Story:

The celebrated author of Double Cross and Rogue Heroes returns with his greatest spy story yet, a thrilling Americans-era tale of Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the end of the Cold War.

If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6. For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight,

Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United States's nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war. Desperate to keep the circle of trust close, MI6 never revealed Gordievsky's name to its counterparts in the CIA, which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britain's obviously top-level source. Their obsession ultimately doomed Gordievsky: the CIA officer assigned to identify him was none other than Aldrich Ames, the man who would become infamous for secretly spying for the Soviets.

Unfolding the three-way gamesmanship between America, Britain, and the Soviet Union, and culminating in the gripping cinematic beat-by-beat of Gordievsky's nail-biting escape from Moscow in 1985, Ben Macintyre's latest may be his best yet. Like the greatest novels of John le Carré, it brings readers deep into a world of treachery and betrayal, where the lines bleed between the personal and the professional, and one man's hatred of communism had the power to change the future of nations.

The Rise and After Effects of Communism in the Soviet Union

Communist propaganda poster depicting a capitalist attempting to bribe a Soviet worker while holding a bayonetThe Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre untangles the case of Soviet Union/KGB agent turned British/MI6 spy, Oleg Gordievsky. However, little attention is given to why and how The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed and to what extent its realities aligned with the communist framework envisaged by its founders.

Going into the 20th century, Russia struggled with extreme inequality under a Tsarist autocracy. A primarily agricultural nation, industrialization slowly trickled into Russia in the late 19th century, which furthered class conflict. In this society, social structures were fixed and rigid, with a small ruling/upper class and teeming underclass of serfs.

Highlights vs self- reflection:

1.Oleg’s father is KGB, he was born into KGB, shaped by it, loved, destroyed, twisted by it.

2.Olga understood the caprice, vindictiveness of state terror. She kept her mouth shut.

3.Olga enjoy reading history and language

Golden Sentence:

1.I was seeing a new-born child in amniotic fluid and some extraordinary rebirth.

Conclusion:

1.Oleg has a talent on the grasp of the languages.

2.Oleg’s older brother was a professional KGB officer, he can’t accept his ideological wavering of the East German soldiers shot away all the citizen who defect to freedom. Oleg felt that Russia is a spiritual desert only all the approved could be heard.

Book Club Summary and Questions by Mingli

May 2 2022

Author:

Ben Macintyre is a columnist and Associate Editor on The Times. He has worked as the newspaper's correspondent in New York, Paris and Washington.

Summary:

In The Spy and the Traitor, a Soviet double agent helps prevent a nuclear war—and nearly dies for it.

The influence of the KGB ran deep in Oleg Gordievsky: his father was a KGB agent, all his parents friends were KGB members, and the family lived in a KGB apartment block. Even his brother, Vasili, became a KGB spy. But for Oleg, joining the KGB was never of interest to him. Unfortunately for him, it was not a club you joined, "it chose you" .

By 1963, Gordievsky was officially a member. He started working for Directorate S, which was tasked with creating documentation for illegal spies. But Gordievsky was not satisfied with a desk job in Moscow - he wanted to see the world. So, knowing the KGB only sent members abroad if they were married, Gordievsky sought out a wife. He then married Yelena, whom, he admitted, had married more out of convenience rather than love.

Gordievsky's first foreign posting for the KGB was in Copenhagen. He and Yelena quickly fell in love with the vibrance and culture of the city, and the freedoms it provided. One day, out of curiosity, Gordievsky purchased a homosexual pornography magazine, something that was illegal in Russia at the time. However, Gordievsky did not know that PET and M16, the Danish and British intelligence services respectively, made note of this and labelled Gordievsky as a blackmail target.

However, what PET and M16 did not know, was that Gordievsky was already interested in spying for the West. Gordievsky was fed up with the Communist regime and wanted change, and when Richard Bromhead came asking if Gordievsky would be a spy, he agreed all too easily. Thus began years of illegal spy activity carried out between Gordievsky and M16. The groups began meeting every week to exchange documents, and Gordievsky found pleasure eroding the Soviet Union from the inside.

However later into his posting, Gordievsky met a woman by the name of Leila Aliyeva, a Russian journalist. The two quickly fell in love and Gordievsky started having an affair. He was now betraying his wife on two levels: personally and professionally.

After a couple years of successful espionage, Veronica Price of the British secret intelligence agency was introduced. Knowing full well the dangers to which Gordievsky has subjected himself, she was tasked with creating an escape plan should things ever go south for Gordievsky upon returning home to Moscow. The plan was extremely risky, and code named PIMLICO.

At the completion of his posting in 1978, Oleg and Yelena divorced, and he remarried to Leila a year later. During a spell back in Moscow, Oleg learned English, had two daughters, and eventually was posted to London at the Russian Embassy. M16 was thrilled.

Upon his return, the espionage continued without a hitch. However by the early 1980s, the tensions of the cold war were approaching an all-time high, and Gordievsky knew that the Soviets were afraid that the U.S. was going to engage in nuclear attacks. Fearing that Russia might initiate an attack, Gordievsky helped leak information to M16, who then passed it along to the CIA.

However one day, General Arkadi Guk of the Russian Embassy in London received a secret package signed "Koba." The package contained information on all of the people spying against the Soviet Union. Guk saw this as a dangle, and did not respond, but Gordievsky knew that all the information in that document came from him: there was a spy in the British Intelligence Service. They launched a formal investigation, and found John Bettany to be the mole. Since Guk was directly involved in the scenario, M16 saw it as a perfect time to expel him from the country, and have Gordievsky rise the intelligence ranks.

After continually impressing his KGB superiors, Gordievsky was told he would be promoted to the new KGB resident of Britain - the most senior position. While this was great for Gordievsky and his M16 team, as it meant all the information would be available to them, at the same time Aldrich Ames, a money hungry CIA agent, offered his espionage services to the KGB in exchange for $50,000. A few weeks after taking up his new position, Gordievsky was called back to Moscow for his official appointment to the position. However, the circumstances were fishy, and he suspected that the KGB was now aware of his espionage activities. Despite his hunch, he agreed to return, and PIMLICO was placed on high alert.

Upon his return, Gordievsky's suspicious were confirmed. His house had been bugged, and the first few days back at the Moscow headquarters were filled with suspicious activity. After a few days, Viktor Grushko called Gordievsky to a meeting at a flat with two other men. After drinking some of the booze provided, Gordievsky realized that the bottle had been poisoned with some sort of truth serum. They were trying to extract a confession, but Gordievsky held strong.

In June of 1985, Aldrich Ames supplied a list of 25 people spying against the Soviet Union. Gordievsky was one of the people on the list. Fearing what the KGB might do to him, he realized he had to fly the PIMLICO signal, and make an escape without his family if he wanted to survive. PIMLICO was activated, and Gordievsky made his way by train, bus and taxi to Kilometer Post 836 just south of Vyborg. There, he would be picked up by the M16 team, and smuggled across the border into Finland. Aside from a few scares and questionable decisions, the plan went off without a hitch.

Safe in Britain, the news broke that Gordievsky had escaped the country. The KGB was embarrassed, and refused the demand to let Gordievsky's family go. While M16 continued to negotiate for the family, Gordievsky continued to provide information to the West including the CIA. Eventually, tensions between the U.S. and Russia lessened, and the turmoil within Russia began to unfold. In 1989 the Berlin Wall was torn down, and with it, the grip of the Soviet Union. Vadim Bakatin, the new First Chief Directorate after Kryuchkov was arrested for high treason, ordered the family of Oleg Gordievsky to be released. Unfortunately, the family only lasted together until 1993. Oleg realized the marriage had nothing left, and they parted almost in unison with the completion of the Cold War.

Reference data:

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan dramatically ratcheted up the military spending, and psychological operations against the Soviets. And then in November, NATO conducted a massive military simulation involving 40,000 troops. The Soviets, convinced that NATO was getting ready for a surprise nuclear attack, prepared for nuclear war.

But then, without explanation, the West pulled back from the brink. And now we know why: A double agent embedded high in the KGB’s outpost in London got word to his British handlers that the Soviets had mistaken NATO’s war games as war preparation. Without disclosing the source of the intelligence, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was able to convince Reagan to soften his tone and halt further escalation.

The book is pieced together from a series of interviews that Macintyre has completed with the people involved in his unique case. The actual files concerning Gordievsky are still secret and I guess that they will remain that way for a long time. It reads like an actual spy thriller most of the time, including a stunning ending as they try to get him out of the Soviet Union. Gordievsky is still alive and well and living under an assumed name somewhere in the home counties. Given the reach of the FSB, his home is under 24-hour surveillance. One countries spy is another countries traitor, but from the accounts in here, it could be said that he helped stop nuclear war and bring about the demise of the totalitarian state

Questions:

1.  Is spying a crime?

2.  Is being a spy a real job?

3.  Has the book changed what you think of a spy?

4.  Who is your favorite character?

5.  Which part of the story interested you the most?

Book Discussion for May 2, 2022

The May book is a historic spy book between Russia, Britain, Denmark, and America, we also can read it and compare the book to the present war between Ukrain & Russia, and how they use their policies and strategies to tackle the war.  Enjoy it.

By the way, thanks to Mingli to prepare the summaries and questions for us, she is so attentive and thoughtful.  Lydia will be abroad and does not attend the meeting, but she will join the line discussion with us.  Lily will be in charge of the conference meeting, she will give you the code before the meeting. I wish all the members to do your best and attend the discussion meeting at Qubit while Qubit requests more attendees to use the meeting room.

 Spy and the Traitor.docx

May's Activity:

Book: The Spy & The Traitor

Author: Ben Macintyre

Leader: Mingli Chu

Time: 1:00. May 2, 2022

Place: Qubit Cafe (Hanshin Arena) No.6, Lane 50, Bo-Ai 3 Road, Zuo Ying District, Kaohsiung. Tel:07-3459477

高雄市左營區博愛三路50巷6號

We can start to have lunch before 1:00, between,  or after our discussion. We look forward to seeing you soon, please let me know if you are absent.

Golden Sentence:

1.saboteur

2.NKVD morphed into KGB

Conclusion:

Questions by Clive:

Related Reading:

1.summary: https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/3825/the-spy-and-the-traitor

2. https://www.c-span.org/video/?452162-1/the-spy-traitor

3. https://kknews.cc/zh-tw/history/na8gxm2.html