01-07-2019, 10:33 PM
I'm finally done with the Old Nazis, The New Right And The Republican Party by Russ Belant.
Here are my impressions of Belant's work:
1. Russ does a unique service in painting a detailed picture of the American Security Council. The only other such description that I know of is in the book "Self-Destruct:.." by Judge Robert Morris. But Judge Morris portrays the American Security Council to be more like aging has-beens, including people like James J Angleton (as it stood in the 1970's) and similar aging historical figures.
2. I had always thought that the three groups most likely to have been involved in the JFK assassination were the American Security Council, the Tolstoy Foundation and the Anti-Bolshevik Nations (ABN). Russ paints a nasty picture of these groups among many others.
3. But Russ does not present any information, statistical or otherwise as to any specific bad deeds or criminal acts, etc. that were committed by these people after they came to America. Russ relies on the historical guilt carried over from the WWII era. The assumption is that the WWII guilt is impossible to live down. Is it? That's almost a theological question. It's like laying the guilt of Stalin's crimes on Putin. Is that fair? Maybe yes, maybe no. Not in every case or on every issue.
4. Specifically, Russ is very unfair and inaccurate in his mention of the German CDU party. He describes them as a party "that brought a variety of Nazi elements into its fold" (p 36). Taken by itself, that's not an accurate over-all description of the CDU party in Germany. It was nowhere near being, as a whole, pro-Nazi as Russ seems to imply.
5. I'm totally in sympathy with Russ that nobody should glorify or sympathize with fascism. I totally agree. I think fascists are bastards IMHO. But merely identifying a group as "sympathetic to fascism" doesn't tell us how much influence they actually had. Despite the influence over the Republican Party that these groups must have had, they may have been overshadowed by, say, the Isreali Lobby, the Saudi-Arabian Lobby, the Vatican Lobby, the Mormon Lobby, etc. etc. Russ doesn't estimate how many votes they swung, or to what extent they were, by themselves, effective in getting Nixon or Ronald Reagan elected. I honestly don't have a clue about the real answer to that question.
6. Dr. Jeffrey Caufield in his book "General Walker..." presents endless information about right-wing elements in regard to the JFK assassination. If you rule out names like Richard Nixon, Dwight Eisenhower and John F, Kennedy, then you're left with only a small number of names reported by both Russ and Dr. Caufield. They are Willis Carto of Liberty Lobby, David Duke, Bonner Fellers, Marvin K. Hart, H.L. Hunt, Charles Pichel (of the Shickshenny Knights), George Schultz, Joroslav Stetsko, George Stratemeyer, General Charles Willoughby, William Turner and General Robert E. Wood.
These are a small number of names compared to the hundreds mentioned either by Belant or by Caufield.
So I would conclude that Russ does not connect any of the groups (in a significant way), to the JFK assassination. Nor does Dr. Caufield regarding the Belant groups.
7. Having said all this, I would still agree with Russ that nobody in the US typically has any clue as to the extent of the influence, be it large (or above average) of these basically sinister groups.
8. Regarding the Latin-American death squads Russ describes, however, they are obviously part of the picture and they were (and are) murderers, plain and simple. And the members of these groups who were (and are) approving of war crimes, they are obviously losers and even delusional. But there may have been members who were merely sentimental about the "old days" and or "the old country", especially Ukrainians.
9. In my opinion, Russ vastly underplays the role of organized religion in regard to all these groups. The Russian Orthodox Church, the Vatican, the Ukrainian religious movements were much more influential than reported by Russ. He basically white-washes this entire issue. The only church group he criticizes is the Romanian Orthodox Church. There were, in fact, many others involved.
10. Finally, the Belant book proves (to me) that the involvement of the Obama administration in the Ukraine (and its collaboration with openly Nazi factions) is still questionable and likely tainted by the Nazi history and should be repudiated.
James Lateer
Here are my impressions of Belant's work:
1. Russ does a unique service in painting a detailed picture of the American Security Council. The only other such description that I know of is in the book "Self-Destruct:.." by Judge Robert Morris. But Judge Morris portrays the American Security Council to be more like aging has-beens, including people like James J Angleton (as it stood in the 1970's) and similar aging historical figures.
2. I had always thought that the three groups most likely to have been involved in the JFK assassination were the American Security Council, the Tolstoy Foundation and the Anti-Bolshevik Nations (ABN). Russ paints a nasty picture of these groups among many others.
3. But Russ does not present any information, statistical or otherwise as to any specific bad deeds or criminal acts, etc. that were committed by these people after they came to America. Russ relies on the historical guilt carried over from the WWII era. The assumption is that the WWII guilt is impossible to live down. Is it? That's almost a theological question. It's like laying the guilt of Stalin's crimes on Putin. Is that fair? Maybe yes, maybe no. Not in every case or on every issue.
4. Specifically, Russ is very unfair and inaccurate in his mention of the German CDU party. He describes them as a party "that brought a variety of Nazi elements into its fold" (p 36). Taken by itself, that's not an accurate over-all description of the CDU party in Germany. It was nowhere near being, as a whole, pro-Nazi as Russ seems to imply.
5. I'm totally in sympathy with Russ that nobody should glorify or sympathize with fascism. I totally agree. I think fascists are bastards IMHO. But merely identifying a group as "sympathetic to fascism" doesn't tell us how much influence they actually had. Despite the influence over the Republican Party that these groups must have had, they may have been overshadowed by, say, the Isreali Lobby, the Saudi-Arabian Lobby, the Vatican Lobby, the Mormon Lobby, etc. etc. Russ doesn't estimate how many votes they swung, or to what extent they were, by themselves, effective in getting Nixon or Ronald Reagan elected. I honestly don't have a clue about the real answer to that question.
6. Dr. Jeffrey Caufield in his book "General Walker..." presents endless information about right-wing elements in regard to the JFK assassination. If you rule out names like Richard Nixon, Dwight Eisenhower and John F, Kennedy, then you're left with only a small number of names reported by both Russ and Dr. Caufield. They are Willis Carto of Liberty Lobby, David Duke, Bonner Fellers, Marvin K. Hart, H.L. Hunt, Charles Pichel (of the Shickshenny Knights), George Schultz, Joroslav Stetsko, George Stratemeyer, General Charles Willoughby, William Turner and General Robert E. Wood.
These are a small number of names compared to the hundreds mentioned either by Belant or by Caufield.
So I would conclude that Russ does not connect any of the groups (in a significant way), to the JFK assassination. Nor does Dr. Caufield regarding the Belant groups.
7. Having said all this, I would still agree with Russ that nobody in the US typically has any clue as to the extent of the influence, be it large (or above average) of these basically sinister groups.
8. Regarding the Latin-American death squads Russ describes, however, they are obviously part of the picture and they were (and are) murderers, plain and simple. And the members of these groups who were (and are) approving of war crimes, they are obviously losers and even delusional. But there may have been members who were merely sentimental about the "old days" and or "the old country", especially Ukrainians.
9. In my opinion, Russ vastly underplays the role of organized religion in regard to all these groups. The Russian Orthodox Church, the Vatican, the Ukrainian religious movements were much more influential than reported by Russ. He basically white-washes this entire issue. The only church group he criticizes is the Romanian Orthodox Church. There were, in fact, many others involved.
10. Finally, the Belant book proves (to me) that the involvement of the Obama administration in the Ukraine (and its collaboration with openly Nazi factions) is still questionable and likely tainted by the Nazi history and should be repudiated.
James Lateer