The Hibernating Russian Bear
[Guest post by DRJ]
America’s Presidents are bipartisan in their quest for peace with Russia. That’s why Bush looked into Putin’s eyes and Obama proclaimed his trust for Medvedev. But did Bush and Obama know what Putin and Medvedev knew — that Russia may well have sent spies to live among us?
Experts and laymen are astounded, and a little clueless:
“Jessie Gugig, 15, said she could not believe the charges, especially against Mrs. Murphy, who was an accomplished gardener.
“They couldn’t have been spies,” Ms. Gugig said. “Look what she did with the hydrangeas.”
I grew up during the Cold War so this doesn’t surprise me.
— DRJ
I believe that the “secrets” were to do with the Obama economic plan, and the Kremlin read them and said, “Been there. Done that.”
JVW (8aff2c) — 6/28/2010 @ 7:32 pmSolzhenitsyn said it: The Russian state has never kept faith with anyone.
(That was one ridiculous statement from the Shrub, BTW.)
nk (db4a41) — 6/28/2010 @ 7:36 pmYes, it was. I like to think it was Bush’s effort to be devious and disarming a la Putin, but it was probably just his overly sociable nature.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 6/28/2010 @ 7:39 pmJingoistic xenophobes afraid of Teh Other, you all are.
JD (308d62) — 6/28/2010 @ 7:42 pmI wonder if they serve Ray’s Hell Burgers in hell…
Patricia (160852) — 6/28/2010 @ 7:45 pmwell played, G-men!
In 1779, Catherine the Great promised the Greeks of the Peloponnese military support from Russia if they would rebel against their Ottoman rulers. It never came. The Greeks were slaughtered. And there are a lot more stories like that in Europe about Russian treachery.
nk (db4a41) — 6/28/2010 @ 8:00 pmIn Star Trek, too.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 6/28/2010 @ 8:01 pmI am supposing the USA also has deep agents — a few, surely, but not none — in Russia and elsewhere. *shrug* They know the rules: if they get caught, they’re probably dead.
I’m not saying I don’t mind that Russia spies. I’m saying it’s one of those activities in which all nations engage, if they are able to.
Mitch (e40959) — 6/28/2010 @ 8:40 pmGodless Commies. Behind the curve.
Andrew (057d27) — 6/28/2010 @ 9:42 pmOMG! They were using invisible ink, and short-wave radios.
The Devils!
Now, back to our regular programming in the 21st-Century.
AD - RtR/OS! (7166b6) — 6/28/2010 @ 11:24 pmTime to review the 1985 interview of former KGB agent, Yuri Bezmenov.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2307456730142665916#
The steps they used worked!
Brooks (a1c05f) — 6/29/2010 @ 3:10 amClueless idiot on NPR this morning (apologies for the redundancy) said the ‘spy ring’ was called ‘The Illegals.’ Y’know, like a band name.
RNB (6a1e7d) — 6/29/2010 @ 3:51 amThey were probably doing industrial espionage. Obama doesn’t know anything about that so their usual sources weren’t helpful.
Mike K (82f374) — 6/29/2010 @ 5:32 amI haven’t seen anything these agents of influence said or wrote that I would be surprised to see our beloved president say. “Blah blah blah, U.S. bad, third world good, Arizona evil”. I mean c’mon, can’t these guys at least come up with something original? The quality of Russian agents of influence has declined greatly since the days of Alger Hiss and I.F. Stone.
GregMan (c50d16) — 6/29/2010 @ 6:25 amThe one named Vicky seems kind of dumb.
dissident (8acc10) — 6/29/2010 @ 6:42 amsaid Oleg D. Kalugin, a former K.G.B. general who worked as a Soviet spy in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s under “legal” cover as a diplomat and Radio Moscow correspondent.
For those not aware, Kalugin was one of the more infamous spymasters of the Cold War era, and was (and still is) a nasty character. But think of it this way – at least they didn’t attempt to poison anyone here.
Dmac (ab1849) — 6/29/2010 @ 7:04 amYes he was, but apparently, he’s one of those who’s
ian cormac (89ef3c) — 6/29/2010 @ 7:14 amon really bad terms with Putin, right up there with
Gordievsky,
These arrests may be historical throwbacks but they make me wonder what sort of message the administration is sending to the Russians.
As an aside, the El Diario columnist sounds like a mainstream Democrat, so she’s no big deal, and Anna Chapman strikes me as someone to whom we ought to offer asylum. Mrs. Murphy, she of hydranga fame, sounds like she was mostly concerned about the declining quality of Montclair public schools. Pretty silly spies, all in all.
MTF (17058c) — 6/29/2010 @ 7:35 am“They couldn’t have been spies,” Ms. Gugig said. “Look what she did with the hydrangeas.”
Best non-sequitor evah!
Mark L (53fe4f) — 6/29/2010 @ 7:39 amThe Daily News report, is classic, they don’t really understand the word ‘demure’
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/06/29/2010-06-29_untitled__2spies29m.html
ian cormac (89ef3c) — 6/29/2010 @ 7:49 amThis sounds about as illegal as a tree fort. OMG they talked to each other in code!
Wesson (648bfd) — 6/29/2010 @ 8:15 amRight, that’s why they had the false passports, the cash from mysterious sources, the inquiry about CIA operations
ian cormac (89ef3c) — 6/29/2010 @ 8:41 am‘“Jessie Gugig, 15, said she could not believe the charges, especially against Mrs. Murphy, who was an accomplished gardener.’
‘“They couldn’t have been spies,” Ms. Gugig said. “Look what she did with the hydrangeas.”’
I gaze into my crystal ball and see her voting Democrat three years from now.
Dave Surls (e969a9) — 6/29/2010 @ 9:14 amMs. Gugig’s quote had been updated in the article as follows:
Jessie Gugig, 15, said she could not believe the charges, especially against Mrs. Murphy. “They couldn’t have been spies,” she said jokingly. “Look what she did with the hydrangeas.”
Hal Duston (3304c6) — 6/29/2010 @ 9:20 amThat’s nothing surprising the neighbors to the Myers
ian cormac (89ef3c) — 6/29/2010 @ 9:39 amspy ring, thought just because they were antiBush,
they couldn’t have been spies
Only 10 illegals during the Cold War? Impossible. There were probably 100+ if you counted all the Eastern Bloc, Cuban and other fellow travellers inspired by Soviet communism. After all, for the cost of a single spy satellite you could easily fund the recruitment, training, transport, and secret life of a hundred ‘illegals’!
John (60bf14) — 6/29/2010 @ 10:16 am“…the inquiry about CIA operations…”
The CIA has operations? Who Knew?
AD - RtR/OS! (f22b48) — 6/29/2010 @ 11:59 amHere, all this time, I thought they just wrote bogus sit-reps on non-existent Iranian weapons programs.
“…’They couldn’t have been spies,’ Ms. Gugig said. ‘Look what she did with the hydrangeas’…”
Didn’t George Smiley putter about in the garden?
AD - RtR/OS! (f22b48) — 6/29/2010 @ 12:02 pmOne might think that, but Sanger who put out some of the stories you mentioned, illustrates exactly
ian cormac (89ef3c) — 6/29/2010 @ 12:04 pmhow much the Iranian program, Project 110 and 111,
moved forward under Fakrizedeh, in a book ‘the Challenge’ he wrote conveniently years later
Hey, don’t beat up on a 15 year-old girl. Jessie’s quote was actually …
Jessie Gugig, 15, said she could not believe the charges, especially against Mrs. Murphy. “They couldn’t have been spies,” she said jokingly. “Look what she did with the hydrangeas.”
Bruce (293156) — 6/29/2010 @ 4:35 pm