11 votes

Being Finnish: A Guide For Soviet Spies – An archived booklet reveals how communist spooks were instructed to blend in with Finnish locals

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20 comments

  1. jgb
    Link
    I would be fascinated to see something like this for England. I think most here can agree how weirdly enthralling having ones native culture deconstructed like this by foreigners can be.

    I would be fascinated to see something like this for England. I think most here can agree how weirdly enthralling having ones native culture deconstructed like this by foreigners can be.

    10 votes
  2. [4]
    mrbig
    Link
    I found that fascinating, I wonder how effective that was. I suppose someone from outta town with a Russian accent would stick like a sore thumb, and an unusual knowledge of finish etiquette might...

    I found that fascinating, I wonder how effective that was. I suppose someone from outta town with a Russian accent would stick like a sore thumb, and an unusual knowledge of finish etiquette might attract even more attention.

    2 votes
    1. [3]
      balooga
      Link Parent
      Presumably a highly trained Soviet spy would have thorough coaching in their target language and accent. I can't imagine the KGB would bother deploying agents if they weren't able to speak...

      Presumably a highly trained Soviet spy would have thorough coaching in their target language and accent. I can't imagine the KGB would bother deploying agents if they weren't able to speak convincingly like locals. Pure speculation on my part, of course, but the ability to blend in seems like it would be a baseline for espionage.

      3 votes
      1. [2]
        mrbig
        Link Parent
        I suppose so, but losing an accent is super hard if you’re an adult.

        I suppose so, but losing an accent is super hard if you’re an adult.

        3 votes
        1. jgb
          Link Parent
          It can't have been uncommon to hear a Finn with a Russian accent, just as I doubt it is now. It seems alike to hearing a Welsh accent in Glastonbury.

          It can't have been uncommon to hear a Finn with a Russian accent, just as I doubt it is now. It seems alike to hearing a Welsh accent in Glastonbury.

          2 votes
  3. MonkeyPants
    Link
    As an expat, it's funny how it is the little things that throw you.

    As an expat, it's funny how it is the little things that throw you.

    1 vote
  4. [14]
    Awoo
    Link
    RadioFree Europe is literally a propaganda outlet for anti-communist propaganda and peddling neoliberalism. As cute and fascinating as this terribly sinister booklet involving table manners is......

    RadioFree Europe is literally a propaganda outlet for anti-communist propaganda and peddling neoliberalism. As cute and fascinating as this terribly sinister booklet involving table manners is... They're a horrendous outlet and this kind of stuff serves to cutely suck unaware people into consuming the rest of their ideologically-driven content.

    4 votes
    1. [11]
      mrbig
      Link Parent
      Could you maybe point to something supporting this claim? I scanned the main page and a few articles and saw nothing particularly horrendous. It seems to give a lot of attention to Belarus, which...

      Could you maybe point to something supporting this claim? I scanned the main page and a few articles and saw nothing particularly horrendous. It seems to give a lot of attention to Belarus, which I guess is a communist country, so it may very well be an anti communist website. Horrendous? I’m not so sure.

      3 votes
      1. [10]
        Awoo
        Link Parent
        The fact all the "Radio Free" outlets are propaganda is extremely well known, so much so that it's on actually on all their wiki pages....

        The fact all the "Radio Free" outlets are propaganda is extremely well known, so much so that it's on actually on all their wiki pages.

        Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government-funded organization

        During the Cold War, Radio Free Europe (RFE) was broadcast to Soviet satellite countries and Radio Liberty (RL) targeted the Soviet Union. RFE was founded as an anti-communist propaganda source in 1949 by the National Committee for a Free Europe.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Europe/Radio_Liberty

        Then there's Radio Free Asia:

        Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a United States government–funded, nonprofit international broadcasting corporation that broadcasts and publishes online news, information and commentary to readers and listeners in East Asia. Its stated mission is "to provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press."

        it was established in the 1990s with the stated aim of promoting democratic values and human rights, and countering the narrative of the Chinese Communist Party.[5] It is funded by a grant from the U.S. Agency for Global Media (formerly the "Broadcasting Board of Governors"), an independent agency of the United States government.

        If you're smart and read between the lines on things like "to provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press" you can see the real point is "to project soft power through using our propaganda outlets to influence the citizens within regions we want to project ourselves into".

        It seems to give a lot of attention to Belarus

        The Belarus protests are an attempt by the nato group of nations to destroy the living standards of a country in their pursuit of bringing russia and other countries within its sphere of influence back under the heel of imperialism. Nothing about them is organic and believing there is anything benevolent about the intentions of nato/europe with regards to Belarus is naive. The people's living standards will be ruined through rapid implementation of neoliberal policy and privatisation of nationalised industry while they stick as many missiles and military bases as they can in the region because it's on Moscow's doorstep.

        1. [2]
          Zarasophos
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          Calling the protests in Belarus NATO-guided is the most feeble attempt at defending a murderous dictator that I have heard in a long time. There's pictures of hundreds of thousands of people...

          Calling the protests in Belarus NATO-guided is the most feeble attempt at defending a murderous dictator that I have heard in a long time. There's pictures of hundreds of thousands of people marching through Minsk, there's video of the KGB shooting a person in the streets, there's hundreds of articles detailing exactly why and how normal Belarusians want that autocrat gone. Are they all paid off? Has the CIA bought 80% of the population in Belarus, who chose the opposition candidate in an election that was massively falsified by the Lukashenko regime that didn't even let independent reporters into the country out of fear that they would show even more harshly what a joke those "elections" where?

          It really makes me wonder when I read stuff like this. Do you think people outside of the US and the EU are just structurally unable to want things on their own? Do you think they need the CIA and GHCQ to pay them to go out on the streets? How deaf can you really be to anyone outside of your "anti-imperialist" bubble to think that everything in the world is about NATO or opposition to it? The opposition in Belarus has stated numerous times that they're neither pro- nor anti-EU/NATO, all they want are their dictator gone and fair elections.

          7 votes
          1. Awoo
            Link Parent
            I didn't defend Lukashenko, don't make things up. He's not good, that doesn't change the fact that interventionism by nato is not at all intended to make the lives of the people better and will...

            I didn't defend Lukashenko, don't make things up. He's not good, that doesn't change the fact that interventionism by nato is not at all intended to make the lives of the people better and will result in a catastrophic outcome for everyone.

            1 vote
        2. [7]
          mrbig
          Link Parent
          I see. Well, I’m certainly not inclined to believe that’s a benevolent source now, but that’s true about a lot of sources. I’m also not inclined to think any of the regimes they oppose are/were...

          I see. Well, I’m certainly not inclined to believe that’s a benevolent source now, but that’s true about a lot of sources. I’m also not inclined to think any of the regimes they oppose are/were benevolent either.

          5 votes
          1. [6]
            Awoo
            Link Parent
            Free healthcare. Elimination of poverty. Elimination of homelessness. Imprisonment for antisemitism. Elimination of joblessness. Elimination of illiteracy. Elimination of food insecurity. 7 hour...

            Free healthcare. Elimination of poverty. Elimination of homelessness. Imprisonment for antisemitism. Elimination of joblessness. Elimination of illiteracy. Elimination of food insecurity. 7 hour work days.

            Man those socialists... What awful human beings they were!

            1. [2]
              mrbig
              Link Parent
              I believe you are mistaking utopian socialism with actual communism.

              I believe you are mistaking utopian socialism with actual communism.

              4 votes
              1. Awoo
                Link Parent
                I believe you are mistaking social democrats and radlibs with socialists.

                I believe you are mistaking social democrats and radlibs with socialists.

            2. papasquat
              Link Parent
              So we're just defending the CCCP now?

              So we're just defending the CCCP now?

              4 votes
            3. [2]
              Tygrak
              Link Parent
              Huh. And what country that Radio Free Europe broadcasts/ed in had this? From what my parents told me when socialism was a thing in my country, they greatly appreciated getting news from the west...

              Huh. And what country that Radio Free Europe broadcasts/ed in had this? From what my parents told me when socialism was a thing in my country, they greatly appreciated getting news from the west that weren't censored by the regime.

              3 votes
              1. Awoo
                Link Parent
                Was that one of the colour revolution countries?

                Was that one of the colour revolution countries?

                1 vote
    2. [2]
      Zarasophos
      Link Parent
      If you defend Lukashenko, you probably also think RT is the pinnacle of free media?

      If you defend Lukashenko, you probably also think RT is the pinnacle of free media?

      1 vote
      1. Awoo
        Link Parent
        Good job I did not then.

        Good job I did not then.