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Showing posts with the label espionage

Ukrainian Chess Champion Found Dead In Russia

Ukrainian Chess Champion Found Dead In Russia My Take Originally March 6, 2020 A Ukrainian chess champion and his girlfriend were found dead in Moscow today. The 27 year old and his 18 year old girlfriend--also very skilled at chess--died from an overdose of nitrous oxide, aka "laughing gas." Authorities say they do not suspect foul play. So, a random drug overdose or a well-played Russian assassination? The GRU is known for its usage of poisons to make murders look like other causes of death. Nitrous oxide rarely causes fatal overdoses: I just did a brief search and did the math, and 470,000 Brits did the drug over the previous year. Yet over the course of 6 years (2006-12), it caused or was a part of 17 deaths. So, 0.0006% of anybody doing nitrous in a given year will die because of it (based off of the UK data).  So to OD while in Moscow just seems a little strange...Oh, and let's not forget, Russia and Ukraine are currently engaged in a war.  On t...

"I'm Too Smart To Be Interfered With By The Russians"

"I'm Too Smart To Be Interfered With By The Russians" Rant #5 ( Opinion ) Originally February 25, 2020 This week, news broke that the Russian GRU (its CIA-like agency) had been caught meddling in the Democratic primaries, promoting candidate Bernie Sanders while smearing the others in an attempt to ultimately have the Vermont Senator win the nomination. Meanwhile, their preference for having President Trump remain in office has not changed. It is likely that they believe Trump will have the least trouble defeating Bernie Sanders, and thus want to help him get to the general election. While they have deployed some enhanced technology this time, their tactics remain largely unchanged from their successful 2016 game plan.  Some will deny any involvement by the Russians in our electoral discourse. Trump and his literalist base will defend his assertion that not only did the GRU not get involved in the 2016 election, but Ukraine and Hillary Clinton supporters fram...