I've been following the Russian spy scandal with bemusement. What the hell were they spying on in Montclair and Westchester? I'm fairly certain that there aren't any major government operations located out there.
More irritating have been the chuckles from the media about suburbia. I mean if I have to read another reference to Weeds in connection with this story, I'm gonna puke. (This is my favorite version of Little Boxes, BTW.) This New York Times article referred to the spies as "suburbia personified." That's code for boring, predictable, banal, and should-be-ignored.
In truth, suburbia is increasingly diverse and should not be ignored. Suburbanites represent the majority of voters. Minority groups have been moving to suburbia in recent years; suburbia is much less white then it used to be. However, pundits and academics haven't caught up yet. There hasn't been a great book written on town politics in decades.
The whole spy thing is cool though. I thought that spies went out of fashion during the Reagan administration. Time to reread The Little Drummer Girl
.
Apt. 11d 
What the hell were they spying on in Montclair and Westchester
Nothing- but that’s not the sort of thing they were supposed to do. Rather, they were long-term projects designed to make contacts and meet people who might be of interest or use further. I suspect it’s hard to find people who might sell useful information who are not also a bit crazy, making them not very reliable spies. It was, it seems, these people’s jobs to make friends, look around, and find future prospects. (The most obvious example of how this is done is w/ the guy pretending to be a Canadian who was sent to a mid-career program at the Kennedy school, and stood out mostly for knowing what every one of his classmates was doing, where they worked, who they knew, etc.) (When I lived in Russia I strongly suspected that I was both checked out a few times to see if I were doing something like this, or if I might be someone useful to know. Thankfully, neither was the case.)
LikeLike
I’m bemused at accounts of this group as failures. They got the Russian government to spring for a very pleasant American lifestyle for more than a decade. Where’s the failure in that?
(As to comments that they weren’t doing what they were ‘supposed’ to be doing, this makes them different from about 90% of the Russian public sector precisely how?)
LikeLike
My unwritten novel about Russian spies is suddenly more relevant!
(And maybe Our Hostess should write that awesome book about town politics? Prossibly only after she’s closed on a house in a different town, however.)
I’ve heard theories that they haven’t been revealing any successes the group might have had because they’re building those cases and waiting for self-incrimination (or turncoating).
LikeLike
That’s code for boring, predictable, banal, and should-be-ignored.
If somebody figured out how to make a quiet Russian immigrant, they should at least share that information with everybody.
LikeLike
I have more Russian spy mania stories than anybody could have the patience to listen to, to sum up official Russia sees spies just about everywhere, so it only stands to reason that the Russian government would think that almost anything in the US was worth spying on.
Here’s an old CNN story about Russia’s 2002 expulsion of the Peace Corps:
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/28/peace.corps/index.html
“The move comes at the end of a difficult year for the Peace Corps in Russia, with the Federal Security Service, successor to the KGB, charging that some volunteers were spying.
“”Among them are persons who were collecting information on the social, political and economic situation in Russian regions, on officials of governmental bodies and departments, on the course of elections and so on,” FSB head Nikolai Patrushev told reporters earlier this month.”
LikeLike
It’s much more fun to imagine a world in which the person you’re talking to at the soccer sideline might actually be a Russian spy. And, now, we can all imagine that. I’ll admit to having had vague fantasies about those possibilities even before the story broke. But, how cool is that it could have actually been true.
I’m m just realized pleased to have fodder for my fantasies. I supposed it wouldn’t be cool to actually ask every parent I meet at soccer whether they’re actually a Russian spy. But, on the other hand, who knows? It might make for better conversations. We could spend our time trying to prove to each other that we’re not actually spies.
LikeLike
In a smallish post-Soviet capital, spot-the-spook is a bit of a parlor game. Unfortunately, it’s not all that difficult.
LikeLike
Yeah, it’s more fun if the success rate of spotting is likely to be low.
LikeLike
Like TSA?
LikeLike
If their targets live in the suburbs, then the kiddie soccer leagues are best place to make contact. How many mid-level executives live in the city with their young families?
I feel very sorry for the children. Some are US citizens, born of Russian citizens. The adults they rely on are in prison, and they have no family in the country. They have no means of support. Do they get sent to Russia? That would be a shock, if you grew up thinking your family immigrated from Canada.
LikeLike