S2 Book Club: Spymaster - Startling Cold War Revelations of a Soviet KGB Chief

hello again everyone and welcome back to the underground today I thought we would launch one of the things that I've been kind of wanting to do for a long time and that is a book club so there are two main reasons why I've wanted to do this for so long uh mostly the first one which is just purely academic which is that uh I'm going to be doing the reading anyway I have to read a lot of books uh to produce a lot of the content that we do so if I'm going to read the books anyway I figured I might as well uh talk about the books themselves and do a little bit more of a deep dive on some of the sources that we use for some of the other stuff that we do and what better way to do that than to teach it because if you teach something then you are sure to actually have mastered the information uh if you know it well enough to be able to convey it to someone else and the other reason is just more along the lines of I kind of wanted to do it I thought that this uh might be a good way for us to learn a lot of new information together we're always talking about how we need to learn a lot of information these days uh we're really behind the power curve when it comes to the amount of information talking about how we need to learn a lot of information these days uh we're really behind the power curve when it comes to the amount of information that the average citizen uh just knows like we've got to get smart on a lot of topics and I thought what better way to do that than to talk about some of the the books that kind of make that possible so this is kind of an inside look at how uh a lot of the research gets done for some of our other stuff but also a little bit more condensed way to talk about some of these sources and today we're going to be starting the series off with the book as chosen by our supporters which is spy Master startling Cold War Revelations of a Soviet kg be Chief what better way to start off than by talking about a good spy novel right so before we get into the actual book itself I did want to mention the format uh I'm having to use the digital format uh this time I prefer to have a physical book in hand most of the time because then I can uh make a lot more clear notes and it's a little bit easier for me to show you some of my notes where it's a little bit uh complicated to export notes uh from a uh e-reader kind of device like this one we'll do the bes o show you some of my notes where it's a little bit uh complicated to export notes uh from a uh e-reader kind of device like this one we'll do the best we can uh so you may see me refer back to this uh at times to show some of the annotations that I've made within this but I also have paper notes as well which uh are usually what I prefer to uh use to take notes so so let's get right to it as with all historical books of a uh biographical nature we have to talk about first the author uh the author of this book is kind of twofold and this uh really points out some of the differences with how this is kind of a unique book so the author is tenant baggley uh this is a well-known CIA agent from the Cold War um post collapse of the USSR upon his retirement he became one of the leading authors on some of the more well-known espionage stories uh of the Cold War Bagley ended up doing the biography for Sergey krev which is what this book is uh spy Master is essentially a an unauthorized biography of Sergey krev which was ironically his counterpart in the KGB at the same time so that's one of the things that we have to consider again is with all historical documents we have to consider the so art in the KGB at the same time so that's one of the things that we have to consider again is with all historical documents we have to consider the source technically almost all biographies are secondary sources meaning the primary source the the person that the biography is about is conveying their life and anecdotes to a secondary source who is the author of the book in this case it's a little bit special because this book is unauthorized this book contains anecdotes and stories straight from Serge krev the primary source As Told after his death uh Serge krev actually wrote his own book and he has actually had several I think biographies sort of made about him uh prior to his death but after his death um tenant baggley who he had worked with before for a lot of other works actually saved all of those notes that were unauthorized that the Russian uh intelligence Services um would not not let be published before after seray uh died his his works could then be published with the permission of his family so uh tenant baggley wanted to get some of kev's stories out and that could not happen while krev was alive and uh his estate his family agreed to allow these notes to be published w et some of kev's stories out and that could not happen while krev was alive and uh his estate his family agreed to allow these notes to be published which is why you get kind of a unique Inside Story That's not as watered down as in previous uh tellings of KRA chev's life now we'll talk about this at the end because this does not necessarily mean that it is a shocking tell all uh like as is sort of revealed on the cover um but we we'll talk a little bit more about that as we go along but when it comes to the sources like I mentioned we have to treat this a little bit special when it comes to firsthand sources primary sources straight from the horse's mouth we can we can treat them a little bit differently than secondary sources somebody who is hearing the story uh however with this particular book because it's this unique thing it's written by tenant baggley the secondary source But it includes basically deathbed confessions uh so to speak of of sge krev we can kind of treat this as somewhere between a primary and secondary source so it's kind of a unique uh Source if you're trying to cite it uh academically like I mentioned the overview of this book is that it is the biography of it's kind of a unique uh Source if you're trying to cite it uh academically like I mentioned the overview of this book is that it is the biography of ser krev who was a very high ranking KGB Chief during the war uh most of the book is told in vignettes uh so each chapter is basically a story uh that Serge krev was able to actually relate to tenant baggley the author who then of course uh turned it into this book you would think that the book follows krev from his very entrance into the intelligent services but it doesn't really it starts off basically with him joining the KGB but it it kind of glosses over that so basically we meet krev in the book as he is already U more or less an intelligence agent a case officer of some kind right because of this I think and we'll again get to this at the end of the book um I think that it it we jump right into the action so uh there it's it's really kind of a page Turner right to start with a lot of the more interesting stuff in the book comes at the beginning of the book I think because of that it's a very easy read if you have a very primitive basic understanding of the Cold War if you are brand new to the Cold War if you don't understand an it's a very easy read if you have a very primitive basic understanding of the Cold War if you are brand new to the Cold War if you don't understand anything about it other than you know like the memes or or uh just kind of a general uh view of what it was you may not want to start with this book this really kind of assumes that you're going to understand uh some of how the KGB operated because of this when we start talking a lot about the very very deep and complicated spy stuff it's really difficult to actually keep track of some of these names uh so that might be a common problem for uh like new readers if you if you don't really if you're not really used to reading uh some of the more in-depth books out there you might find it quite challenging by the time you get to the middle of the book there are dozens of names that you kind of have to keep track of uh and the author because this is his subject area doesn't necessarily do a super great job at reminding us of who certain people are they're just kind of mentioned and then you know you have to flip back in you know a few pages to figure out who's this guy again uh so that's some of the challenges when when reading this book now w you have to flip back in you know a few pages to figure out who's this guy again uh so that's some of the challenges when when reading this book now let's break things down and actually go over each chapter and some of the meat and potatoes of what is worth taking away from each of the uh vignettes as they're told in the story first of all the preface kind of gives us what I've already kind of explained this is a very unique document that is published after KR shev's death with the permission of his family his surviving family and it it is supposed to include a lot of things that were not authorized for uh not authorized for publishing by the well not necessarily KGB but in in modern day uh the Russian intelligence Services now I can attest to that just kind of a mild spoiler though there's nothing particularly groundbreaking throughout the entire novel there are a few things that are that are very interesting because they confirm what you know we kind of know already from history uh a lot of the the the stuff uh about specific sources and whether or not someone was a KGB agent well condra will basically confirm that somebody yeah they were a kg agent they were one of our guys uh ces and whether or not someone was a KGB agent well condra will basically confirm that somebody yeah they were a kg agent they were one of our guys uh which is something that we've kind of known for a very long time but having krev kind of you know confirm it on his death bed is kind of is kind of helpful for other research that you might be doing so that's pretty much the preface getting into the first chapter uh we start talking about one of the breakout roles of conrev so we kind of like I mentioned we meet him sort of in his career where he's already starting to work sources and one of the things that kind of one of the incidents that put kraev on the map was his turning of an American um code technician for the American Embassy so uh his recruitment of an American code clerk uh which was Coden named Jack uh it details his story now I'm I'm glad that the author put this chapter right up front because this is a classic classic story of how most sources were recruited by the USSR uh it's it's got everything the classic uh approach es the the honeypots it's got a good overview of how the KGB went about recruiting most of their human sources so like I mentioned this is a good story s the the honeypots it's got a good overview of how the KGB went about recruiting most of their human sources so like I mentioned this is a good story to start with we break from the story once uh Jack has been kind of recruited and we learn about his story and how uh how the KGB kind of took care of him and all that kind of stuff in in a good way they they really did try their best to uh make sure that he was um taken care of uh and and treated treated very well throughout his uh SBA career um but we shift quite significantly for chapter 2 which is titled two views of culture so conev one of his main roles uh when throughout his career was becoming a uh cultural advisor via Vox v KS which was the Russian sort of cultural Society to spread Russian culture throughout the world well as you might imagine there was really this was really just a a cultural uh uh agency in name only it was it was all the KGB so one of the main ways that spies on both sides of the aisle but the CIA and the KGB one of the ways that they could get a u spy into country was to be a cultural analyst this is why if you ever watch that TV show The Americans the the series starts with of course these Soviet deep country was to be a cultural analyst this is why if you ever watch that TV show The Americans the the series starts with of course these Soviet deep deep cover agents being uh travel agents right so that's one of the great ways that you could explain foreign travel you could explain knowing both English and Russian uh you could get away with a lot of stuff under the guise of spreading culture when in essence it was all Espionage so this is what we get from chapter 2 we also briefly are introduced to kev's wife and the the story where he just basically meets her uh by chance and decides that this is the woman he's going to marry so they both the feeling was mutual and they both ended up basically getting married and that was kind of that's kind of it that's kind of the story there this also begins his career in Counter Intelligence so uh kjri ship played a pretty decent role in spy hunting as his duties uh as cultural adviser when he was not overseas his cultural jobs were to uh watch and consume Western media along with more importantly Russian media to make sure that under Stalin who was the the general secretary at the time Stalin personally approved most film uh or or movies at tly Russian media to make sure that under Stalin who was the the general secretary at the time Stalin personally approved most film uh or or movies at the time so KRA sh's Department was kind of a way of Stalin kind of keeping tabs on the media right so uh Stalin was very particular about certain things he would even say like we need to remove this scene from this movie or this line from the script needs to go away or this whole plot needs to go away and we need to redo the whole thing so Stalin was very invested in that and condev offers us a peak as to uh behind the curtain regarding some of the censorship roles moving on down conr sh's career we move to number three where he has first given his chance to Target the American Embassy in Moscow so this is a very interesting chapter I think was probably one of the more interesting chapters in the book because it details some of the lengths that the KGB will go through and the KGB went through in order to get a source krev had identified a Target working at the American Embassy a great Target for exploitation uh if they could ever get him out of his house they might want to uh you know put a tap on his his phone and Bug some of the t Target for exploitation uh if they could ever get him out of his house they might want to uh you know put a tap on his his phone and Bug some of the things in his house to kind of get a better idea of this guy and see if whether or not he was worthy of approach or exploitation or whatever so you can see how kraev just kind of tacitly and just sort of casually mention some of the stuff that perhaps we we would have done better to get some more details on uh but in anyway kraf slips into his profession right and he notices a point of entry a point of exploitation and in this case rather than being the classic Honeypot uh because this guy was married uh they found out that one of the great ways uh to get this guy was through his cat so the KGB uh had cooked up a special poison uh that the housekeeper uh special eye drops that if when the housekeeper dropped the uh eye drops in the cat's eye it caused the cat's eye to bug out like freakishly and the the target's wife of course seeing the cat with this freakishly you know bulging out eyeball uh immediately runs the cat to the vet leaving the house empty so that uh krev and his associates can slip into this unoccupied house plant a bunch ll uh immediately runs the cat to the vet leaving the house empty so that uh krev and his associates can slip into this unoccupied house plant a bunch of stuff bunch of surveillance stuff and then get back out again this is one of those stories that just kind of highlights how truth is often Stranger Than Fiction and we understand how Ian flimming of James Bond Fame got a lot of the weird and wacky kind of stories and Gad and and plot devices for his James Bond series we can see how they were inspired by real life a lot of times because this story sounds like it is straight out of a bond villain book where it's just the strangest thing you could possibly imagine the KGB having a secret drug to make a cat's eyeball bulge out so it could freak out its owner and then take that uh cat to the vet to uh get them out of the house so they could plant a bug that is such a strange and unique story that I thought it was very very interesting another interesting part is how kraev notes something that both the CIA and the KGB shared a problem with at the time and even to this day and that is they had no shortage of spying tools bugs devices wiretaps no shortage of that but they did have a short at the time and even to this day and that is they had no shortage of spying tools bugs devices wiretaps no shortage of that but they did have a shortage of linguists people who could actually translate and sit there for hours and hours and hours and listen to all of these tapes uh and wire Taps so HEV kind of notes that which is very very interesting uh considering that that is a very Timeless problem within the world of Espionage another story of chapter 3 that was kind of interesting that kind of points to some of the more active measures once we get to the active measures chapter we kind of start seeing krev demonstrating his ability and his Superior skill for some of the more darker sides of Espionage so this details the story of uh krev actually his him and his team uh getting together to break into the room of Colonel Stig venstrom uh who was an American Colonel at the time and they photographed his personal diary very selectively and released that to the world to make it look like NATO Was preparing for war so I thought that was very very interesting that they were able to do that and it it wasn't until many many many years later that uh we actually found out that it was in as very very interesting that they were able to do that and it it wasn't until many many many years later that uh we actually found out that it was in fact krev uh that had photographed his diary uh because this Colonel of course among once this went public uh in the Press uh this colonel was fairly certain that his diary had been out of his possession at another time when he was traveling uh and that they had nabbed it from his hotel room then but actuality they had gotten it uh much much earlier which is very very interesting moving on to chapter 4 we start to get a the inkling feeling that maybe krev has got some kind of bone to pick or perhap perhaps is not the most reliable narrator uh this is really just a seed that I want to plant now uh because this may uh end up being a little bit of a factor later on chapter 4 uh titled inside a deadly Purge details what the author tenant Bagley and what many many others who have examined condr Chef's story uh would call a miraculous rise throughout the KGB now that I've planted that seed I kind of want to neglect did a little bit because you get the feeling from this chapter that maybe krev is is is up to something uh because as the auth kind of want to neglect did a little bit because you get the feeling from this chapter that maybe krev is is is up to something uh because as the author points out Thunderbolts kept striking near krev basically this chapter details the only reasons that krev got promoted throughout most of his career was because his bosses were shot uh that's basically how it works out kraev missed and avoided a substantial uh number of purges and other uh basically just mishaps uh it's only through happen stance most of the time that his neck was saved one of the more interesting stories was that he was working a source and uh he had the source uh it was it was a lady uh she came to him and just casually mentioned one night uh during one of their their meetings that she had uh spent a night with lenti Baria uh who if you don't know who that is a quick Google will let you know that uh Baria was one of the most infamous uh leaders throughout the Soviet Union a a true truly uh sickening individual uh but a man of considerable considerable power krev uh realizing that this Source would have put him at risk uh by revealing that she had indeed spent a night with this man uh a man of considerable power j realizing that this Source would have put him at risk uh by revealing that she had indeed spent a night with this man uh a man of considerable power just his his reaction is summed up by the quote drop her so basically his agent and the KGB wrote her out wrote her into the archives and never used her as a source ever again when she mentioned that they did not want they did not want that that kind of attention uh brought to their agency because bario was just a man um while Stalin was still alive at least uh a man of considerable considerable power another interesting story was uh how how he was saved by his mother-in-law from her shrewd advice at the right time uh this was again during one of the no less than dozen chances and times where condra ship's bosses were immediately slapped in irons and interrogated and found to be enemies of the Soviet Union for some totally arbitrary stalinistic reason right and krha finds himself coming into the office to other senior agents uh basically saying you will write a statement of uh denouncement for this man you will bring us all the evidence on him and you have that report rep on my desk tomorrow morning well krev is now in kind of a pickle t for this man you will bring us all the evidence on him and you have that report rep on my desk tomorrow morning well krev is now in kind of a pickle in this particular instance because on the one hand if he says well if he lies because obviously none of these people were were really uh deserving of Stalin's persecution especially in the intelligence Services uh on the one hand he can say wait a minute if I denounce my boss and say that my boss was an incompetent spy or something you know something ridiculous this whole time well they're just going to come back at me and say well if he was so bad then why did you not denounce him beforehand why did you have to wait for us to arrest him first on the other hand if he did not denounce them then his own neck was on the line anyway as potentially a collaborator uh so he discussed it over interestingly enough with his mother-in-law uh in their in their family Kitchen in their apartment kitchen and uh she basically points out hey look uh sge if you denounce this guy look whatever look what happened to all these other people who denounced their bosses and you uh they they didn't have uh a different fate they they basically shared the same happened to all these other people who denounced their bosses and you uh they they didn't have uh a different fate they they basically shared the same fate as those who they denounced so conjure Chef basically goes into the goes into his office the next day and says I I don't know nothing uh I see nothing right and he uh basically said hey if you want to talk about my work that's fine we can talk about my work and my sources and stuff but I don't know nothing I don't know nothing about what my boss was doing and he did this uh couple of times and somehow miraculously escaped his fate because one of his co-workers actually did exactly uh what he was probably supposed to do which was denounce his boss uh denounce the the department head there and just like his mother-in-law mentioned that guy who wrote the announcement was wrapped up too for completely arbitrary reasons as as we'll find out throughout the rest of this book it doesn't make a whole lot of sense some of the things that KGB did because of the Soviet system for by and large as we can see the KGB the internal intelligence Services particularly Counter Intelligence was somewhat insulated from the craziness of the Soviet Uni as we can see the KGB the internal intelligence Services particularly Counter Intelligence was somewhat insulated from the craziness of the Soviet Union and other in other aspects of society but not entirely immune as we'll get to one particular story here in just a moment and that story lies Within Chapter 5 which is titled into foreign intelligence and London we we meet krev later on in his career as he is transferred to London for for a few different reasons for one he was an English speaker and they needed a lot of english- speaking personnel there was also a an unrelated Scandal of some somewhat minor importance that resulted in a lot of Agents rotating home uh just due to wanting the K the KGB always being you know kind of paranoid and wanting to shake things up so krev um was transferred to London this chapter details a lot of some of the more routine spy operations like dead drops brush passes money drops you know the actions of the the bagman uh for for handling cash uh cash payments to to uh spies and other Espionage targets so that's that's kind of an interesting thing if you're into that there's not a whole lot of tradecraft that's uh talked about in this book so this i so that's that's kind of an interesting thing if you're into that there's not a whole lot of tradecraft that's uh talked about in this book so this is one of those chapters where this is mentioned but by far the most interesting story in this chapter and perhaps the whole book is what I call the painting Fiasco so this is a very interesting story that could only of course happen with in the Soviet Union and this is the case where Moscow had sent two uh shipping crates one of them being uh cryptologic uh Communications gear uh new phones and stuff like that for the the Soviet Embassy which was of course the staging area for a lot of Espionage uh stuff in London uh so Moscow in their Infinite Wisdom sent this crypto normal mail where of course the British intelligence MI6 would have intercepted it taken everything apart made sure that they understood like it's the mo it's the worst spy tradecraft ever you send your cryptologic keys via the regular mail instead of a diplomatic pouch so kraev sees this and says wait a minute this this this gigantic crate that we've got here in the office came via normal mail it came on a ship instead of in a diplomatic pouch this is not going to do th is gigantic crate that we've got here in the office came via normal mail it came on a ship instead of in a diplomatic pouch this is not going to do they the Brits have already cracked all this stuff so send it back well basically one of the lower ranking agents in in the office who was also running sources and thus very very important at the time one of condr ship's lackes uh ended up putting the shipping label to return it to Moscow on the wrong box and so he writes this nice little label and you know nice letter to Moscow saying uh don't worry about it we did not need this stuff after all uh you can have it back and this was supposed to go on the box of uh telephones and cryptologic gear the box that it was really put on was a crate of paintings of the pollet bureau pollet Bureau members uh so this idiot ended up putting a shipping label returned to Cinder on a crate of poit Bureau members and Stalin himself can you imagine the coup that would have created back in Moscow there spies in London saying oh no no no we don't need me we don't need pictures of the poit bureau uh don't worry about it we don't care about those guys they would have all been shot immediately if this had gon on't need pictures of the poit bureau uh don't worry about it we don't care about those guys they would have all been shot immediately if this had gone actually gone back so this guy runs into condra shev's office runs up to him and says you know just completely out of breath saying oh my God uh I unboxed the crate of of paintings of poet Bureau members and inside was the cryptologic gear that was supposed to be sent back so conrev says you mixed up the boxes what an idiot so they rushed to the port to find out that uh the ship with the crate of poet Bureau members uh paintings had already left Port so they get on this boat and just intercept this saying on the high seas to get this one crate back so finally they're able to get it back because if it had made it all the way back to Russia man they would have been crucified for that so krev gets back and says you know what this this is a this is a big deal so they have to kind of explain to the Ambassador what what uh what had gone on and again this this small details in this book show how wiy krev was and he was definitely a spy master in the most traditional word kraf tells the ambassador of the story and the ambassador of course f how wiy krev was and he was definitely a spy master in the most traditional word kraf tells the ambassador of the story and the ambassador of course flies into the rage that you would have expected because this probably could have ended with him getting a bullet as well so the Ambassador says all right take down this telegram immediately uh send it back to Moscow we're going to we're going to expel this guy we're going to send a replacement immediately he's going back on the first plane we can get him on back to Moscow and Contra ship says all right cool I'll take this down but krev uh goes to the radio Telegraph operator for the uh Russian Embassy and he says to him all right here I've got this message from the Ambassador and I want you to send this message but what I want you what I also want you to do is keep the Line open and send through my message as well which is a higher priority message so that message contains a basically a promote at all costs uh protection kind of order for this for this guy that screwed up the labels on the on the boxes now krev would have perfectly been okay with letting this guy go back to Moscow but he was working sources and The Ambassador in his r he on the boxes now krev would have perfectly been okay with letting this guy go back to Moscow but he was working sources and The Ambassador in his rage was not um not copasetic enough to understand that look this guy's an idiot and I'm going to keep him locked away and he's never going to do anything stupid again but we need to keep him here because he's working sources that I can't work just yet but the Ambassador was not hearing any of that he the Ambassador wanted him gone immediately so contra sends out sendor his message which included a promotion order for this for this Aid that screwed up so so the next morning before he had even gotten his a message back to his own uh demand that this guy be removed uh the KGB chief of the entire KGB which of course outranked the Ambassador uh issued like an order of the red star like a good job uh certificate Award Medal kind of thing for the guy who screwed up which basically told the Ambassador uh in no uncertain terms that this guy's going to stay uh because he's doing work that's way more important than you uh so I thought that was a very interesting spin on what would be a comedic story uh and just like the author mentions in the bo re important than you uh so I thought that was a very interesting spin on what would be a comedic story uh and just like the author mentions in the book is that this crisis started and ended just the same it started with lunacy and it ended with complete and utter lunacy such is the theme of the KGB throughout their entire history very very interesting stuff moving on to chapter 6 uh we learn a little bit more from a different angle regarding the story of George Blake now George Blake is a very Infamous man he is a traditor of the highest order at least for the the British and the American side of things and this is one of the most important things that KJR have actually revealed in this book now George Blake like I mentioned is a very Infamous very Infamous U mole within MI6 and he became a double agent for the KGB very very early on and the reason that his story is famous and there how there are many books written about George Blake is that he was one of the most high ranking spies that KGB had at the time in fact one of the things that plagued the KGB particularly throughout this book and throughout kgb's history is the KGB had spies that were too good to use and here's a perfec that plagued the KGB particularly throughout this book and throughout kgb's history is the KGB had spies that were too good to use and here's a perfect example of this George Blake revealed to the to the Soviets the plans for the CIA and MI6 and the Western powers to physically dig a tunnel from West Germany to East Germany in which they would from underground tap into Soviet Communications cables through George Blake the Soviets found out about this plan before the first shovel full of dirt was even moved and uh the Soviets kind of kept tab kept tabbed on this because it just so turned out that George Blake was the man was in charge of this whole project so this puts the KGB in quite a pickle because George Blake's you know notoriety was was so high he was so deeply embedded with this with this project now if you're new to the world of Espionage what you might do is you might say all right let's wait till the Americans and the CIA dig this tunnel and then we're just going to miraculously stumble across it well again we're in the world of international Intrigue and political daytont and if you were to do that if the Soviets were to miraculously discover this Espionage attempt the t d of international Intrigue and political daytont and if you were to do that if the Soviets were to miraculously discover this Espionage attempt the the CIA would say wait a minute this was a really secret plan and there is no way that they would have been able to find this just by happen stance so we're going to scrub our files and we're going to find out if there was a mole involved and this puts George Blake at risk right so the KGB again was in this pickle because they couldn't very well destroy the tunnel and they couldn't even pass fake information across it because what would what the CIA would have done is if let's say the KGB says oh wait a minute these guys are listening so let's pass some fake information uh through these uh Communications wires the CIA will pick that up and they'll be tricked right well the CIA is not entirely stupid and they would have corroborated a lot of the information and the very minute the very minute that the CIA detected that fake information was going through these wires The Jig would be up and the CIA would know wait a minute they're on to us um because you never pass fake information unless you know the enem is listening so again again this the CIA would know wait a minute they're on to us um because you never pass fake information unless you know the enem is listening so again again this tunnel had to be left alone the KGB knew that their Communications were being tapped into by this tunnel and they could do absolutely nothing about it they couldn't even pass fake information they couldn't do anything uh for about a year and the book actually mentions that over 1750 intelligence reports highlevel intelligence reports were generated based off of 400,000 phone calls between senior East German Military Officers and their staff so again this kind of points out some of the difficulties of working in international Espionage it's not as simple as you might think now this chapter kind of Skips it forward a little bit in time and Blake eventually gets discovered uh he gets um kind of ratted out as a mole by polish intelligence where a an intelligence report that krev said don't send out this is too hot this is too good of information some um opportunistic KGB agent said wait a minute the Polish um need to know about this particular bit of information which just so happened to be a list of all of the agents uh within Poland uh inute the Polish um need to know about this particular bit of information which just so happened to be a list of all of the agents uh within Poland uh so they pass that information along the CIA picks it up because they have a mole in MI6 and Blake gets discovered but that's many years down the line for now the KGB have got to just kind of suck it up and let their military Secrets pass along this Communications cable until they can find a plaus way of discovering uh this tunnel uh miraculously right so as we can see now that we're into the media part of the book things get very complicated things start getting a little bit out of hand when it comes to the details of some of this stuff so again you've just kind of got to read it yourself but if you're looking for a high level wave toop kind of thing this is about the best we can do because this is very very complicated stuff moving on from chapter six we have the next chapter which is titled why do you need all those people here and this details kev's experience with the East German stazzy uh for those of you who are looking to get a little bit more information on the the insides and inner workings of the stazi uh you're really not azzy uh for those of you who are looking to get a little bit more information on the the insides and inner workings of the stazi uh you're really not going to get it this is kind of a short chapter and uh it kind of details just some of the inner workings of how the stazi uh worked and it just so turned out that um the KGB the the Russian KGB um of course had Liaisons for the East German stazi and the line that kind of dictates this chapter is referring to uh the East Germans remarking why do you guys have so many people here why do you have so many KGB agents when we've got this well in hand so this chapter details mostly what the stazzi was after which is hunting ex-nazis of course being East Germany and West Germany and that whole kind of fiasco there uh the East Germans were very much concerned with hunting down a lot of the uh surviving uh Nazi networks uh postwar so it kind of kind of goes into a little bit detail there but again it's not that this chapter was not that interesting to me one of the more interesting parts of this chapter is a conrev again escaping his saving his own neck just barely uh it just so turned out that another random chance where conjr shev almost get chapter is a conrev again escaping his saving his own neck just barely uh it just so turned out that another random chance where conjr shev almost gets a bullet is where he was working a source and he figured out this source is probably not a good source uh we're going to have to uh probably just pass on them well he went on vacation for a couple of weeks and the guy that he put in charge of his work while he was gone uh rubber stamped approved this guy's a source it turns out later on down the line this guy turned out to be a double agent a spy and of course the KGB finds out about this and it's a whole Scandal and who's the KGB come after the guy who recruited this spy well they bring conjr shev in for interrogation and he holds up you know his proof his passport that shows that he was on vacation during the dates when this guy was a approved and it was really somebody else uh who got the bullet instead of krev again just escaping on pure happen stance and uh shows the importance of keeping those receipts right moving on to chapter 8 uh which is titled A Unique Look at the Hungarian Revolution not that interesting to me to be honest uh it's mostly details the reasons why the Sovi 8 uh which is titled A Unique Look at the Hungarian Revolution not that interesting to me to be honest uh it's mostly details the reasons why the Soviets wanted to protect their interest in Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution uh moving on again to chapter nine uh spy center Vienna sort of the same thing it it just kind of talks about the reworking of the Espionage cases in Austria very very sparse details it mostly details uh kev's uh interactions with Kennedy and kushev during the Kennedy crusa visit there and how they were kind of slipped amongst the political delegation to to be spies there but again very few details krev was kind of tight lipped about this one moving on to chapter 10 this is again remember that seed I planted earlier this is where we start to uh give it a little bit of water and let it grow and kind of realize that something may be going on here there's something that's off with this this chapter kind of gave me doubt the source Vibes uh and this is because this details among other things uh kev's personal involvement with the Gestapo Mueller story now again this is a story that you should probably just research on your own uh the capture of Hinrich Mueller olvement with the Gestapo Mueller story now again this is a story that you should probably just research on your own uh the capture of Hinrich Mueller and his use by the KGB uh to kind of run networks throughout Eastern Germany and kind of root out some of this dissension uh and cause a little bit of uh trouble with the West basically the KGB used high ranking Nazis that they captured against the West uh using them because they spoke German they were more than willing to cooperate with the Soviets or otherwise get a bullet and they were able to run a lot of their high ranking networks and communities throughout Germany to kind of sew Discord with the West so this comes in a little bit of the more active measures that we're going to come to in a bit uh but the whole story about how much gesta Mueller Hinrich Mueller was his real name uh how much he was used is a little bit far-fetched to me uh we know that he was a very high ranking uh Nazi official that was used by the KGB but I don't know just reading it it kind of gives me the The Vibes that maybe the KGB wants us to think that these guys were a lot better um Espionage Source than they actually were I don't think they were as eff ibes that maybe the KGB wants us to think that these guys were a lot better um Espionage Source than they actually were I don't think they were as effective as the KGB wants us to think and I and I think that their use of gisha was a little bit OV exaggerated it it just kind of gives me that Vibe um again just kind of bringing into question the source and the sources uh motivations as we'll get to at the end chapter 11 is kind of a strong departure from all the previous chapters in which conjr goes to the movies and gets an idea uh he saw a film about Richard Sor uh who was a very very well-known Russian spy in Japan prior to World War II so uh sorus story has become a Russian folk tale of patriotism and all kinds of stuff right he he is uh he was made hero of the Soviet Union for his actions and the reason that he is reflected positively in history is due to krev krev realized that this guy's story at the time he was just kind of cast aside but kraev wanted to make this spy well known because his story was very patriotic and had a lot of propaganda value so kraev knocked together a plan to make a few movies about the guy and give him uh you know make him postumus uh hero of the So t of propaganda value so kraev knocked together a plan to make a few movies about the guy and give him uh you know make him postumus uh hero of the Soviet Union and that's basically what this chapter is about uh we kind of get the the idea of of country branching out and starting to influence information uh which is directly related to the next chapter which is organized in to disinform this I think is where we start to see the beginnings of fifth generation Warfare this is where we start seeing what the Soviets called and what country ship calls here active measures basically the organization of of how the Soviet Union was going to basically undermine the West in every possible facet of existence so this chapter details how everything was kind of organized uh through kraev kind of uh not his direct leadership but it was uh his idea and how he uh helped organize the whole process through his subordinates and stuff like that because you got to remember at this time kraf was a fairly high ranking person he shouldn't be running uh small operations he's running big stuff and this was a massive campaign to basically undermine the West in five different ways so they organized this this e operations he's running big stuff and this was a massive campaign to basically undermine the West in five different ways so they organized this this effort of active measures into five categories political economic scientific military and counterintelligence these five Fields would be used to basically again propagandize and use information Warfare to the absolute utmost uh this is really where we start to see the beginnings again of fifth generation Warfare of information Warfare itself uh this is where this kind of thing comes into really existence I think uh for instance one in and moving on to the next chapter which details some of these uh active measures and just just the length that the Soviets were willing to go to to to get information and to undermine the West it's amazing uh for instance one of the things they did was they use the movie uh Doctor Strange Love to paint American Personnel Air Force personnel as Reckless so what they did was uh the Soviets had no uh role or at least Contra shf says they had no role in producing the movie Doctor Strange Love they had no interest in it however once it came out they used it to their advantage such as they generated a fake lett g the movie Doctor Strange Love they had no interest in it however once it came out they used it to their advantage such as they generated a fake letter uh from a high-ranking Air Force official and then they leaked it to the press and this letter this fake letter detailed how 2third of all flight Crews had become quote psychotic irrational and depressive after flying with nuclear weapons so again the Press wanted to make it look like the American government really was Doctor Strange Love Like It was more of a documentary than a satirical uh art piece right and the Soviets jumped on that and started pushing a lot of these fake leaked documents all around the world some genuine some fake and some of the genuines were more fake than you might think so again this is the era of active measures where the KGB used a lot of fake leaks a lot of fake information a lot of classic haversack ruses as well to discredit spies and basically start Wild Goose chases um this this is also the chapter Switching gears quite significantly where the tunnel uh comes to an end and the Soviets miraculously discovered it because they had found a way of revealing the tunnel without giving up George Blake as b uh comes to an end and the Soviets miraculously discovered it because they had found a way of revealing the tunnel without giving up George Blake as being the guy uh because if they had fingered George Blake as the uh spy from the very very beginning then all of the intelligence that they gained through the tunnel was uh was doomed to be suspect right so very very interesting end to that story chapter 14 details some of the more classic stuff now we're starting to get into the very very complicated uh double crossing right so this details the false defection of Yuri nenko and this was an operation that was ran by uh gribanov who was basically the head of Soviet Counter Intelligence uh krev uh was brought on board by gribanov um but eventually kraev said hey this is this is not good um I I need to I need to move on uh because gribanov was rash and Reckless so the general plan was for gribanov to get this guy named Yuri nenko another high-ranking intelligence officer within the KGB and nenko was going to pretend to defect to the CIA and once implanted in the CIA as an agent and being once being run by the cia's case officers uh nenko could feed fake information to the CIA and thus be once implanted in the CIA as an agent and being once being run by the cia's case officers uh nenko could feed fake information to the CIA and thus be basically a double agent this did not work very very well uh the CIA was suspicious of nenko from the very start but again the C throughout this book and throughout other books the CIA does not look very it does not look very good and this just taking a break from this book for a moment this is a trend that kind of comes up and I I hate to to ATT tribe it to to ascribe it to be more cultural but it's definitely the case for instance I personally think and I think it's quite clear throughout history that the Russians the Soviets for whatever reason maybe it's just a Soviet thing they just understand intelligence and Espionage and spy work they are just fantastic at it uh they're really really really good at Counter Intelligence as well and this is kind of the thing that you get because for instance the CIA was very very suspicious of nenko because of the people that he kind of hung out with looked at awful lot suspicious right so it looked an awful lot like nenko was uh a double agent but they never acted on it and that's why this cha ith looked at awful lot suspicious right so it looked an awful lot like nenko was uh a double agent but they never acted on it and that's why this chapter is titled how could the CIA ever have believed in that man uh because From kev's perspective the krev looked and said look there is no way the CIA is going to believe this guy he's the most obvious double agent in the history of Espionage and yet the CIA ate it up pretty pretty good so um even though gribanov was very very Reckless and mishandled the whole project and how nenko himself was not very convincing uh the CIA bought it at least enough even though they were suspicious they bought it enough for that mission to be a decent success now on the other side of the aisle was again yet another case of a source being so good the KGB could not do anything about it and this was the counterintelligence case of Oleg pinkovsky this guy was a real double agent he was a KGB agent who defected to the West secretly and wanted to work for the CIA well uh the KGB had a mole within the CIA and they found out that old Oleg here was was dealing in Secrets but that Source was too good for them to reveal them knowing about Oleg so years down the they found out that old Oleg here was was dealing in Secrets but that Source was too good for them to reveal them knowing about Oleg so years down the line they basically had to Fain incompetence the KGB had to pretend that they did not know that Oleg was a spy until they could find enough plausible evidence to hang around his neck so basically they had to pretend to be incompetent like letting their you know uh Counter Intelligence guys their Stompers be caught they had to let their dead drops be very very bad right they had to be discovered surveilling Oleg by the CIA and then the CIA had to catch on by saying wait a minute they're on to they're on to Old Ole here so we've got to move on now one of the frustra parts of This Book Is that we we will never know well I don't know about never but we don't know yet who that spy was who outed Oleg we do not know uh krev took that story took that source to his grave and it's one of the largest um debate uh since the Cold War it was a very it must have been a high ranking spy um as to who who was the leak who was the mole we just uh we just don't know moving on to chapter 15 another another similar interesting uh story which was called th o was the leak who was the mole we just uh we just don't know moving on to chapter 15 another another similar interesting uh story which was called the top hat Paradox and this is the story of Dimitri poliakov uh this guy was again a fake Defector uh run much like nenko but a lot more a lot more competently uh as a matter of fact polyakov was at the time the CIA classified him as the jewel in the crown he was the highest ranking spy the CIA had uh he was the best spy in in the KGB in in the Russian uh system and it turned out the KGB was running him as a double agent the entire time uh so in actuality one of the more interesting things and one of the points one of the the smaller shocking revelations from this book is that the KGB actually assassinated him for being a double agent because uh as kraff points out uh he was a double agent but he shared more information than he was supposed to so so in essence polakov was basically a triple agent trying to play both sides of the aisle very very interesting and it kind of brings back uh agent zigzag from a different book agent zigzag being Eddie Chapman a guy who played both sides of the aisle between the British and the Germans uh we h ent zigzag from a different book agent zigzag being Eddie Chapman a guy who played both sides of the aisle between the British and the Germans uh we have kind of a similar story here where polyakov was a double agent who was secretly working for the KGB but pretending to for the CIA but actually giving the CIA some really good information so it's not quite clear as to how the story worked out because again krev took most of the details of the story to his grave again leaving us quite dissatisfied with the ending of that story but again these are the ways of the Espionage World um moving through the rest of the chapters we kind of have to move quickly because they're not really important uh the chapter 16 is about uh the Czechoslovakian reformations and how Czechoslovakia was uh was going through some tough tough times and they were basically experiencing a crisis of command essentially so this details the KGB uh sending krev and his team to spy uh on a lot of the the political meetings that were occurring in the nation at the time uh uh before obviously the Le the uh bratislav Invasion by the Soviets so again uh that's kind of uh how that went and chapter 17 kind of uh details uh t uh before obviously the Le the uh bratislav Invasion by the Soviets so again uh that's kind of uh how that went and chapter 17 kind of uh details uh the final years of kev's career where he basically uh was so high ranking that he didn't really move up the ladder anymore he just kind of Sid stepped uh the ladder rungs to move laterally a lot uh and he enjoyed himself quite quite greatly he went to Iran and Afghanistan and uh did quite a bit on the Chinese border and the Mongolian border not a whole lot of details in this chapter um because it's basically just him uh helping out his under LS where he could uh because he was basically like that ameritus Professor that kind of comes back to teach one course every every semester and they just kind of hang out a lot that's basically um where KRV was at in his career and chapters 18 and 19 are kind of the beginning of the end uh where krev details the Helsinki Accords which again put pressure on the USSR again these these details are are not really relevant to kev's story but it kind of wraps up how the Soviet Union just kind of ended and it ended rather abruptly and uh in hindsight we absolutely could have seen it coming but at the time ps up how the Soviet Union just kind of ended and it ended rather abruptly and uh in hindsight we absolutely could have seen it coming but at the time even within the Soviet system very few people uh knew what was uh what was going on so one part about this book that I I really really wish uh I had the physical version for instead of an ebook here is the epilogue and the appendix I don't know why the author did this I I guess maybe because you wanted to get the book out rather quickly before someone else did um but the appendix is probably the most valuable part of the whole book so so if I were to do this all over again I would get a physical copy of this book I was not able to get it in time for this this first uh first book club meeting uh it's still in the mail uh but I wish I had it because the notes in each one of these chapters point to the appendix and give you a lot of a lot of amplifying information so I personally think that the appendix is just as valuable as the main text so if you buy this book and if you want to read it yourself don't just stop reading when you get through the appendix read the whole appendix because it's a very very interesting read uh and I persona yourself don't just stop reading when you get through the appendix read the whole appendix because it's a very very interesting read uh and I personally think that it contains a lot of details about kev's personal life and his his family heritage and stuff that it should have been in the main text they should have made the appendix chapter one and started there but that's just my own personal opinion so wrapping things up today let me uh intersperse some of my own Thoughts with some of your thoughts some of the comments that we've gotten from our supporters uh have been really really insightful so I wanted to kind of share them as I go through and mention some of my own thoughts uh first of all is kind of the general frustration uh that this was a very interesting read but again krev was most certainly a quiet professional he did not reveal any startling Revelations except for a few things here and there but mostly this was krev sharing some of the more interesting parts of his career that perhaps were a little bit too inflammatory for the uh publishing under you know Russian government but uh they were certainly not anything uh particularly damning as far as his own Nation so kra or the uh publishing under you know Russian government but uh they were certainly not anything uh particularly damning as far as his own Nation so kraev to the last was most certainly no traitor um he he did not reveal anything and he kept a lot of secrets that um he could possibly be revealed today and and uh he he kept those secrets to himself so sort of along the same lines as to how krev was a a very silent professional uh who wasn't exactly just you know the evil henchman behind uh the curtain that we expect the KGB to be uh uh Derek from patreon makes this point as well uh he says that one of the more unexpected things I learned was how honorable the KGB was in trying to keep up their end of the deal with anyone who flipped for them I thought that was pretty cool he also mentions this is an overall decent read to gain insight into the Cold War Espionage mentalities in General also this monthly book idea was great ready for the next one so that's great uh but yeah Derrick is absolutely right uh one of the things you kind of get early on is how the KGB did not just you know use them and lose them kind of thing they did not just drop these sources unless they absolutely had to t arly on is how the KGB did not just you know use them and lose them kind of thing they did not just drop these sources unless they absolutely had to to save their own skin as a case officer uh like had like the barious story uh most of the time the KGB actually tried to take care of people as best they could uh even if they used someone for just one of one small thing they ended up you know putting them up into an apartment for the rest rest of their life basically um so that's very a very interesting thing um you don't necessarily get that vibe from a lot of intelligent Services uh especially uh some of the more darker history of the CIA who is um doesn't necessarily do that so much um just by and large and that's kind of a gross statement but from this book you get that perspective now again of course there's always an element of is this really true um I I from my other readings of other books this does seem to be quite true the KGB was very um was very in invested in making sure that their sources uh did not you know run runoff because again this is not something that the KGB did out of their good out of the goodness of their heart uh they really wanted to take care of their sou ause again this is not something that the KGB did out of their good out of the goodness of their heart uh they really wanted to take care of their sources to prevent them from being used by the West so according to the KGB and if you're a huge nation state like the the USSR a huge conglomerate of just massive Enterprises right uh you're it's going to cost nothing nothing to put somebody up in an apartment for the rest of their life or give them you know a few thousand American dollars uh the equivalent of uh just to go live a you know quiet life in the Caribbean or something like that it doesn't cost very much when it when you consider the alternative which is that that person could then go to the CIA and say hey I was a spy for the Russians what are you what are you going to pay me to spill my guts so um yeah it's very interesting how that kind of worked out another theme that kind of it sounds bad uh to talk about because you don't want to to appear and I I certainly don't want to come across as being sort of like a pro-russian propagandist because I read one book about a KGB Chief right uh I'm taking other sources into consideration when I say this uh but you get this feeling fr agandist because I read one book about a KGB Chief right uh I'm taking other sources into consideration when I say this uh but you get this feeling from this book that the CIA were not particularly good at their job and this is something that others have noticed as well uh such as again saber from patreon who who wrote the more I read about the Cold War the more it seems like americ American intelligence is behind the curve even as far back as World War I the British and others were running circles around us if you follow current events it doesn't seem like it improved much either why is that why do the CIA FBI make themselves look unwilling or unable to process intelligence so yeah I agree it certainly does seem that way and and again I don't want to make it seem like um you know the KGB was was you know the ultimate intelligence service of all time right right you know there's a reason the CIA and the KGB were were up against each other right and and who who ended up uh winning in the end right it certainly wasn't the USSR they ended up collapsing so you know that of course had very little to do with the KGB itself but uh the bottom line is that if we're wanting to keep as neutra d up collapsing so you know that of course had very little to do with the KGB itself but uh the bottom line is that if we're wanting to keep as neutral of a point or neutral of a view of history as we possibly can it's still really hard to to come up and say you know what the CIA was just as good as the KGB in most things they did because it certainly doesn't seem that way uh even MI6 uh definitely outpaced the CIA and the FBI um for for a lot of their history I mean for instance Russia was running spies in Japan and they were just absolutely uh devastating the world of intelligence throughout Europe before the CIA and the FBI and MI6 even existed so you've got to admit they have history on their side which is perhaps why this this definitely seems to be the case but in this book there are many cases where the KGB and Country shf in particular said you know there is no way the CIA is going to be this stupid to believe this and they did um there were also a lot of of times where uh con notes were going to get caught for sure uh the CIA man they if they're not spying on us in this particular situation they're missing out and and they actually were missing out so there are a lot of mi man they if they're not spying on us in this particular situation they're missing out and and they actually were missing out so there are a lot of missed opportunities for the CIA um particularly in East East Berlin but yeah that's a very interesting take and it's something that's kind of hard to get around as far as the modern day questions uh I think that the National Intelligence services today if we want to make a draw a parallel from it I think they rely on technology um to to do most of the things that they used to do manually this is you know because I was an intelligence analyst uh for the US government for many years uh I can definitely say that my experience are that um the National Intelligence services today rely on technology way too much and on critical thinking way too little why do you think there is such an emphasis on domestic spying these days well because you have to when you're not good at critical thinking you have to spy on everyone and kind of take the Sherlock Holmes deductive reasoning approach rather than inductive reasoning so when everyone's under surveillance it's very easy to do that sort of thing so again it it seems like on a critical think thinkin nductive reasoning so when everyone's under surveillance it's very easy to do that sort of thing so again it it seems like on a critical think thinking level there is just is just really hard to do whereas for the Russians at least even to this day there is just something special about the Russian people who are able to be vastly superior at all things intelligence Counter Intelligence and Espionage in general I don't know what it is but it's just kind of the way that it is as far as I see it and finally I wanted to kind of wrap up and kind of touch on what I've mentioned so far which is that spy tradecraft is not really discussed in this book uh but the office work necessary for any kind of success is discussed and that's kind of an interesting thing that I wanted to point out because I myself man I I love some good spy trade craft because I think it's interesting and there's very little out there on it right it's if if we're trying to to draw some parallels to today's world I think that the tradecraft stuff is what gets people hooked right it's the interesting stuff the cool little spy Jason Bourne little tips that kind of allow people to to have a better better view of of what t d right it's the interesting stuff the cool little spy Jason Bourne little tips that kind of allow people to to have a better better view of of what the world is and how to how to navigate within it but that's not really in this book sure there is quite a lot of tradecraft honestly um but it's not uh it's not the kind of stuff that you'd imagine krev really just talks about it like he's getting a sandwich from the fridge you know like he does does a dead drop you know this day or that day he doesn't really focus on the tradecraft so much as the motivation behind it which is fantastic I think but it can be a bit burdensome for us others as uh Sean points out from patreon he writes I thought the book was somewhat interesting from a historical standpoint but I thought it to be at too high of a level to be a useful Source on anything really if I was an intelligence resource for a big government or a history buff maybe it would be useful for ideas the info on drugging the cat to get the one person's wife out of the house so they could plant listening devices was a thought-provoking tidbit the part about planting stories in the media may be useful in some way and a letter writing maybe n t listening devices was a thought-provoking tidbit the part about planting stories in the media may be useful in some way and a letter writing maybe no no big Revelations though from the book I totally get it I totally agree uh it is not exactly what it's painted to be uh based on the title of the book uh but it's also a bit too high level in in a lot of places it's more of a strategic thing to where if you're somebody like me uh you might find it interesting and it might be pretty cool clearly tenant baggley thought it was very very cool but it's that does not translate to everyone so if I'm the researcher if I'm going to make some content using this book I've got to cherry pick right I've got to pick and choose uh the the the tidbits of information that people might find interesting in order to get that hook in them in order to uh actually show well you know the dead drops are maybe not the most useful part of the story the five or six months of work leading up to that now that might be interesting um again I I completely agree that the book needed to probably discussed tradecraft a lot more if nothing else more than tenant baggley he could have explained some of the more spy tri the book needed to probably discussed tradecraft a lot more if nothing else more than tenant baggley he could have explained some of the more spy tricks that were used by kraev that kraev just kind of glossed over quite a lot um but that you know that was kind of a missed opportunity on his part but again if I were to use this as an academic resource it would have to be very very specific cases and it would so yeah all in all a very very interesting book uh I think that it's worth reading if you have not read anything uh regarding this before but be mindful that might be a little bit disappointed if you were expecting some spy Thriller uh you really have to know a lot more of the dry boring side of Intel and Counter Intelligence and how the KGB kind of operated beforehand so if again like I mentioned in the beginning if you're not necessarily into uh the history of the Cold War and you don't have an larger understanding of some of these things for instance you know Czechoslovakia just came out of nowhere uh his work in the Vienna was again not really stressed as to well why is he going to Vienna why is this important well if you know history you know that Vienna was a very very hi again not really stressed as to well why is he going to Vienna why is this important well if you know history you know that Vienna was a very very highlevel spy uh ring for the Soviets it was a very convenient spy base for them uh throughout the region same thing with Czechoslovakia and their uh subsequent transition I should say so yeah you really kind of have to have a brief understanding of History if you go into this and you don't know anything about it at all you're going to be I think disappointed um but other than that this I think was a very good start a very good way to start thinking about how we can learn together and some of the things that we can maybe bring to uh today's world uh when it comes to spy stuff you know it's arguable as to how much you can actually use in today's world but I do think that one of the things that this book could not teach and I don't think anyone can teach is critical thinking KJR shev just had instincts that that no one can really even describe and I think that that's one of the main reasons why his miraculous uh rise to fame and his miraculous rise within the KGB was as miraculous as it was it wasn't necessarily some kind of nefariousness why his miraculous uh rise to fame and his miraculous rise within the KGB was as miraculous as it was it wasn't necessarily some kind of nefariousness of him ratting out his uh his co-workers or anything like that I think that krev was just a very very special person who had a very very special critical thinking ability that I don't think any of us could really understand and he's not alone there are many many other figures just like this on all sides of the conflict and uh I think it's very interesting to examine some of these very very important people and very interesting people uh for a modern world because like many of you have mentioned a lot of the stuff um carries over directly to to the unique Lifestyles that I think a lot of us are having to live uh in today's world so I think we'll just leave it at that uh we'll we'll close things up for this time and we will uh come back next time with yet another book thank you again for watching everyone thank you so much for all of your support and thank you for engaging with this this really is uh it helps me just as much as it helps you so uh thank you again for all of your great great ideas I wish I could put them all in this vide really is uh it helps me just as much as it helps you so uh thank you again for all of your great great ideas I wish I could put them all in this video um but quite a lot of you have had some very very important and astute observations that of stuff that I've uh kind of missed to be honest so thank you again for all of that and we will see you next time and as always fight in the shade