Associative thinking

[Nik]

Tragic events in the UK, involving ex-Russian spy reminded me of a much earlier story happening in the US involving KGB defector. I've enjoyed reading the book at the time and we are honored to have its author among our members.
Thought folks might want to have a look and share opinions here..

[Ian]

KGB defectors are apparently everywhere. The Skripal event has uncovered another one in Auckland, where one arrived on a false passport and was given asylum, but then he kept complaining that he was always being followed by up to 19 different cars that had no proper registration. He eventually left, and went to the UK to be closer to his mate Litvinenko. My guess is that most of those following him were our SIS. Can't believe Russia had 19 spare agents just to follow him.

[Nik]

Ian wrote: "Can't believe Russia had 19 spare agents just to follow him...."

Unlikely, too much honor -:)
I remember on the borderline between 80-ies & 90-ies Soviet hockey players defecting to NHL. Many considered leaving the country then as 'betrayal'

[K.]

Nik wrote: "Tragic events in the UK, involving ex-Russian spy reminded me of a much earlier story happening in the US involving KGB defector. I've enjoyed reading the book..."

Thank you, Nik, for bringing my book into this discussion. I appreciate your kind words. Like you, when I heard about the recent poisoning of KGB/spy defector Skripal in the UK, my thoughts jumped to Sergei Kourdakov and why I wrote, “A Rose for Sergei.” For those not familiar with my book—I knew Soviet defector Sergei Kourdakov personally and felt compelled to speak up for him after an Indie documentary film denounced his book, “The Persecutor” (aka “Forgive Me Natasha” and “Sergei”).

[Nik]

K. wrote: "an Indie documentary film denounced his book..."

Regret to hear that -:(

[Ian]

Further to the Scripal incident, we note that countries everywhere are ejecting Russian "spies". However, New Zealand stands out as not having done so. The official reason - there aren't any here that qualify. "The Guardian" has apparently greeted this with derision, but I am wondering if it might be correct - I mean, what would they actually spy on that is not in the public domain? We seem to list the numbers of the military who are "overseas" - we don't say where, but a spy is not going to get much information on that by being here. The location of all our infrastructure and people can be found on the web. I even found a satellite pic of my old whitebait stand on the Orowaiti River and you could see the boat, hidden in the undergrowth, used to get to the island it was on. So what could they be spying on? (Certainly not what the government is planning because they don't know either!)

So here we are, sans spies. What a poor lot we are 😂

[[deleted user]]

Ian, the reason to have Russians spies in NZ is simple: NZ is a NATO member country and shares what is called the 'Five Eyes' intelligence data (shared/produced by USA, UK, Canada, Australia and NZ). The Russians may not be interested in the latest Maori war dance, but they would love to steal/intercept some of that Top Secret stuff NZ is getting from NATO.

[Ian]

Yes, we are in the "five-eyes" but I am not sure how a spy would gain access to that. Still, what do I know? I was under the impression that NZ is not a member of NATO. For what it is worth, the NATO website does not acknowledge our membership in its list of member countries :-)

[Graeme]

Neither Australia nor New Zealand is a member of NATO.

REF: WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_...

Australia, NZ and the USA are members of ANZUS.

REF: WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANZUS