Russian Roulette - A Deadly Game: How British Spies Thwarted Lenin's Global Plot

 

Veteran journalist and author Joseph C. Goulden offers a good review of Giles Milton's Russian Roulette - A Deadly Game: How British Spies Thwarted Lenin's Global Plot in today's Washington Times.

To Great Britain, the threat issued by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov — better known by his revolutionary name of Lenin — was clarion clear. In November 1917, soon after his Bolshevik faction seized control of Russia, he called on the “oppressed masses” of Asia to follow Russia’s example and throw off colonial rule.

He named as an early target India, the “jewel in Britain’s imperial crown.” Lenin declared, “England is our greatest enemy. It is in India that we must strike them hardest!” For emphasis, Lenin tore up the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention that laid out spheres of influence in Central Asia, specifically protecting India’s northern frontiers from Russian intrusion.

... As Mr. Milton documents, the British intelligence service flooded Moscow with swarms of agents soon after the Bolsheviks seized power. The tasks were many. Could the Bolsheviks be overthrown and replaced by the ousted Kerensky government? Did the new government have the political will (and military capability) of continuing the fight against Germany?

The story of British machinations in Moscow has been related by both operatives and histories, ranging from Sidney (“The Ace of Spies”) Reilly to Somerset Maugham. Through skilled use of recently declassified files of Indian political intelligence, Mr. Milton gives a gripping account of how the Reds tried to carry out Lenin's threat.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/20/book-review-when-britain-stood-up-to-russian-aggre/

A Review Of David Ignatius' Bloodmoney: A Novel Of Espionage

Joseph C. Goulden, the author of many fine nonfiction books, such as The Death Merchant, wrote an interesting review of David Ignatius' Bloodmoney: A Novel of Espionage in The Washington Times.

In “Bloodmoney,” we find Mr. Ignatius at his best. This is an account that makes one think, “This must be based on an actual CIA operation, but reality and common sense say otherwise.” Well, perhaps. A hallmark of an Ignatius book, given his intimate knowledge of the intelligence community, is determining where fact ends and fiction begins.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/1/tale-of-spies-in-pakistan/

You can also read my On Crime & Thrillers column on The Increment, an earlier Ignatius thriller, via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2009/07/iranian-intrigue-in-increment.html

A Look Back At British Spy Scandals: Britain's Biggest Ever Traitor, Red Sonia, Christine Keeler And The Final, Damning Evidence

Chapman Pincher, the author of Treachery, writes about past British spy scandals involving "Red Sonia," Christine Keeler (seen in the above photo), and his suspicions about MI5 officer Roger Hollis in the British newspaper The Daily Mail.

You can read the newspaper story via the below link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384646/Red-Sonia-Christine-Keeler-final-damning-evidence-Britains-biggest-traitor.html