Title: The American Red Double Cross Source:
youtube URL Source:http://youtu.be/ebBDEkgWN7U Published:Nov 22, 2012 Author:. Post Date:2012-11-22 22:20:15 by farmfriend Keywords:None Views:3120 Comments:9
The hearing was contentious, with panel members trying to get at the issue of donor intent and whether the Red Cross misled donors.
"What's at issue here is that a special fund was established for these families. It was specially funded for this event, September 11," said Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-Louisiana.
"And it is being closed now because we are told enough money's been raised in it, but we're also being told, by the way, we're going to give two-thirds of it away to other Red Cross needs."
In recent years, affiliations between the Red Cross and federal agencies have grown. Prior to 9/11, the Red Cross was a key organization in what is known as the Federal Response Plan, enacted in 2000.
The Federal Response Plan could only be triggered by a request for support by a governor and a declaration of emergency by the President. In providing relief and assistance under the Act, the President was given authorization to utilize the personnel and facilities of the Red Cross and to enter into agreements with it to coordinate disaster relief efforts.
In 2002, the Federal Response Plan was superseded by the similarly-named National Response Plan. This Plan was created under the 2002 Homeland Security Act. FEMA and the Red Cross were brought under the Department of Homeland Security.
What then was the Red Cross Mission doing? Thompson certainly acquired a reputation for opulent living in Petrograd, but apparently he undertook only two major projects in Kerensky's Russia: support for an American propaganda program and support for the Russian Liberty Loan. Soon after arriving in Russia Thompson met with Madame Breshko-Breshkovskaya and David Soskice, Kerensky's secretary, and agreed to contribute $2 million to a committee of popular education so that it could "have its own press and ... engage a staff of lecturers, with cinematograph illustrations" (861.00/ 1032); this was for the propaganda purpose of urging Russia to continue in the war against Germany. According to Soskice, "a packet of 50,000 rubles" was given to Breshko-Breshkovskaya with the statement, "This is for you to expend according to your best judgment." A further 2,100,000 rubles was deposited into a current bank account. A letter from J. P. Morgan to the State Department (861.51/190) confirms that Morgan cabled 425,000 rubles to Thompson at his request for the Russian Liberty Loan; J. P. also conveyed the interest of the Morgan firm regarding "the wisdom of making an individual subscription through Mr. Thompson" to the Russian Liberty Loan. These sums were transmitted through the National City Bank branch in Petrograd.
What then was the Red Cross Mission doing? Thompson certainly acquired a reputation for opulent living in Petrograd, but apparently he undertook only two major projects in Kerensky's Russia: support for an American propaganda program and support for the Russian Liberty Loan. Soon after arriving in Russia Thompson met with Madame Breshko-Breshkovskaya and David Soskice, Kerensky's secretary, and agreed to contribute $2 million to a committee of popular education so that it could "have its own press and ... engage a staff of lecturers, with cinematograph illustrations" (861.00/ 1032); this was for the propaganda purpose of urging Russia to continue in the war against Germany. According to Soskice, "a packet of 50,000 rubles" was given to Breshko-Breshkovskaya with the statement, "This is for you to expend according to your best judgment." A further 2,100,000 rubles was deposited into a current bank account. A letter from J. P. Morgan to the State Department (861.51/190) confirms that Morgan cabled 425,000 rubles to Thompson at his request for the Russian Liberty Loan; J. P. also conveyed the interest of the Morgan firm regarding "the wisdom of making an individual subscription through Mr. Thompson" to the Russian Liberty Loan. These sums were transmitted through the National City Bank branch in Petrograd.
Additional excerpt from that chapter:
To summarize: the picture we form of the 1917 American Red Cross Mission to Russia is remote from one of neutral humanitarianism. The mission was in fact a mission of Wall Street financiers to influence and pave the way for control, through either Kerensky or the Bolshevik revolutionaries, of the Russian market and resources. No other explanation will explain the actions of the mission. ... Whether the Russian people wanted the Bolsheviks was of no concern. Whether the Bolshevik regime would act against the United States — as it consistently did later — was of no concern. The single overwhelming objective was to gain political and economic influence with the new regime, whatever its ideology. If William Boyce Thompson had acted alone, then his directorship of the Federal Reserve Bank would be inconsequential. However, the fact that his mission was dominated by representatives of Wall Street institutions raises a serious question — in effect, whether the mission was a planned, premeditated operation by a Wall Street syndicate.
He was awarded the honorary title of colonel by the American Red Cross. ... served on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1914 to 1919 ... as detailed in Anthony C Sutton's 'Wall Street & The Bolshevik Revolution', and as claimed by Thomspson himself in the Washington Post (Feb 2nd 1918) - Thompson gave money to the Bolsheviks, and not to the Provisional Government [opposing them] run by Kerensky.
Raymond Robins of the Red Cross ... Colonel (William) Thompson (Robin's superior officer on the Red Cross Commission) ... Robins [became] the head of the Red Cross mission ... Trotsky had [reportedly] stated in an "official bulletin," ... "Colonel Robins thinks his government will be the first to recognize us" ... Robins, a Progressive at home, seemed to believe that the Bolsheviks represented the future, were accepted by the people of Russia as legitimate, and should be recognized. ... Robins apparently became a mem[b]er of the Red Cross Commission in 1917 as a result of the support of Theodore Roosevelt ... Robins was in favor of recognition of what he perceived to be the legitimate government of Lenin and Trotsky from the revolution [Wikipedia Ref.] in [October - Julian calendar / November - Gregorian calendar] onward to the moment of his departure in May, 1918 ... Robins met with Lenin about the possibility of getting aid from the Americans for the Soviets. ... Russia repudiated its foreign debts on 8 February ... On 14 February, the Gregorian calender was adopted in Russia. On the 15th, Robins cabled Thompson in New York with a long analysis of the current situation, urging "Great values for Allied cause in resulting situation dependen[t] on continuance of Bolshevik authority as long as possible." ... the question of intervention loomed large in the considerations of all parties, a debate that went on after Robins left in May, and was acted on from the summer of 1918 to the summer of 1920 [which had] resulted in a limited [military] intervention [September 1918, before the end of WWI; Polar Bear Expedition - Wikipedia Ref.] by US and other Allied forces. ... [Robins/Robbins] testified about his role in 1919 [and] returned to Russia in 1933 after recognition finally occurred
During and immediately after World War I, America's cobelligerents borrowed some $10.350 billion ($184.334 billion in 2002 dollars) from the U.S. Treasury. These funds were used mainly to finance payments due the United States for munitions, foodstuffs, cotton, other war-related purchases, and stabilization of exchange. Of that sum, $7.077 billion represented cash loans extended prior to the armistice; $2.533 billion was advanced to finance reconstruction after the armistice; and postarmistice relief supplies and liquidated war stocks amounted to an additional $740 million. Total foreign indebtedness—including interest due before funding of the original demand obligations but excluding loans to Czarist Russia, for which no hope of collection remained—came to $11.577 billion ($206.186 billion in 2002 dollars).
In turn, the U.S. government borrowed from its own citizens, mostly through Liberty Bonds paying 5 percent interest. During the period of economic disorganization in Europe following the termination of hostilities, the administration of Woodrow Wilson agreed to grant the debtor nations a three-year postponement of interest payments. But it indicated that eventually the debtors would be required to repay the loans.
In 1931 the Hoover Moratorium provided for temporary cessation of all intergovernmental transfers to cope with the international banking crisis that accompanied the Great Depression. After the moratorium expired, the debtors found various excuses not to resume regular payments. By 1934 every European nation except Finland had defaulted.
2. This is Google's cache of https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/apr/11b.htm. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on Jan 21, 2017
V. I. Lenin
“Liberty Loan”{1}
(DRAFT RESOLUTION WORKED OUT BY THE BOLSHEVIK GROUP OF THE SOVIET OF WORKERS’ DEPUTIES)
Written on April 11 (24), 1917
Published on April 13, 1917 in Pravda No. 31. Printed from the Pravda text.
Resolution of the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies Concerning the 4th “Liberty Loan” [excerpts]
Until political and economic power has passed into the hands of the proletariat and the poor sections of the peasantry, and while the aim of the war is determined by the interests of capital, the workers reject any new loans aimed not for but against Russia’s revolutionary freedom.
Recognising at the same time that the supply of the army with all necessities calls for resources, and not wishing to leave their brothers without bread for a single hour, the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies believes that the cost of the capitalist war should be borne by the capitalists who have reaped and continue to reap billions of rubles in profits on this war, and insists that the necessary money should come exclusively from the pockets of the bourgeoisie and the landowners.
Notes
{1} ... At the Soviet’s Plenary Meeting, 2,000 deputies voted for the loan and 123 against. p. 399