Regarding the “spy swap of Summer 2010”, an interesting few points raised themselves to me.
Finally a few former cold war spies poked their heads above the parapet, mostly those tied back to the Spy museum in Washington DC. All current spies and think tanks remained quiet, except for a few casual opinions floated by the council on foreign relations. Think tanks deal with official policy rather than unofficial channels of information perhaps. I was regaled by a former KGB director as he let the current FSB officials have a full broadside of his disdain. One could tell that he styles himself one of the “true Cheka” and that he thinks the pretenders in Moskow are unprofessional buffoons. As they rightly would be; the KGB had godlike powers in the Soviet Union. Prime Minister Putin, a former KGB chief, has wisely crippled the agency so that he and his successor can sleep relatively peacefully at nights. The KGB was the breeding ground for Soviet Leaders who came to power with a wealth of dirty secrets and shadowy backers from the military and industry.
Nina L. Khrushcheva the great granddaughter of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was also contacted by one of the Russian spies. Hardly following in her sires footsteps she is a teacher/advisor on Media and Culture in the United States. She was approached by a “heavily accented” “Richard Murphy” who never once spoke or admitted that he was Russian despite Nina’s insistence that he give up the charade! She too seems to think that the FSB has produced some very poor graduates.
The swap itself happened very quickly arranged by Leon Panetta and the head of the Russian FSB. A plane full of Russian Agents left the states and landed in “spy city” Vienna. Another plane containing 4 Russian turncoats (KGB men and scientists who had spied for MI6 and the CIA) landed and the swap occurred, old spies swapped for new spies.
An Iranian spy story also emerged to less fanfare. Months ago an Iranian Nuclear scientist was reported to be kidnapped when visiting Saudi Arabia. He then turned up in the USA with conflicting stories; half the time saying he was kidnapped the otherhalf of the time saying he was seeking asylum. While the Russian spy scandal was going on he turned up at a Pakistani embassy asking to be taken back to Iran. Lots of beating for you when you get home Shahram! The American “backpackers” who are going on leisurely strolls between a country at war and a country that America has no official ties with were probably lumped in on the deal, even though everyone denies this so far.
Castro emerged from his hospital quarters showing final sparks of communist fervour. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez locked up a few of his critics.
MI6 computer nerd Daniel Houghton who was trying to sell secrets to the (Israelis/Russians) is claiming he was acting under orders from schizophrenia induced “voices” probably wont be getting very far. Unlike the more exotic flavours of the cold war mentioned today, Daniel is just some dumb bastard trying to fuck his former employee for something that the Russians/Israelis probably already know or don’t care about.
It used to be a sexy world, but we all have seen what Daniel Craig does now. James Bond and Jason Bourne don’t use gadgets or have surreptitious, exchanges they have superhuman punch-ups. The spies of old probably do belong in the spy museum.
Three suspected intelligence agents were caught sneaking into Iran and were captured, their cover story: hiking.
Americans should know better than to go wandering off into Arab land. In Afghanistan where the battle is hot and bloody: A straggler was captured by Taliban and is currently being paraded in front of cameras. Scimtars are being sharpened and al-Qaeda are swarming towards his location. Southern Turkey is awash with Turkish soldiers fighting Kurdish separatists. Al Qaeda is still lurking in Iraq and despite the draw down of troops and subsiding hostility, flashpoints and bad blood is still there.
That is why when east coast linguists flying all the way from the United States get caught in Iran I’m not convinced for a second. Having a wander in the great wilderness of Southern Turkey, Northern Iraq and finally Northern Iran? Enjoying the mountain air are you? Waterfalls and caves you say? The fourth member of the party had a sniffle? Just who do you think you are fooling? This story will fly under the radar for obvious reasons. Hands up, “Oh shit we were caught spying” is never going to be seen or heard. Just like the “journalists” that prowl Korean landscapes and show up in Tehran, or the sailors that go sailing into Iranian waters on joy rides, Western individuals often fall prey to defective navigation devices around a country they refuse to talk to. So Shane Bower, Sara Short and Joshua Fattal, what do you think your chances are of getting field positions in the future? That $50-90K salary doesn’t look so hot now huh?
If America had normal relations with Iran, spies could come and go via the airport quite freely and hikers could traipse all over the landscape without suspicious and most likely tipped off troops encircling them.
Journalists. A euphemism for spies. When two individuals of American religion are caught sneaking across the North Korean border, they are maintained by the press to be journalists. And in many ways they are. They record the life of the miserable North Koreans, interview them, take pictures and publish it back to their audience in the US. However their audience isn’t the same audience that would be watching Oprah or Spike TV, their audience is a group of government analysts and executives in Virginia.
The tried and true cover story for spies is journalism, or movie crew. It’s a rare excuse to take pictures and ask penetrating questions. When journalists followed a powerful German motor sport executive to his kinky adult romper room and filmed him getting spanked we were led to believe that the MI6 agent spanking him was some sort of Nazi. When journalists interviewing an Afghani strongman blew him to bits days before September 11 2001 we didn’t catch the significance of it. The great British BBC responsible for concerted propaganda campaigns against both local and foreign audiences during World War 2. Storys are routinely planted in reputable newspapers by intelligence and security agents many of them with permanent press credentials and jobs. This is nothing new or outlandish. Now journalists from little know Current TV are caught trying to get a scoop on the last remaining communist stronghold on earth by secretively sneaking across the border into North Korea . The guards knew something was wrong because Korea’s people are sneaking in the opposite direction into China! Masopher is neither surprised nor particularly disturbed. Deals will be cut and North Korea will show ”benevolence” to the “journalists”.
