Word: kgb
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There is much to lament about Putin’s Presidency, from his promotion of the siloviki (former military and KGB officers), to his gradual elimination of independent media outlets. But the Chechen conflict has been Putin’s most dramatic—dramatically horrific—failure. With the confidence of a cowboy and the sophistication of a schoolyard bully, Putin favors using a tank to crush a cockroach. Throughout the war, calls for moderation and respect for basic human rights have been dismissed as unreasonable restraints on Russia’s ability to achieve a long-term...
...Putin is half-crazed” explanation. If his irrational persistence in Russia’s clearly failed approach to the Chechen conflict were not enough, I would point to a few choice press conference quotes. When questioned on the Chechen conflict, Putin’s impassive KGB demeanor has slipped on a number of occasions, betraying his crude vocabulary and coarse mindset. Asked to describe Russia’s goal in the Chechen conflict, he stated that it was to “whack the bandits in the john [toilet].” At another press conference, questioned about...
...diplomat who, if the stories about him are true, was quite the ladies' man. The reason for the request is secret, but the episode has the capital twittering with gossip about espionage and sex. It's also a reminder of the Cold- War days when John Symonds, the kgb's so-called "Romeo agent," visited the country. "I did a lot of damage down there in Australia," says the former Scotland Yard detective, contacted by Time at his home in England...
...Symonds' claims of stealing secrets by seducing female embassy and government employees - he says he later tried to confess to authorities but was ignored - were corroborated in a trove of copied kgb documents, some of which found their way into the 1999 book The Mitrokhin Archive: The kgbin Europe and the West. A further instalment of the documents, dealing with espionage operations outside Europe and America, is the basis for an upcoming sequel...
...disgruntled kgb archivist Vasili Mitrokhin walked into the British embassy in Latvia and handed over a sample of what the fbi would later call "the most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source." The files revealed the details of many Soviet espionage operations and unmasked kgb agents around the world. Wide-ranging counterespionage operations were mounted, including a lengthy hunt for the alleged asio spy. "This wasn't just another piece of information from a defector," says Canberrabased intelligence expert Des Ball. "This happened to be the first categoric information that the KGB had in fact penetrated asio...