US INTERVENTIONS SINCE WWII, A THREAD:

This is going to be an expansive, elaborate thread on foreign interventions since 1945, I cannot include all of course, as there would be simply too many, but here are a few major ones that need attention. Buckle up (1/)

The Philippines, 1940s and 1950s: (1//)

The Huks (Hukbalahap, "People's Army Against Japan") were a Filipino communist resistance army that was under attack by US guerrilla forces, in tandem with Filipino collaborators. The Huks had two main goals (2/)

(2//) The first was land reform, which was deemed necessary in the Philippines' largely agricultural society. The other goal was industrialization. The US forces in the Philippines continuously thwarted these efforts to provide American industries a veritable playin ground (3/)

(3//) In this time, the Filipino government was barred from purchasing firearm power from any other contractor than the US, per a military assistance pact. In September 1950, Lt. Col. Edward G. Lansdale arrived in the Philippines to employ new warfare tactics (4/)

(4//) His team conducted research of superstitions and lore within the Filipino peasantry. In one instance, Lansdale's team flew aircraft over Huk regions, broadcasting curses upon the villagers in Tagalog, to terrify the people. Mental warfare became key (5/)

(5//) In a specific instance, the team weaponized the tale of the asuang, a mythical vampire that was believed to be living in the hills. They abducted Huk fighters, poked holes in their necks and hung them upside down until they lost their blood (6/)

(6//) This led to fear of the villagers that the asuang was on the loose, ultimately playing into the people's fears to destabilize them mentally. The military would drug opposition leaders before they were to give speeches, such that they appeared incoherent (7/)

(7/7/) This was notably performed on incumbent president Elpido Quirino, giving people more confidence in Ramon Magsaysay, cooperative former defense department head and US controlled puppet. Magsaysay won his election in 1953, giving control back to the US (8/)

Iran, 1953: (1//)

After Mossadegh's success in the elections of 1953, the US prepared the coup of the populist president, under the instruction of Kermit Roosevelt of the CIA. The plan to do so was had come from the British first, as oil nationalization threatened profits (9/)

(2//) Despite the narrative, the Mossadegh government had even placated the Brits, offering to set aside 25% of net profits of oil operations. They simply wanted to take control of their oil companies back to the Iranian people. This took control out of Western contractors (10/)

(3//) Roosevelt later wrote about the coup, saying it was conducted for fears that the Iranian communist party (The Tudeh), backed by the USSR, would take control. The US replaced Mossadegh with puppet dictator The Shah, who was deemed "incapable of independent action" (11/)

(4//) Life under the Shah for the people was "a grim tableau of grinding poverty, police terror, and torture". Thousands of people were executed in the name of "fighting communism". The SAVAK, the Iranian secret police, arrested dissenters and spread terror (12/)

(5/5/) Eventually the Shah was forced into exile and Iran was once again isolated from Western control, to this day. It operates under a strict theocratic government, for the fear of Western infiltration and/or insurrection. The rest is history (13/)

Syria, 1956-1957: (1//)

The governments of Syria were inherently conservative, refusing to nationalize American companies; regardless, US officials suffered from what was called "anti communist paranoia", in which there was a popular leftward trend rising (14/)

(2//) A leftward insurrection was just over the horizon. The masses were prepared to fight for control, and four shifts in government control reflected leftward shifts as well. The Arab Socialist Resurrectionist Party (ASRP) and the Communist Party of Syria were popular (15/)

(3//) "A leftist oriented or communist dominated Syrian government, reasoned the US ambassador to Syria, James Moose Jr., would clearly threaten American interests in neighboring Turkey, which, in turn, could outflank all the states of the NATO alliance" (16/)

(4/4/) The coup was scheduled for October 25, 1956. The goal was simply to seize Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, and Hamah, key positions from the inside to force leftists into submission and squash the leftist movement. The coup was pushed to Oct 30, as the people weren't ready (17/)

The Soviet Union, late 1940s to 1960s: (1//)

In the late 1940s, the US military, CIA NSA began regularly sending aircraft along the borders of the USSR to collect visual, photographic and electronic data of the military or industrial nature, of their nuclear capability (18/)

(2//) On May 1, 1960, an American U-2 fighter, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, was shot down in Soviet territory. The US insisted that the USSR was downing aircraft over territory not controlled by them, particularly the Sea of Japan (20/)

(3//) US Air Force retiree Col. L. Fletcher Prouty, suggested in his book "The Secret Team" that the CIA and its colleagues sabotaged the U-2 flight, in a deliberate effort to escalate Cold War tensions. The US would not stop there, testing out further destabilizing efforts (19/)

(4/4/) When the wind was right, US intel would drop anti communist leaflets over the USSR. The CIA would tap into radio frequencies to blast anti communist narratives to anyone who could hear them. One of the collaborators in this radio effort was Stanislaw Stankievich (20/)

Cuba, 1959 to the 1980s: (1//)

Let's begin with the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US positioned nuclear weapons in Turkey, neighboring the USSR, under the narrative that it was to "strengthen the NATO defense and nothing more". The USSR responded with weapons in Cuba (21/)

(2//) The narrative used was that "the American and French revolutions were good, the Cuban one bad", seemingly why many people left Cuba after. However, some 100,000 people left the American colonies after the revolution, as they would not abide by the changes (22/)

(3/3/) Efforts to delegitimize Castro included over 600 assassination attempts, using LSD in cigars to make him incoherent, exploding cigars, contracting undercover women to seduce him etc. All would fail, and the country would remain sovereign (23/)

Iraq, 1972-1975: (1//)

In 1973, Kissinger sent a cable to the Kurds, which read "We do not repeat not consider it advisable for you to undertake the offensive military actions that Israel has suggested to you" in response to Israel's request the Kurds carry them out (24/)

(2/2/) The Kurds, weaponized by Israel and the West, were under vicious attack by Iraq, who had nationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company, a move applauded by the soviets. The Kurds were double crossed by the Shah's Iran and the west (25/)

Jamaica, 1976-1980: (1//)

During the 1972 election, American Ambassador to Jamaica, Vincent de Roulet, promised prime minister Manley that the US would not interfere in elections if the Manley would not make the nationalization of industry a campaign promise (26/)

(2//) Manley was a democratic socialist, and desired Jamaica to be just that. CIA officer James Holt was credibly accused of contriving a plot to turn the military against Manley's People's National Party. The press attacked the government (27/)

(3/3/) In 1977, Carter took power and immediately took a less interventionist approach, and interference with Jamaica was tempered. The CIA never respected Manley's urge to "let him be", to leave Jamaica alone. He lost in 1980 to the Jamaican establishment (28/)

Bulgaria, 1990: (1//)

The communist party won the election of 1990, crushing anti communist beliefs that the collapse of the USSR would cause a domino effect. They demanded there was a mistake, which drew the attention of the US and its interests (29/)

(2//) The National Endowment for Democracy pumped $2 million into Bulgaria to influence the outcome of the election, the equivalent of the US taking $50 million from a foreign power to bribe election results. Students were among those who received money from the NED (30/)

(3//) The bribes led them to lead student strikes against communist parties of Bulgaria, artificially drawing attention to their position. Communist officials began to resign in response to new manufactured narratives. Movements to topple Lukanov grew. He resigned (31/)

(4/4/) The current economic situation of Bulgaria may have proven to these "rioters" the true nature of their ideology. Freely-rising prices, scrapping of subsidies on basic goods and utilities, shortages, and IMF and World Bank demands. Chaos (32/)

I am going to end this thread here. There are many more examples, but I am simply unable to list them all here. I can compile a complete list though, and put it out separately. Hope this was helpful! (33/33)