How Russia Subverts The West

Posted: 8/28/2017

From The CIA To The KGB

Always keep in mind Vladimir Putin is a former KGB officer and former director of the successor organisation of the KGB, i.e. the FSB.

A systematic imbalance: Thanks to freedom of speech and democracy, we have learnt much more about the activities and operations of Western foreign intelligence services like the CIA or the British MI6 (now SIS), then we have learnt about the foreign intelligence services of closed dictatorships like former USSR or today’s Russia, China, or Iran.

Or has the West learnt more about its own foreign intelligence services because of deliberate operations of the intelligence services of those dictatorships to undermine the West?

Anyway, whatever covert operations or activities the CIA or other Western intelligence services were able to undertake, we can safely assume that the KGB or other intelligence services run by dictatorships are very comparable if not worse, because they do not have to fear much scrutiny by political parties or opponents.

The Extent Of Subversion In The West

Perpetrated By Dictatorial Foreign Intelligence Services

Is Probably Largely Underestimated

There are a number of reasons for this systematic underestimation:

1. Open societies allow foreign intelligence services to operate much easier and in many different ways
2. For instance, financial support by foreign intelligence services to groups or individuals to to foment public discord is often very difficult to uncover
3. Foreign intelligence services are much more ruthless when it comes to cover up (including murder, harm to family members) etc.
4. Defectors of these foreign intelligence services are fairly rare, or are eliminated, or they need so much protection that the public in the West will not learn about their disclosures for long times (decades)
5. The hands of Western counterintelligence services are for good reasons severely tied behind their backs when it comes to investigate, prevent, or uncover operations or activities by foreign intelligence services directed at political activists or activist groups. Not to mention that Western counterintelligence services are already quite busy to prevent espionage and potential sabotage operations

Two Recent Articles About Russia’s Involvement With U.S. Environmentalist Groups

For sake of brevity, I will not discuss these two articles here.

Lawmakers Cite Evidence Russia ‘Colludes’ With US Green Groups to Block Fracking

CIA Veteran Sees Russian Connection to 2 Groups Opposing Fracking, Pipelines