#236 – Monty

#236 – Monty

Our final NATO episode! The Pentagon is worried that there isn’t enough military budget to pay for both domestic and European defence. Until someone had the insight that the two might be closely related. So now the Western Union’s defense committee had to pick a...
#236 – Monty

#235 – Forging The Alliance

In the second last episode of our NATO series, where we are trying to understand the real story about WHY and HOW NATO came into existence, we look how the US and European ambassadors finally overcame the balance of power issues. There something secret here that only...
#236 – Monty

#234 – The Vandenberg Resolution

Everyone is trying to figure out a model for European co-operation. Secret meetings at the Pentagon between the US, UK and Canada in March/April 1948 explored three possible extensions of the Brussels pact. Churchill’s son-in-law, Duncan Sandys then put together a...
#236 – Monty

#233 – Big Stick Diplomacy

During 1947-48, England and France had been working on their own treaty as well as one involving the so-called Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg). That became the basis of discussions about a broader treaty creating a United States of Europe,...
#236 – Monty

#232 – Norway Wants The Money

The Soviets and Finland had a complex history including a non-aggression pact and a false flag operation used to break it. But the President of Finland after WWII, Paasikivi, signed a new one anyway. Norway, on the other hand, was reluctant to sign one. They went with...