Finally getting a chance to read Bellingcat's investigation into FSB's attempted assassination of Navalny. bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-eu…
This from the intro: "Moscow-based SC Signal – were shown to have been in close communication with GRU operatives linked to the two overseas assassination attempts using military-grade toxins. SC Signal, formally engaged in developing sports nutrition drinks"
I wonder if this inspired the "fitness vitamin salesmen" cover.
.@bellingcat is just as cynical as I am... Probably just a coincidence.
omg
"When searching for Panyaev’s phone number on the GetContact app, which crowdsources contact book entries for a given number, we found that he was listed as “FSB Vladimir Alexandrovich Panyaev” in someone’s phone contact book." bellingcat.com/resources/2020…
Pro tip: Don't list spies as spies in your contacts.
I will also never get over GRU and SVR officers registering their cars to their offices.
This must be a bureaucratic thing. I can imagine Support officers writing this policy, and every case officer being like, Fuck no, you're gonna give us away, and Support insisting to the budget office it must be done this way for streamlining purposes.
Same with all those passports with consecutive numbers.
Support Officer 1: "If we issue them all at once, it will cost less and require less paperwork!"
Support Officer 2: "Sounds great!"
They slam down some vodka, pleased with how efficient they are being.
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It's time for a montage! A miserable Putin congratulates Biden. Let's start with the official story from Tass. You can't even blame outsiders for this one. tass.com/politics/12350…
Police in Catalonia, Spain today launched Operation Volhov, to take down the support infrastructure for Carles Puigdemont, the independence leader now in exile in Belgium. The judge has pointed out that Putin offered him 10,000 soldiers and to pay off Catalan debt. Quite the read
Putin offered to put 10,000 soldiers at Puigdemont's disposal to help gain independence and to pay off Catalan debt. Officials have recordings of these offers (which they obtained during a secret investigation).
Russia also offered to help with a disinformation and destabilization operation, aimed at creating the perception that the EU was weak and at risk of collapse.
This, from @davidfrum, is a good summary of the problem with Flynn. One point I have consistently pushed but that often gets lost, is the legality/illegality almost doesn't matter. The issue here is one of national security and whether a foreign country has leverage.
By lying, Flynn opened himself up as a counterintelligence risk. That's not ideal for a national security advisor. And all this idiotic narrative in the US that the investigation was political is a load of bullshit. Putin ran the same or similar playbook in many other countries.
Did a Deep State cabal set out to take down Marine LePen in France? Or was there legit reason to question her million-euro loan from Russia?
Yes! This always gets lost. Maybe FBI thought the president-elect would care about a national security threat and act accordingly. The minute Trump was briefed on Russian interference, his reaction should have been: this is wrong and we need to protect the country against it.
Instead, Trump and his team denied any contact (that is, they all lied), fearing it would make them look bad. They took zero steps to protect against the threat. But intel community officials (like FBI) still saw their job as protecting the nation (weird!)
We’ve seen this behavior pattern over and over. Even now, Trump sees covid as a personal attack, not as a threat against the country. And damn any civil servants who try to get the truth out.
A really good read. I see a similar phenomenon with CIA. We are portrayed as silent heroes. But as with any organization, CIA has many, many flaws, and not all its people are all that and a bag of chips. That's why I wrote Victor in the Rubble.
In fact, MASH was part of my inspiration for the book. The total disconnect between the planners back at desks (theorists) and the people in the field faced with reality (practitioners) rang so true after my own experiences with the war on terror. Everything was just so absurd.
Anyway, for a good laugh about the serious issue of the global war on terror, please read Victor in the Rubble.
You ever stop and look around and just say, wow, this is really fucked up?
That’s how I spend about ninety percent of my time now, when I’m not washing my hands or disinfecting light switches. It’s weird, isn’t it? How quickly dystopia befell us? And it’s really fucked up, right?
Remember six weeks ago, when we used to be able to make plans? Remember how fucking glorious that was? Hey, you got summer plans? You planning to go to the gym later? What are your weekend plans? Let’s plan to see each other! Remember that? Remember when the future existed?
Ah, having a future to plan. What a luxury that was.