1. Ok jesus christ since my mentions are a fucking shitshow right now let me explain what I mean when I say it's important to also look at local right-wing forces when a coup happens instead of ONLY looking at the CIA.
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
2. Take Husni al-Za'im's 1949 coup in Syria for example. This is one of the defining events in post-war Syrian history and basically irrevocably fucked up Syrian politics. Husni al-Za'im would be overthrown in yet another coup like 4 months later.
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
3. When I took a class on Syrian history in college my professor literally didn't even teach that coup because the leader of the 2nd coup were immediately overthrown by a THIRD coup and you can see where this is going, Syria is wracked by coups
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
4. basically until Hafez al-Assad takes power in one final coup in 1971. Let's go back to Husni al-Za'im's coup though. That coup is widely and accurately described as a CIA backed coup, which is true, but what you have to understand about that
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
5. coup is that Husni al-Za'im was already planning it completely independently of the CIA and basically seems to have brought them in at the last second to make sure they were ok with it. The CIA were like sure go for it have fun and the coup
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
6. succeeds. This is a completely different kind of CIA backed coup than say the overthrow of Jacobo Árbenz, which was a CIA planned op carried out by men armed and trained by the CIA. I think there's a tendency sometimes to look at a country
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
7. where the CIA operates and assume anything that happens that favors the CIA must be the result of the CIA training covert ops units and directing right-wing forces to do something when it's just as likely for the CIA to see a plan in motion
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
8. and hitch itself on to it or to see a random event and try to spin it to its advantage. The CIA doesn't literally plan every event or even every coup, a lot of times they just sign off on stuff or give weapons to something that's happening.
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
9. A great example of how to understand history and and current intelligence operations in the way I'm talking about is @Annibal97783312's episodes on Radio War Nerd on the Years of Lead and the kidnapping and eventual assassination of Aldo Moro.
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
10. You could correctly say Aldo Moro was killed by strange collaboration of the CIA, MI6, France intelligence, the KGB, East German intelligence, Libyan intelligence and elements of the Italian army, but Annibale focuses heavily on local Italian
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
11. actors and the result is an incredibly rich history that pieces together how these really complex actors and organizations worked together and against each other that gives you insight into important things like how the Red Brigades functioned
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
12. and the power and limits of the various intelligence agencies. Another example is how he deals with the P2 organization, which most leftists, if they've run into it, tend to write off as a CIA operation. Annibole's explanation of it is a lot
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
13. more interesting because it folds P2 into the political state of 70's Italy, emphasizes the role of Licio Gelli using P2 as a personal attempt to gain power, and describes how other elements of the Italian ruling class saw the P2 as a way to
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
14. roll back the gains and power of the left. The CIA is obviously involved but P2 isn't something that the CIA set up and directed it was an Italian operation that the CIA back, and being able to tell the difference between the two is incredibly
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
15. important. This is why I ask people to try to understand local right-wing forces when a coup happens, not because I don't think the CIA is involved, but because understanding both how they were involved and what other political forces were
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
16. doing at the time and in the lead up to the event will keep you from treating the CIA like the Illuminati. It allows you to understand what the CIA can and cannot do and it gives you a better understanding of the precise challenges that local
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
17. left-wing groups face on a day to day basis. So please, for the love of god, understand that when I call for us to study local right-wing forces I'm not saying that the CIA isn't involved, I'm calling on us all to do a better job of
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
18. understanding both the specificity of the local context and figuring out how exactly the CIA is involved, because they have different kinds of operations and levels of involvement. There's an entirely different thread to be written about the
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
19. differences between and factions in the CIA and the State Department (and the Army when relevant) but I am way, WAY too tired to write it right now, so suffice it to say they aren't the same and sometimes they literally fight each other.
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
