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

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! Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation : This month our donation will be going to Lifting Hands International whose mission statement is “We provide aid to refugees both at home and abroad. No politics. Simply humanitarian.” If you are looking for a way to help those in crisis in Ukraine, please visit liftinghandsinternational.org and look for the Urgent Ukraine Banner at the top. Our donation amount is TBD as we also recorded this one in advance! TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP! Go to www.badmagicmerch.com Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AkVnLYZAKwM Merch: https://www.badmagicmerch.com Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group ? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.