A COLD WAR

Part two of our recent chat with James Shone about Taiwan. Don't forget to check out this new podcast about the history of Taiwan - https://taiwanthroughtime.com/. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We were recently invited by Paul Giordano, a listener of this show, to give a lecture to the kids studying the Cold War at EF Academy in NY where Paul is the Humanities Department Chair. We spoke for about 40 minutes then did some Q&A with the very bright kids in his class. This is a recording of our Zoom call. We're available for more school lectures, kids' parties, wedding and bar mitzvahs. Lear...

The backdrop to the early stages of the Korean War was a US Presidential election which Truman was expected to lose. He also survived his second assassination attempt, this time by Puerto Rican nationalists. The first assassination attempt was by Zionist terrorists. Back in North Korea, China and the US fight over the Chosin Reservoir, aka the Battle of Lake Changjin. Learn more about your ad choi...

In 1949, the Kuomintang retreated from mainland China to the island of Formosa, now known as Taiwan. Ownership of Taiwan would become a major issue during the Cold War, and continues to be a cause of regional tensions, as well as China-US tensions, today. Joining us to talk about it today is James Shone, a teacher who has lived and worked in Taiwan for over a decade. He’s recently started a podcas...

Okay - no more foreplay. By early November 1950, Macarthur thought he had the Chinese scared and on the run and he continued his push to the Manchurian border, aka “the Home-by-Christmas Offensive”, assuring his troops they would all be home by Christmas. Little did he know that his 150,000 men were advancing unwittingly into 300,000 Chinese troops and 80,000 North Korean remnants and guerrillas....

For many years, China’s big bad had been the Kuomintang. As MacArthur and the US/UN forces continued to ignore their warnings about their occupation of North Korea, the USA very quickly became the new Chinese enemy number one. But not all of the Chinese leadership believed they were ready to go to war with the US. Lin Biao, one of the heroes of the revolution, turned down Mao’s request to lead the...

The Chinese sent the US and UN enough warnings that they wouldn’t idly stand by and allow forces to march into North Korea in 1950. But the US refused to listen. Their arrogance and racist worldview made it impossible to listen. Bizarrely, they interpreted Chinese warnings and probes in October as simply evidence of weakness and reluctance to fight. And while most Americans today know little about...

The point of the Wake Island conference, from Truman’s perspective, was to help Douglas MacArthur to understand who was giving the orders. And Dougie Mac understood perfectly. HE WAS. Still convinced the Chinese weren't going to give him any trouble, MacArthur pushed his troops closer to the Chinese border. When Mao attacked in late October, he decimated American and ROK troops. When they managed...

Without permission from the UNSC, the US and ROK forces crossed the 38th parallel. The Truman Administration ordered MacArthur to keep the crossing a secret. He ignored them and broadcast it publicly. He had them by the balls and they knew it. Truman ordered MacArthur to meet with him on Wake Island so he would know who the boss was. MacArthur knew all too well - he was. Learn more about your ad c...

This is part two of our recent interview with Michael Holzman, author of the new book: SPIES AND TRAITORS - Kim Philby, James Angleton and the Friendship and Betrayal That Would Shape MI6, the CIA and the Cold War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is part one of a two-part interview with Michael Holzman, author of the new book: SPIES AND TRAITORS - Kim Philby, James Angleton and the Friendship and Betrayal That Would Shape MI6, the CIA and the Cold War Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While MacArthur plans his Inchon invasion, Stalin and Nehru are trying to negotiate a peace deal, but it was rejected by the USA. The KPA are setting up people’s democratic committees in the South while they have a chance. But then MacArthur’s landing at Inchon goes more smoothly than anyone could have imagined - mostly because the North had already been decimated. MacArthur goes back to Tokyo, co...

American soldiers slaughter hundreds of innocent civilians at No Gun Ri, then deny it for 50 years. Lieutenant Eugene Clark does some brass balls recon of Inchon ahead of Dougie Mac’s big landing, aka “Operation Common Knowledge”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While Australian Mustangs are supporting - and sometimes killing - the Americans troops in Korea, an Australian journalist prevents war crimes by the South against prisoners. The North, who see the South as collaborators and traitors, also commit atrocities, as do the Americans. The British government finally and reluctantly send a token force, which gets insulted by the Americans as soon as they...

More and more US troops landed in Korea in July-August 1950, only to get immediately crushed by the North. The segregated African-American unit, the 24th infantry of the 25th division, got special criticism for their inability to stand their ground. Yet the US/UN troops were actually killing a lot of KPA troops. Meanwhile Rhee’s ROK men were forcing young South Koreans at gunpoint to join the army...

The next US unit to face the North Koreans was the 34th infantry - 1981 men, but still no tanks, no anti-tank weapons. Did the US learn from their first disaster in Korea? Meanwhile, on 10 July, Dougie Mac was formally appointed Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Command - despite the UN wanting someone else for the job. A US General gets captured by the North Koreans… and learns to like kim...

The first US troops to engage the North Koreans was “Task Force Smith” as the Battle of Osan. They were sent in there by MacArthur to deliver “an arrogant display of strength.” It was a complete disaster. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MacArthur recommends “the full utilization” of the US military to Korea and Truman approves. Although the UK was completely and utterly broke, they agreed to get involved, even though privately they didn’t buy the American claim that Kim’s was taking orders from Moscow. And they were worried that the Americans might want to drop another atomic bomb. According to one senior US military officer: “Al...

Gen Douglas MacArthur, the “American Caesar”, was a rabid Christian who believed it was his personal mission in life to crush communism and help the United States dominate world affairs. A complete narcissist, he enjoyed the company of prostitutes and sycophants, and ran Japan like a shogun. By 1950, he was 70 years old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back to the Korean War. We start with a quick re-cap of previous episodes to remind us what happened. After the North attacked the South on June 25, 1950, the US pulled together a coalition (of sorts) of countries to defend the South, lead by 70-year-old General Douglas MacArthur. Truman told the British prime minister, Clement Attlee, “The only way to meet communism is to eliminate it.” Learn mor...

We're joined by Richard Lim from the "This American President" podcast to talk about Truman and his Cold War decisions. It gets a little... tense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles personified the “Soviets As Evil” mindset. They were the classic examples of the American Cold War paradigm. Upper class political blue bloods, fundamentalist Christians, who were big business lawyers, hated Communism, and who set out to remake the map of the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beetle Smith’s last act as CIA director is to come up with the idea of a CIA “Murder Board”. After Eisenhower is elected POTUS, the new CIA director is Allen Dulles, brother of the new Sec of State, John Foster Dulles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1951, the CIA spent $100 million buying arms and ammunition to support 200,000 Chinese anti-communist guerrillas who were going to fight against Mao. The only problem was - the guerrillas didn’t exist. Then, to counter the rising problem of double agents in their ranks, the CIA set up secret torture prisons in Germany, Japan, and Panama. It was in Panama that the CIA started Project Artichoke....

In 1951, the CIA’s budget was ballooning out of control to fund it’s massive covert operations which were all complete disasters. But they were secret disasters, so nobody, not even Congress or the President, let alone the general public, ever heard about most of them. While the CIA happily sent thousands of Koreans and Chinese agents to their deaths, they reported back to Washington that everythi...