In our last post, we highlighted the 1951 “Peace” Treaty between the Allies and Japan, an agreement which falsely maintained that Japan had not stolen any wealth from the nations it occupied during World War II and that the (already) booming nation was bankrupt and would not be able to pay reparations to the slave laborers and “comfort women” it had pressed into service during the conflict. In the context of the fantastic sums looted by Japan under the auspices of Golden Lily and the incorporation of that wealth with Nazi Gold to form the Black Eagle Trust, that 1951 treaty and the advent of the Korean War raise some interesting, unresolved questions. One of the principal figures in the looting of occupied Asia during World War II was the remarkable Kodama Yoshio. Networked with the powerful Yakuza Japanese organized crime milieu, the Black Dragon society (the most powerful of the patriotic and ultra-nationalist societies), the Imperial Japanese military and the Royal family of Emperor Hirohito, Kodama looted the Chinese underworld and trafficked in narcotics with Chiang Kai-shek’s fascist narco-dictatorship. We can but wonder about Kodama Yoshio’s presence along with 1951 “Peace” Treaty author John Foster Dulles at negotiations in Seoul on the eve of the outbreak of the Korean War. ” . . . . In October of 1949, the People’s Republic of China came into being. Eight months later, in June of 1950, the Korean War broke out. Just before the war began, Kodama [Yoshio] accompanied John Foster Dulles to negotiations in Seoul. The Dulles party also included Kodama’s protege Machii Hisayuki, boss of the Korean yakuza in Japan. Efforts to discover under Freedom of Information what Kodama and Machii did during the trip with Dulles have run into a stone wall. In the MacArthur Memorial archive we discovered a personal letter from Kodama to General MacArthur offering to provide thousands of yakuza and former Japanese Army soldiers to fight alongside American soldiers in Korea. According to sources in Korea and Japan, the offer was accepted and these men joined the Allied force on the Peninsula, posing as Korean soldiers. . . . ”
Introduction: Continuing our analysis of the frightening events occurring in Korea, these programs detail the attempts by South Korean president Yoon to establish martial law, including apparent false flag attacks on South Korean politicians, as well as American installations and personnel.
Important discussion concerns the apparent launching of hostilities in the Korean War by South Korea, thereby luring the North into a well-laid trap. Of paramount importance in this context is the fact that General Kim Suk-won (who fought for Japan during World War II) was in charge off the border forces for Syngman Rhee’s forces:
. . . . He [John Gunther] says that “two important members of the occupation” went along on the excursion to Nikko and that “just before lunch” one of them “was called unexpectedly to the telephone.” He came back and whispered, ‘A big story has just broken. South Korea has attacked North Korea.’” . . . .
. . . . In the early morning hours of June 25, 1950, South Korea’s Office of Public Information reported a South Korean military attack on the border city of Haeju, which North Korea confirmed but South Korea later retracted.
On June 25, 1950, South Korean troops had provoked the Korean War by crossing into the DPRK at several points along the 38th parallel and intruding 1 to 2 kilometers into the DPRK.
Of paramount importance is John Foster Dulles’ use of the Korean War to resuscitate the Axis powers of WWII in order to use them in the Cold War”: . . . . Dulles feared that peace would fatally interfere with the plan to rebuild the old Axis powers for a new anti-Soviet crusade. . . .”
Key Elements of Discussion and Analysis Include: Discussion of Yoon’s presidential bodyguard (formed by Japanese collaborator Park Chung-Hee) helped block his arrest; The “Stop the Steal/MAGA” resonance between the Trump forces in the U.S. and Yoon’s backers in Korea; The South Korean intelligence service’s backing of the Ukrainian intelligence agency’s allegation that North Korean soldiers were fighting in Kursk; Detailed analysis from the Moon of Alabama blog casting serious doubt on the veracity of the Ukrainian/South Korean/U.S. allegation about North Korean soldiers fighting in Russia; Indications that it was South Korea that attacked the North first, thereby luring the North into a strategic trap; Review of General Kim Suk-Won’s role as commander of border forces for Syngman Rhee; Discussion of the critical strategic gains the Korean War provided to the West; Discussion of the cornering of the soybean market by political allies of Chiang Kai-shek on the eve of outbreak of the war; The revival of the UN Command structure and its auguring of the possibility of the resumption of hostilities; Review of material from FTR#1142; Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty’s recounting of a decision to launch hostilities against Communist nations arrived at pursuant to the Cairo Conference of 1943; Prouty’s recounting of the Okinawa harbor master’s statement that the military equipment stockpiled on that island in preparation for the invasion of Japan would be divided between Korea and Indochina (directly foreshadowing the wars that would be fought there in 1950 and 1965; The U.S.-backed assassination of Korean patriot Kim Koo, who advocated for a reunification of Korea; The meeting of John Foster Dulles, Kodama Yoshio and Korean Yakuza leader Machii Hisayuki in Seoul on the eve of the outbreak of the war; The use of yakuza and Japanese veterans of WWII as soldiers fighting in South Korean uniforms during the war; The Japanese political view that the Korean War was “a gift from the gods.”
Introduction: These programs set forth developments in Korea, past and present. FTR#1368 relies heavily on excerpts from FTR#1141, setting forth the history of Japan’s centuries-long looting of Korea, culminating in its brutal colonization. Following the end of World War II, the Japanese influence in Korea remained dominant.
That influence derives from the preeminent position in Korean society of collaborators with Japan during its decades-long occupation.
Those collaborators dominated the military, police, political culture and corporate life of South Korea.
A key person involved in cementing the Japanese dominance over post-World War II Korea is Nobusuke Kishi, whose rise to prominence took place during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria.
The Japanese dominance of South Korea is a significant factor in President Yoon’s recent attempts at declaring martial law, staging provocations to justify his actions and (apparently) using false-flag attacks on U.S. military personnel and installations in an attempt at re-starting the Korean War.
Key Points of Analysis and Discussion Include: The tactic of tarring all opponents of the sitting regime as “communists”–a tactic that dates to the Japanese occupation of Korea; eventual Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s role in drawing the 38th Parallel as the dividing line between the Koreas; Rusk’s position as a key member of the China Lobby; General Kim Suk-won’s role as a key Japanese officer during World War II, as well as his position as the commander of Syngman Rhee’s border forces; Japanese-occupied Manchuria as a dominant producer of opium and heroin for the global market and Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang.
Introduction: These programs continue (from FTR#‘s 1349 & 1350) exploration of the history of U.S. involvement with Asian fascism from the pre-World War II period until the present.
Critical background information on U.S. capital support for Japanese fascism and Japan’s centuries-long subjugation of Korea may be found in FTR#‘s 905 and 1141.
These broadcasts supplement FTR#‘s 509, 1107 and 1108.
Significant sections of the latter two broadcasts are recapped in these programs and this description.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include:
1.–Iris Chang’s mother, Ying-Ying Chang, could not rule out the “dark conspiracy” that Iris was facing. Ying-Ying’s point of view was shaped, in part, by Steven Clemons’ observations.
2.–In an appendix titled “Requiem for Iris Chang,” Steven Clemons noted the alleged “suicide” of his associate Juzo Itami, who was battling the same forces as Iris Chang. “I have never bought the story about Juzo Itami, who was at war in his films with the Japanese right-wing crowd and yakuza.”
3.–Iris’ best-known work, “The Rape of Nanking”, inspired a congressional resolution supporting Japanese compensation for those who had been compelled to labor as slaves and slave prostitutes or “comfort women.”
4.–Iris was working on a book and documentary film project about the survivors of the Bataan Death March. Some of those veterans had been used as slave laborers by Japanese corporations during the war. The Bataan Death March veterans were among those who sued the Japanese corporations that had enslaved them.
5.–The presiding judge ruled against the veterans and for the Japanese corporations. On the day of Iris’ “suicide” Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was meeting with Japanese businessmen to promote California-Japanese trade.
6.–In early September of 2001, Iris spoke at a conference assembled to protest the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the U.S./Japanese treaty of 1951 (negotiated by John Foster Dulles). Iris called “the San Francisco Peace Treaty a travesty of justice, a betrayal of our own American veterans.” Recall the congressional resolution passed in the aftermath of, and because of The Rape of Nanking.
7.–After watching a spirited discussion between Iris and the Japanese ambassador to the U.S., a friend of Iris’ father advised her to hire a bodyguard.
8.–As will be noted at greater length below, Iris was very critical of the George W. Bush administration and had written several articles critical of his policies.
9.–Iris was very critical of the George W. Bush administration, and had taken stances against many features of his foreign policy, Bush’s invasion of Iraq in particular. Iris had long opposed all forms of racism in this country.
10.–Sadly, many of those close to Iris dismissed her fears concerning the government’s targeting of her and the overlapping ideological animosity and targeting of her by the Japanese right-wing. The historical and operational overlap between the two is fundamental and is explored in some of the material below.
11.–When she traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to interview survivors of the Bataan Death March, she felt she was under physical surveillance and harassment. We note below that Kentucky was a place where Bush confidant William Stamps Farish III had powerful connections.
12.–During her book tour for The Rape of Nanking, Iris was approached by someone she felt was recruiting her. He said “You will be safer to join us.” Was this and attempt at recruitment by the CIA?
13.–We repeat the information in #11, for purposes of emphasis.
14.–Iris was convinced to her dying day that she was the focal point of hostility from the Bush administration. A remake of the movie The Manchurian Candidate heightened her anxiety. Her articles critical of the Bush administration and, as we have and shall see, the overlapping dynamics of her work on The Rape of Nanking and Gold Warriors further deepened her peril. She first purchased a firearm for protection and was hoping that John Kerry would defeat Bush in 2004.
15.–Despite the fact that Iris’ corpse was found in her car in the early morning, her parents weren’t notified of her death until almost midnight. Why?
16.–Iris’ corpse was discovered early in the morning with her head against the driver’s side window, her hands crossed in her lap and the gun on her left leg. While not physically impossible, this is altogether unlikely for someone who had allegedly committed suicide by firing a powerful hand gun into her mouth. She felt that her problems were “external,” while those around her thought they were “internal,” i.e. “all in her head.”
17.–Same as 16.
18.–Iris’ ordeal was remarkably similar to what Rita Katz endured following her work on Operation Green Quest and the SAAR investigation.
19.–George W. Bush was pursuing Philippine Golden Lily loot in order to increase U.S. gold reserves and, perhaps more importantly, to fortify his blind trust. That trust was overseen by William Stamps Farish III, who had considerable political and economic gravitas in the state of Kentucky.
20.–Bush’s Harken Energy may well have served as a money laundering front, perhaps for some of the gold recovered in the Philippines. We note that a director of Harken, Talat Othman, interceded directly with then Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill on behalf of the targets of the 3/20/2002 raids. The SAAR network was a primary target of those raids: we have seen how Rita Katz and her fellow investigators came under surveillance and harassment for digging into that case.
21.–We revisit the deep politics of the Bush family, the family of Douglas MacArthur and William and Alan Quasha.
22.–More about the deep politics of the Philippines, the Bush family, father and son Quasha, and the possibility that Alan Quasha’s dominant presence in Harken Energy may be derivative of the clandestine acquisition of Golden Lily loot.
23.–The program concludes with review of the operations of Golden Lily and their involvement with things Iris was investigating. The Rape of Nanking marked the formal beginning of Golden Lily.
24.–Colonel Tsuji Masanobu was heavily involved with Golden Lily and the Bataan Death March, the survivors of which were a focal point of Iris Chang’s research at the time of her death.
Exploring a deep political, historical and economic dynamic, this program sets forth fundamental aspects of what the late, brilliant Sterling and Peggy Seagrave called “The Marcos Dynasty.”
This program excerpts two of their excellent books–which Mr. Emory emphatically recommends. There are links provided with each text excerpt to facilitate the acquisition of the books, which, again, Mr. Emory emphatically recommends.
Recently elected president of the Philippines (with close relatives of former president Duterte as aides), Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.—nicknamed Bong-Bong—has networked with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and renewed an invigorated, anti-China alliance.
Essential for an understanding of the Bong-Bong/Blinken liaison is awareness of Marcos, Jr.’s participation in his dictator father’s phenomenally lucrative recoveries of Golden Lily war gold secreted in the Philippines during World War II.
This subject is covered in the landmark text Gold Warriors by Sterling and Peggy Seagrave.
(FTR #‘s 427, 428, 446, 451, 501, 688, 689, 1106, 1107 & 1108 deal with the subject material of that consummately important book.)
Ferdinand, Sr.’s rise was aided by his “godfather,” Judge Chua, who was his biological father in an out-of-wedlock liaison. This was relatively common in the Philippines and not stigmatized as in many other societies.
Judge Chua’s position in the Chua family gave him great influence. In turn, the clan associations of Chinese in the Philippines were fundamental to the professional and social undertakings of members of that community.
Of great significance is the strong affiliation of the clans with the Kuomintang of Chiang Kai-shek, imparting a fascist ideological orientation to them. This was a major deep political influence on Ferdinand Marcos, Sr., the out-of-wedlock son of the influential Judge Chua.
Next, we present the deep political background that shaped Ferdinand Marcos and an exploration of the manner in which economic class considerations shaped alliances during the Japanese fascist occupation of the Philippines and its aftermath.
In FTR#‘s 905, 970, among other programs, we explored how the U.S. rehabilitated and resuscitated the Japanese fascist infrastructure from that nation’s World War II imperial state.
We have spoken of prominent Japanese fascists Sasakawa Ryoichi and Kodama Yoshio in numerous programs.
Combined with Chiang Kai-shek’s reactionary stance, those rehabilitated Japanese fascists constituted the critical foundation of America’s Cold War in Asia.
The MacArthur team in the Philippines during the Cold War was culled from the collaborationist milieu who worked with the Japanese during the occupation. This included the head of the Japanese occupation government, Jose Laurel, as well as Benigno Aquino Sr. and Manuel Roxas.
Following the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. the Philippine government was headed by Cory Aquino, the widow of slain CIA agent Benigno Aquino, Jr. and Salvador Laurel, the son of Jose Laurel.
Collaborator Manuel Roxas was MacArthur’s “favorite son” to manage postwar Philippine government.
The “Deep Politics” detailed by the brilliant Berkeley professor Peter Dale Scott in his opus “American War Machine” set forth the involvement Japanese war criminals Sasakawa Ryoichi and Kodama Yoshio in the Indonesian coup of 1965. That epic bloodletting saw the engineers of the event kill a million people (some put the toll as high as three million.) In addition to being prime movers behind the Unification Church, Sasakawa Ryoichi and Kodama Yoshio were lynchpins of the perpetuation of the operational foundation of Japanese fascism under the auspices of the LDP in the postwar period. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE.
Continuing our series on the regime of Chiang Kai-shek–all but beatified during the Cold War–we begin by drawing still more on a magnificent book–The Soong Dynasty by Sterling Seagrave.
Although sadly out of print, the book is still available through used book services, and we emphatically encourage listeners to take advantage of those and obtain it. Several listeners have said that they were able to obtain the book because it is still in print!
I hope so! PLEASE buy it, read it, and tell others about it, either through conventional means and/or through social media. (Mr. Emory gets no money from said purchases of the book.) It is apparently available from Amazon on Kindle.
We also draw on another, altogether remarkable work by Peggy and Sterling Seagrave–Gold Warriors.
As we approach the close of this series, we “dolly out” and present aspects of how U.S. policy in Asia during the Cold War grew directly out of the “missionary position” that America took toward China–a position that led directly to war in Korea and Vietnam.
Introducing the expansion of American experience with Chiang and his Kuomintang fascists into U.S. Cold War policy in Asia, we present Sterling Seagrave’s rumination about Stanley Hornbeck, a State Department flack who became: “. . . . the doyen of State’s Far Eastern Division. . . .”
Hornbeck “ . . . . had only the most abbreviated and stilted knowledge of China, and had been out of touch personally for many years. . . . He withheld cables from the Secretary of State that were critical of Chiang, and once stated that ‘the United States Far Eastern policy is like a train running on a railroad track. It has been clearly laid out and where it is going is plain to all.’ It was in fact bound for Saigon in 1975, with whistle stops along the way at Peking, Quemoy, Matsu, and the Yalu River. . . .”
Next, we recap an element of discussion from FTR#1208.
Networking with Isa Yusuf Alptekin at the Bandung (Indonesia) conference was Ruzi (or “Ruzy”) Nazar, an Uzbek national who fought in various Third Reich military formations, including the SS Dirlewanger Brigade. After the war, Nazar was a CIA operative networking with the National Action Party (or National Movement Party) of Alparslan Turkes.
Nazar represented the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations at the 1984 WACL conference in Dallas.
(We have discussed the de-stabilization of Xinjiang Province in numerous programs, including: FTR#‘s 1143, 1144, 1145. 1154, 1178, 1179, 1180.)
Adrian Zenz–whose professional milieu is the Captive Nations Committee and its subsidiary element the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation–has also been minted as an expert on Tibet.
Next, we detail information on the Dalai Lama:
Important background information on this item of the program is contained in FTR#‘s 547, 548 among other programs. (Mr. Emory mis-identified the numbers of the programs in the audio file for this broadcast.)
Key facts about the Dalai Lama were set forth by former key aides of his.
In addition to a belief in demons and a reliance on magic rituals (some of them sexual in nature), the Dalai Lama’s brand of Tantric Buddhism espouses a militant, warlike and intolerant nature toward other religions. As noted by the Trimondis, there are some similarities between this perverted manifestation of Buddhism and the Wahhabi/Muslim Brotherhood’s perverted manifestation of Islam.
The Dalai Lama’s brand of Tantric Buddhism contains what might be a viewed as “Buddhist jihadism.” In addition, the Trimondis take note of the significance of the Kalachakra Tantra ceremony performed by the Dalai Lama, a subject to which we will return later in the broadcast. In addition, Tantric Buddhism’s apocalyptic vision of a climactic war of the religions (“Shambala War”) bears some similarities to the fundamentalist Christian vision of Armageddon.
Key elements of discussion and analysis include:
1.–” . . . . In contrary to every democratic custom, the present Dalai Lama consults with the Nechung Oracle, a monk who is possessed by a Mongolian War God, on all-important state decisions. . . .”
2.–” . . . . Murderous super-weapons possessed by the Buddhist Shambhala Army are described at length and in enthusiastic detail in the Kalachakra Tantra Text (Shri Kalachakra I. 128 ‑142) and employed against ‘enemies of the Dharma (Buddha’s teachings).’ . . .”
3.–” . . . . The secret text of the Kalachakra explicitly names the ‘leaders’ of Judaism, Christianity and Islam as the opponents of Buddhism: ‘Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mani, Muhammad and the Mahdi’ describing them as ‘the family of the demonic snakes’ (Shri Kalachakra I. 154). . . .”
Next, the Trimondis note the influence of Tantric Buddhism (and other Eastern religions) on the philosophy of SS chief Heinrich Himmler. They also note that well-known German Buddhist teachers Durckheim and Herrigel have been doctrinaire Nazis. In addition, the Trimondis note that the Dalai Lama has maintained close connections with other Nazis and fascists over the years.
In addition to SS veterans Heinrich Harrer and war criminal Bruno Beger, the Dalai Lama networked with “the French SS- collaborator, convinced anti-Semite, recognized Orientalist and Kalachakra Tantra expert Jean Marques-Riviere (in his absence convicted and given the death sentence for turning Jews over to the Gestapo in France).” The Aum Shinrikyo guru Shoko Asahara was also a friend of the Dalai Lama and was influenced by the ideology of the Kalachakra Tantra. (For more about the Aum Shinrikyo cult, including the influence of Hitler on the Dalai Lama’s friend Shoko Asahara, see FTRs 35 and 69.)
Next, we review analysis of power broker–Kodama Yoshio who helped institutionalize the collaboration between Chinese KMT, Korean and Japanese fascists. Noteworthy, as well is Kodama’s close relationship between with the CIA and the Japanese Imperial family in the postwar/Cold War period.
Kodama Yoshio epitomizes and embodies the operational and ideological structure of the Asian People’s Anti-Communist League, the Asian branch of what was to become the World Anti-Communist League.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include: Kodama’s accumulated fortune of 13 billion dollars in World War II dollars; Kodama’s close relationship with Japanese Emperor Hirohito, who allowed him to stash some of his wealth in the Imperial Palace; Kodama’s dominant position in the narcotics traffic, during and after World War II; Kodama’s donation of 100 million dollars to the CIA (equivalent to 1 billion dollars in today’s currency); Kodama’s continued dominance in the global narcotics traffic, during the time he was on the CIA’s payroll; Kodama’s cozy relationship with Prince Higashikuni, Emperor Hirohito’s uncle, who facilitated Kodama’s operations, including his close relationship with the U.S.
Next, we review the brilliant Douglas Valentine’s synopsis of the role of Kuomintang drug trafficking in the institutionalization of American government drug-trafficking.
U.S. Ambassador to Thailand (and former OSS chief) William “Wild Bill” Donovan worked with OSS and CIA operative Paul Helliwell to distribute the laundered profits of Agency-backed drug operations to members of Congress, with Donovan gifting Republicans and Helliwell supporting Democrats.
” . . . .Thai dictator Phao Sriyanon, a drug trafficker who was then alleged to be the richest man in the world; ‘hired lawyer Paul Helliwell . . . as a lobbyist in addition to [former OSS chief William] Donovan [who in 1953–1955 was U.S. Ambassador to Thailand]. Donovan and Helliwell divided the Congress between them, with Donovan assuming responsibility for the Republicans and Helliwell taking the Democrats.’ . . . .”
Continuing our series on the regime of Chiang Kai-shek–all but beatified during the Cold War–we draw still more on a magnificent book–The Soong Dynasty by Sterling Seagrave.
Although sadly out of print, the book is still available through used book services, and we emphatically encourage listeners to take advantage of those and obtain it. Several listeners have said that they were able to obtain the book because it is still in print!
I hope so! PLEASE buy it, read it, and tell others about it, either through conventional means and/or through social media. (Mr. Emory gets no money from said purchases of the book.) It is apparently available from Amazon on Kindle.
We also draw on another, altogether remarkable work by Peggy and Sterling Seagrave–Gold Warriors.
When the failures of Chiang’s regime led to scorn toward, and pivoting away from the Nationalist Chinese cause, the amalgam of corporate, criminal, journalistic and political interests that had empowered the Kuomintang counterattacked: “ . . . . the Chiang government poured millions of dollars into a counteroffensive. Zealous Americans who joined the pro-Taiwan crusade became the fund-raisers, the organizers, the telephoners, the legmen, the gofers, the publicists, the congressmen, the tycoons, the hosts and hostesses of the shadowy society called ‘the China Lobby.’ Its management, its direction, and its primary finances were not American. The China Lobby belonged to the Soong clan and the Nationalist Chinese government. The people involved thought they were working for the greater glory of God, or for ‘the survival of the democratic system.’ They were really working for a Chinese public-relations campaign. . . . the Kungs and Soongs remained the primary pipeline connecting American special interests with Taiwan. Ai-ling and H.H. Kung, T.V. Soong and May-ling Soong Chiang devoted considerable energies to the lobby and sometimes gathered for strategy sessions at the Kung estate in Riverdale. . . .”
The domestic political result in the U.S. was summed by Sterling Seagrave: “ . . . . Small wonder that a large segment of the American public believed that Chiang was the essence of virtue and his cause was a joint one. Similar amounts were spent during the Korean War and the periodic crises over the defense of the Formosa Strait. Guesses at the grand total spent by Taiwan to stupefy Americans ran as high as $1 billion a year. . . .”
The unique nature of the manifest China Lobby was summed up: “ . . . . Marquis Childs wrote ‘. . . . Nationalist China has used the techniques of direct intervention on a scale rarely, if ever, seen.’ Part of the campaign was to pour gasoline on the McCarthy witch hunts. . . .”
The component elements of the China Lobby:
1.–“ . . . . Chiang’s government used existing American corporations headed by men who shared its viewpoint. . . .”
2.–“ . . . . it hired advertising agencies . . . . Allied Syndicates counted among its clients the bank of China (with H.H. Kung as director). . . . Hamilton Wright, worked for six years as a registered agent for Nationalist China, writing and distributing stories, news articles, photographs, and movies to create a favorable image of Chiang Kai-shek and his regime. . . .”
3.–“. . . . T.V.’s wartime Universal Trading Corporation was listed in 1949 as a foreign agent working for the Chinese government, with assets of nearly $22 million. The Chinese News Service based in Taiwan established branches in Washington, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. . . .”
4.–“ . . . . Taiwan exercised a particularly strong influence on American newspapers. . . .”
5.–“ . . . . ‘Henry Luce now saw the most grandiose project of his lifetime in danger of ruin. Wrapped up in the ruin was not only the fate of China and of Christianity and the Asian hegemony of the United States, but also his own peace of mind and reputation. Chiang-in-China was to have been the crowning of a decade and a half of planning in the Chrysler building and Rockefeller Center and of countless thousands of words of Lucepress propaganda. The nightmare rise of Mao-in-Chiina brought a powerful Luce counter-strategy.’. . .”
6.–“ . . . . Newscaster Robert S. Allen reported, . . . . Luce has been propagandizing and agitating for another two-billion dollar U.S. handout for Chiang for a long time. . . . And in Washington, practically the whole Luce bureau has been working full blast as part of the Chiang lobby.’. . .”
7.–“ . . . . Many of the activists in the lobby were people whose families had worked in China as missionaries, and now thought their heritage was being thrown away. Among them were the directors of the American China Policy Association and the Committee to Defend America by Aiding Anti-Communist China . . . . .”
8.–“ . . . . These groups were periodically supported by campaigns waged on Chiang’s behalf by the executive council of the AFL-CIO, the American Legion, the American Security Council, the American Conservative Union, and Young Americans for Freedom. To many conservative organizations, Taiwan became synonymous with anti-Communism. In the atmosphere of the 1950s, the fear of Red China kept normally sensible people from wondering where all the money was coming from. . . .”
9.–“ . . . . As principal director of the Bank of China’s New York City branch, H.H. [Kung] was driven to Wall Street two or three days a week . . . . Columnist Drew Pearson, one of the few journalists who maintained an interest in the Soongs after they went into exile, called the Bank of China the “nerve center of the China Lobby . . . .”
10.–“ . . . . ‘Dr. Kung’s knowledge of American politics is almost as astute as his knowledge of Chinese finance, and well before he entered the Truman cabinet, Kung picked Louis Johnson as his personal attorney. It may or may not be significant that, later, when Johnson became Secretary of Defense, he was one of the staunchest advocates of American support for Formosa. . . .”
11.–“ . . . . [From a Drew Pearson column—D.E.] A move by a Chiang brother-in-law. . . . to corner the soybean market at the expense of the American public . . . The brother-in-law is T.L. Soong, brother of Foreign Minister T.V. Soong, who formerly handled much of the three and a half billion dollars worth of supplies which the United States sent to China during the War. The soybean pool netted a profit of $30,000,000 and shot up the cost to the American consumer $1 as bushel [much more money in 1950 than now—D.E.] One of the strange things about the soybean manipulation was that its operators knew exactly the right time to buy up the world’s soybean supply—a few weeks before the communists invaded Korea. . . .”
12.–“ . . . . Louis Kung [son of Ai-ling and H.H. who had become a Dallas oil man—D.E.] had become one of the busiest members of the clan. During Richard Nixon’s 1950 senatorial campaign, Daddy Kung dispatched Younger Son to Los Angeles to give the senator donations and encouragement. . . . Louis took an active role in the Soong-Kung petroleum holdings, with oil properties across Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. At the (Nationalist) Chinese embassy in Washington in 1956, Louis organized the Cheyenne Oil Company. . . . If one of Louis’s wells (leased for example, to John Daly, then vice-president for news of the (ABC Network), did poorly, Louis guaranteed that Daly would have his investment back; if the well turned out to be a success, then the profits were divided with Daly. . . .”
Presenting an overview updating the operations of T.V. Soong, Sterling Seagrave recounts his ascent to the pinnacles of power, his corporate largesse in America derived from clever investment and his major participation in the criminal underworld of Kuomintang narcotics trafficking and kleptocracy and his purloining of massive amounts of U.S. aid to China during World War II.
Note, T.V.’s role in the China Lobby: “ . . . . Although T.V. avoided Taiwan, and devoted most of his attention to his expanding financial empire, he did back the China Lobby financially because it was in his interest to do so. The levers of the China Lobby could be worked in many directions. . . .”
Note, also, his gravitas with the lethal, powerful Chinese organized crime milieu in the U.S.: “ . . . . It was not so much implied that T.V. himself was dangerous but that the slightest word from him could bring about terrible consequences from the Chinese tongs or syndicates, the Chinese banks, and nameless other objects of fear. . . .”
The remainder of the program recaps information from FTR#1142 about some of the circumstances surrounding the outbreak of the Korean War.
This is presented as context for T.L. Soong’s remarkably prescient cornering of the soybean market on the eve of the outbreak of that conflict: ” . . . . The soybean pool netted a profit of $30,000,000 and shot up the cost to the American consumer $1 as bushel [much more money in 1950 than now—D.E.] One of the strange things about the soybean manipulation was that its operators knew exactly the right time to buy up the world’s soybean supply—a few weeks before the communists invaded Korea. . . .”
In FTR#1142, we detailed the little-known involvement of Chiang Kai-shek and Mme. Chiang Kai-shek in the 1943 conferences at Cairo and Teheran. (Mme. Chiang Kai-shek was the sister of T.V. Soong, one of Chiang’s finance ministers and the richest man in the world at one time.)
This low-profile involvement apparently gave them considerable gravitas in helping to shape the postwar geopolitical agenda.
In that context and in relation to the ongoing series on Chiang Kai-shek’s narco-fascist government, it is worth noting the deep political agenda that was governing U.S. national security policy by September 2, 1945–the day on which the treaty ending World War II in the Pacific was signed on board the deck of the U.S. S. Missouri.
While in Okinawa during Japan’s surrender in World War II, Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty was witness to the early commitment of decisive military resources to the wars that were to take place in Korea and Indochina/Vietnam. ” . . . . I was on Okinawa at that time, and during some business in the harbor area I asked the harbormaster if all that new material was being returned to the States. His response was direct and surprising: ‘Hell, no! They ain’t never goin’ to see it again. One-half of this stuff, enough to equip and supply at least a hundred and fifty thousand men, is going to Korea, and the other half is going to Indochina.’ In 1945, none of us had any idea that the first battles of the Cold War were going to be fought by U.S. military units in those two regions beginning in 1950 and 1965–yet that is precisely what had been planned, and it is precisely what happened. Who made that decision back in 1943–45? . . . .”
In FTR#1142, we highlighted the 1951 “Peace” Treaty between the Allies and Japan, an agreement which falsely maintained that Japan had not stolen any wealth from the nations it occupied during World War II and that the (already) booming nation was bankrupt and would not be able to pay reparations to the slave laborers and “comfort women” it had pressed into service during the conflict.
In the context of the fantastic sums looted by Japan under the auspices of Golden Lily and the incorporation of that wealth with Nazi Gold to form the Black Eagle Trust, that 1951 treaty and the advent of the Korean War raise some interesting, unresolved questions.
One of the principal figures in the looting of occupied Asia during World War II was the remarkable Kodama Yoshio. Networked with the powerful Yakuza Japanese organized crime milieu, the Black Dragon society (the most powerful of the patriotic and ultra-nationalist societies), the Imperial Japanese military and the Royal family of Emperor Hirohito, Kodama looted the Chinese underworld and trafficked in narcotics with Chiang Kai-shek’s fascist narco-dictatorship.
We can but wonder about Kodama Yoshio’s presence along with 1951 “Peace” Treaty author John Foster Dulles at negotiations in Seoul on the eve of the outbreak of the Korean War.
As discussed in numerous programs in an interview with Daniel Junas, the Korean War was a huge economic boom for Japan, and generated considerable profit for German firms as well. Thyssen, for example, won lucrative contracts for making steel for the war effort. Is there some connection between the Kodama/Dulles presence in Seoul on the eve of the outbreak of war linked to the Golden Lily/Black Eagle/1951 “Peace” Treaty nexus and/or T.L. Soong’s cornering of the soybean market on the outbreak of the war?
Interestingly, and perhaps significantly, John Foster Dulles made a startlingly prescient speech in South Korea, auguring North Korea’s invasion shortly thereafter.
It would be interesting to know if Dulles and Kodama had been involved in deliberately luring the North Koreans to invade, in a manner not unlike that in which U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie appears to have baited Saddam Hussein into invading Kuwait.
Note, also, Dulles’s characterization of Syngman Rhee and Chiang Kai-shek as Christian gentlemen. Chiang Kai-shek’s Christian credentials are recorded in detail in the ongoing series.
Foster Dulles’s role in the 1951 Peace Treaty with Japan, his curious presence in Seoul with Kodama Yoshio on the eve of the outbreak of the Korean War, his prescient foreshadowing of the conflict just before the North Korean invasion and the role of these events in shaping the post World War II global economic and political landscapes may well have been designed to help jumpstart the Japanese and German economies.
“. . . . A substantial infusion of money into this new Federal Republic economy resulted from the Korean War in 1950. The United States was not geared to supplying all its needs for armies in Korea, so the Pentagon placed huge orders in West Germany and in Japan; from that point on, both nations winged into an era of booming good times. . . .”
The program concludes with the obituary of general Paik Sun-yup of Korea, whose service in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II has been a focal point of controversy in South Korea. General Sun-yup embodied the ongoing controversy in Korea over Japan’s occupation and the subsequent unfolding of events leading up to, and including the Korean War. “. . . . In 1941, he joined the army of Manchukuo, a puppet state that imperial Japan had established in Manchuria, and served in a unit known for hunting down Korean guerrillas fighting for independence . . .”
Continuing our series on the regime of Chiang Kai-shek–all but beatified during the Cold War–we draw still more on a magnificent book–“The Soong Dynasty” by Sterling Seagrave. Although sadly out of print, the book is still available through used book services, and we emphatically encourage listeners to take advantage of those and obtain it.
(Mr. Emory gets no money from said purchases of the book.)
We begin by resuming analysis of the political and professional destruction of U.S. military and State Department elements that correctly gauged Chiang Kai-shek and the [inevitable, downward] trajectory of his regime.
Just as General Stillwell was removed as top military officer in the China/Burma theater because of his appropriate, accurate, vehement criticism of Chiang Kai-shek’s prioritization of fighting the Communists over fighting the Japanese, State Department officers who accurately forecast the decisive ascent of the Chinese Communist Party over the KMT were punished for their stance.
(Stilwell’s replacement by General Wedemeyer was noteworthy—particularly in light of the background and behavior of Wedemeyer.
In addition to being part of a political and military milieu that infused isolationist orientation toward involvement in World War II with pro-fascist sentiment, Wedemeyer appears to have presided over an act of consummate treason—the leak of the Rainbow Five American mobilization plan for World War II to anti-FDR publisher Robert J. McCormick, of the Chicago Tribune.)
The China watchers’ advice was not only ignored, but cast as “subversive” during the anti-Communist witch hunts of the McCarthy period.
“ . . . . The eyes and ears of the U.S. Government in Chunking were a handful of old China hands . . . . The China watchers’ message essentially was that no matter how much Washington wanted Chiang Kai-shek to ‘run’ China, he was about to lose it to the Communists. . . . The observers in Chungking were accused of being in favor of what they predicted—in favor of communism. In fact, they were only warning their government of a course of events that now seemed certain. . . . Washington reacted with deep suspicion and hostility and insisted on nailing the American flag the more tightly to the mast of Chiang’s sinking ship . . . .”
As we shall further explore, the cognitive perception of China in this country was shaped by the Soong family.
The China watchers’ advice was not only ignored, but cast as “subversive” during the anti-Communist witch hunts of the McCarthy period.
“ . . . . American policy was thus based upon the personalities of the Chiangs, the Soongs and the Kungs, rather than upon the events, the nation or the people. This was a tribute to the Soongs’ extraordinary stagecraft. . . .”
Sterling Seagrave filed a Freedom of Information Act request, which obtained an FBI report on the Soongs. Heavily redacted—even in 1985—it revealed the Soongs machinations on both sides of the Pacific.
“ . . . . The Soong family . . . . ‘practically had a death grip.’ The Soongs ‘have always been money mad and every move they made was prompted by their desire to secure funds.’ . . . . ‘there was a gigantic conspiracy to defraud the Chinese from materials they would ordinarily receive through [Lend-Lease] and to divert considerable of this money to the Soong family.’. . .”
After discussing the extreme marital difficulties of Chiang Kai-shek and Mme. Chiang Kai-shek (the former Mae-ling Soong, whose marriage to Chiang had been arranged by H. H. Kung and his Machiavellian wife Ai-ling—the former Ai-ling Soong), the informant identifies Mrs. Kung as the sinister, deadly and manipulative figure that she was.
Exemplifying the scale of the treacherous, corrupt practices of the clan was a diversion of Lend-Lease aid: “ . . . . The informant then told the FBI that one of the ways T.V. diverted Lend-Lease funds into his own pocket was illustrated by reports reaching Chunking that a freighter carrying sixty new American battle tanks and other very expensive war materiel furnished by Lend-Lease had been sunk. As a matter of fact this ‘freighter never left the West Coast with any tanks; the tanks were never made . . . . this is a positive illustration of the manner in which the Soongs have been diverting funds from Lend-Lease inasmuch as the money was allocated for the 60 tanks. . . .”
Again, a key factor in the political clout wielded by the Soongs was their extreme wealth, greatly augmented by institutionalized corruption, including (and especially) T.V. Soong’s appropriation of much of the Lend-Lease material designated for China.
In addition to the outright theft of Lend-Lease material by Chiang Kai-shek’s Green Gang general staff and their sale of much of that to the Japanese enemy they were supposedly fighting, T.V. Soong—using his brother T.L Soong’s administrative control of the Lend-Lease program for China—maneuvered hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of U.S. aid into the private coffers of the Soong family.
As the KMT regime decayed and relations between the Soongs and Chiang followed suit, T. V. increasingly turned his energies to the American side of the Pacific, and appointed T.L. to oversee the American side of Lend-Lease! “ . . . . T.V. used his position as Foreign Minister to issue his brother T.L. Soong a special diplomatic passport, and sent him hurriedly to New York. T. L. was actually being whisked out of China to take over as chief purchasing agent and administrator of all U.S. Lend-Lease supplies before they left for China. Since the very beginning, T.L. had been in charge of Lend-Lease at the Chinese end. . . .”
Next, we review the fact that T.L. Soong—T.V.’s younger brother: “ . . . . who had been in charge of Lend Lease during World II, and whose American roots were in New York City, became something of an enigma. Sources in Washington said T.L. worked as a secret consultant to the Treasury Department in the 1950’s, engaged in what they would not say. Treasury claims it has no record of a T.L. Soong whatever. . . .”
Next, we review the fact that T.L. Soong—T.V.’s younger brother: “ . . . . who had been in charge of Lend Lease during World II, and whose American roots were in New York City, became something of an enigma. Sources in Washington said T.L. worked as a secret consultant to the Treasury Department in the 1950’s, engaged in what they would not say. Treasury claims it has no record of a T.L. Soong whatever. . . .”
The concluding segments of the program are drawn on another magnificent work by the Seagraves: Gold Warriors.
Before winding up the broadcast, we “dolly out” to synopsize the relationship between the Japanese invaders of China, the Green Gang gangsters, the Kuomintang regime of Chiang Kai-shek which fronted for the Green Gang and collaborated with the Japanese, Japanese corporations and Japanese colonial interests in Korea and Taiwan.
This overview foreshadows the political consortium that—in the postwar period, became the Asian Peoples’ Anti-Communist League, a key component of what was to become the World Anti-Communist League.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include: Green Gang boss Tu Yueh-sheng’s control of Shanghai’s booming gambling and overlapping brothel businesses; synoptic review of the relationship between Tu Yueh-sheng and the Green Gang and Chiang Kai-shek; Chiang’s sanctioning of Tu to control the KMT’s drug trafficking; the symbiotic, cooperative relationship between the invading Japanese and the Green Gang, cemented by General Doihara and Kodama Yoshio on the side of the invaders and Green Gang/KMT operatives the Ku brothers (one of whom was Tu’s harbor boss in Shanghai and the other of whom was a top KMT general); review of the Japanese development of the narcotics business in Manchuria; the Japanese use of their Manchurian narcotics enterprise to subvert China by increasing the population’s addiction rate; review of Chiang Kai-shek’s collaboration with the Manchurian/Japanese narcotics enterprise; the role of Japanese zaibatsu and other colonized areas in the Japanese narcotics business.
“ . . . . The [opium] was converted into morphine and heroin at factories in Manchuria, Korea and Taiwan, then smuggled directly across the strait on motorized junks, to mainland warehouses owned by Mitsui, Mitsubishi and other conglomerates. An army factory in Seoul that produced over 2,600 kilos of heroin in 1938–1939 was only one of several hundred factories in Manchuria, Korea, Taiwan, and in Japanese concessions in mainland cities like Hankow. . . .”
We conclude the program with analysis of power broker–Kodama Yoshio who helped institutionalize the collaboration between Chinese KMT, Korean and Japanese fascists. Noteworthy, as well is Kodama’s close relationship between with the CIA and the Japanese Imperial family in the postwar/Cold War period.
Kodama Yoshio epitomizes and embodies the operational and ideological structure of the Asian People’s Anti-Communist League, the Asian branch of what was to become the World Anti-Communist League.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include: Kodama’s accumulated fortune of 13 billion dollars in World War II dollars; Kodama’s close relationship with Japanese Emperor Hirohito, who allowed him to stash some of his wealth in the Imperial Palace; Kodama’s dominant position in the narcotics traffic, during and after World War II; Kodama’s donation of 100 million dollars to the CIA (equivalent to 1 billion dollars in today’s currency); Kodama’s continued dominance in the global narcotics traffic, during the time he was on the CIA’s payroll; Kodama’s cozy relationship with Prince Higashikuni, Emperor Hirohito’s uncle, who facilitated Kodama’s operations, including his close relationship with the U.S.
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