Bonum Certa Men Certa

IBM and the Bomb - Part I: How IBM Played a Technical and Diplomatic Role in the Cold War

Not a bombshell, but certainly a lesson in diplomacy and history (recently declassified, as our introduction noted)

Thomas J. Watson, Jr.
Thomas J. Watson, Jr., IBM chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), then U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 1979 to 1981. Public Domain, American Embassy, Moscow.



Summary: IBM's role in US (domestic) and international politics, especially in light of political appointments acquired by Thomas Watson (the father) and his two sons

THE BIGGEST money is to be found where the government invests the most. In the United States nothing has a budget anywhere near as high as the military's. Historically this has been the case because of the World Wars and imperialism; some US Presidents warned about this. The 'death industry' (Department of War rebranded "Defence") does not just willfully shrink itself or goes away. It is always looking to grow, expand, to influence and control everything it can. One need not be a cynic to grasp all this.



"...speaking of self-serving charities, the IBM Watsons have their own."IBM was highly involved in the Cold War and it became rich in the process. Contrary to the PR slant (1% of the profits etc.), IBM loves war and segregation; it has long profited from US imperialism in particular. One might as well swap the "I" in IBM with "Imperialist" (not "International"). When corporations and governments are almost inseparable it is inevitable that oftentimes businesspeople (active or 'retired') will enter politics, representing their own interests/ideologies and/or business interests. Money (profit) and policy (rules of power) are closely connected, for one can be leveraged to attain the other. We see a lot of that in Bill Gates, who for over a decade disrupted politics all around the world for personal agenda; he has investments to which he wishes to funnel taxpayers' money in every country. It's a racket. It's not a charity, it is only disguised as such. And speaking of self-serving charities, the IBM Watsons have their own. In fact, formed in 1979 was the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs (coinciding with the political career of Thomas J. Watson, Jr.).

Watson's political career wasn't without opposition. Consider the following (notice the subject in particular):

watson-opposition

In early 1979 he was already meeting with Soviet officials (it used to be classified "SECRET").

watson-meeting

It may all seem shallow and boring. Some of it remains "SECRET" and the following has redactions labeled "SECRET" (still, to present):

plenary-watson-1

plenary-watson-2

Here's the text:

1. ON FEBRUARY 2, 1979, THOMAS WATSON, CHAIRMAN OF GENERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ARMS CONTROL AND DISARMAMENT AND WILLIAM JACKSON, GAC EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, VISITED EMBASSY BERN, CALLED ON DCM CROWLEY, JOINED ASAT DELEGATION IN WORK IN PREPARATION FOR AFTERNOON PLENARY, AND DISCUSSED STATUS OF ASAT TALKS WITH SECRET SECRET

PAGE 02

BERN 00682 051005Z

BUCHHEIM AND BRADBURN.

2. WATSON, JACKSON, BUCHHEIM AND BRADBURN WERE JOINED AT LUNCH BY KHLESTOV. CONVERSATION WAS GENERAL IN NATURE. CROWLEY

Sheryl P. Walter Declassified/Released US Department of State EO Systematic Review 20 Mar 2014

Sheryl P. Walter Declassified/Released US Department of State EO Systematic Review 20 Mar 2014 SECRET

NNN

Sheryl P. Walter Declassified/Released US Department of State EO Systematic Review 20 Mar 2014

Sheryl P. Walter Declassified/Released US Department of State EO Systematic Review 20 Mar 2014


Page 2 is still all blanked out. Notice the decaption and disposition dates. Those are still considered too sensitive (even half a decade ago).

plenary-watson-3

In short, what we have here is the IBM dynasty meeting Soviet officials and deciding at a diplomatic capacity how to handle the Cold War.

"In short, what we have here is the IBM dynasty meeting Soviet officials and deciding at a diplomatic capacity how to handle the Cold War."This sort of matters because nowadays Microsoft is the same. "Bill [Gates] has high political ambitions for his cult," a person told yesterday, "and staying out of the [police] report was just one small maneuver, as was avoiding having Microsoft testify in congress this week."

Ever noticed how "GAFA" gets grilled but Microsoft is miraculously absent? As if Apple is a monopolist and Microsoft is not?

"At the moment the US President is enriching himself through his businesses and partners, blatantly misusing public office for personal gain. There's no lack of examples.""He can't position himself as candidate for VP this time," the person continued, "but my money is on him trying to run for the top office next round. Keep in mind he already even travels in convoys with decoy cars."

At the moment the US President is enriching himself through his businesses and partners, blatantly misusing public office for personal gain. There's no lack of examples.

The next part will talk about nepotism, perhaps even bribery, as we already know that Gates bribes a lot of politicians all around the world and we also know that the Watsons paid presidential candidates.

Recent Techrights' Posts

OpenBSD Says That Even on Linux, Wayland Still Has a Number of Rough Edges (But IBM Wants to Make X Extinct)
IBM tries to impose unready software on users
Professor Eben Moglen on How Social Control Media Metabolises Humans and Constraints Freedom of Thought
Nothing of value would be lost if all these data-harvesting giants (profiling people) vanished overnight
 
Links 28/11/2023: New Zealand's Big Tobacco Pivot and Google Mass-Deleting Accounts
Links for the day
Justice is Still the Main Goal
The skulduggery seems to implicate not only Microsoft
[Teaser] Next Week's Part in the Series About Anti-Free Software Militants
an effort to 'cancel' us and spy on us
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
Permacomputing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 27, 2023
IRC logs for Monday, November 27, 2023
When Microsoft Blocks Your Access to Free Software
"Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches." [Chicago Sun-Times]
Techrights Statement on 'Cancel Culture' Going Out of Control
relates to a discussion we had in IRC last night
Stuff People Write About Linux
revisionist pieces
Links 28/11/2023: Rosy Crow 1.4.3 and Google Drive Data Loss
Links for the day
Links 27/11/2023: Australian Wants Tech Companies Under Grip
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
Links 27/11/2023: Underwater Data Centres and Gemini, BSD Style!
Links for the day
[Meme] Leaning Towards the Big Corporate CoC
Or leaning to "the green" (money)
Software Freedom Conservancy Inc in 2022: Almost Half a Million Bucks for Three People Who Attack Richard Stallman and Defame Linus Torvalds
Follow the money
[Meme] Identity Theft and Forgery
Coming soon...
Microsoft Has Less Than 1,000 Mail (MX) Servers Left, It's Virtually Dead in That Area (0.19% of the Market)
Exim at 254,000 servers, Postfix at 150,774, Microsoft down to 824
The Web is Dying, Sites Must Evolve or Die Too
Nowadays when things become "Web-based" it sometimes means more hostile and less open than before
Still Growing, Still Getting Faster
Articles got considerably longer too (on average)
In India, the One Percent is Microsoft and Mozilla
India is where a lot of software innovations and development happen, so this kind of matters a lot
Feeding False Information Using Sockpuppet Accounts and Imposters
online militants try every trick in the book, even illegal stuff
What News Industry???
Marketing, spam, and chatbots
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 26, 2023
IRC logs for Sunday, November 26, 2023
The Software Freedom Law Center's Eben Moglen Explains That We Already Had Free Software Almost Everywhere Before (Half a Century Ago)
how code was shared in the 1970s and 80s
When the So-called 'Cancel Culture' Sees Everything in Free Software Through the Scopes of 'Sex' (Because It Cannot Argue on Technical or Legal Grounds)
Losing the plot
Links 26/11/2023: Debunking So-called G.A.I. and Sierra Leone's National Curfew
Links for the day
In the 'Phoronix Universe', Single Job Openings at AMD Are News, But Not ~400 Layoffs
like a classifieds section
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
Microsoft Shamelessly Attacks Both Git and Projects in GitHub, Using Plagiarism in "AI" Clothing (Exit GitHub Now!)
A mountain of plagiarism
Microsoft Loses Market Share, Market Price of Windows Plunges to Almost Nothing (28 Dollars for Vista 10)
GNU/Linux has grown so potent that Microsoft now charges only dozens of bucks for Vista 10
Professor Eben Moglen Stands with Snowden While Moglen's 'Critics' (Microsofters) Keep Defaming Prominent Whistleblowers
Don't listen to Microsoft liars and weasels, who merely try to "replace" Moglen and override his message
"Check Point" + Microsoft Partnerships Extend to Anti-GNU/Linux FUD
a close partner/pusher of Microsoft tries to alter the narrative (change reality itself)
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 25, 2023
IRC logs for Saturday, November 25, 2023
Links 26/11/2023: Fresh Concerns Over North Korea Satellite Ambitions and South China Sea Patrols
Links for the day
Eben Moglen Explains the Connection Between FSF and SFLC (Both of Which Under Attack by Microsofters)
Old clip