U.S. Arrests 10 on Charges of Being Agents for Russia

[dead0man]

The best part is we don't just spy on our enemies, we spy on our friends too (and they us).  If you're doing it right you'll have spies everywhere....which we sadly don't.  We still have issues getting and keeping spies in a couple of places we really need to have spies at.

Where don't we have spies where we should?

I've heard it said about Iran, but am having trouble finding a good cite right now.


(not that we have no spies, we just don't have enough.  It was true in 1979 and it's still true AFAIK today.)

[Derek]

Spying is very important for our national security. I would've liked to have seen Bush do that to get Bin Laden. Maybe he did? It's also good not to advertise it. However, the cold hard facts of international politics is that you have to capture those who spy on you. It's a game that everyone loses at one time or another.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I would've liked to have seen Bush do that to get Bin Laden.

Spy on who?  Afghanistan?  While we were there?  That makes no sense.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Why would Russia be angry at us if we caught their spies?

Euh, what did you expect, Medvedev going through: 'Haha, good job US! damn we have been caught, maybe next time it will be you, who knows! See ya!'.

That was my point, now that everyone knows this affair Russia is forced to appear as offended because it doesn't want to be seen as the bad guy, because that's the image it gives to it, and this is still more problematic after a burger of reconciliation.

Had it not known, it would have happened in the background between the both administrations and everyone could have slept more quietly in both, but now it is known, Russia has to change its attitude, which doesn't ease the efforts of 'reconciliation'.

That's why I said that maybe, in one part or an other, the guys who told it to press didn't want to ease meetings between Obama and Medvedev in fast-foods, or things are just leaky.

[phk]

The best part is we don't just spy on our enemies, we spy on our friends too (and they us).  If you're doing it right you'll have spies everywhere....which we sadly don't.  We still have issues getting and keeping spies in a couple of places we really need to have spies at.

Where don't we have spies where we should?

I've heard it said about Iran, but am having trouble finding a good cite right now.


(not that we have no spies, we just don't have enough.  It was true in 1979 and it's still true AFAIK today.)

CIA has trouble landing agents in cosmopolitan Beirut. Should say enough about counter-terrorism efforts in the poorer parts of the Khaleej. Israelis tend to send out Mizrahim Jews to their enemies which is more or less an advantage the US doesn't have.

Though I'm surprised they, the CIA, haven't reached out to exile communities. Perhaps for their zealousness.

Anyway, I'v been a favorite of CIA recruits at job fairs because of my foreign language skills.

[dead0man]

Why would Russia be angry at us if we caught their spies?

EU, what did you expect, Medvedev going through: 'Ha ha, good job US! damn we have been caught, maybe next time it will be you, who knows! See ya!'.

That was my point, now that everyone knows this affair Russia is forced to appear as offended because it doesn't want to be seen as the bad guy, because that's the image it gives to it, and this is still more problematic after a burger of reconciliation.

Had it not known, it would have happened in the background between the both administrations and everyone could have slept more quietly in both, but now it is known, Russia has to change its attitude, which doesn't ease the efforts of 'reconciliation'.

That's why I said that maybe, in one part or an other, the guys who told it to press didn't want to ease meetings between Obama and Medvedev in flatfoots, or things are just leaky.

Yeah, I understand why Russia may want to come off as "pissed off", but it's stupid and makes them look worse than they already do in the situation.  If they want to trash any opportunity to improve the relations between our two contries over it, then so be it.  It wouldn't be Obama's fault.  It wouldn't be the guy who "leaked" it's fault.  It would be the fault of crappy Russian spies and the people in charge over there.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Just, my sentence was with the word fast-foods here:

That's why I said that maybe, in one part or an other, the guys who told it to press didn't want to ease meetings between Obama and Medvedev in fast-foods, or things are just leaky.

And when you quoted me it turned itself into:

That's why I said that maybe, in one part or an other, the guys who told it to press didn't want to ease meetings between Obama and Medvedev in flatfoots, or things are just leaky.

Something intentional or there are some funny hidden things somewhere?

I'd assume the former.

[Derek]

I would've liked to have seen Bush do that to get Bin Laden.

Spy on who?  Afghanistan?  While we were there?  That makes no sense.

Spy on anyone. What? I don't know I don't call the shots. Why not?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I would've liked to have seen Bush do that to get Bin Laden.

Spy on who?  Afghanistan?  While we were there?  That makes no sense.

Spy on anyone. What? I don't know I don't call the shots. Why not?

It makes no sense to spy on a country that you're occupying - that's just - dumb.

[cinyc]

I would've liked to have seen Bush do that to get Bin Laden.

Spy on who?  Afghanistan?  While we were there?  That makes no sense.

Spy on anyone. What? I don't know I don't call the shots. Why not?

It makes no sense to spy on a country that you're occupying - that's just - dumb.

Yeah, spying on the Taliban in Afghanistan would be really, really idiotic.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I would've liked to have seen Bush do that to get Bin Laden.

Spy on who?  Afghanistan?  While we were there?  That makes no sense.

Spy on anyone. What? I don't know I don't call the shots. Why not?

It makes no sense to spy on a country that you're occupying - that's just - dumb.

Yeah, spying on the Taliban in Afghanistan would be really, really idiotic.

I mean, if we were planning on allowing them to keep power in some regions, then it'd be ok, but Derek's proposal just doesn't make sense.

[patrick1]

Are you guys really that clueless as to how counter insurgency works?  Of course you spy on and have informers on the payroll in the Taliban.  This can often quite literally blow up in your face (as happened a few months ago) but having inside information is one of the few effective ways to fight such a campaign.

[Lunar]

Are you guys really that clueless as to how counter insurgency works?  Of course you spy on and have informers on the payroll in the Taliban.  This can often quite literally blow up in your face (as happened a few months ago) but having inside information is one of the few effective ways to fight such a campaign.

Do you have a WSJ account?  If so, this is a cool read:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703322204575226613386709330.html

You must be logged in to read this quote.

heh.

[Lunar]

NYT CityRoom, a blog near and dear to my heart, ran a list of ways to spot potential future Russian spies:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/looking-back-that-did-seem-a-little-suspicious/

When you ask where they went on vacation, they shoot you and bury your body upstate.

Instead of asking, “Can I borrow a cup of sugar?” they ask, “Do you know anyone in policy making circles?”

Why are their Happy Holiday cards always blank? Invisible ink … or War on Christmas?

They are oddly impervious to torture.

When your daughter tries to sell them Girl Scout cookies, they call her a capitalist cretin and order one lousy box of thin mints.

Use teeny-weeny camera to take family snapshots.

Always trying to swap identical pocketbooks with you.

Their satellite dish not only receives signals from outer space, it also sends them.

It’s a beautiful day — and again with the trench coat?

Only family in the neighborhood that drives a Lada.

Every spring, house festooned with elaborate May Day decorations.

They politely decline to answer questions about their matching Sputnik tattoos.

When you all got together to watch the “Sopranos” episode in which the Russian gets away in the woods, they cheered.

Rather than a lemonade stand, their kids sell shots of Stolichnaya out on the sidewalk.

The parents return their children’s birthday gifts with a Rocky and Bullwinkle theme, leaving a note expressing their preference for Boris and Natasha.

When they’re away on vacation, you can hear small explosions and see smoke coming out of the mailbox from self-destructing letters.

They knock at the front door in Morse code.

They name their Russian wolfhound puppies Che and Fidel.

To get their backyard barbecue grill going, they use reams of microfilm.

[Lunar]

Here's one of the spy's Twitter feeds:

http://twitter.com/nycrentalsnews

lol

Can't say she looks that bad





Would I feel bad knowing a hot girlfriend was a treasonous spy?  Maybe a little, but let's cross that bridge when we come to it.

[dead0man]

That's why I said that maybe, in one part or an other, the guys who told it to press didn't want to ease meetings between Obama and Medvedev in flatfoots, or things are just leaky.

Something intentional or there are some funny hidden things somewhere?

I'd assume the former.

Accident actually....I was hitting the wrong button on the spell check...it changed Medved to something else and I fixed those...I guess I missed that one.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Are you guys really that clueless as to how counter insurgency works?  Of course you spy on and have informers on the payroll in the Taliban.  This can often quite literally blow up in your face (as happened a few months ago) but having inside information is one of the few effective ways to fight such a campaign.

Right - that's understandable.  But that's not spying on Afghanistan to get Bin Laden - that's something different.

[patrick1]

Are you guys really that clueless as to how counter insurgency works?  Of course you spy on and have informers on the payroll in the Taliban.  This can often quite literally blow up in your face (as happened a few months ago) but having inside information is one of the few effective ways to fight such a campaign.

Right - that's understandable.  But that's not spying on Afghanistan to get Bin Laden - that's something different.

If we don't have assets within the Afghan government then we are dumber than I think we are.  The Karzai regime is not trustworthy and is more than willing to sell us out.  We should have contacts within telling us what is going on.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Are you guys really that clueless as to how counter insurgency works?  Of course you spy on and have informers on the payroll in the Taliban.  This can often quite literally blow up in your face (as happened a few months ago) but having inside information is one of the few effective ways to fight such a campaign.

Right - that's understandable.  But that's not spying on Afghanistan to get Bin Laden - that's something different.

If we don't have assets within the Afghan government then we are dumber than I think we are.  The Karzai regime is not trustworthy and is more than willing to sell us out.  We should have contacts within telling us what is going on.

Hopefully we have that without them being "spies", otherwise our time spent there has been a complete and utter waste.

[patrick1]

Are you guys really that clueless as to how counter insurgency works?  Of course you spy on and have informers on the payroll in the Taliban.  This can often quite literally blow up in your face (as happened a few months ago) but having inside information is one of the few effective ways to fight such a campaign.

Right - that's understandable.  But that's not spying on Afghanistan to get Bin Laden - that's something different.

If we don't have assets within the Afghan government then we are dumber than I think we are.  The Karzai regime is not trustworthy and is more than willing to sell us out.  We should have contacts within telling us what is going on.

Hopefully we have that without them being "spies", otherwise our time spent there has been a complete and utter waste.

Inks, I think that attitude is a tad naive.  Most of these government types in Afghanistan are the ultimate movers and shakers. They've survived more regime changes than Tallyrand.  They understand money and power.   If they aren't building schools in their villages without bribes and kickbacks then do you really think they will give us anything useful without the Yankee dollar. 

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Are you guys really that clueless as to how counter insurgency works?  Of course you spy on and have informers on the payroll in the Taliban.  This can often quite literally blow up in your face (as happened a few months ago) but having inside information is one of the few effective ways to fight such a campaign.

Right - that's understandable.  But that's not spying on Afghanistan to get Bin Laden - that's something different.

If we don't have assets within the Afghan government then we are dumber than I think we are.  The Karzai regime is not trustworthy and is more than willing to sell us out.  We should have contacts within telling us what is going on.

Hopefully we have that without them being "spies", otherwise our time spent there has been a complete and utter waste.

Inks, I think that attitude is a tad naive.  Most of these government types in Afghanistan are the ultimate movers and shakers. They've survived more regime changes than Tallyrand.  They understand money and power.   If they aren't building schools in their villages without bribes and kickbacks then do you really think they will give us anything useful without the Yankee dollar. 

I'm not talking about Afghanis - I'm talking about Americans there advising and helping the Afghani government.

[ag]

Why would Russia be angry at us if we caught their spies?

Euh, what did you expect, Medvedev going through: 'Haha, good job US! damn we have been caught, maybe next time it will be you, who knows! See ya!'.

I am not sure Medvedev is very upset himself. In fact, he might even be amused. Except, who is Medvedev? Who cares what he thinks. And the guy who matters is, most assuredly, not happy. You, guys, got his folk.

[Lunar]

And of course, the nude pictures come out...

[The Mikado]

And of course, the nude pictures come out...

Uncensored here:

http://patdollard.com/2010/07/naked-pictures-of-sexy-russian-spy/
NSFW for obvious reasons.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

And of course, the nude pictures come out...

Uncensored here:

http://patdollard.com/2010/07/naked-pictures-of-sexy-russian-spy/
NSFW for obvious reasons.

Hot for a Russian