CB:
Then I'd say the motive was that Kennedy was getting too soft on Communism, the possible specifics of which have been mentioned about 50
WS: Charles, do you really believe that? Then how do you square it with the fact that JFK scored a really, really big victory in the Cuban Missile Crisis without firing a single shot. Even without knowing what we do today (i.e. that the Russians did have tactical nuclear missiles in Cuba and would have used them if attacked) - having the Russians blink and pull out was a major political and moral victory which overshadowed the Bay of Pigs fiasco.
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CB: No, the Cuban Missile crisis was a big defeat for the U.S. militarists. The Soviets won by preventing a U.S. invasion of Cuba. Cuba still has not been invaded to this day. I mean the Dominican Republic was invaded just a few years later in 1965. It should have been no big deal to invade Cuba. The Soviets didn't especially want their missiles in Cuba. They didn't want to attack the U.S. They wanted to prevent a U.S. invasion of Cuba, and giving up the missiles for that was a good deal from the Soviet standpoint , and horrible from the U.S. militarist standpoint. A 1963 Goldwaterite/John Bircher/Military-Industrial-Complexite would be hopping mad, livid, about Kennedy losing the upperhand with respect to Cuba. Kennedy had shown himself to be a coward in a confrontation with the Soviets. You don't really think the U.S. won the Cuban missile crisis , do you ? But just as big was that Kennedy SIGNED A NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY WITH THE SOVIETS two months before he was assassinated. U.S. rightwingers of the day would consider that an abomination ( no pun).
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With that in mind -
^^^^^ CB: But what you had in mind is wrong. Exactly wrong. The Soviets won the Cuban missile crisis. It is critical to remember that to understand that period of the history of the Cold War.
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focus on JFK's assassination obscures rather than elucidates the politics of the Cold War and the US empire in general. The empire does not need a cabal conspiring in their basement to overthrow the will of the people - it operates in a full light of legitimacy and relative openness.
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CB: Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. No ,we do not have a completely transparent government in the U.S. Are you kidding !? Sure some of the stuff is right out in the open. But all of it ? Please . It is important for to promote DIS-trust of the U.S. government, more like what was the popular state of mind in the 60's and 70's. In fact, one of the big historical events that undermined Americans' trust in their government was the Kennedy (and Martin Luther King and RFK ) assassination(s), because anybody with half a brain at the time could tell something was fishy with the Warren Report and all that stuff. I didn't become suspicious because of anything but the bear facts as reported. The "Lone gunmen" explanation became a famous fake ( and joke) coverup of assassinations in that period. Yea, Martin Luther King was killed by a lone nut. Yea, RFK was killed by a lone nut. It became a mark of naivete vs street sense as to whether or not you bought the government's lone gunman bullshit.
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The oligarchs are quite open what they are going to do and how, before they actually do it (cf. PG Wars I & II) - they do not need a secret assassination team to pursue their war plans.
^^^^^^^^ CB: You have to be more concrete. At that time they turned to secret assassinations several times. Today, they don't need to hit anybody. In part that is because people like Clinton learned the lessons of the assassination period. The assassinations helped to discipline future politicos like Clinton. " We know you are young and wild, but don't cross certain lines. You can be hit "
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"Conspiracy" is, in fact, strategic business/political planning done in full day light and as much public scrutiny as any democratic state would allow it.
^^^^^^^ CB: I don't really use the term "conspiracy". That's a term of derision by those who don't like to discuss the fact that the ruling class is very class CONSCIOUS, and they plan and plot all the time, both in the open and secretly. It is the difference in class consciousness that is the advantage that the ruling minority has over the ruled majority. The idea that they are completely transparent is patently ridiculous, although the more open they are , the more dangerous it is. The more they have to plot secretly , the more you have them boxed in.
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The JFK's assassination, whether done by the mob, the Cuban mafia or by some right wing fanatic is simply irrelevant to the workings of the empire, just as the assassination attempt on Reagan by a rich psychopath is.
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CB: The JFK assassination is simply an example of a violent conflict within the U.S. ruling class over Cold War strategy and "personnel". That's why we should mention it in history discussions.