Word: bloch
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...creations, of course, are created equal. ABC's World News Tonight last July aired a dramatization of alleged spy Felix Bloch passing a briefcase to a Soviet agent. The scene, visually enhanced to look like the real thing but inadvertently not labeled a simulation, was a mistake because it was misleading: it made an event that is alleged to have taken place appear to be a recorded fact. ABC apologized for not identifying the scene properly, and network newscasts have since steered clear of simulations...
...Still, Bloch does not play the deeply wronged innocent. A self-described fatalist, he is stoic. "Life is unfair, that's it," he said. "I don't expect anything else." Can he endure the pressure? "I know people think of suicide," Bloch said, "but my roots are in Vienna, where everybody thinks of suicide all the time." Thinking and doing, he seemed to be saying, are two different things...
Acquaintances have searched in vain for an indication of what might have motivated Bloch's espionage, if indeed the Government's suspicions are justified. Money is an unlikely answer. He still earns $80,000 a year from the State Department, and his wife has additional income. Except for their $328,000 apartment, Bloch has modest tastes. He seems satisfied with his books, the theater, his stamp collection and a glass of good wine. Bloch resented serving under politically appointed ambassadors in Vienna, but his real complaint is with the State Department's failure to consider him for appointment as Ambassador...
...guilty? Bloch's Talmudic refusal to deny everything leaves the question open. After lunch we stopped in the men's room, where an FBI agent rushed in, standing, staring and listening as we washed our hands. Bloch agreed to meet again, "providing I don't defect to East Berlin before then...
...Just kidding," he added, smiling at the agent. Outside, Bloch headed toward Dupont Circle, trailing agents and media like the Pied Piper. "The guy's got guts," mused one agent as he rejoined the procession...