27/12/2007

More than one Kim Philby

Soviets had assets at the top of the Western security apparatus, such as:

[...] Kurt, one of the most valuable agents of the Soviet inteligence, who might be compared with legendary Kim Philby. Kurt was the nickname of the ex-SS Haupsturmfuerer Heinz Felfe [...] the head of the department of "counterespionage against the USSR and the Soviet missions". [...]

Only in 1969, Russians managed to exchange Felfe for 18 agents of the West German and 3 agents of the American intelligence. The exchange took place at the point of entry at Heerleshausen on the border of the two German states. After the release Felfe found his domicile in the German Democratic Republic. In March, 2008, Felfe is to celebrate his 90th birthday [...]

SOURCE

23/12/2007

The bodies of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun

Russian security service comes clean on the whereabouts of Hitler's remains:

On May 4, «in a shell-hole nearby the bunker of the Fuehrer, two more – female and male - corpses were discovered. Both were strongly scorched and it was impossible to identify them without corresponding examination. Corpses had been delivered to the counterespionage department of the 3rd assault army. After forensic examination they were buried in the outskirts of the city of Buch. Due to relocation of department of counterespionage “the corpses were withdrawn and transported to the area of Finow, and then on June 3, 1945, to the area of Rathenow, where they finally were inhumed”. It was only on March 20, 1970, when on the initiative of then the KGB chief Yuri Andropov, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a plan that received the code name Operation Archive. In 15 days an operative group of five agents under Colonel Kovalenko arrived to Westend Strasse 36 in the city of Magdeburg. Remains of Hitler and Eva Braun had been delivered there. Colonel Kovalenko handwrote a report on re-exhumation of the remains that they were put into a box in the night and morning on April 4, 1970. Then in the morning of April 5, 1970, the remains were cremated. Ashes together with coal «was mixed up to condition of homogeneous volume, collected and spilled out in the waters of the nearest river».  SOURCE

20/12/2007

90 years of KGB

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the formation of what would become the KGB.

Cheka, headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky, at first had only 23 employees [...]

In 1921 it numbered over 30,000 officers, agents and even border guards [...]

At the height of the Cold War, the organisation, which changed its name again to the KGB, the organisation serving as the Soviet Union's premier security agency, secret police and intelligence agency, maintained thousands of agents in foreign countries. At home its web of millions of informers permeated every sphere of public life [...]

More.

19/12/2007

Conspiracy theory feedlot

Every conspiracy theory buff knows about the Carlyle Group. Basically, it is not a nice creature.

From the disinformation encyclopedia - WikiPedia:

Critics of the Carlyle Group frequently note its connections to various political figures. Some of the sectors and companies in which it invests are highly sensitive to political activity; indeed, its actions may be viewed as a form of political arbitrage. This may create conflicts of interest when political decision makers have their own personal wealth linked to such investments. Carlyle is the largest private equity firm located in Washington, D.C. - its corporate headquarters are located on Pennsylvania Avenue. Some have also linked Carlyle to some of lesser-known companies that have been linked to US Intelligence, such as Centre Analytics and In-Q-Tel.

and

Carlyle acquired United Defense Industries in October 1997, bringing in over 60% of Carlyle's defense business.

Well. Listen to this now:

David Rubenstein, co-founder and president of The Carlyle Group, has bought at auction a 710-year old copy of the Magna Carta. He paid $21.3 million for it.

Word has it the the Carlyle Group holds major investments in shredder manufacturing business...

Who REALLY killed JFK

So, the FBI admits that the official investigation to the assassination of JFK is full of holes. Now, the questions is: Are we ever going to find out what really happened?

Here's what I heard from an old spy, one with roots in the OSS days:

“You know what they will find when they open the file on JFK? Nothing. There will be nothing in it.”

I disagree. This is still too big a story to simply brush it away with - "Hey, it all evaporated!" What we'll find will be fine-tuned to present a plausible and undeniable show - after all they had decades to come up with a good story. For crying out loud - Kubrick had only weeks to produce the Moon landing and it sticks.

10/12/2007

Are writers loners?

Some say writing is a lonely activity and therefore writers are loners.

Writers are hungry for the world around them. They devour human drama, desperation, pain, madness, crimes, despair... In their hunger they are insatiable and thus - often difficult to put up with. But, I would not say - loners. Solitary, perhaps. Solitude as a choice of lifestyle, or rather - a necessity.

Just because someone craves solitude does not mean one is a loner. Even when the number of friends and colleagues dwindles, one is not necessarily lonely. True loneliness starts when one does not want to see friends, when one does not want to make new friends, and when one does not want to share thoughts or experiences with friends. Even so - it is loneliness by choice, driven by compulsion, but as such it leads to freedom. No?

03/12/2007

Literary Agent from Hell

I mentioned before how my forage into foreign publishing markets ended up in me being swindled and robbed.

To recap: a Polish literary Agent Iza Garztecka sold my novel to a Polish publishing house, took the money and vanished. True agent from Hell. Quite fittingly the name of the agency was HELfa.

Turns out I was not the only sucker: literary agents and authors lost advance fees to this thief.

So much for the so called reputable and long established agents - Garztecka took over after her father who was an agent, dealing mostly with the music world. Now Garztecka's son is starting his own literary agency...

Let this be a warning to all authors and agents who seek representation in lands with poorly defined laws, and where no professional organizations (such as AAR) exist. Keep it in mind before using my literary agent listing - verify every agent's track record before signing on.

02/12/2007

What is good for Venezuela

Reading Philip Agee's CIA DIARY, in light of the events taking place today in Venezuela, one cannot help but conclude that what is good for Chavez' country might be good for USA:

American capitalism, based as it is on exploitation of the poor, with its fundamental motivation in personal greed, simply cannot survive without force - without a secret police force. The argument is with capitalism and it is capitalism that must be opposed, with its CIA, FBI and other security agencies understood as logical, necessary manifestations of a ruling class's determination to retain power and privilege.

Now, more than ever, indifference to injustice at home and abroad is impossible. Now, more clearly than ever, the extremes of poverty and wealth demonstrate the irreconcilable class conflicts, that only socialist revolution can resolve. Now, more than ever, each of us is forced to make a conscious choice whether to support the system of minority comfort and privilege with all its security apparatus and repression, or whether to struggle for real equality of opportunity and fair distribution of benefits for all of society, in the domestic as well as the international order. Philip Agee in CIA Diary.

Agee wrote it in 1974, while still under the impression of the Cuban revolution, the American defeat in Vietnam, and the Watergate scandal, but he might as well have written it yesterday. His words apply to the USA, Venezuela and everywhere else. Agee was a CIA officer who worked in Latin America, and that's were his eyes opened. Mine did, and your will too if you step beyond those Acapulcos and Cancuns...

One thing that Agee does not see, is that socialism, much as capitalism requires repressive apparatus of secret police to sustain itself.