Tag: Intelligence
-
Scientology & the CIA
This presentation was read by Aleksandr Leonidovich Dvorkin, president of the Irinaeus of Lyons Center for Religious Research Studies, on January 26th, 2016, at a conference run by the Orthodox St. Tikhon University for the Humanities. (Translator’s note: While we wouldn’t claim that the Church of Scientology is an integral element of the US Intelligence Community, Dvorkin’s…
-
Cold War Cinema
Listen to my friend Jay Dyer and me as we cover Cold War geopolitics and espionage on his program Esoteric Hollywood. Jay and I discuss everything from Mackinder’s Eurasian Heartland Theory to Directorate S (the reality behind the show The Americans), as well as shady intelligence connections in the movie industry, as evidenced by corrupt…
-
Ivan Ilyin vs. the NKVD
The great Russian White emigre philosopher Ivan Aleksandrovich Ilyin (1883-1954) was not just an erudite thinker, but also a practitioner of espionage and underground political work. Before he was exiled in 1922, Ilyin was active in the anti-Bolshevik resistance. This article, written at some point during the 1930s or 1940s, addresses Soviet NKVD provocations and…
-
Mark Hackard on Red Ice Radio
I was pleased to be a recent guest on Red Ice Radio with host Henrik Palmgren. We spoke on a variety of topics, most to do with geopolitics, Russia, and the West, as well as Soviet espionage operations in the Cold War and beyond. Red Ice describes our discussion: Mark joins us to speak about…
-
On the Brink of Doomsday
On the drizzly autumn Friday of November 11th, 1983, US President Ronald Reagan found no time for his customary Oval Office nap. Besides delivering a speech that morning to the American Legion in honor of Veterans Day, Reagan then filled the rest of his schedule taking part in a NATO nuclear war exercise under the…
-
The Great Betrayal
In the twilight arena of international espionage, one name more than any other evokes an image of patient, masterful treachery, the insidious presence of the enemy in one’s own inner sanctum. No matter the country they serve, generations of intelligence and counterintelligence trainees have been expected to know this name well: Philby. For half a…
-
The Tsar’s Man in Tehran
The tragic and untimely death of Russian poet, playwright and diplomat Aleksandr Sergeevich Griboyedov (1795-1828) in Tehran was just one episode in a geopolitical duel, the Great Game, as Russia and Great Britain maneuvered for position in Central Asia throughout the 19th century. This official account from Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), authored by A.N. Itskov,…
-
Puppeteering Terror
In the 1971 film The French Connection, New York police detective “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) uncovers an underworld drug smuggling operation involving the importation of millions of dollars in heroin by a French cartel that planned to use a media personality as an unwitting front. This week, we were shocked to learn that Onion-like French satire publication Charlie Hebdo had been…
-
Blood on the Maidan
Ukraine is teetering on the verge of civil war, and as usual Western media haven’t been particularly helpful in shedding light on the unravelling situation. Aside from evocative photos of clashes between legion-like formations of Berkut riot police and their rough nationalist opponents on the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), about all we can expect from…
-
Russia’s Spy Elite
The FBI’s recent arrest of several alleged deep-cover Russian intelligence officers, also known as “illegals”, has provoked astonishment in the media. As if U.S. intelligence agencies would never dream of carrying out covert work in Russia! Since the memory span of reporters and pundits rarely extends beyond a few weeks, perhaps this is understandable. But it should come as no…
The Soul of the East 