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Double life as a KGB agent

theguardian.com

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Re: Double life as a KGB agent

#21

Post by Cyph0n »

warent wrote: post #9
myf01d wrote: post #6

Just like engineers, they think they are smart and they are changing the world and blablabla but it is actually all about billions and power going to the big guys

This comment comes across as small minded and pessimistic without real evidence. Scientists and engineers typically help the world, with or without money. See Gates, Stallman, Page & Brin, Clair Cameron Patterson, etc

Please stop throwing around Gates as an example of "working for humankind". His charitable work begun only very recently. Before that, he was a cold and ruthless money making machine.

Re: Double life as a KGB agent

#22

Post by Luc »

Cyph0n wrote: post #21
warent wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment comes across as small minded and pessimistic without real evidence. Scientists and engineers typically help the world, with or without money. See Gates, Stallman, Page & Brin, Clair Cameron Patterson, etc

Please stop throwing around Gates as an example of "working for humankind". His charitable work begun only very recently. Before that, he was a cold and ruthless money making machine.

He set up his foundation 20 years ago. Still too recent?

Re: Double life as a KGB agent

#23

Post by Cyph0n »

Luc wrote: post #22
Cyph0n wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please stop throwing around Gates as an example of "working for humankind". His charitable work begun only very recently. Before that, he was a cold and ruthless money making machine.

He set up his foundation 20 years ago. Still too recent?

I can start a foundation tomorrow. Your point?

In any case, he was a billionaire several times over by then. The MS IPO was over 30 years ago.

Edit: Now that I re-read my comment, I come off as an arrogant prick. Sorry about that.

All I really meant to say was that setting up a foundation != charitable work. Any poor guy - like me for example - can setup a foundation, but it will only exist on paper.

Re: Double life as a KGB agent

#24

Post by kev009 »

I had some level of respect for The Guardian vis a vis Glenn Greenwald. But wow, the brazen seed on current events "Might Trump have been recruited by Putin?" and "right wingers are easier to convert". First class journalism right there folks, way to be taken hook line and sinker by the intelligence community while doing an article on the intelligence community. Pretty comical.

Re: Double life as a KGB agent

#25

Post by pjc50 »

For people who like this sort of thing: https://www.lrb.co.uk/v10/n16/paul-foot/the-great-times-they... (on the British Royal family being infiltrated by fascists).

The TV series Deutchland 83 is also well worth watching for a snappy spy drama about a young man from East Germany being coerced into being a double agent.

Re: Double life as a KGB agent

#26

Post by frozenport »

CalChris wrote: post #2

In the end, it all seems so mundane. Secretive to be sure, but a talented life accomplishing nothing. Well, maybe an improvement on East Germany in the 80s but that's it.

Article says he wrote software for a living becoming director of IT. Although nothing in React Native.

Re: Double life as a KGB agent

#27

Post by pbz »

kev009 wrote: post #24

I had some level of respect for The Guardian vis a vis Glenn Greenwald. But wow, the brazen seed on current events "Might Trump have been recruited by Putin?" and "right wingers are easier to convert". First class journalism right there folks, way to be taken hook line and sinker by the intelligence community while doing an article on the intelligence community. Pretty comical.

Greenwald has been at the Intercept for quite some time now: https://theintercept.com/staff/glenn-greenwald/

Re: Double life as a KGB agent

#28

Post by [deleted] »

quakeguy wrote: post #12
warent wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment comes across as small minded and pessimistic without real evidence. Scientists and engineers typically help the world, with or without money. See Gates, Stallman, Page & Brin, Clair Cameron Patterson, etc

To expand, Oppenheimer, Turing, Feynman and even Gauss come to mind. Really stupid comment.

[deleted]

Re: Double life as a KGB agent

#30

Post by im3w1l »

ethbro wrote: post #8
Pyxl101 wrote: post #3

A fair number of sleeper agents like this have been outed over the years. Another example that comes to mind is the KGB agent couple on which the TV show "The Americans" was based: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/discovered-our... FBI Operation Ghost Stories arrested 11 people back in 2010. https://vault.fbi.gov/ghost-stories-russian-foreign-intellig... What I'm wondering is: how many other agents are o…

One of the inefficiencies of embedding agents like this seems to be that they're subject to the same vagaries of chance as all of us. What are the chances of an agent being hired and then promoted to have access to an SCI file you're interested in? It seems a pretty poor bet compared to turning individuals already in relevant positions.

You can provide them with covert help. If they have a team of 10 people helping them out, they will seem like a 10x performer...
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