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The radical Australian economist has an interesting blog < http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/> on the role of the CIA in France 1985. The CIA document is at < https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP86S00588R000300380001-5.PDF>. The document reveals how the CIA sought to both monitor and influence. the CIA particularly rejoiced in the decline in influence of Sartre and the older Marxist intellectuals and were heartened by the advent of the new philosophers. Mitchell gives the following quote of how changes in the intellectual climate ‘… have permitted the younger generation of French intellectuals to adopt a more open attitude towards the United States. This in turn has given rise to a new wave of genuinely pro-American sentiment, rooted in the vogue of American popular culture, in respect for the American economic vitality of the 1980s, and in admiration for the new image of self-confidence that the United States now projects in the world. ‘ Reading this I wonder to what extent the image of the Trump Presidency constitutes a problem for the CIA. We know that Trump cannot visit the UK. True, he had a successful tour of France, but in the aftermath, perhaps because of his ass-licking, Macron’s popularity plunged. Chris Uhlmann of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced a critique of Trump that went viral http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-10/how-chris-uhlmanns-g20-takedown-of-donald-trump-went-viral/8695144 This was essentially an lament by a right winger for the Good Old Days when the USA was the "Leader of the Free World" and was fully engaged in the Cold War . Trump's Kill Bill speech was I think meant to recapture the spirit of the Good Old Days and to reassure the likes of Uhlmann. Real problems are not so easily solved though. The economic vitality referred to in the CIA report has long gone. American popular culture has collapsed into reality television (!). Nor has the spectacle of degenerates marching by torch light and chanting “Jews will not replace us” done much for anyone’s self-confidence. I don't envy the CIA's task of selling Trump to the world. comradely Gary _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
