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Mike Swanson Author of The War State joins us to revisit Vietnam and examine a recent book by Author Max Boot. Many fallacies about the Vietnam conflict are confronted in the opening discussion. However, the primary focus of the conversation is Ed Landsdale. Major General Edward Lansdale was with the O.S.S., The U.S. Air Force, and the C.I.A. The reality of his career and his legend have both evolved over many decades. Due in part to his alleged involvement in The Assassination of JFK, but also his provable operational work in The Philippians, Operation Mongoose, and the early stages of the Vietnam conflict. He rose to the rank of Major General and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1963. His death in 1987 did not cause his legend to fade. Max Boot released a book this year which Mike Swanson explains quite a bit about in hour 1. Pearse Redmond continues with the topic of Landsdale in hour 2 relating to his foray into Hollywood films. The Quiet American is a twice made movie that seems to have been influenced and exploited by Landsdale and the C.I.A. Plus we discuss the latest Trumpet madness.

Download PPR episode 143

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio | Also tagged chuck ochelli, CIA, edward landsdale, graham greene, kim jong un, North Korea, the ochelli effect, The Quiet American, trump, vietnam | Comments (0)

Black Op Radio episode 823

February 24, 2017 – 5:06 pm

Tom Secker and I were recently guests on Len Osanic’s Black Op Radio. We discussed The CIA and Hollywood series and specifically our episode on The Quiet American and Edward Lansdale. We discuss the theory that Lansdale was acting as a former ad-executive and was attempting to sell war in South East Asia. Tom and I also talk about the CIA’s use of George Orwell as propaganda, Charlie Wilson, and why government interference in cinema and culture is so dangerous.

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Show Notes:

The Ballad of Ed Lansdale

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio | Also tagged 1984, Animal farm, audie murphy, black op radio, Charlie Wilson, Charlie Wilson's war, CIA, ed lansdale, edward lansdale, false flag, fowler, french indo-china war, George orwell, graham greene, JFK, JFK assassination, len osanic, meet the parents, Pentagon, pyle, race to witch mountain, The CIA and Hollywood, The Quiet American, tom secker, vietnam, vietnam war, zero dark 30 | Comments (0)

Porkins Policy Radio episode 73 Carol For Another Christmas with Tom Secker

December 22, 2016 – 5:29 pm

Tom Secker joins me for a Christmas themed episode. We discuss the 1964 television film Carol For Another Christmas. Commissioned by the United Nations and produced by the Xerox corporation this 1964 film would feature a disturbing retelling of A Christmas Carol. Tom and I discuss the people involved in this movie including director Joseph Mankiewicz, actor Sterling Hayden, and writer Rod Serling. We talk about some of the various intelligence connections some of the individuals had prior to making this film with the UN. Tom and I explore the film as a piece of propaganda and whether or not it succeeds in promoting the United Nations. We break down Peter Sellers amazing performance as “Imperial Me” the hyper-individualist cult leader who takes over in the post apocalyptic world with out the UN. We discuss how this fear based vision represents the “Liberal Consensus” of the UN: with out us there will be WWIII.

Through much of the second hour Tom and I devote time to laying out how ineffectual and corrupt the UN has become. We talk about the contradictory political messages the film presents us with and how this mirrors the many problems of the UN. Looking ahead to the future Tom and I discuss if we are headed to WWIII, and why so much of the news the past week has been decidedly dark for the Christmas season.

Download PPR episode 73

Show Notes:

A Carol For Another Christmas

The UN Goes to the Movies

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio | Also tagged carol for another christmas, christmas carol, globalism, hiroshima, hyper-individualist, Imperial Me, isolationist, liberal consensus, nuclear war, Peter Sellers, post apocalyptic, propaganda, rod serling, sterling hayden, telesun foundation, tom secker, UN, United nations, WWII, WWIII | Comments (0)

The CIA and Hollywood episode 8 The Quiet American

June 5, 2016 – 12:50 pm

In this first episode of the new season Pearse and I discuss the 1958 spy drama The Quiet American, adapted from the novel by Graham Greene. We focus in on the role of Air Force and CIA officer Ed Lansdale’s relationship with the film-maker Joseph Mankiewicz, and how the CIA were involved in assisting Mankiewicz the first major American movie to be filmed in Vietnam. Mankiewicz met Lansdale in Vietnam while doing research for the movie and, apparently unaware that Lansdale is one of the inspirations for the Pyle character in the original book, befriended him. Lansdale later reviewed the script and wrote to Mankiewicz encouraging the changes he had made to the storyline and characters.

Another angle is Graham Greene’s transition from an MI6 agent in World War 2 to an anti-establishment author who was spied by the FBI for supposed Communist affiliations. We look at how his original novel of The Quiet American was an excellent critique of post-WW2 American imperialism, secret warfare and so-called ‘humanitarian interventions’, which was butchered in the Hollywood version. In particular the character of Pyle is turned from a bookish, virginal ‘war nerd’ into the charming all-American version played by real-life war hero Audie Murphy. Likewise, while the original book has Fowler’s worst suspicions about Pyle being proven right (Pyle is sponsoring terrorism), the film changes this so Fowler is fooled by the Communists into betraying Pyle.

We round off this episode by briefly discussing the far superior (and not state-sponsored) 2002 film version directed by Philip Noyce and starring Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser. This version is not only better written, acted and directed but is also, crucially, a faithful adaptation of the original book.