More spying allegations plague the European Union
Brussels, we have a problem.
In case you missed it, I posted a new class to the Foreign Influence Operations course: The Origin Story of the Lord of Siberia, featuring spies, more spies, and vodka-fueled orgies. “He looked like he was going to vomit on the tarmac.” Don’t miss it!
ALEX’S WEEKLY RANT
Is anyone in the European Parliament not spying for another country?
News came this week that yet another employee of the European Parliament has been arrested for spying, in this case for China. Jian Guo was a staff aide to Maximilian Krah, the top candidate for the European Parliament of Germany’s Alternative for Democracy (AfD) party, which is expected to win big in EU elections coming up in June.
Do you think Krah will fire Guo for spying for China? Don’t answer too quickly, because we then learned on Wednesday that Krah is also suspected of spying for China.
The spying charges might upset his fellow AfD members, however, not because he was spying, but because he was spying for China. AfD members typically spy for Russia.
Krah knows that, of course, which why he was also taking payments from Russia (allegedly). It’s the China-Russia-EU corruption mashup you didn't know you needed!
Krah insists he has done nothing wrong and is refusing to step down as candidate for June’s elections. A German official confirmed to Politico that it is too late to remove Krah from the list of candidates.
Speaking of AfD members spying for Russia…
A different member of AfD was outed this week for his alleged role in the Voice of Europe Russian influence operation, which I wrote about here. Czech intelligence caught Petr Bystron on audio receiving payments for his role in the Voice of Europe Russian operation, which aimed to elect candidates loyal to Russia to the European Parliament.
Bystron can apparently be heard on the recording counting money and asking that several staffers at the European Parliament receive payments too (nice guy!). Czech intelligence believes the operation gave around 500,000 euros to pro-Kremlin politicians/staff in the EU. According to der Spiegel: The authorities in Belgium are now also interested in the case. The intelligence services have "confirmed the existence of pro-Russian interference networks with activities in several European countries and also here in Belgium," said the Belgian prime minister.
For some background on how Brussels has become a “carousel of spies,” read this Rant!
And for some more background on how Germany has a serious counterintelligence problem, read this Rant!
I believe Bystron’s is one of the first (the first?) names to come out in the Voice of Europe scandal. He’s a fun character for those of us also concerned about Russian influence in US politics. For example, he invited Texas Board of Education member Julie Pickren to Germany, where she then did her own interview with Voice of Europe, hitting on all the buzz words: Critical race theory! Gender ideology! Election fraud! (Hat tip to the many people who sent me links about this, which I had not known about).
Pickren has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
But I’m going to lay this out in stark terms: She was invited to Germany by a German politician who was being paid by Russia to influence policy, and she gave an interview to a media site funded by Russia to influence policy in Russia’s favor, all of which does a great deal, of course, to help students in Texas.
On the subject of Voice of Europe…
The Voice of Europe Russian operation was (allegedly) funded by Viktor Medvedchuk, who, you might remember from this Rant!, was a pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarch who was charged in Ukraine with treason, put under house arrest, escaped, was hunted down and caught, then was traded to Russia in exchange for Ukrainian POWs.
Medvedchuk was (past tense!) also the owner of the yacht Royal Romance, which Croatia seized in 2022. Croatia handed over ownership of the yacht to the government of Ukraine earlier this year. This week, Ukraine announced it has contracted with a Dutch auction house to sell the vessel. Ukraine will use the proceeds of the sale to help fund its war effort. No word when the auction will take place or what the minimum bid will be, but I’m just putting this out there: My birthday is coming up, and this would be a double present (one for me and one for Ukraine). Think about it!
THE WEEK’S LINKS
A roundup of stories you should be reading
RUSSIA
The Five Futures of Russia (Foreign Affairs)
CHINA
Alex Finley is a former officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa and Europe. She writes and teaches about terrorism, disinformation / covert influence, and oligarch yachts. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Reductress, Funny or Die, POLITICO, The Center for Public Integrity, and other publications. She has spoken to the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, France24, and numerous other media outlets. She was also invited once to speak at Harvard, which she now tells everyone within the first ten seconds of meeting them. She is the author of the Victor Caro series, satirical novels about the CIA. Before joining the CIA, Alex was a journalist, covering Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy. She reported on issues related to national security, intelligence, and homeland security. Did she mention she was invited to speak at Harvard?
They buy them so cheaply now that they need multiple masters to pay the rent.
Wow, Texas was already messy and now to see where the 'Critical Race Theory' propaganda the US GOP was repeating ad nauseam last year may have stemmed from...but no consequences (yet) for the damage done to the Dept of Education that was the victim of the attack on our public education institutions by the GOP criminal enterprise. Disheartened and disgusted.