Grateful, Tearful Farewell to Roy of Hollywood: Rest In Peace, My Brother
Since 1987, For The Record and the other Archive Shows and lectures I have recorded over the decades have gone out on the Southern California airwaves from Santa Barbara to the Mexican Border. Those broadcasts were realized by Roy of Hollywood, real name Roy Tuckman. His long-running program has held down the midnight to 5am slot on Monday through Thursday nights (technically Tuesday through Friday mornings) for more than 40 years. Early on Thursday morning (4/20/2023), Roy passed away roughly two months short of what would have been his 85th birthday. Dr. Jeffrey Sachs “pretty convinced” Covid came from a U.S. Bio-Lab. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE. Mr. Emory emphatically recommends that listeners/readers get the 32GB flash drive containing all of Mr. Emory’s 43 years on the air, plus a library of old anti-fascist books on easy-to-download PDF files.
New Feature of Patreon Zoom Q & A Talks: Guest Appearances by Authors, Researchers
A new feature of the Zoom Q & A Patreon talks concerns the periodic presentation of authors and researchers, in order that they can update us on developments in the relevant areas of political inquiry. Zoom attendees will be able to interact with them, posing questions and/or comments that are relevant to their respective areas of expertise. Ukrainian television anchor quotes Adolf Eichmann verbatim in this video from UKRAINE 24. This video of Ukraine’s top military medical officer discussing an order to castrate Russian males is an eye-opener. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE. Mr. Emory emphatically recommends that listeners/readers get the 32GB flash drive containing all of Mr. Emory’s 43 years on the air, plus a library of old anti-fascist books on easy-to-download PDF files.
Me Ne Frego
In an earlier post, we noted that Melania Trump’s jacket–adorned with the statement “I Really Don’t Care, Do U” resonates with a key fascist motto. The phrase “Me Ne Frego” was put forward by Mussolini himself. (“Il Duce” detailed his statement in his “The Doctrine of Fascism) as a definitive statement of the existential ethic of the fascist stormtrooper. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE.
FTR#1200 The Narco-Fascism of Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang, Part 7
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.)
The program begins with review of the structure of Chiang’s fascist infrastructure, his secret police cadres in particular.
Key points of analysis and discussion include:
1.–Chiang translated his admiration of Hitler and Mussolini into the most sincere form of flattery—imitation: “ . . . . Chiang believed that fascism stood on three legs—nationalism, absolute faith in the Maximum Leader, and the spartan militarization of the citizens. The New Life Movement [the chief promoter of which was Madame Chiang Kai-shek] was the popular manifestation of Chiang’s fascism—a toy for his wife and the missionaries—and it was comic enough not to be taken seriously by foreigners in general. The missionaries . . . . were now eagerly climbing aboard the New Life bandwagon. . . .”
2.–There were three overlapping organizational elements to Chiang’s fascist cadres—the Blue Shirts, the CBIS (Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics) which was run by the Ch’en brothers and the MBIS (the Military Bureau of Investigation and Statistics which was run by Tai Li. Both Ch’en brothers and Tai Li were Green Gang associates of Chiang Kai-shek: “ . . . . Chiang’s fascination with Hitler resulted in the creation of a new secret society modeled on Hitler’s Brown Shirts and Mussolini’s Black Shirts. Chiang called his the Blue Shirts, though he denied their existence repeatedly. They were an offshoot of his two secret services, the party gestapo under the Ch’en brothers, and the military secret police under Tai Li. . . .”
3.–The CBIS was the Kuomintang’s secret political police: “ . . . . Chiang came to depend heavily on the two nephews of his Green Gang mentor . . . . Ch’en Ch’i‑mei. The older nephew, Ch’en Kuo-fu, who had organized and headed the drive that recruited seven thousand Green Gang youths for the Whampoa Military Academy had since then been given the responsibility of setting up a gestapo organization within the KMT. As head of the KMT’s Organization Department, his job was to purify the party and the Nanking government continually. To guarantee the loyalty of each party member, Ch’en Kuo-fu built a spy network that touched every government agency. To run this new apparatus, he selected his younger brother, Ch’en Li-fu [educated at the University of Pittsburgh in the U.S.—D.E.]. Both the Ch-en brothers were “blood brothers” of Chiang Kai-shek, having taken part in a Green Gang ceremony after the death of their uncle. . . . Li-fu . . . . became the director of Chiang’s secret service—the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS), the euphemism chosen for the KMT’s political secret police. . . .”
4.–“China’s Himmler”—Tai Li—headed the MBIS: “ . . . . While the CBIS spied, conducted purges and political executions within the party, large-scale public terrorism was the province of its military counterpart the Military Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (MBIS) was run by “China’s Himmler,” Tai Li—for twenty years the most dreaded man in China. . . . Tai Li had spent his youth as a Green Gang aide to Big-eared Tu and was educated at Tu’s persona expense. In 1926, he was one of the Green Gang recruits enrolled at Whampoa Academy. . . . All clandestine operations in China, except those conducted by the Ch’ens, were his responsibility during the 1930’s. . . .”
5.–Supplementing and overlapping both CBIS and MBIS were the Blue Shirts: “ . . . . Both of these secret police organizations were supplemented by the Blue Shirts. Although it was a replica of the European fascist cults, the Blue Shirts also emulated Japan’s dreaded Black Dragon Society, the most militant secret cult of the Imperial Army. [The organization that helped spawn Kodama Yoshio—D.E.] The Blue Shirts job was to reform China the hard way, by knocking heads together, carrying out political assassinations, liquidating corrupt bureaucrats and “enemies of the state.” . . . . They were officered by old Green Gang classmates from Whampoa. . . .”
6.–Exemplifying the homicidal brutality of Chiang’s secret police cadres was the liquidation of six of China’s most important writers: “ . . . . The extreme was soon reached with the horrific end of six of China’s foremost writers, all followers of the leading literary figure of the [1911] revolution [led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen], Lu Hsun. . . . He [Chiang] ordered his secret police to arrest the writers. Lu Hsun eluded arrest but six young leaders of the group—including Feng Kung, China’s best-known woman writer—were taken into custody and forced to dig a large pit. They were tied hand and foot, thrown into the pit, and buried alive. . . .”
A fundamental dynamic of Chiang Kai-shek’s regime was his steadfast refusal to use his military forces to fight the invading Japanese. (Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and the Sino-Japanese War preceded—and then overlapped—World War II.)
Chiang and his forces frequently collaborated with the Japanese and “the Generalissimo” steadfastly refused to commit Kuomintang armies against them, preferring to husband his combatants for use against the Chinese Communists. (This ideological manifestation of Chiang’s dictatorship won him favor with the Axis powers, as well as dominant elements of the American power elite. As will be seen in future programs, Chiang’s stance led to the replacement of General Joseph Stilwell with Albert C. Wedemeyer as chief military adviser to the KMT.)
Chief among Chiang’s critics was T.V. Soong, who—correctly—forecast that Chiang’s military posture would propel the Chinese populace into alignment with the Chinese Communist Party whose fierce, successful military resistance to the Japanese was recognized as manifest patriotism.)
“ . . . . Shaken by what he had observed of the Japanese assault, T.V. Soong began to draw some dangerous conclusions. ‘If China is placed before the alternative of communism and Japanese militarism with its military domination, then China will choose communism.’ This rather daring statement, given during an interview with Karl H. von Wiegand in March, 1932, placed T.V. in direct opposition to Chiang Kai-shek. It was all the more iconoclastic for being made by a rich financier and Finance Minister. . . .”
T.V. Soong—in that same interview—noted that the Western powers had passively collaborated with the Japanese attacks on Manchuria and Shanghai: “ . . . . ‘The League [of Nations—D.E.] and the big powers looked on. They even permitted the International Settlement to be used as a base of operations. Can you be surprised that China would turn to Communism or Sovietism, if that were to unite the country, rather than submit to foreign military domination?’ . . . .”
We conclude with discussion of a major event in the history of Chiang Kai-shek’s conservation of his military resources to fight the Communists–what has become known as the Sian incident.
The Sian Incident was very important—though little recognized—event in the history of China: the “kidnapping” of Chiang Kai-shek by Kuomintang military officers who were intent on forming an anti-Japanese coalition called for by Madame Sun Yat-Sen (Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s widow and the former Ching-ling Soong.)
This became known as the Sian incident, named after the locale in which Chiang was taken into custody and held.
Inspired by the success of Mao Tse-Tung’s forces in fighting the Japanese, a mass student protest movement precipitated the call by Mme. Sun Yat-sen, which was put into action by “The Young Marshal,” Chang Hsueh-liang. He was supported in this by the forces of General Yang Hu-cheng. “ . . . . Meanwhile, Mao Tse-Tung’s Communist forces reached Yenan at the end of the Long March, and began rallying anti-Japanese nationalism to their side. To many students, the authentic heroism of the Red Army combined with this blunt stand against Tokyo was a siren call. On December 9, 1935, ten thousand Peking students demonstrated against Japan. The protest drew nationwide attention and Madame Sun Yat-sen emerged from seclusion in Shanghai to support the students by launching a National Salvation League. . . .”
Key points of analysis and discussion include:
1.–The Young Marshal’s return to China after kicking narcotics administered to him Tai-li’s secret police (this during a recuperative sojourn in Europe): “ . . . . When the Young Marshal returned to China in 1934„ he was transformed. Gone were the narcotics, and in their place was a tough new nationalism. He decided that China’s salvation lay in persuading Chiang to stand firm against Tokyo. He had long talks with T.V. Soong in Shanghai about how to engineer this, and T. V., who must have realized that a powerful military lever had fallen into his hands, burned the midnight oil with the dapper Manchurian general, exploring all possible maneuvers against Chiang . . . .”
2.–“ . . . . Early in 1936, the Young Marshal quietly instructed his troops on the frontier to stop shooting at red guerrillas. He had reached the conclusion that most of China’s Communists were driven into the arms of the CCP by the degradation of the country at the hands of Chiang and the foreign powers. Chinese, he decided, should no longer fight Chinese while the nation was being ravished by foreign invaders. . . .”
3.–The Young Marshal then met, and reached agreement with Chou En-Lai, later the Foreign Minister of China under Mao Tse-tung. “ . . . . That June, he met privately with Chou En-Lai to see if they could put aside differences and develop a joint strategy. He came away with his conviction reaffirmed that the answer lay in a united front He was good to his word. All military action halted, liaison was set up between their two headquarters, and bureaus of the National Salvation League were organized throughout northwestern China. . . . Word of this ‘treachery’ reached Chiang Kai-shek at Nanking. . . .”
4.–Chiang refused to join the nationalist coalition: “ . . . . When the Generalissimo arrived, the Young Marshal told Chiang that his anti-red campaign that his anti-red campaign should be scrapped and a united front formed with Mao Tse-Tung. The time had come for a patriotic war, not a civil war. Chiang hotly rejected the argument . . . .”
Chiang publicized his determination to continue with his anti-communist annihilation campaign: “ . . . . On December 4, 1936, the Generalissimo returned to Sian to announce that he was going ahead with the annihilation campaign, to begin on December 12. . . .”
5.–In combination with General Yang, the Young Marshal decided to take Chiang hostage and extract his consent to a nationalist coalition: “ . . . . At 5:30 in the morning of December 12—the day the new annihilation campaign was to begin—Chiang Kai-shek was staring out the back window of his bedroom at the mountain beyond the garden wall. In the darkness, four trucks loaded with 120 armed soldiers rumbled to a halt at the gates. The battalion commander in the lead truck demanded that the gates be opened. The sentries refused. The men in the trucks opened fire. . . .”
6.–Despite being taken captive, Chiang refused to form a nationalist coalition: “ . . . . At Sian, Chiang stubbornly resisted the Eight Demands. ‘He refused to turn our guns against the enemy,’ the Young Marshal explained in a public address to a huge crowd in a Sian park on December 16, ‘but reserved the for use against our own people.’ . . .”
7.–Eventually, Chiang grudgingly agreed to the coalition, apparently after T.V. Soong saw to it that Chiang got a significant amount of money. “ . . . . The Young Marshal gallantly accepted all blame for the Sian Incident, allowing Chiang to wash his hands in public and wipe them on him. (Interestingly he was put up at T.V. Soong’s home in Nanking.) He had done China a historic service by bringing about the long-sought united front, whatever its later failings. . . .”
7.–Chiang’s reluctant agreement was trumpeted by Henry Luce: “ . . . . He put them [Chiang and Mme. Chiang] on the cover of Time’s first issue of 1938 as ‘Man and Wife of the Year.’ May-ling Soong Chiang now became an even bigger international celebrity. . . .”
8.–As was his wont, Chiang broke his promise to the Young Marshal and General Yang. Lauded by Henry Luce and his associates as an Exemplary Christian, Chiang promised an amnesty on Good Friday—a promise he promptly broke. “ . . . . In his Good Friday message to China that spring of 1937, Chiang referred to the Sian Incident and said piously, ‘Remembering that Christ enjoined us to forgive those who sin against us until seventy times seven and upon their repentance, I felt that that they should be allowed to start life anew. . . .”
9.–Similar treatment was afforded General Yang: “ . . . . The Young Marshal’s co-conspirator, General Yang, despite the Good Friday amnesty, was imprisoned when he came back from European exile and languished for eleven years in one of Tai Li’s special detention camps near Chungking. His wife went on a hunger strike in protest and was allowed to starve herself to death. . . .”
FTR#1199 The Narco-Fascism of Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang, Part 6
In this program we continue our analysis and historical discussion of Chiang Kai-shek’s narco-fascist government.
Encapsulating the nature of Chiang Kai-shek’s regime and the public relations personae constructed for it by the Soong family, Sterling Seagrave appropriately describes it as a “Trojan horse.” ” . . . . . . . . The Nanking government was quite simply a Trojan horse, painted in bright colors by the Soong clan [and Henry Luce—D.E.]. In its belly were hidden the generals, secret policemen, and Green Gang who actually wielded power in China. It was skillfully done, and one of T.V.’s major accomplishments. Americans, more so than other Westerners, were taken in. . . .”
Lionized as a successful tycoon and giant of international finance and commerce, T.V. Soong (who also served as Finance Minister and other cabinet posts for Chiang Kai-shek) was deeply involved with the Green Gang/Kuomintang narco-fascist operation: “. . . . Shanghai police reports indicate that in 1930, T.V. Soong personally arranged with Tu to deliver 700 cases of Persian opium to Shanghai under KMT military protection to supplement depleted Chinese stocks. All parties involved in setting up the shipment and protecting it during transit—including T.V.—received fees. . . .”
American publishing giant Henry Luce of Time, Inc. was the son of American missionaries in China, where he spent much of his youth.
His position toward China might be said to embody “the Missionary Position.”
A doctrinaire fascist himself, he saw the business tycoon as an American iteration of the fascist strongman, exemplified by his idol Benito Mussolini.
Luce’s portrayal of Chiang Kai-shek, Mme. Chiang and their regime are utterly fantastic in nature, bearing no relation whatsoever to the reality of the Kuomintang. Luce’s portrayal could be said to have set the template for coverage of Chiang’s regime in the U.S.
As we contemplate the coverage of contemporary China in this country, it is worth recalling the depth of deception in which our journalists have indulged.
Key points of analysis and discussion include:
1.–The influence of Henry Luce’s missionary parenting in China on his perspective on Chiang: “ . . . . ‘The trouble with Harry,’ observed the writer Laura Z. Hobson, wife of one of his classmates at Yale, ‘is that he’s torn between wanting to be a Chinese missionary like his parents and a Chinese warlord like Chiang Kai-shek.’ . . . .”
2.–Luce compromised: “ . . . . he could do the next best thing—he could adopt the Soongs and make Chiang over into a missionary-warlord. . . .”
3.–“ . . . . By the spring of 1933, when T.V. was ready to visit America, Luce was rapidly becoming the world’s most powerful publisher. With him [Luce] to take care of their public relations and image building in America, the Soongs, Chiangs and Kungs were in for a sensational ride. . . .”
4.–For Luce, T.V. Soong’s professional business persona manifested in the same manner as the fascist strongmen he idolized. “. . . . The business tycoon, Luce believed, was America’s answer to the need for fascism. . . . He found justice in the survival of the fittest, and saw quite clearly that a society build on greed was more dynamic than one based on charity. . . . ‘The moral force of Fascism,’ Luce pronounced, ‘appearing in totally different forms in different nations, may be the inspiration for the next general march of mankind.’. . .”
5.–For Luce, therefore, T.V. Soong served the same function as Mussolini: “. . . . Luce characterized T.V. as a cartoon super-tycoon. Luce had a soft spot for superheroes that enabled him practically to venerate Chiang Kai-shek. ‘The hero-worshipper in him,’ said his biographer W.A. Swanberg, ‘responded to the Fascist superman who could inspire the allegiance and cooperation of the masses. . . . He pointed to the success of Mussolini in revitalizing the aristocratic principle in Italy, ‘a state reborn by virtue of Fascist symbols, Fascist rank and hence Fascist enterprise.’ . . . . Luce admired strong regimes in which the ‘best people’ ruled for the good of all . . . . In Mussolini, he saw such greatness and in Fascism, such dramatic political innovations that he could not contain his excitement. . . .’”
Next, we examine the sordid, Machiavellian, kleptocratic nature of the Soong family.
Key points of discussion and analysis include:
1.–H.Kung (Chiang’s Finance Minister at the time and the brother-in-law of T.V. Soong) and his financial coup‑d’etat, realizing a takeover of much of China’s financial infrastructure and the banks comprising it. He did so in collaboration with T.V. Soong, his wife (the former Ai-ling Soong) and Green Gang kingpin Tu Yueh-sheng.
2.–The banking coup was representative of the dizzying corruption with which the Chiang/Tu/Soong axis dominated the Chinese economy: “ . . . . The Bank of China’s new board [of directors] was elected on March 30. Among the new directors were T.V. Soong, [his brother] T.L. Soong, and Big Eared Tu [Yueh-sheng]. When the Bank of Communications held its first meeting after the coup, T.L. Soong was on its board. Both T.V. and T. L. acquired seats on the board of the Central Bank. The Bank coup of March [1935] was followed by the methodical subversion of three other important Shanghai commercial banks that June. . . . All three banks were placed under the supervision of H.H. Kung’s Manufacturers’ Bank, on the board of which sat T.L. Soong, T.A. Soong, and T.V. Soong. Big-eared Tu became the new chairman of the board of the Commercial Bank. . . . The list went on and on, as bank after bank, then company after company, came under control of the clan. . . .”
3.–In addition to T.V. Soong’s younger brothers T.L. and T.A., the Green Gang hierarchy comprised another, vital component of the Kuomintang economic axis: “ . . . . L. was also the head of the Whampoo Conservancy Board with jurisdiction over Shanghai harbor, which was dominated by the Green Gang. Everything that happened on the waterfront was the business of Big-eared Tu’s man Ku Tsu-chuan. . . . Although it was not widely known, and certainly not talked about, this waterfront gangster was the older brother of one of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s senior military officers—General Ku Chu‑t’ung, who eventually rose to be chief of the general staff and, because of the New Fourth Army Incident, one of the most hated men in China. (We will say more about this topic later. It was highlighted in FTR#1142.) . . . .”
Having been born in 1949, I grew up with World War II as a critical element of my political, civic and cognitive upbringing. I vividly remember watching the documentary “Victory at Sea” on television as a child. As I have grown older, more knowledgeable and wiser, learning the truth about World War II has been very sad and painful.
In FTR #1095, we noted the historical background to the ongoing conflict with China–the brutal Japanese onslaught and the collaboration of Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang narco-dictatorship with Japan’s attack and occupation.
As a boy, I was awed and moved by the heroism of American and Allied service personnel who braved the dangers of flying over the Hump to bring U.S. supplies to Chiang Kai-shek’s forces. Although officially allied with the U.S., Chiang Kai-shek’s forces were actually working “both sides of the street.”
We have encountered nothing more grotesquely tragic and disillusioning than the awareness that American military supplies flown over the Hump and/or sent along the Burma Road found their way into the hands of the Japanese, courtesy of KMT general Ku Chu-tung and his organized crime brother.
Collaborating with Kodama Yoshio, the Japanese crime boss and Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the brothers swapped U.S. lend lease supplies for drugs.
In the passage below, it is important to note the role of the Black Dragon Society in the ascent of Kodama Yoshio. Black Dragon, along with Black Ocean, are key Japanese ultra-nationalist societies and the apparent forerunners of the Unification Church and, possibly the overlapping Shincheonji cult.
Kodama played a key role in the Unification Church, as discussed in FTR #‘s 291 and 970.
. . . . He [Kodama] was sprung from jail by [General] Doihara in April 1937, on the condition that he devoted his violent energies to looting China’s underworld. This epiphany, the transformation of Kodama from thug to super-patriot, was suggested by Black Dragon’s Toyama [Mitsuru], whose own stature as a patriot was affirmed in 1924 when he was a guest at Emperor Hirohito’s wedding. . . .
. . . . All proceeds were diverted from Chinese racketeers to Golden Lily, minus a handling charge for Kodama himself. Ultimately, Kodama was responsible to Prince Chichibu, and to the throne.
Princes were not equipped to deal with gangsters. Kodama saved them from soiling their hands. He converted narcotics into bullion by the simple method of trading heroin to gangsters for gold ingots. How brokers got the ingots was not his concern. He closed a deal with waterfront boss Ku Tsu-chuan to swap heroin for gold throughout the Yangtze Valley. Thanks to Ku’s brother, KMT senior general Ku Chu-tung, Japan also gained access to U.S. Lend-Lease supplies reaching western China by way of the Burma road, or on aircraft flying over the Hump from India. Once in warehouses in Kunming or Chungking, the Lend-Lease was re-sold to the Japanese Army, with Kodama as purchasing agent. . . .
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 highlight the central role of German general Hans Von Seeckt in Chiang Kai-shek’s military campaign against the Chinese Communists.
Key points of analysis and discussion include:
1.–“ . . . . The military campaign . . . . was engineered for Chiang Kai-shek by one of the best-known strategists of Nazi Germany—General Hans von Seeckt. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Chiang asked for military help. Hitler sent von Seeckt and Lieutenant General Georg Wetzell. The Generalissimo’s determination to fight Communists, rather than Japanese, was to Hitler’s liking. . . .”
2.–Unsurprisingly, the von Seeckt-engineered campaign was a slaughter: “ . . . . [noted journalist] Edgar Snow said the Communists suffered 60,000 casualties, and that in all a million people were killed or starved to death. Of that million dead, therefore, at least 940,000 were not ‘Communist bandits.’ . . . .”
Chiang Kai-shek’s regime networked extensively with the fascist dictatorships of Europe. Commercial networking between Hitler, Mussolini and Chiang involved Kuomintang Finance Minister H.H. Kung and his wife, the former Ai-ling Soong.
Key points of analysis and discussion include:
1.–” . . . . The Kungs then sailed to Europe and the most important part of their trip, the booming German arms industry. H.H. arranged to purchase $25 million U.S. in weapons from Germany. Then, since fascism was fashionable, and his brother-in-law [Chiang Kai-shek] was one of its leading exponents, H. H. decided to visit Mussolini . . .”
2.–The Kungs’ mission to Italy was successful: “ . . . . When H.H. arrived, he cut a deal whereby the $2 million U.S. balance of Boxer [Rebellion] indemnities still owed to Italy would be used to buy Fiat war planes. Mussolini left it to his handsome, swarthy son-in-law, count Ciano, his Minister to China, to arrange the details. Italian assistance to the infant Chinese air force was expanded to include a school to train pilots at Loyang and a Fiat aircraft assembly plant in Nanchang. . . .”
3.–Chiang’s tactic of using his military to fight the Chinese Communists instead of the Japanese was viewed favorably by the Axis—Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan. Not even T.V. Soong could influence Chiang to change strategy, one which Soong felt—correctly–would drive the Chinese people into the arms of the Communists. (Chiang’s anti-Communism was a major selling point used to cultivate support in the U.S.: “ . . . . While T.V. Soong was trying to persuade Chiang to forget the Chinese Communists and defend China against Japanese aggression, the Japanese, Germans, and Italians were all encouraging Chiang to love Japan and kill reds. . . .”
4.–Chiang’s fascist infatuation with Hitler’s Germany influenced his dispatching of his son to join the Wehrmacht: “ . . . . The Generalissimo daily became more enamored of the Nazi military and police state. Eventually, he sent his younger son, Wei-kuo, to be schooled by the Nazis. . . . (Wei-kuo became a second lieutenant in the 98th Jaeger Regiment and before returning to China took part in the invasion of Austria in 1938. . . .)
The program concludes by setting forth the structure of Chiang’s fascist infrastructure, his secret police cadres in particular.
Key points of analysis and discussion include:
1.–Chiang translated his admiration of Hitler and Mussolini into the most sincere form of flattery—imitation: “ . . . . Chiang believed that fascism stood on three legs—nationalism, absolute faith in the Maximum Leader, and the spartan militarization of the citizens. The New Life Movement [the chief promoter of which was Madame Chiang Kai-shek] was the popular manifestation of Chiang’s fascism—a toy for his wife and the missionaries—and it was comic enough not to be taken seriously by foreigners in general. The missionaries . . . . were now eagerly climbing aboard the New Life bandwagon. . . .”
2.–There were three overlapping organizational elements to Chiang’s fascist cadres—the Blue Shirts, the CBIS (Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics) which was run by the Ch’en brothers and the MBIS (the Military Bureau of Investigation and Statistics which was run by Tai Li. Both Ch’en brothers and Tai Li were Green Gang associates of Chiang Kai-shek: “ . . . . Chiang’s fascination with Hitler resulted in the creation of a new secret society modeled on Hitler’s Brown Shirts and Mussolini’s Black Shirts. Chiang called his the Blue Shirts, though he denied their existence repeatedly. They were an offshoot of his two secret services, the party gestapo under the Ch’en brothers, and the military secret police under Tai Li. . . .”
3.–The CBIS was the Kuomintang’s secret political police: “ . . . . Chiang came to depend heavily on the two nephews of his Green Gang mentor . . . . Ch’en Ch’i‑mei. The older nephew, Ch’en Kuo-fu, who had organized and headed the drive that recruited seven thousand Green Gang youths for the Whampoa Military Academy had since then been given the responsibility of setting up a gestapo organization within the KMT. As head of the KMT’s Organization Department, his job was to purify the party and the Nanking government continually. To guarantee the loyalty of each party member, Ch’en Kuo-fu built a spy network that touched every government agency. To run this new apparatus, he selected his younger brother, Ch’en Li-fu [educated at the University of Pittsburgh in the U.S.—D.E.]. Both the Ch-en brothers were “blood brothers” of Chiang Kai-shek, having taken part in a Green Gang ceremony after the death of their uncle. . . . Li-fu . . . . became the director of Chiang’s secret service—the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS), the euphemism chosen for the KMT’s political secret police. . . .”
4.–“China’s Himmler”—Tai Li—headed the MBIS: “ . . . . While the CBIS spied, conducted purges and political executions within the party, large-scale public terrorism was the province of its military counterpart the Military Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (MBIS) was run by “China’s Himmler,” Tai Li—for twenty years the most dreaded man in China. . . . Tai Li had spent his youth as a Green Gang aide to Big-eared Tu and was educated at Tu’s persona expense. In 1926, he was one of the Green Gang recruits enrolled at Whampoa Academy. . . . All clandestine operations in China, except those conducted by the Ch’ens, were his responsibility during the 1930’s. . . .”
5.–Supplementing and overlapping both CBIS and MBIS were the Blue Shirts: “ . . . . Both of these secret police organizations were supplemented by the Blue Shirts. Although it was a replica of the European fascist cults, the Blue Shirts also emulated Japan’s dreaded Black Dragon Society, the most militant secret cult of the Imperial Army. [The organization that helped spawn Kodama Yoshio—D.E.] The Blue Shirts job was to reform China the hard way, by knocking heads together, carrying out political assassinations, liquidating corrupt bureaucrats and ‘enemies of the state.’ . . . . They were officered by old Green Gang classmates from Whampoa. . . .”
6.–Exemplifying the homicidal brutality of Chiang’s secret police cadres was the liquidation of six of China’s most important writers: “ . . . . The extreme was soon reached with the horrific end of six of China’s foremost writers, all followers of the leading literary figure of the [1911] revolution [led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen], Lu Hsun. . . . He [Chiang] ordered his secret police to arrest the writers. Lu Hsun eluded arrest but six young leaders of the group—including Feng Kung, China’s best-known woman writer—were taken into custody and forced to dig a large pit. They were tied hand and foot, thrown into the pit, and buried alive. . . .”
The Deep Politics of The Wallenberg Family: Supplement to FTR#‘s 1178, 1179, 1180
This post supplements discussion in the last part of FTR #1180. Institutionalized as an international martyr for his work rescuing European Jews during the Holocaust, the claim that Raoul Wallenberg’s reputed work ransoming legal immunity for Heinrich Himmler with those Jews is buttressed by his relationship with German industrialist Ludolph Christensen and–through him–SS General Karl Wolff (right.) Exemplifying the family’s position in the Wall Street/cartel pantheon is George Murnane of the Wallenberg holding company A.B. Investor: ” . . . . In November 1940, a voting trust agreement was set up in the United States under which George Murnane was designated by the Wallenbergs’ Enskilda Bank as the sole voting trustee with complete power to vote the American Bosch stock at stockholders’ meetings in the United States. The voting trust arrangement provided that if George Murnane should die, his successor should be named by John Foster Dulles, senior partner of Sullivan & Cromwell, the law firm which represents the Wallenbergs and the Enskilda Bank in the United States. . . .”
FTR #1152 Bio-Psy-Op Apocalypse Now, Part 12: Covid-19 Updates, Part 3
Fleshing out understanding of Covid-19, this program looks at the interrelationship between elements of the military, big pharma, therapeutic measures selected for early deployment against the pandemic and the full-court press underway against China.
Specifically, we wonder if the DARPA research into bat-borne coronaviruses and the apparent dissemination of Covid-19 as part of the covert operations constellation being directed against China may have driven development of those therapeutic measures.
In March of this year, the Pentagon secured remdesivir for treating U.S. service personnel. In FTR #1138, we looked at remdesivir being tested on rhesus macaques in March of 2019. In August of last year, the CDC closed down the United States Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases, in part because of deficient handling of waste produced by “non-human” primates infected with an unnamed “select agent.”
Was that “select agent” Ebola? A bat-borne coronavirus? SARS CoV‑2?
Remdesivir was definitely being tested on MERS at a facility in Montana that was a base for Willy Burgdorfer’s biological warfare research resulting the development of Lyme Disease.
The MERS virus was also a focal point for testing of the messenger RNA vaccines being developed (largely under DARPA auspices). That testing appears to have been a factor in fast-tracking the Moderna vaccine for SARS CoV‑2 (see below).
Next, we review elements of a thought-provoking and disturbing article about DARPA research into bat-borne diseases, including some caused by coronaviruses.
As readers digest this information, remember that DARPA can bring to bear the twined technologies artificial intelligence and super-computers. It has the state of the art with respect to both. Combined with gene editing, that technological pairing offers the possibility of truly horrifying synthetic viruses.
Whitney Webb has provided us with troubling insight into Pentagon research–some of which remains classified, including:
1.–DARPA’s study of “gene-driving technology”–” . . . . Concerns about Pentagon experiments with biological weapons have garnered renewed media attention, particularly after it was revealed in 2017 that DARPA was the top funder of the controversial ‘gene drive’ technology, which has the power to permanently alter the genetics of entire populations while targeting others for extinction. . . .”
2.–DARPA’s funding of Moderna’s mRNA vaccine technology.
3.–The closure of the USAMRIID:” . . . . The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) facility at Fort Detrick, Maryland — the U.S. military’s lead laboratory for ‘biological defense’ research since the late 1960s — was forced to halt all research it was conducting with a series of deadly pathogens . . . . USAMRIID has recently been involved in research born out of the Pentagon’s recent concern about the use of bats as bioweapons. . . .”
Moderna’s SARS-CoV‑2 vaccine continues to generate controversy. Despite receiving funding from DARPA, no mention of the government backing was mentioned in its patent filings.
While Moderna was not open about its extensive government support in patent filings, the company has been open about it with the press–for good reason: the fast-tracking of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine development has been justified in large part because of that extensive past government support. That support highlights the close work Moderna and US government agencies have conducted together over the years developing this vaccine technology for MERS. Might this development have been part of the DARPA research discussed in the Whitney Webb article?
Next, we highlight a Nature article from last month describing the existing collaboration between the NIAID’s Vaccine Research Center and Moderna on a different vaccine. Moderna simply shifted gears and started working on the COVID-19 vaccine: it’s been a US government/Moderna collaboration from the very beginning.
An aspect of Moderna’s vaccine development that is of concern is the fact that mRNA vaccines are inexpensive to produce, facilitating the production of large amounts of stock. This, in turn, IF it is announced before election day, might not only boost Trump’s popularity, but such a development could provide a foundation for an assault on mail-in voting.
The news out of Moderna’s trial could be worse. The extremely small size of this sample, however, is a matter of concern.
Noteworthy in that general context is the observation by Jonathan King (professor of molecular biology at MIT), that Pentagon research into the application of genetic engineering to biological warfare could be masked as vaccine research, which sounds “defensive.”
In FTR #1130, we noted the role of four-star general Gustave Perna in Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed,” instituted by General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Whether the program serves as cover for military research seems a reasonable question to ask, under the circumstances.
We conclude with a look at the past–a historical element of biological warfare that reflects on the present.
In past programs and posts, we have briefly noted that military and [ostensibly] civilian programs officially involved with “epidemic prevention” might conceal clandestine biological warfare applications designed to create epidemics.
The official distinction between “offensive” and “defensive” biological warfare research is academic.
In that context, one should note that the official title of Unit 731, the notorious Japanese biological warfare unit was “the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army.”
The Whitney Webb article–once again–figures into this analysis:
The DARPA research is ostensibly aimed at preventing pandemics but–very possibly–masking preparations for offensive biological warfare projects. ” . . . . Many of these recent research projects are related to DARPA’s Preventing Emerging Pathogenic Threats, or PREEMPT program, which was officially announced in April 2018. PREEMPT focuses specifically on animal reservoirs of disease, specifically bats, and DARPA even noted in its press release in the program that it ‘is aware of biosafety and biosecurity sensitivities that could arise’ due to the nature of the research. . . . In addition, while both DARPA’s PREEMPT program and the Pentagon’s open interest in bats as bioweapons were announced in 2018, the U.S. military — specifically the Department of Defense’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program — began funding research involving bats and deadly pathogens, including the coronaviruses MERS and SARS, a year prior in 2017. . . .”
Looking ahead to our next program (and to the forecasts of a “twindemic”–seasonal flu and Covid-19 at the same time) we note the observations of Dr. Daniel R. Lucey, who has cited Chinese research that ferrets are particularly susceptible to SARS COV‑2 infection.
In FTR #‘s 1116 and 1117, we noted the gain-of-function experiments being done on H5N1 avian flu. Specifically, the virus was mutated to manifest upper respiratory transmission in ferrets.
In FTR #1138, we noted that Tamiflu–developed by Gilead Sciences (the makers of remdesivir) was developed to combat the forecast H5N1 pandemic. Former chairman-of-the board Donald Rumsfeld, profited enormously from Pentagon and government purchases of Tamiflu.
We wonder about:
1.–The possibility of the GOF functions done on H5N1 having been applied to the development of SARS Cov‑2.
2.–The possibility that the GOF functions done on H5N1 could result in a more virulent H5N1 pandemic, coinciding with Covid-19.
3.–The possibility that the above developments may prove very profitable to Gilead Sciences.
FTR #1151 Bio-Psy-Op Apocalypse Now, Part 11: Covid-19 Updates, Part 2
Continuing our inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic, this program continues analysis of the disease as a pandemic–a biological warfare manifestation that is one part act of war, one part domestic terrorism, and a major “psy-op.”
The widely publicized interview Trump gave to Bob Woodward, in which Trump candidly assessed the lethal nature of SARS Cov‑2 has been misunderstood. Trump’s policy on the virus has been just exactly what he and the interests for which he fronts desire.
The pandemic is a portal for the realization of the goals of the Underground Reich for which Trump is a front man and enabler. These issues either have been or will be discussed at greater length.
The virus is the Wealth Concentration Virus.
It is the Wealth-Destroying Virus for areas and institutions that the Trump interests oppose.
It is the Urban Area Destruction Virus.
It is the White Supremacist Virus–hitting people of color much harder, due to health and socio-economic factors.
It is the Eugenic Virus–killing older people and people with complicating medical conditions.
It is the Education-Destroying Virus, drastically and negatively affecting public schools and colleges.
It is the Public Transit Destroying Virus.
It is the Divide and Conquer Virus–separating the old from the young and–potentially–women from men.
The pandemic is the “Bio-Psy-Op Apocalypse” Virus, ravaging the psyches of individuals and groups.
Trump kept a copy of this by his bedside for late-night reading.
The Covid-19 pandemic is driving what might be termed a right-wing ideological wet dream in a number of different respects. Here, we note that the damage done by the virus is seen as furthering a corporatist agenda, masquerading under the common rhetorical camouflage of “libertarian” philosophy.
An important piece in “The Guardian” details how plutocrats terming themselves “anarcho-capitalists” see the pandemic as forcing regions–from nations to municipalities–to conform to the demands of dominant, mobile blocks of capital by eliminating the essentials of the progressive social agenda.
1.–” . . . . They spy opportunity in the crisis, and wager that we might be able to ride the wave of the pandemic into a new tomorrow, where the virus shatters the global map – and undermines the power of democratic nation states. The US is ground zero for this type of thinking. . . .”
2.–” . . . . In an analysis released at the end of April, Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore, two of Trump’s closest economic confidants and authors of the book on ‘Trumponomics’, predicted that ‘blue’ Democratic states would be slower than ‘red’ states to recover, because of what they saw as their pre-existing excess of regulations and taxes. . . .”
3.–” . . . .Their analysis divided the US map into ‘laggard anti-growth’ states and ‘momentum pro-growth’ states. The former have minimum wages, pro-union laws and state income tax; the latter are free of such regulations. In the established mode of disaster capitalism, Laffer and Moore’s analysis appears to see the pandemic as a way to compel ‘anti-growth’ states to adopt ever lower tax rates in order to attract mobile capital and labour. It suggests those who resist will not be bailed out by redistribution from the central government, but left to languish in a deserved economic depression. The effect is reminiscent of social Darwinism, applied as a philosophy of government. . . .”
4.–” . . . . As nations are divided into different zones according to their respective stages of viral and economic recovery, the well-off could follow Elon Musk’s recent threat to relocate from California to Texas, voting with their feet for locations that elude redistributive taxation. In our post-pandemic future, the flight to safety, away from contagious ‘red zones’, could be a flight from the nation state as we know it. . . .”
As an introduction, we review key aspects of a very important article by Whitney Webb, setting forth extensive DARPA research into bat-borne coronaviruses, potentially genocidal gene-driving technology and overlapping research into vaccine development, as well as the possibility that such research may have been involved with the CDC’s shutdown of Fort Detrick’s USAMRIID in early August of 2019.
In numerous programs, we have noted remdesivir and how it has driven–very possibly with insider advanced knowledge and trading–the stock market. We have covered remdesivir and Gilead Sciences in detail in FTR #‘s 1132, 1134, and 1138.
The FDA–now headed by the Hoover Institute’s Stephen Hahn, a former cancer specialist with no experience in infectious diseases–has expanded the approved use of remdesivir. Experts are warning that the FDA provided no data justifying the move and now the drug is going to be in even shorter supply for the sickest patients.
The remainder of the program focuses on fast-tracking of vaccines.
Among the gambits being discussed as possible vehicles for Trump to gain a second term is the rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine. The CDC has told states to prepare for such a development. Many critics have cited the premature nature of such a possibility and the lack of adequate testing.
Next, we present an interview of the head of the FDA, Stephen Hahn, about his willingness to fast-track a vaccine. The way Hahn puts it, the criteria for his decision to fast track is simply as long as the benefits outweigh the risks.
Hahn comes from the Hoover Institute. His medical experience is in the field of cancer treatment. He has no experience in infectious diseases.
As critics point out, even if early results are overwhelmingly positive that doesn’t preclude the possibility of dangerous side effects taking longer to manifest. In addition, ending the trial early reduces opportunity to recruit more people from groups currently under-represented in trials, such as blacks and Hispanics. Ending the trials early due to very positive initial results might hide deleterious results down the line, particularly for the non-whites that Trump and his base despise.
Anthony Fauci has indicated the possibility of such an early authorization.
Next, we present an interview with a previous FDA chief, Scott Gottlieb, who sits on the board of Pfizer–along with Moderna, leading the race to get a vaccine to market.
One scenario he saw as feasible for a pre-election vaccine release: if clinical trials demonstrate that the vaccine is highly effective in the middle of a new “dense” wave of cases.
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