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For the victims of Russia's imperialism, there have been many downsides, starting with deaths counting millions.
Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
161–170 of 502 posts
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#162Earlier 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).
Well, they can immediately charge a fee (personal experience) and also it may be applicable for other matters in-flight.. let's say you're applying for a visa but have overstayed the current one. If they don't check until re-entry, they wouldn't catch this
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you give an example? Sounds strange to me. Even within Schengen area there can be temporary border checks and you usually need to identify yourself when leaving it.
In-shengen border controls are extremely easy to bypass, and if you travel a lot you know exactly where they are (especially since it is quite rare). Baltic countries have no checks at all at the borders, so you can go Sweden to Finland, Finland to Estonia, Estonia all the way down to Poland without any checks at all, easy. I know there's often a check at the France / Spain border, but I also know they only check bus…
You can trivially head from Irun to Hendaye.
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
And then Czechia in 2021 randomly decided it's not worth it? (Russia did not cut access to their resources as a result anyway). Does not make sense. The breakthrough in the investigation came only post 2018 as a result of Skripal poisonings where the same agents were involved. It took a while to connect the dots.
The EU, Germany in particular, was not interested in making a big deal out of it for fear of getting cut off from the Russian teat. German economy was set up to run on Russian gas and oil and Germany has a lot of influence over Czechia so there was likely some pressure to keep things quiet. But in 2021 there was enough evidence on who did it and what was being planned to take action.
> But in 2021 there was enough evidence on who did it and what was being planned to take action.
Seems like you agree the reason it was not published before 2021 was that there wasn't enough evidence collected yet.
Isn't that the most parsimonious explanation? Why do you feel the need to add this superfluous German angle / Russian resources unfounded speculation?
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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 fol…
Thanks for the Black Sails suggestion. I hadn't heard of it but will check it out. High praise on IMDB.
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> 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. When was Putin appeased?
The world sat idly when he invaded Georgia, Crimea, Donbass. When Russian agents sabotaged facilities over Central and Eastern Europe, murdered dissidents and civilians.
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
Examples/source? According to this stack overflow question, the US is (fairly) unique in not having immigration exit checks. https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/122289/why-don-t-...
The UK doesn't have exit checks.
When taking the Chunnel recently there are two passport checks on the way to the train, leaving UK and then 20 ft later entering France.
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Over 51 thousands of "downsides" so far, and counting: https://t.me/s/pechalbeda200
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Keri Russell a lightweight? I’m curious what gave you that impression as I’ve always thought of her as an excellent actress. Probably missing out on The Diplomat too if you like political intrigue at all.
Well on that topic, the French series "The Bureau" [1] was fantastic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bureau_(TV_series)
I don't understand why people like these shows, there isn't a proper story just things that happen that are essentially discarded at the beginning of the next season. There is never any real 3rd-act/resolution.
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#170> In both cases, she used sophisticated tradecraft that sought to leave no trace in databases accessible to European authorities. For instance, she booked her trips and bought her plane tickets using her Czech passport, registering only that nationality with the Greek airline. But upon crossing the Russian border, Šapošnikova used her secret Russian passport, thus bypassing the need to obtain a Russian visa issued to…
> “ sophisticated tradecraft “ lol what?
I feel that there was a huge loss of competence - our security services are far too busy chasing around lone terrorists with low-tech tools and no op-sec.
The military industrial complex is so deep in grift it can only produce enough weapons to fight third world countries with minimal losses