Courtesy of Marie Fonzi and Dave Ratcliffe, at:  Ratical.org

In my opinion, Newman offers one of the best medium-length treatments of the Congo crisis I have read, writes Jim DiEugenio.

By Greg Grandin, At: The Nation

The Cuban defector known to the CIA as TOUCHDOWN, and whose story Brian Latell has bandied about as “proof” of Castro’s foreknowledge of the JFK assassination, died at 71 last month, as Arnaldo Fernandez relates.

Bill Kelly presents excerpts of interviews conducted by Gayle Nix Jackson with Father Walter Machann, friend and confidant of Silvia Odio, concerning, among other things, her famous late September, 1963, visit by “Oswald”.

From Michael's conclusion: Ganis’ book is an uncomfortable, freewheeling careen down strange dead-end tracks, with unannounced detours through cold dark streets full of faceless characters, and later, journeys through mirror-filled fun houses of speculation, with a final twist and turn that spits you out right over Niagara Falls, barrel and all.

In the second part of this multi-part series, Vasilios examines Oswald’s links to CIA-sponsored or CIA-connected anti-communist organizations and figures, and asks if it is possible that Oswald was being prepared from the outset to be an infiltrator.

Paul Bleau continues his exploration of failed plots and potential patsies, adding several candidates, discussing their profiles and drawing some tentative conclusions concerning the nature of their connections, particularly to the FPCC and SWP.

Bill Simpich offers a look at some of the gems found in the new JFK document releases and how to speed up the discovery of future finds.

At: WhoWhatWhy

As with many things, Jim Garrison was the first investigator to elucidate a three-sided conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy, the three participants being the CIA, the Cuban exiles, and the Mob. He had done this unearthing during his inquiry, but he formally announced it in a famous cover story for New Orleans Magazine in 1976. The Church Committee's exposure of the CIA/Mafia plots to kill Castro filled this in with the figures of John Roselli and Santo Trafficante. And it also outlined the close relationship between CIA officer Bill Harvey and Roselli. Tony Summers made this triangular plot a feature of his book Conspiracy, first published in 1980. In the nineties, Fidel Castro's chief of security, Fabian Escalante, began to publish and speak on the subject of JFK's murder and he also advocated for this view of the plot.

Paul Bleau here synthesizes the decades-long history of cooperation between Cubans, organized crime, U.S. intelligence and corporate interests, and expands it into what amounts to a visual essay in order to dispel the notion that such a partnership was too complicated to have been behind the assassination of President Kennedy.