Yesterday I had Colonel Towner-Watkins back on the podcast for part 4 of our series. We got into Italy and how the CIA spent a fortune influencing the elections in 1948. This episode with set the table for getting into Operation Gladio, and you will see that the CIA playbook hasn’t changed much. We also tied things in a bit with what has been going on today with election interference, CIA operations on US soil, and other topics. You can find Colonel Towner-Watkins on Twitter and Rumble.
Podcast Summary
The push from the CIA to get the Fabian socialists elected in Italy (aka Christian Democrats).
How they spent $50M (in 1948 dollars) to get the Christian Democrats elected in 1948.
The news outlets involvement in shaping the narrative here in the US, and the messaging about Soviet influence even though they had no presence there after WWII.
The various methods the CIA used to influence the election.
How they set up the Italian American Committee for Free Elections.
The differences between parapolitical warfare, paraeconomic warfare, and paramilitary warfare.
Using tax dollars as corporate welfare for large projects outside of the US.
The consistency of the CIA playbook over time, and the tendency towards becoming a cog in the machine in large bureaucracies.
