Monkeyboy wrote:They were after russian investors and money, but yeh, there's way too much collateral damage in something like this.

Werthless wrote:

Monkeyboy wrote:They were after russian investors and money, but yeh, there's way too much collateral damage in something like this.

Well, they were after Russian money launderers, which is only a subset of Russian investors. But rather than address that, they punish anyone with money saved. It's impressive, really, how they can make a $10B bailout have the maximum negative effect on the EU region.

"We have found that our friend, the Republican nominee, our California friend, has been playing on the outskirts with our enemies and our friends both, he has been doing it through rather subterranean sources,” Johnson told Sen. Richard Russell, D-Ga., in one taped phone call. “Mrs. Chennault is warning the South Vietnamese not to get pulled into this Johnson move."

Anna Chan Chennault, the Chinese-born widow of World War II aviation legend Claire Chennault, was a Republican activist and Nixon's emissary to the South Vietnamese. She is still alive at age 87.

Why did Johnson refuse to break the news? In part, it would mean admitting that he had bugged several ambassadors’ phones, which also might not sit well with the American public. Johnson informed Humphrey of Nixon’s actions, though he ultimately decided not to make the announcement in the vain hope that he was on track to win anyway.

In the end, Nixon used Johnson’s “failure” to end the Vietnam War as a major selling point, even citing the South’s withdrawn from peace talks as a black mark against Johnson. Nixon won by an extremely small margin and once in office, escalated the war for years before negotiating for peace in 1973.

While the confirmation of Nixon’s behavior is shocking enough, the LBJ tapes also reveal that the Democratic president at one point had a secret plan to re-enter the 1968 presidential election at the last second. In the spring, after strong showings by the antiwar candidates Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy, Johnson abruptly announced that he would not run for a second term, and Humphrey entered the race in his place.

pacino wrote:holy #$!&@, nixon purposely blew up a peace agreement in Vietnam so he could become president and appear to be hte peace candidate.

what a horrible, horrible, person.

Bucky wrote:take it to the conspiracies threat

jerseyhoya wrote:You have such a positive, uplifting view of so many politicians

drsmooth wrote:a word that frequently comes to mind when Luke Russert's face is on my teevee is 'perfunctory'