291 - The CIA, Smuggling Drugs, and Fighting Communism: The Story of Air America

Timesuck with Dan Cummins

Fascinating stuff today! I knew almost nothing about Air America - the CIA's secret airline - before this week's research. Today, we go over the history of Air America, and also look at how Air America fit into the CIA's battle for ideological control of southeast Asia. We look at the Cold War battle that wasn't limited to just Korea and Vietnam. Significant fighting also took place in Laos and elsewhere as the US waged secret wars against communist forces backed by the Soviets or the Chinese, or both. The Cold War was an international battle for ideological supremacy - communism versus democracy - and so much of the fighting was done in Asia. And the CIA was so heavily involved. As was Air American. Hope you find all of this as interesting as I do. Hail Nimrod!
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