This week a Russian spy ring was exposed by the FBI after many years of investigation. On Monday they were brought before a court in New York, accused of “failure to register as agents of a foreign government” – an offence that could put them in jail for 5 to 9 years. Is the Cold War back?
According to the FBI the purpose of the agents was to “gather information on nuclear weapons, American policy toward Iran, C.I.A. leadership, Congressional politics and many other topics”. They were also supposed to “penetrate” the ruling circles at Washington DC., hang out with nuclear scientists and recruit other agents.
Spy stories are the most fun and the most exciting legacy of the Cold War. Not many people today are willing to contemplate the meanings and the dangers of worldwide doomsday arsenal (if it is held by “responsible Western” countries and not NC or Iran). But who wouldn’t watch James Bond or some other “undercover agent” stuff?
Cold War espionage was indeed wide spread, and lets remember, exercised by BOTH Russia and the US. Post-Cold War memoirs by agents retired and agents deflected only fed more fuel into the already thriving spy folklore. Often left outside of our popular memory is that the spy-searching also ruined people’ lives, cost them their livelihoods, made them outcasts within their own communities – and even cost lives. Quite often it later transpired that these were false accusation. But hey, better safe than sorry, right?
The spy story is on “the most popular” list of most newspapers. No real damage was done, so it seems, so why not enjoy ourselves a bit? But it seems to me that in this excitement rush into the new real-life spy thriller, even the best media, like the Guardian or the NYT, are forgetting to ask some important questions. It will be up to the FBI to prove their case in court. Here, I just want to raise some (hopefully) reasonable doubts.
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A tombstone of the actor Boris Khmelnitsky
There is a peculiar brand of Russian tourism – visiting cemeteries. First, there is the most important grave of the most important Soviet dead – the Lenin mausoleum. Second, right behind him, there is the Necropolis under the Kremlin wall – the entire length of the wall facing the Red Square is the burial site of Russian revolutionaries and Soviet dignitaries such as Dzerzhinsky, Gagarin or Brezhnev. A visit to the mausoleum also includes the tour of the “Necropolis”.
Russia is the only country I know of, that has more than one cemetery designated specifically for cultural and scientific elite and former leaders. Novodevichy, Vagan’kovo, and Kuntsevo are the most famous ones. All constitute important sites of tourism and pilgrimage. Novodevishy, for example, is listed in the top five tourist attractions of Moscow.
This phenomenon strikes me as radically different from say, a visit to the Westminster Abbey, Lincoln Memorial or Mount Herzl. Unlike other places, where people usually visit just one memorial, in Russia one visits the entire cemetery. » click to continue reading
In recent years we see the rise of the trend to boycott the Israeli academia and to cancel cultural performances in Israel. According to Wikipedia, such boycotts were inspired by the boycotts against the South Africa, in an attempt to pressure it to end the policies of Apartheid. Following the recent Israeli attack on the international aid to Gaza flotilla, the various calls for boycotts and cancellations have been growing like mushrooms after the rain.
In my opinion, such boycotts constitute poor and miserable solution, and do more service to the self-esteem of the boycotters than to the cause they apparently try to promote. » click to continue reading
It happens again. I am sitting on a couch and watching the Victory Day parade on the television. May 9th is the day when Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War (or WWII) has been commemorated since 1945. Everything is almost similar to the last I watched it as a Soviet child. Only that this time I watched it in HD, holding a lap top in my hands, while outside is not “developed socialism”, but capitalism in the service of the government, or something. The new leaders of Russia have also changed. They are no longer obscure heavy rectangular shapes.
photo by Reuters
This year Russia celebrated 65th anniversary of its victory over the Nazi occupant. This is a semi-round date and therefore Moscow was decorated more than usual. Every second person on the street was wearing a military styled after the ones worn during the war (can be bought for a 100 rubles on every other corner), strings colored in black and brown – the colors of Georgii Cross – a pre-revolutionary military honor. The streets are adorned with the colors of the Russian flag as well as red and yellow (the Soviet flag is called today the “Victory Flag”). The words “the Great Victory”, “Hooray”, “Veterans” were springing on the people at every street corner.
So what has changed?
photo by AFP
The big deal this year is not just the round date. This is the first time since 1991 that Russia held a full military parade on the Red Square. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the parade consisted mainly of veterans and a bit of infantry. This year, the march included many different units of the Russian military (including the mysterious unit for “Space Warfare) followed by a wide array of military technology from tanks to ten meters long rocket carriers. The parade was concluded by the Russian air force that passed by in the skies above the Red Square.
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