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Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

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Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#141

Post by cmrdporcupine »

sofixa wrote: post #98
rdtsc wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very good question. The problem is what's next if they acknowledge that. Say it is acknowledged as an attack on a NATO member, but nothing is done. That immediately turns NATO's worth from whatever its is worth now, to less than the paper it was printed on in 1999 when the Check Republic joined the organization. That's the achilles heel of NATO, and the Russian government knows it. Same goes for Baltic count…

Since the invasion of Ukraine I think it's pretty clear to everyone involved (and many have been making it publicly and loudly clear) that appeasement doesn't work with Putin. So if any of the Baltics gets invaded for whatever reason, you can bet that a majority of NATO members will join to defend (even traitors in some countries like Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria will definitely will try their best to stop their count…

Sure, but as the commenter above you was saying, it wouldn't be an "invasion." It'll be a series of escalation provocations. Blow something up "by accident", poisonings of escaped dissidents, "little green men" stirring stuff up in the "persecuted" Russian-speaking minority, and then using that as a pretext for more and more strident interventions.

And at each point NATO has to make a decision whether it's "worth it" to escalate into armed conflict over it, and Putin can just keep "bending the stick" until he finds where it's about to snap, and not push any further, while the stick gets a bit weaker and weaker...

I do think the Russians are vulnerable right now in the sense that if they provoked excessively in the fashion they were used to before the invasion of Ukraine, they could open the floodgates to more serious support for Ukraine.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#142

Post by snowpid »

severino wrote: post #67
timthelion wrote: post #40

What I don't understand is why the attack on the Czech Republic was not seen as an attack by Russia on NATO.

What for? To start a war between nuclear powers just because of sabotage? Furthermore, we the members of NATO sometimes sabotage other members, like when some pipes of the Nord Stream pipeline were destroyed two years ago. So...

Sorry the last sentence is not proofed. You imagine something.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#143

Post by reactordev »

CodeWriter23 wrote: post #133
garyrob wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to give some advice: Don't judge it by its first few episodes. When I first checked it out, the basic setup seemed rather inane and I stopped watching. Then, a couple years later, I needed something to watch during long exercise sessions and I checked it out again. It was getting much more interesting by the end of the first season. And every season got better and richer. By the very end, I experienced it as a…

> Don't judge it by its first few episodes Strong advice for any show.

Agreed. I learned this with Black Sails (first few episodes were huh?) and it evolved into something awesome. The Americans as well. I think that’s usually the case with shows that are trying something new and haven’t quite got the formula down. First season of Star Trek was a freak show of theater that somehow, worked. Thrived. And blossomed. Let’s just pray Bob Igor doesn’t get his hands on the franchise.

I now follow this advice with all shows. I’ll give it a full season to see if they develop something I’m interested in following.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#144

Post by vl »

dylan604 wrote: post #43
amarant wrote: post #6

Wow that story is like something straight out of spy-romanticising drama! Crazy that such undercover agents really exist! Also, I wonder what the pay is like? Or how it even works.. probably best to not leave a obvious money trail between state and spy..

Your pay is whatever job you have as a cover pays you. If you were getting additional pay to that, then it would be a red flag when the various agencies investigate you.

They are getting full officer salaries and rank promotions and so on even while they are on deployment. Obviously they can’t access money/benefits while on deployment, but they get them when they get back, either by being recalled or traded in case of capture.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#145

Post by 0x457 »

thriftwy wrote: post #14
tucnak wrote: post #10

> Elena was also deeply involved with her husband’s enterprise and intimately aware of Imex’s operations. In many ways, she seemed to be supervising and directing Nikolay’s activities in direct coordination with Andrey Averyanov, the head of Unit 29155. She communicated with Gen. Andrey Averyanov via email; his Gmail address, registered from a Russian IP address, is vitazi31@gmail.com. (“Vitazi” in Russian means “kni…

Seems implause that a Russian speaker will drop a soft spot in the word витязи. I would definitely search for somebody who is named VITaly and whose last name starts with AZI.

Yeah, any russian would use 'ya' to spell 'я'.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#146

Post by bee_rider »

chatmasta wrote: post #121
mmsc wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of the ~50 countries I've been to in the past 10 years, The UK is the only one I remember which I did not need to show any ID when leaving. I thought it was strange because this is just one way countries catch overstays.

But what’s the point of catching an overstay if they’re leaving already? It’s more important to catch them when they try to re-enter (at which point you could have collected data from airlines to estimate whether they previously overstayed). Exit checks are pretty pointless if there’s no violation that would lead to enforcement other than deportation (since the traveler is already self-deporting).

If someone has overstayed you might want to note that down in case they come for another stay, right?

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#147

Post by croisillon »

DrFalkyn wrote: post #120
Barrin92 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Brits don't insult your intelligence too greatly in their spook shows; the American variety always involves some sort of super-human characters. This is why I could never get into House of Cards, it's just so over the top compared to something like Borgen which for me to this day is still one of the best political dramas ever made, also sadly went somewhat under the radar especially across the pond.

It wasn't any over the top than the original. It mostly just followed The BBC production almost to the letter, except with US spin. Until Season 4?. Whenever the re-election campaign started. Joel Kinnaman, while a great actor (loved him in Altered Carbon) was a massive miscast as a plausible candidate for the GOP. Mostly due to youth. And the last season was a Game of Thrones-level utter disaster.

except it made more sense Francis Urquhart being Conservative than Frank Underwood being Democrat

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#148

Post by The_Colonel »

benterix wrote: post #28
thriftwy wrote: post #20

[flagged]

I assume you are commenting in good faith. So, regarding "cui prodest", who would benefit from blowing up a munitions factory in the Czech republic where munitions were stored that were supposed to be transported to Ukraine later so that Ukrainians could protect themselves against the Russian invasion?

[flagged]

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#149

Post by carlosjobim »

timthelion wrote: post #40

What I don't understand is why the attack on the Czech Republic was not seen as an attack by Russia on NATO.

Wars are never waged as responses to attacks or insults, they are waged when the rulers have determined that they will be profitable. Until then, all attacks or atrocities will be ignored.

When it's time for war, the rulers will make up any kind of excuse, order the media to whip up the population to a war frenzy and mothers will cry tears of joy when their sons get sent away to die in agony in some forest or desert with their guts spilled all over the ground.

But if you think the honour of the Czech Republic or NATO needs to be restored, the question is what are you still doing in front of the computer?

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