Posted by Clyde Middleton on Jul 13 2010 Filed under Nat'l Security, News & Opinion, Russia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
Did it seem right to you that Russia had a bumbling dozen of “spies” here that included a flamboyant airhead and Russian natives, complete with accents and birth names of Boris and Natasha working as “Buffy and Jim”? The MSM ate it up, of course, because any “good news” for Obama has to be pimped hard in light of his stunningly incompetent presidency. They still are pimping it with the arrest of a 12th person (noting the bail-jumper 11th in passing).
But I came away from the stories feeling like I was watching a bit of history, and not the kind they wanted:
I’ve got a couple of rules in my imaginary world of being a world leader: Never initiate a military confrontation with Israel; and never underestimate Russia’s devotion to all things espionage. Applying the latter when this story broke, the stories just did not settle well. And then I came across this DEBKA article.
The concluding paragraphs resonated with me: The entire affair unfolded as though it was the last remaining leftover of -- or possibly a prologue to -- a bigger transaction -- more like the opening chapter of a John Le Carre novel than its final denouement.
It also looked as though someone in Washington was more interested in the hype over the capture of 11 Russian spies than the feat per se. Their low value in terms of espionage gave Western media a chance to parody Russia’s spy service as a comical anachronism stuck in the good old 1960s and 1970s, with no real missions to assign its once glamorous “illegals” in this day and age.
The Washington Post ridiculed the Russia’s intelligence service and Vladimir Putin, its former chief, in this comment: ”The operation must have made for a superb briefing in the Kremlin: ‘Comrade leader, we have a (whisper) network in American awaiting your instructions.’”
This sort of parody presents Russian security agencies as bumbling apparatchiks when, the truth is that Moscow runs a highly competent, up-to-date spy service in many parts of the world, including the Middle East. Its undiscovered networks are poles apart from the bon vivant network rolled up in the United States.
Yes. Exactly.
Vladimir the Terrible is many things, but a bumbling spymaster is not one of them. The dude rose through the glory days of the KGB to running Mother Russia with an iron fist that is only sometimes enclosed in a velvet glove. Check out the latest change in law over there:
Russia’s parliament on Friday voted to boost the powers of the successor to the Soviet KGB, allowing it to summon people it believes are about to commit a crime and threaten jail for those who disobey its orders.
You got a problem with arresting people that the state believe are “about to commit a crime”? “This is a very humane preventative measure aimed at preventing people from committing more serious misconduct in the future,” said FSB Deputy Director Yuri.
Yes, thank you for protecting me from myself. To be honest, I have watched myself do some of the most amazing things over the years, and I am eternally grateful to you for reading my mind about what I MIGHT do and preventing me from harming my fellow travelers. Where do I sign the confession? Would you kindly guide my hand? It seems to be broken in 17 places.
What a fricking joke. Although to be honest, it is a mere small step away from hate-crimes legislation wherein a sentence is enhanced for uttering a regulated word during a beating, albeit administering the same beating while uttering an unregulated word is just another, well, white guy getting pummeled by a New Black Panther with a nightstick.
But here we are: The Russians have allowed the American press to ridicule them over this spy incident. Why? Because the spy war goes on and losing an inconsequential battle means nothing.
Here’s anther DEBKA insight into what may have happened behind the Wizard of Oz curtain: Our sources believe that hard bargaining was tough and spread over weeks, if not months, because what Moscow really wanted from the deal were not just the 11 semi-dormant moles who had done nothing important except living it up in the US, but two real heavyweights, the two most damaging Russian moles ever to undermine the CIA. Aldrich Ames was finally caught in the mid-1990s after climbing its ranks to become a senior officer and betraying the secrets of most US secret agencies to the KGB; and the FBI’s Robert Hanssen, who was believed to have taken over from Ames as Moscow’s top illegal agent in America.Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen: Real Russian spies that did real damage. Not a bunch of cartoon characters flitting around Facebook.
The arrest of these dozen spies even cheapens the memory of the Alger Hiss - Whittaker Chambers Affair, let alone of the real story of Russian espionage around the world. Oh, for the days when uttering “prothonotary warbler” bought down your entire facade of being innocent.
But let’s allow Barry to have his day in the press limelight. They are few and far between these days.
