Epstein Iran Contra History FULLY EXPLAINED

Jeffrey Epstein reportedly arranged the sale and relocation of Southern Air Transport, a known CIA proprietary or front company, to Columbus, Ohio, in the mid-1990s, where it came under the control of Les Wexner, CEO of Victoria's Secret. This airline had previously been active in the Iran-Contra affair and, ironically, contracted by the Angolan government while simultaneously fighting CIA-backed insurgents.

The Blowback podcast series, season six, episode eight, details how Southern Air Transport, after its Iran-Contra business, was brought to Columbus, Ohio, by Epstein to work for Les Wexner. The Angolan government had contracted Southern Air Transport for air cargo, unaware of its CIA history, which accounted for 65% of its income at one point.

In 1975, Cuba made a significant and unprecedented military intervention in Angola to support the left-wing MPLA government against invasions by apartheid South Africa and CIA-backed factions (FNLA and UNITA). This intervention, driven by moral solidarity and anti-imperialist goals rather than direct profit, was crucial in repelling the South African advance and providing essential humanitarian and technical aid to the nascent Angolan nation.

Cuba faced a moral dilemma in 1975 when the MPLA was threatened by CIA-backed and South African forces. Despite no immediate advantage, Fidel Castro's government sent an emergency detachment of armed forces and later technical/humanitarian advisors. Historian Pier Gestus calls it the 'one time in history that a poor country comes to the defense of another poor country and that it was successful.'

The Angolan Civil War, particularly the Cuban-backed defeat of South African forces, is widely recognized as a critical turning point in the collapse of apartheid in South Africa. This military setback, alongside internal civil unrest and the liberation of Namibia, broke the South African apartheid regime's back, as acknowledged by figures like Nelson Mandela.

The guest states that Nelson Mandela and others cite the defeat of South Africa in Angola as the turning point in apartheid, leading to the liberation of Namibia and breaking the back of the apartheid regime. The Cuban victory at Quido Konaval was an 'indisputable factor' in the regime agreeing to end itself.

The Iran-Contra affair involved a convoluted scheme where the US supplied weapons to Iran, using Israel as an intermediary to avoid direct involvement. The profits from these arms sales were then illegally diverted to fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua and other anti-communist insurgents, including those in Angola, bypassing congressional prohibitions.

The middleman in Iran-Contra was Israel, sending weapons to Iran, with the US replenishing Israel's supply. The profits from these sales went not only to the Contras but also to Angola, supporting insurgent groups after Congress prohibited direct funding.

Jeffrey Epstein was deeply connected to key figures in the Iran-Contra network, including financier Adnan Khashoggi, British arms trafficker Douglas Lee, and lawyer Stan Pottinger. These connections allowed Epstein to leverage his relationships and expertise in setting up legal structures for money laundering and other illicit financial activities associated with the covert operations.

Epstein was 'tight with Adnan Khashoggi,' the financier and arms trafficker at the center of Iran-Contra. He was a 'protege of Douglas Lee,' a British arms trafficker with China connections. Stan Pottinger, Epstein's business partner, 'helped set up a lot of the kind of, uh, legal structures through which the the money laundering and such was done for Iran Contra.'

The 1980s, characterized by neoliberal policies and significant deregulation in the American economy, particularly in finance, created an environment ripe for illicit profiteering. This period saw the rise of 'entrepreneurs of war and intelligence' like Epstein, who capitalized on the loosening of financial oversight and the proliferation of secret wars to make money through adjacency to covert operations and illicit trade.

The late 70s and 80s represented 'the birth pangs of neoliberalism in America,' with deregulation and expansion of finance enabling profit from 'sorted deals and these secret wars.' The savings and loan crisis showed how 'spies, drug runners, white collar criminals' took advantage of deregulation. Epstein's and Wexner's connections to these figures are seen as an 'example of what is happening more generally in this period.'