CIA and the third World

This book is the first exhaustive study of CIA's covert action in the Third World. After the super power cold war had exhausted its possibilities in Europe in terms of mutual penetration for covert action, the arena of covert actions in the context of the cold war shifted to the Third World.

The book surveys various plots from the dastardly overthrow of Mohammed Mossadeq to the most puerile attempts against the life of Fidel Castro, from the heinous conspiracies against Allende to the wicked moves against Sukarno, from the mysterious murder of Lumumba to the secret war in Laos and the assassination of Premier Diem and his brother-as micro studies of how covert actions have been designed and executed by a super power as an under-pinning to its global diplomacy. This survey is followed by a spotlight on techniques of covert action used by the CIA.

The book is by no means purported to be an indictment of the United States' international behaviour, singling it out as more diabolical than others. The CIA has been picked up only as a case study in a world of proliferating secret agencies, for the advantages it offers with regard to source materials. The purpose is to examine the role and efficacy of crypto-diplomacy in contemporary international relations.