So while the Brits were playing silly spy games... - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) Discussion

[–] djrosenblatt 13 years ago

By doing what... killing Vietnamese? And what makes you think our spy agencies weren't doing exactly the same things the Brits were?

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[–] different-drummer 13 years ago

like for instance, trying to assassinate Castro with exploding cigars ...

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[–] djrosenblatt 13 years ago

Gawd, is Cuba still whining about that after all these years?

That's the problem with Commies... no sense of humor.

Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers! But if you could show us something in a nice possum...

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[–] thelastfaceyouwillsee 13 years ago

America...saving the world since....well, now there's a funny thing!

In the words of the immortal Harold Shand:

"What I’m looking for is someone who can contribute to what England has given to the world. Culture, sophistication, genius. A little bit more than a hot dog. Know what I mean?"

...now I do it just to watch their f----n' expression change.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] jd-276 12 years ago

Gawd, is Cuba still whining about that after all these years?

That's the problem with Commies... no sense of humor.

That's funny. I thought they were still laughing about it actually...

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] jd-276 12 years ago

The US did that entirely for economic reasons.

Britain had little choice in the matter. The CIA was hopelessly outclassed.

Berlin was one of the poorest performed stations in the entire US intelligence network (Volkmann*). Some of their agents couldn't even speak German.

You can't fight a war without information. Someone had to keep an eye on what was going on.

*http://tinyurl.com/92z6hrm

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[–] sht-4 12 years ago

Actually we did pretty well in Berlin. In fact, one of main problems was trusting the Brits too much,as there were several moles high up in MI6 spoiling all of our operations(Philby, et al).

We had the tail end of Venona, and a couple of other big SIGINT operations run out of Berlin Station.

The brits had their finest work in Africa

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[–] jd-276 12 years ago

Actually we did pretty well in Berlin.

Not according to what I've read. Volkmann explains this. VENONA was too early to be relevant to the episodes of the Berlin Wall etc.

one of main problems was trusting the Brits too much,as there were several moles high up in MI6

These people were a factor in Britain, not in Berlin. They were dealing directly with Moscow. I understand that there would invariably be a flow on effect but it would have had little impact on the day-to-day operations of the Berlin station.

I don't think the US cared much about Berlin. In some ways it actually made sense. Berlin would tend to look after itself.

On the other hand, when Able Archer 83 almost ended in a nuclear confrontation, the US had little choice but to rely on British Intelligence. They had Gordievski who, in turn, had probably been betrayed by Ames, so there were moles on both sides of the Atlantic.

The brits had their finest work in Africa

Which bit do you mean? I'd be interested to check this out.

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[–] Prismark10 11 years ago

There have been moles in the US secret service as well. They just keep rather silent about it.

Its that man again!!

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[–] Altho73 10 years ago

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So while the Brits were playing silly spy games America was busy doing the heavy lifting winning the Cold War.
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The original poster who made this statement really needs to learn certain things before he makes such ridiculous statements.

In reality intelligence gathering is a vitally important factor that can have a devastating effect on military operations. The fact that the D-Day operation was such a success was largely due to the fact that ALL (not some or most) of the Nazis top agents in Britain had been penetrated or converted and were sending the Nazis false information as to the whereabouts of the landings. Also the cracking of the enigma code by Alan Turing and his team at Bletchley Park was directly responsible for reducing the duration of World War 2 by 18 months to two years.

Do not belittle intelligence agents, they frequently risk their lives and a lot more to do a very difficult job and unlike the military they seldom get much thanks for it, they are not feted as heroes but are often forgotten about, their actions remain unknown by the general public, they can never talk about their actions (not even to their families or friends) and live a very lonely and unremarkable life.

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[–] pmiano100 10 years ago

Actually there were a very few fanatical captured Nazi spies who preferred to be shot or hanged rather than betray their country, and their wishes were granted.

However, we should not forget that the US and the UK were allies in the Cold War, as they were in the world wars. It was not an easy alliance, and there were many disagreements. However, this was to be expected. Both nations had heroes and fools. Often the British were right, often the Americans were right. What is important is that, at least for a time, Russian power was broken. The arrogant scum lost!

What I despise in films and TV is how the God-accursed Russians are made out to be espionage geniuses laughing at their incompetent foes. If I see another film with that ugly Swede Max von Sydow as a lovable, grandfatherly old chessplayer outwitting the stupid Brits and Americans at every turn, I'm going to break his glasses.

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[–] ofumalow 10 years ago

One thing in this life is certain: If something goes right in Rangoon, or the Ukraine, or Antarctica for that matter, some idiot somewhere is going to start chanting "USA! USA!," because he can't conceive of any other nation determining its own fate, let alone that of others.

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[–] ethermusic1981 10 years ago

Aw, someone must have pissed in your Cheerios this morning. Cheerio!

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[–] rfischer-4 9 years ago

No. He's making a factual point. Read the thread carefully and you'll understand.

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[–] ethermusic1981 9 years ago

Oh I read the thread, you condescending dick. Try again. ;)

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[–] rfischer-4 9 years ago

Well said. It's this idiotic notion of American "exceptionalism" that alienates most of the rest of the world.

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] gallae 10 years ago

huh? in what way?

Laura Ess

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[–] davidmrenton 9 years ago

joestone99uk

you should off clarified , while the US was losing wars to the communist's(Vietnam), Britain was winning wars against the communists (Malaysia).

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[–] Squeeth2 8 years ago

The cold war as a fake you son of a silly person.

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

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[–] mobocracy (846) 4 years ago

I'd like to think the entire bit was more cooperative than competitive.

Britain's contribution was a long history of colonial administration and the vast network of contacts and human intelligence gathering dating back centuries, really. I think the US learned a lot from Britain about human intelligence networks, we wouldn't have the CIA if it wasn't for inspiration from the British.

The value the US was able to provide was the industrial and financial muscle to provide the SIGINT capabilities. Britain wasn't going to be putting satellites into space or flying SR-71s over the Soviet Union.

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