A long time ago I read a book called The Charm School, by Nelson De Mille. It was about a guy traveling in the USSR (yes, before it collapsed) who comes across a mysterious "town" in a remote place, and it turns out to be the fake American town where the KGB trains spies to pass as Americans. I don't remember details but I remember the book being an excellent thriller. Maybe not credible? Or.....perhaps it was!
Is anybody else as amused as I am by the round-up of Russian spies, which included a couple who lived near me in Cambridge, MA.?
Okay, there's nothing at all funny about what the future will hold for the children involved.
But aside from that...it seems very funny to me that these people spent YEARS posing as local folk, going to Little League games and PTA meetings, in order to...what? Secretly radio (or email) Moscow with information about...what? The judicial system? They could go down the street to Alan Dershowitz's house and get him to answer some questions (or they could have listened to him on TV or read one of his books). The US Supreme Court ? Justice Stephen Breyer lives near the Cambridge spies. They could have gone over to borrow a cup of sugar and schmooze. Or maybe they could have read Jeffrey Toobin's book, The Nine? (which incidentally is subtitled Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court)?
Well, okay, I am bring flippant about a crisis of international relations. But hey: even John Le Carré stopped writing about the cold war when it ended. Why on earth did these people continue to pose as us and carry on with their mail drops and code phrases? Wonder if maybe they liked living the middle-class life.
LATER
Now they're gone. No farewell dinner in the neighborhood, no "Come back and see us!"
But it was broad daylight in the Vienna Airport. No drama whatsoever.
I wanted a bridge, on a rainy night. Pfennigs exchanged in an outdoor café. A flower in a lapel, a rolled up Le Monde.
I wanted trench coats.
Reminds me of this, which is flippant and perhaps deeply offensive, but funny:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/after-5-years-in-us-terrorist-cell-too-complacent,2225/
Posted by: Kurtis | July 08, 2010 at 04:18 PM
I love that DeMille book. Interesting to know that I'm not the only one who has been thinking about it due to these events. I would love to hear DeMille's thoughts on this.
Posted by: Jenny | July 08, 2010 at 04:21 PM
There was a wonderful PBS series a few years ago called Sleepers about this very kind of situation. Two "sleeper" moles were planted by USSR to wait for further instructions. Years went by with no instructions and they became completely immersed in their new lives and identities. And then one day the call came....
It was a brilliant series. When I read of the current situation it was like watching life imitate art, so to speak.
Posted by: Elizabeth Varadan | July 10, 2010 at 06:57 AM
Lois Lowry, I can't fault you for finding the Spy Swap rather funny. I am quite bemused by it all, though I wonder why folks are all that surprised that things are operating in the same old way, even WITHOUT the Same Old Framework that seemed to feel that such methods were necessary in the first place. And I would LOVE to see Sleepers!
Posted by: Pat Wooldridge | July 10, 2010 at 01:03 PM
Charm School is one of my favorites too, and yes it is indeed credible. He portrayed the then-USSR and all its foibles and fantasies and yes, fine-ness, brilliantly.
Posted by: Jeri Chase Ferris | July 15, 2010 at 04:00 PM
I read "Charm School" too and loved it. Anything by Nelson DeMille.
I wondered about the spies too. I know I wouldn't want to live in the Soviet Union after years of living in the US!
Posted by: Julie Musil | July 15, 2010 at 04:17 PM
I watched "Sleepers" years ago when I was living in England. The recent news reminded me, too, and we were able to get it from Netflix. Just finished watching it--I highly recommend it!
Posted by: Meg | July 18, 2010 at 07:05 PM