The Year 1952:
Sixth Initiation.
The Masters, however, do not "take
this initiation" whenever They are ready to "make decision." The opportunity comes to the Hierarchy every forty-nine years,
and the year 1952 will see a group of these higher initiates choose the Path of Their future livingness and Being.
But They will do so only after setting in motion certain
energy forces which will creatively change matters on Earth. They thereby prove two things: Their grasp of world need and
Their recognition of man's free will to make decision.
The last initiation of this kind was therefore held
in 1903. Those prepared to pass through this initiation were faced with the fact of the emerging forces of cosmic evil;
They had then to decide in what manner They should
bring aid to humanity and what situation They should bring about so that mankind would be forced to recognize conditions and
also make free choice and decision.
What They decided to do led to the world war, to a
demonstrated cleavage between right and wrong, between imprisonment and freedom, and which, in 1952 will lead to a decision
- the outcome of which is hidden in the consciousness of Those Who will at that time, make it. (Written in 1949.) TWM 722.
The year 1952 will be a year of spiritual crisis and
a year when it should prove possible to close more tightly the door where evil dwells.
The Invocation has been sent out by the combined Ashrams
of the Masters and by the entire Hierarchy; it is used by its Members with constancy, exactitude and power. It will serve
to integrate the two great centers: the Hierarchy and Humanity, and to relate them both in a new and dynamic manner to the
"center where the Will of God is known."
I ask you, therefore, during the coming years to prepare
to use and distribute the Invocation and make it a major endeavor. I would have you call all the people in every country in
the world (whom you are in a position to reach) to a united voicing of the Invocation on the same day in every land.
(World Invocation Day) was launched in June 1952, and
is held annually on the day of the June (Gemini) Full Moon.) I would ask you to collect all that I have said or written anent
the Invocation and then prepare a brief manual as to its use and purpose, putting a copy in the hands of all those who are
willing to use it. A comprehension of its origin, meaning and potency will render it far more effective.
The year 1952 should see a major turning point in the
thinking of humanity, in human goals and human affairs. For implementing this I would ask you to work. RI 760.
JC: 7x7=49 year cycle.
1903=Build up to WW1 and
2.
1952=The Battle between Democracy and Communism/Totalitarianism.
2001=War On Terrorism.
The Korean War: 1950 – 1953.
From the day
when North Koreans attacked South Korea on June 25, 1950 to the day of the armistice on July 27, 1953, the events of the Korean
War revealed the mass destruction, pain, and suffering Koreans had to endure. At the end of the war, more than 3 million Koreans
died while millions of refugees remained homeless and distraught. About 1 million Chinese died in this battle and American
casualties numbered 54,246 people. This section will explore and follow the events, strategies, and atrocities of the Korean
war.
The Korean war can be divided into three phases.
The first phase began on June 25, 1950 and ended on
the day United Nations (U.N) forces thrusted into North Korea's territory.
The second phase of the Korean war was essentially
the Southern unit's attack and retreat from North Korea.
The last phase of the war consisted of the "see-saw"
fighting on the thirty-eighth parallel, stalemate, and negotiation talks.
Vietnam War:
1950
The U.S., recognizing Boa Dai's
regime as legitimate, begins to subsidize the French in Vietnam; the Chinese Communists, having won their civil war in 1949,
begin to supply weapons to the Viet Minh.
August 3, 1950
A U.S. Military Assistance Advisory
Group (MAAG) of 35 men arrives in Saigon. By the end of the year, the U.S. is bearing half of the cost of France's war effort
in Vietnam.
May 7, 1954
The French are defeated at Dien Bien
Phu. General Vo Nguyen Giap commands the Viet Minh forces. France is forced to withdraw. The French-indochina War ends. See
also:
Dien Bien Phu: A Vietnamese Perspective
Dien Bien
Phu: A Website of the Battle
June, 1954
The CIA establishes a military mission
in Saigon. Bao Dai selects Ngo Dinh Diem as prime minster of his government.
July 20, 1954
The Geneva Conference on Indochina
declares a demilitarized zone at the 17th parallel with the North under Communist rule and the South under the leadership
of Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem.
October 24, 1954
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
pledges support to Diem's government and military forces.
1955
The U.S.-backed Ngo Dinh Diem organizes the
Republic of Vietnam as an independent nation; declares himself president.
1956
Fighting begins between the North and the South.
July 8, 1959
The first American combat deaths in
Vietnam occur when Viet Cong attack Bien Hoa billets; two servicemen are killed.
The Cold War: Russia and America.
When Dwight D. Eisenhower was sworn in as president
in 1953, the Democrats lost their twenty year control of the US presidency. Under Eisenhower the United States' Cold War policy
remained essentially unchanged. While a thorough rethinking of foreign policy known as "Operation Solarium" was launched,
most of the ideas such as a thoroughgoing "rollback of Communism" and "liberation" of Eastern Europe were soon found to be
unworkable. The basic focus on "containment" remained.
However, while the change from Truman to Eisenhower
was a moderate one, seeing a continuation of most foreign and US policies, the change in the Soviet Union was immense. After
the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev was named First Secretary of the Communist Party.
During a period of collective leadership, Khrushchev
gradually consolidated his hold on power. At a speech to the closed session of the Twentieth Party Congress of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union, February 25, 1956, Nikita Khrushchev shocked his listeners by denouncing Stalin's crimes, unnecessary
use of mass repression and his personality cult.1 Although the contents of the speech were secret, it was leaked to outsiders,
thus shocking both Soviet allies and the West soon afterwards. Khrushchev also attacked the crimes committed by Stalin's closest
associates. He was later named premier of the Soviet Union in 1958.
The United States also reacted with alarm as it watched
developments in Iran, which had been in a state of instability since 1951.
The CIA would overthrow other governments suspected
of turning procommunist, such as Guatemala in 1954 under Jacobo Arbenz Guzman.
After the 1954 CIA-led coup that overthrew liberal
nationalist reformer Arbenz in Guatemala, future Latin American revolutionaries would shift to guerrilla tactics. Arbenz,
a moderate reformer and an elected president, fell when his military had deserted him. Since then, future Latin American social
revolutionaries, most notably Fidel Castro and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua would make the army and governments parts of a
single unit and eventually set up single party states. Overthrowing such regimes would require a war, rather than a simple
CIA operation, the landing marines, or a cruder invasion scheme like the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
Indochina
The American intervention the greatest
ramifications was that in Indochina. Between 1954 and 1961 the administration dispatched economic aid and 695 military advisers
to South Vietnam, which was battling the National Liberation Front guerrillas, which drew their ranks from the South Vietnamese
working class and peasantry. South Vietnam would later be absorbed by its Communist counterpart. Vietnam remains one of the
world's five remaining Communist states.
The Suez Crisis and the Middle East
Gamal
Abdel NasserThe Middle East in the Cold War was an area of extreme importance and also great instability. The region lay directly
south of the Soviet Union and Russia had traditionally had great influence in Turkey and Iran. The area also had vast reserves
of oil, not crucial for either superpower in the 1950s, but essential for the rapidly rebuilding American allies in Europe
and Japan.
The original American plan for the Middle East was
to form a defensive perimeter along the north of the region. Thus Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan signed the Baghdad Pact
and joined CENTO. The Soviet response was to try to hopscotch this line and seek influence in states such as Syria and Egypt.
Egypt, a former British protectorate, was one of the region's most important prizes with a large population and political
power throughout the region. British forces were forced out by General Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1956, when he nationalized the
Suez Canal.
Eisenhower had to force Britain and France to retreat
from a badly planned invasion with Israel that was launched to regain control of the canal from Egypt— a sign that the
interest of the United States in the Middle East was much more than its strong support of Israel. While the Americans were
forced to operate covertly, so as not to embarrass their allies, Khrushchev made loud threats against the "imperialists,"
and worked to portray himself as the defender of the Third World. The true hero to emerge, however, was Nasser who was lauded
around the globe, but especially in the Arab world. While both superpowers courted Nasser the Americans baled at funding the
massive Aswan High Dam project. The Soviets happily agreed, however, and signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation with
the Egyptians.
The American offensive in the Third World had two short-run
successes in installing friendly regimes in Guatemala and Iran, but it failed to install pro-US regimes that would be enduring
and stable. Some setbacks were evident even in the 1950s. In particular, the first strain among the NATO alliance shattered
the concept of the West as a united monolith.
Thus, the Suez stalemate was a turning point heralding
an ever-growing rift between the Atlantic Cold War allies over US hegemony, which was becoming far less of a united monolith
than it was in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The West Europeans, with the exclusion of the British until
1971, also developed their own nuclear forces as well as an economy Common Market to be less dependent on Washington. Such
rifts mirror changes in global economics. American economic competitiveness faltered in the face of the challenges of Japan
and West Germany, which have recovered rapidly from the wartime decimation of the industrial bases. The twentieth-century
successor to Britain as the "workshop of the world," the United States now finds its competitive edge dulled in the international
markets while at the same time faced with intensified foreign competition at home.
In 1958, the US also sent troops into Lebanon to maintain
its pro-US regime.
South Asia
Jawaharlal NehruThe Indian
subcontinent, except perhaps during the war in Afghanistan at the very end of the Cold War, was never a primary focus of superpower
attention during the Cold War. Europe, East Asia, Latin American, and South East Asia, and the Middle East were consistently
viewed as being more important to the superpowers' interests. The countries of South Asia, despite having a fifth the world's
population, were not powerful economies like Japan or Western Europe. Unlike the Middle East with its oil, South Asia was
lacking in vital natural resources. The United States' most important interest in the region, however, were airfields that
could be used as bases for U-2 flights over Soviet territory, or in case of wartime be home to nuclear bombers that could
hit Central Asia. Originally, both the Americans and Soviets felt the region would remain in the British sphere of influence,
but this was not the case.
There were some strategic reasons to be involved in
South Asia. The Americans hoped that the Pakistani armed forces could be used to block any Soviet thrust into the crucial
Middle East. It was also felt that as a large and high profile nation, India would be a notable prize if it fell into either
camp. India, a successful democracy, was never in particularly grave danger of falling to internal guerrilla-led revolution
or external pressure from a great power. It also did not wish to ally with the United States. India became a leader in the
Non-Aligned Movement.
A key event in the South Asian arena of Cold War competition
was the signing of the Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement between Pakistan and the United States in 1954. This pact would
limit the later options of all the major powers in the region. From this point on, the US was committed to remaining closely
tied to Pakistan. For Pakistan the US alliance became a central tenet of its foreign policy, and despite numerous disappointments
with it, it was always seen as far too valuable a connection to abandon. After the Sino-Soviet Split, Pakistan would also
pursue close relations with China.
US behavior in South Asia during the Cold War has been
criticized for supporting autocratic governments in Pakistan, and for contributing to the ongoing conflict between India and
Pakistan over Kashmir.
Soviet policy towards South Asia had closely paralleled
that of the United States. At first the Soviets, like the Americans, had been largely disinterested in the region and maintained
a neutral position in the Indo-Pakistani disputes. With the signing of the accords between Pakistan and the United States
in 1954, along with the countries enlisting in CENTO and SEATO, the situation changed. In 1955 Bulganin and Khrushchev toured
India and promised large quantities of financial aid and help building industrial infrastructure. In Sringar, the capital
of Kashmir, the joint Soviet leaders announced the Soviet Union would abandon its neutralist position and back India in the
Kashmir dispute.
Cuba:
The Soviets garnered a huge victory when they formed
an alliance with Cuba after Fidel Castro's successful revolution in 1959. This was a major coup for the Soviet Union, which
had garnered an ally only miles from the American coast.
Before the fall of the pro-US Batista regime, US interests
had owned four fifths of the stakes in the island's utilities, nearly half of its sugar, and nearly all of its mining industries.
The US could manipulate the Cuban economy at a whim by merely tinkering with the island's financial services or by tinkering
with government quotas and tariffs on sugar — the country's staple export commodity. The US landed marines three times
in efforts to support its interests between the ratification of the Platt Amendment in 1902 and the Revolution in 1959.
Hence, Cuban relations with the US started to deteriorate
when Castro announced a program of agrarian reform in 1959, which met stiff US resistance. Notably, similar land redistribution
policies were at the root of the ouster of Arbenz in 1954. Yet, Castro's subsequent moves were even bolder. The expropriation
of US assets allowed him to finance new spending on social welfare. Overthrowing the new regime became a focus for the CIA.
Around this time, Castro started to move closer to the communists in his popular 26th of July Movement in search of organized
political support to carry out socioeconomic changes.
To out-maneuver US efforts to oust him, Castro signed
a trade agreement in February 1960 with the Soviet Union, which would emerge as a market for the island's agricultural commodities
(and a new source for machinery, heavy industrial equipment, and technicians) that could replace the country's traditional
patron — the United States. Afterwards, Castro finally proclaimed himself a Marxist-Leninist.
The Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis:
For details see the main articles Bay of Pigs Invasion
and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Hoping to copy the success of Guatemala and Iran in
1961, the CIA trained and armed a group of Cuban exiles who landed at the Bay of Pigs where they were to attempt to mount
a counter-revolution. The assault failed miserably, however. This threat to their ally encouraged the Soviet Union to place
missiles in Cuba, hoping to protect their ally and demonstrate their commitment to Third World social revolutionaries.
Kennedy quarantined the island, and after a tense few
days the Soviets decided to retreat in return for promises from the US not to invade Cuba and to pull missiles out of Turkey.
After this brush with nuclear war, the two leaders banned nuclear tests in the air and underwater after 1962. The Soviets
were also forced to begin a huge military buildup. The retreat also undermined Khrushchev, who was ousted soon afterwards.
To the annoyance of the United States government Fidel
Castro's leadership in the immediate vicinity of US territory continues to this day. Wikipedia.org + WWW.
