret” stamp, being the reference to the U.S. government’s intent to exploit TAF’s programs for “political action” operations inside Asian countries.
Indeed, the opportunity for “political action” under TAF’s cover appeared to be the reason why Reagan’s budget cutters relented and agreed to restore funding to the foundation.
William Schneider Jr. of the Office of Management and Budget wrote in a Sept. 2, 1982 memo that the Budget Review Board (BRB) had axed TAF funding earlier in the year.
“When the BRB last considered this issue on March 29, 1982, it decided not to include funding in the budget for a U.S. Government grant to TAF. The Board’s decision was based on the judgement that given the limited resources available for international affairs programs, funding for the Foundation could not be justified. During that March 29 meeting, the State Department was given the opportunity to fund TAF within its existing budget, but would not agree to do so.”
However, as Schneider noted in the memo to Deputy National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, “I now understand that a proposal to continue U.S. funding for the Asia Foundation is included in the ‘political action’ initiatives being developed by the State Department and several other agencies.
“We will, of course, work with you to reconsider the relative priority of support for the Foundation as part of these initiatives keeping in mind, however, the need for identifying budget offsets.”
A prime mover behind this change of heart appeared to be Walter Raymond, who surely knew TAF’s earlier status as a CIA “proprietary.” In 1966, Ramparts magazine exposed that relationship and led the Johnson administration to terminate the CIA’s money.
According to an April 12, 1967 memo from the State Department’s historical archives, CIA Director Richard Helms, responding to a White House recommendation, “ordered that covert funding of The Asia Foundation (TAF) shall be terminated at the earliest practicable opportunity.”
In coordination with the CIA’s “disassociation,” TAF’s board released what the memo described as “a carefully limited statement of admission of past CIA support. In so doing the Trustees sought to delimit the effects of an anticipated exposure of Agency support by the American press and, if their statement or some future expose does not seriously impair TAF’s acceptability in Asia, to continue operating in Asia with overt private and official support.”
The CIA memo envisioned future funding from “overt U.S. Government grants” and requested guidance from the White House’s covert action oversight panel, the 303 Committee, for designation of someone “to whom TAF management should look for future guidance and direction with respect to United States Government interests.”
Read More @ TheAntiMedia.com
Google CEO: ‘Full Extent’ Of Russian Meddling In 2016 Was $4,700 Spent On Ads
by Chris Menahan, Information Liberation:
Imagine being so stupid you think our entire system could be swayed by a group of Russians allegedly spending a few million dollars in the 2016 election but Hillary Clinton’s backers spending over $1 billion had little to no effect.
From Sputnik:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that the “full extent” of so-called Russian meddling activity that took place on the platform during all of 2016 was $4,700 spent on some digital advertisements.
Continuity of Agenda: Trump’s “Fire and Fury” Brewed Under Bush, Obama
by Tony Cartalucci, New Eastern Outlook:
The United States has issued a provocative threat to North Korea of “fire and fury.” Following it up, the Guardian would report in its article, “Trump on North Korea: maybe ‘fire and fury’ wasn’t tough enough threat,” further threats being made:
Donald Trump has issued another provocative warning to North Korea, suggesting that his threat to unleash “fire and fury” on the country was not “tough enough”.
The US president told reporters that North Korea “better get their act together or they’re going to be in trouble like few nations ever have been in trouble in this world”.
The Guardian never explores precisely what “trouble” was being referred to or the other “few nations” the US was hinting at.
However, the threats come amidst a barrage of familiar talking points, fearmongering, and fabrications that have proceeded all of America’s military aggression worldwide – most notably Iraq in which “intelligence” was intentionally fabricated to bait Americans and the world into a devastating war with that cost over 1 million lives, trillions of dollars, and the effects of which are still being felt both in Iraq and throughout the Middle East today.
The Conflict with Korea Didn’t Start Under Trump
The Guardian and others across the Western media fail to place these most recent threats by the US against North Korea into a larger context regarding US-Korean relations, which stretch back to post-World War II and the Korean War which – officially – is only observing a sometimes fragile armistice yet to be fully resolved.
The South Korean government, as noted by The Week’s article, “It’s time for the U.S. military to leave South Korea,” takes full advantage of America’s military presence, using its resources to influence Asia regionally instead of tending to its own defense against threats – real or imagined – from its northern neighbor.
More likely, this arrangement is preferred by the US who uses the client regime occupying Seoul as a vector and proxy for US influence and policy throughout Asia, much in the same way it manipulates and interferes in the Middle East through proxies like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, and Turkey.
In order to justify and perpetuate America’s presence not only on the Korean Peninsula, but in Asia itself, the US and its South Korean partners have repeatedly and intentionally encircled and provoked North Korea – not only in terms of rhetoric and in the form of military drills – but through active attempts to infiltrate and overthrow the government.
Ongoing Attempts at Destabilization and Regime Change
The US State Department through fronts posing as charities and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have attempted to flood North Korea with media aimed at undermining political stability in the country.
Under a program called “Flashdrives for Freedom,” the government and corporate-funded Human Rights Foundation along with Forum280 – a front headed by former members of the US State Department – smuggled 20,000 USB drives into North Korea.
As noted by the Guardian in its article, “Flashdrives for freedom? 20,000 USBs to be smuggled into North Korea,” it was not the first program of its kind undertaken by the US government through various fronts.
While mere allegations of nations like Russia or China attempting to influence the political landscape in the US have been labeled as clear and present threats to US national security, the US openly carries out similar operations, worldwide, including against North Korea.
When these nations react, the US cites it as an unprovoked act of aggression – further fueling its subversive actives abroad. As subversion expands to crippling economic sanctions, the resulting humanitarian crisis is likewise blamed on the targeted nation, opening up new “pretexts” for US intervention abroad.
Activities targeting North Korea have been ongoing for years – predating the Trump administration.
US aspirations to undermine and overthrow North Korea’s political order can be cited in a 2009 policy paper published by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a US-based policy think tank representing the collective interests of some of the most powerful corporate-financier interests on Earth.
The 2009 paper titled, “Preparing for Sudden Change in North Korea,” would explore the possibility of invading and occupying North Korea if sufficient chaos could be created amid the nation’s military and civilian leadership. It would go as far as proposing a 460,000-strong troop deployment and an ambitious socioeconomic and political program to integrate North Korea with the US-dominated client regime in neighboring South Korea.
It is a program that represents a windfall of opportunities not only for South Korean firms, but for Wall Street – who funds the CFR’s policymaking activities – as well. It would represent an opportunity to transform North Korea into another strong Asian economy, but one in which trade barriers between Koreans and US firms would be deterred by an immense and permanent US military occupation – not unlike attempts the US made in the wake of the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq under the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).
For US President Donald Trump, his rhetoric is not the result of an independent conclusion he and his cabinet have drawn regarding legitimate national security threats to the United States, but instead a continuation of long-established objectives preceding his administration and determined by unelected special interests pursuing regime change in North Korea for decades.
Continuity of Agenda
It is clear that since post-World War II, the United States has sought to reestablish its presence and influence throughout Asia, and even expand it.
The Vietnam War fought between the 1950’s and 1970’s was not only an attempt to maintain Western hegemony over Indochina, but admittedly an attempt to ultimately encircle and contain China. Within the so-called “Pentagon Papers” released in 1969, it was revealed that the conflict was one part of a greater strategy aimed at containing and controlling China.
Three important quotes from these papers reveal this strategy. It states first that:
…the February decision to bomb North Vietnam and the July approval of Phase I deployments make sense only if they are in support of a long-run United States policy to contain China.
It also claims:
China—like Germany in 1917, like Germany in the West and Japan in the East in the late 30′s, and like the USSR in 1947—looms as a major power threatening to undercut our importance and effectiveness in the world and, more remotely but more menacingly, to organize all of Asia against us.
Finally, it outlines the immense regional theater the US was engaged in against China at the time by stating:
…there are three fronts to a long-run effort to contain China (realizing that the USSR “contains” China on the north and northwest): (a) the Japan-Korea front; (b) the India-Pakistan front; and (c) the Southeast Asia front.
The Pentagon Papers in fact provide for us today the context with which to properly view current tensions in Asia Pacific.
The US is still currently and deeply engaged in each and every front described in the Pentagon Papers.
It has military forces occupying Afghanistan, bordering China to the west, is occupying and provoking conflict to China’s east along the Japan-Korea front, and is deeply involved in attempts to overthrow and replace political orders across Southeast Asia to create a united front against Beijing.
https://journal-neo.org/2017/08/13/continuity-of-agenda-trumps-fire-and-fury-brewed-under-bush-obama/
Read More @ Journal-NEO.org
Mainstream media acknowledges China will likely compel Saudi’s to sell oil in RMB, causing major hit to dollar and Petrodollar
by Kenneth Schortgen, The Daily Economist:
In an interview on CNBC on Oct. 11, economist Carl Weinberg told the business network that China is going to compel Saudi Arabia to sell them their oil in the Yuan currency, which will have a serious consequence to the dollar and the Petrodollar system.
Beijing is likely to “compel” Saudi Arabia to sell crude oil in yuan, and others will follow, according to the chief economist and managing director at High Frequency Economics Carl Weinberg. This will hit the US dollar, he says.
In an interview with CNBC Weinberg said China has become a key player in the oil market since overtaking the US to become the world’s largest importer.
Saudi Arabia has “to pay attention to this because even as much as one or two years from now, Chinese demand will dwarf US demand,”Weinberg told the media.
“I believe that yuan pricing of oil is coming and as soon as the Saudis move to accept it — as the Chinese will compel them to do — then the rest of the oil market will move along with them,” he added.
A 1974 agreement between US President Richard Nixon and Saudi King Faisal meant Riyadh has been accepting dollars for all its oil exports.
However, recently, countries like China and Russia have been looking to exclude the greenback from bilateral oil trade. Russia and Saudi Arabia are the most significant exporters of oil to China, alternating in top spot.
China has already said it wants to start a crude oil futures contract priced in yuan and convertible into gold. – Russia Today
Read More @ TheDailyEconomist.com
John Rubino – Paris is Burning and So is Europe
by Kerry Lutz, Financial Survival Network:
John Rubino is back, and just when you thought it was safe to go outside, there’s major rioting in Paris and other European cities. Is this a case of they’re mad as hell and not gonna take it any more or have we reached a tipping point. Elections seem to produce the most unlikely of candidates who say many things but do the same old stuff once they arrive in office. What’s an Austrian Economist to do? And what about Trump and Xi, a match made in Hades. It’s okay because as a charming economist once said, somewhat seriously, In the long run we’re all dead.
Click HERE to Listen
Chief of Russian Military Intelligence Tied To Novichok Poisoning & Downing Of MH17 Dies After Being Blasted By Putin – 2nd To Die In 2 Years
by Tim Brown, Freedom OutPost:
Two heads of Russian military dying within 2 years and no specifics on their deaths? Furthermore, the surrounding controversy over what they were tied to makes this even more interesting, don’t you think?
Colonel-General Igor Korobov received a verbal thrashing from Russian President Vladimir Putin over his handling of the Noivchok poisoning in the United Kingdom, according to reports, even while Russia has denied being responsible for the attack. Shortly thereafter, he died.
According to the Daily Star, Igor Korobox, 63, was said to have died on Wednesday.
The word came from Russia’s defence ministry.
What To Expect From The Fed This Wednesday
by Chris Marcus, Miles Franklin:
Much of the attention in the financial markets this week will be focused on the Federal Reserve’s upcoming meeting on Wednesday. Where it’s widely assumed that the Fed will raise its short-term interest rate target by 25 basis points.
So why is this particular meeting so interesting?
Primarily because the market’s reaction will likely offer valuable insight into how the next stage of the current bubble cycle unfolds.
Interest rates on the benchmark 10-year U.S. treasury have risen from approximately 2% in September of 2017 to the current level of 2.85%. Largely in response to the Fed’s gradual increase in short-term interest rates and their unwinding of the balance sheet (which at least according to data on the Fed’s website does appear to actually be occurring).
GOLDEN SLINGSHOT: Gold Is In The Early Stages Of A Parabolic Up-Trend
from Silver Doctors:
Gold is likely to surprise a bunch of people with a break-out above $1400, and then gold is expected to accelerate dramatically. Here’s why…
by Clive Maund via Streetwise Reports
Gold has been turned back so many times in recent years from the strong resistance approaching the $1,400 level, that most investors have now been well trained, like Pavlov’s dog, to expect it like clockwork, and as we know, it is just when this mindset prevails that gold is likely to surprise the majority by actually breaking out above this level.
Lead Fraudster Of Fraudulent JP Morgan Says Bitcoin Is A Fraud?
by Jeff Berwick, The Dollar Vigilante:
Bitcoin and virtually all of the cryptocurrencies have had a very sizeable, and much needed and expected pullback this week.
There have been two main focal points for the pullback.
Rumors and speculation of a Chinese government attack against the free market have caused most of the consternation.
But, secondly, and most laughably, were comments from Jamie Demon (they spell it Dimon so as to not be too obvious about his backing), the lead fraudster of the virulently fraudulent company, JP Morgan, who said that bitcoin is a “fraud!”
This, coming from a man whose entire industry, of banking, is based on the fraud of fractional reserve banking which is only made “legal” by the fraud of government which is based solely on extortion, which they call taxation.
And, based on a currency, which is created by the fraudulent Federal Reserve which is a central bank which is a tenet of communism and is an outright ponzi scheme whose sole purpose is to impoverish nearly everyone in society and to enrich the 0.00001{5f621241b214ad2ec6cd4f506191303eb2f57539ef282de243c880c2b328a528}.
So, to have Jamie Demon say that bitcoin, which is just math, is a fraud, comes at the height of incredulity.
Not to mention, this is no different than the CEO of Barnes and Noble calling Amazon.com a fraud for the pure fact that it has technologically innovated Barnes and Noble into the dustbin of history… as bitcoin, or at least cryptocurrencies, as a whole, will soon relegate central banking and fiat currencies.
Just look at the US dollar from the cryptocurrencies point of view and you can see that it is the Federal Reserve Note, not bitcoin, which is the fraud.
If the US dollar were a cryptocurrency it would be the one called the fraud.
The US dollar has/is:
No max cap. In other words, it can be inflated to infinity… as opposed to bitcoin which has a hard limit of 21 million bitcoins that will ever be created.
Pre-mined. One of the death knells of a cryptocurrency is that it is pre-mined. In general, this means that the creators of the currency create the currency and give it to themselves before allowing others to purchase it. This is the height of fraud in the cryptocurrency space but this how all US dollars are created. They are pre-mined by the Federal Reserve before they are allowed to “trickle down” to the rest of us poor slaves.
No transparency. Unlike bitcoin, the US dollar has very little transparency as to where it came from and which potentially criminal organization, like the US federal government, IRS or any of the other three letter agencies it has flowed through.
Not backed by cryptography. While bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies have proof of ownership through very secure cryptography the owner of “dollars” can be anyone who is friends with the Federal Reserve.
Not open source. Unlike bitcoin, which anyone in the world can review their code, the dollar is not open source and therefore all manner of fraud can be perpetrated in the system.
You don’t control your private keys. With bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies you hold complete control of your currency by holding your private keys. With dollars, any criminal government agency or the central bank can take control of your dollars at any time.
Not voluntary. While using and owning bitcoin is completely voluntary, usage and acceptance of US dollars are backed by violence. If you do not accept dollars you can and will be kidnapped and thrown in a cage. Should you try to escape you most likely will be killed.
So, which currency is the “fraud” again?
Or is it more likely that Jamie sees bitcoin as a serious risk to his criminal business model?
After all, JP Morgan filed a patent – which is also a criminal act to use violence against others using your ideas – for a “bitcoin killer” competitor to bitcoin in 2013.
Things aren’t going all that well for the US dollar, after all. Year-to-date, this has been the worst performance for the US dollar from January to September since 1986.
Read More @ TheDollarVigilante.com
