Tag: Cold War
The Double Life of John le Carré
“Spying and novel writing are made for each other,” John le Carré once wrote. “Both call for a ready eye for human transgression and the many routes to betrayal. Those of us who have been inside the secret tent never really leave it.” Le Carré’s enigmatic gift as a writer wasn’t simply that he could draw on his experience of having once been a British spy. He brought a novelist’s eye into the secret world, and the habits of
‘Oh my God, it’s really happening’ – POLITICO
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Kaja Kallas had been dreading the call.
“I woke at 5 o’clock,” the Estonian prime minister recalled recently. The phone was ringing. Her Lithuanian counterpart was on the line.
“Oh my God, it’s really happening,” came the ominous words, according to Kallas. Another call came in. This time it was the Latvian prime minister.
It was February 24, 2022. War had begun on the European continent.
The night before,
Radio Atlantic: This Is Not Your Parents’ Cold War
During the Cold War, NATO had nightmares of hundreds of thousands of Moscow’s troops pouring across international borders and igniting a major ground war with a democracy in Europe. Western governments feared that such a move by the Kremlin would lead to escalation—first to a world war and perhaps even to a nuclear conflict.
That was then; this is now.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is nearly a year old, and the Ukrainians are holding on. The Russians, so far, not
How McKinsey steers the Munich Security Conference – POLITICO
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MUNICH, Germany — Many of the biggest names in business and politics will cross the red carpet of the stately Bayerischer Hof hotel this weekend for the Bavarian capital’s annual Munich Security Conference. But to identify the real power behind the A-list event, turn to page 169 of the conference’s annual bible, the “Munich Security Report.”
There, in baby blue letters at the bottom half of the page, is
War Racketeers Won’t Reform Themselves
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From spy chief to Prince Harry’s bête noire — the many lives of UK Cabinet Secretary Simon Case – POLITICO
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LONDON — The past year has seen unprecedented turbulence in Downing Street. Three prime ministers; four chancellors; more than 100 police fines for those attending lockdown parties in No. 10.
Boris Johnson was forced out as U.K. prime minister over the endless scandals. Liz Truss swiftly followed after crashing the U.K. economy. But as 2023 dawns, the man at the center of both tumultuous operations still stands tall at
Without the US and China’s Cooperation, Climate Catastrophe Is Inevitable
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MI5’s War Against British Intellectuals and Artists
When some of the people blacklisted during the McCarthy era left the United States to find work in the United Kingdom, they might have thought they had left their troubles behind them. But they were wrong. The FBI passed its files on to MI5, the British Security Service, which seems to have accepted the bureau’s judgments without question.
The theater and movie director Joseph Losey was a
Russia has mobilized. What happens now? – POLITICO
Vladimir Putin has gone nuclear.
Admittedly, things have not been going well. Kyiv’s counter-offensive has retaken thousands of kilometers of Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine; Moscow’s troops have fled the front lines; dissent from previously loyal pundits has increased; and criticism (oblique though it may be) has even emanated from his pals in Beijing and New Delhi.
Faced with the prospect of a humiliating climb-down, the Russian president on Wednesday sought to escalate the war by announcing a partial mobilization
Putin scrambles for high-tech parts as his arsenal goes up in smoke – POLITICO
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It’s the microchips that look set to get Vladimir Putin in the end. Six months into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is being throttled by a severe technology deficit inflicted by sanctions.
Having fired off (or lost in combat) way more of their missile firepower than they originally anticipated, Moscow’s soldiers are now increasingly relying on ancient stocks of primitive Soviet-era munitions while Western-armed Ukrainian forces are battling to turn the tide in