The Marshall Plan is Over – EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Announces Details of U.S-EU Trade Agreement

It wasn’t generosity it was enlightened self interest.Europe had to be rebuilt or it would become the plaything of Stalin. The VPs in Italy and France were on the verge of winning elections. Additionally a market had to be created for American goods in Europe to prevent a new depression if manufacturing and transportong jobs did not return and increase.

I'm currently reading "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA" by Tim Weiner. In it, he writes about the creation of The Marshall Plan, and how the funds put aside for it were used by the CIA to conduct political warfare. It let the agency skim unaccounted millions of dollars from the plan. Congress approved the plan and appropriated about $13.7 billion over five years. A nation that received aid from the plan had to set aside an equivalent sum in its own currency. Five percent of those funds...$685 million...was made available to the CIA through the plan''s overseas offices. It was a global money laundering scheme that stayed secret until well after the Cold War ended.

Where the plan flourished in Europe and in Asia, so would American spies. "We'd look the other way and give them a little help," said Colonel R. Allen Griffin, who ran the Marshall Plan's Far East division. "Tell them to stick their hand in our pocket."

The CIA had an unfailing source of untraceable cash, and many of the spies they hired, like Nazi War Criminals ended up being useless sources of info on the Russians they were supposed to be gathering intelligence on. How much money was wasted then, and has been wasted by the CIA since its inception? The CIA has never had to report to anyone, or disclose their secret operations. It's time that shit changed.

General Macaullife was greatly appreciated in and around Heidelburg where he ran the show after the end of WWII. He was so successful that before he retired he was the big cheese in all of Germany. He is of course remembered for his response (nuts) to the request he surrender in the Battle of Bulge. It should not be forgotten that he was a great leader both in war and in peace.

I saw Pres Trump on tv this am announcing all the billions, very humbly, too.

I ROFLMFAO, seriously...

Ursula sat frozen in her chair

😂😂😂😅😂😅😂😅

Biden, and even more so Harris would have not the least idea how to accomplish such things...
But they can talk Rainbows and Unicorns though...

US President Donald Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen Sunday announced they had reached a deal to end the tariffs standoff between Europe and the USA, averting a full-blown trade war. The agreement came just before the August 1 deadline for the EU to strike a deal with Washington or face an across-the-board levy of 30 percent.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250727-trump-eu-chief-seek-deal-in-transatlantic-tariffs-standoff

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