
We discovered our parents were Russian spies - nkurz
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/discovered-our-parents-were-russian-spies-tim-alex-foley
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Artoemius
The most interesting thing for me is how easily KGB survived the fall of the
USSR. Not only did they seamlessly continue all their espionage programs
started during the Cold War, but they also easily came back into full power in
less than a decade, appointing one of their agents as the ruler of Russia for
life.

This shows the power of any major secret service. They can do literally
anything they want. They don't care about anything except their own survival,
and they will easily adapt to any circumstances and any political climate.

~~~
pjmlp
This is why having been born just out of dictatorship in Portugal, and knowing
how the McCarthy worked out, why I always wonder how US citizens have this
glamours idea that their secret services follow some kind of law, besides
their own agenda.

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moioci
What did McCarthy have to do with the secret services of the US?

~~~
pjmlp
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism)

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cperciva
_they are fighting a legal battle to win back their Canadian citizenship,
stripped from them six years ago. They believe it is unfair and illegal that
they are expected to answer for the sins of their parents_

This is mis-stating (I suspect deliberately) the situation under Canadian law.
They weren't "stripped" of Canadian citizenship (as can happen to war
criminals who lie on their citizenship applications); rather, it was
discovered that they had never been Canadian citizens in the first place.
Their parents lied to them and told them that they were Canadians; but the
fact that they were harmed by their parents' fraud is not a reason for the
fraud to be made reality.

On the other hand, the Canadian government _does_ seem to be wrong when it
comes to blaming them for the circumstances and annulling Alex's student visa.
The fact that have they lived in Canada and identify as Canadian seems like
strong considerations in support of an application for a visa or even
permanent residence; the fact that they were tricked into thinking that they
were Canadian once doesn't mean that they shouldn't have the opportunity to
truly become Canadian.

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the_mitsuhiko
They were born in Canada so they should be citizens independently of their
parents.

~~~
Iburinoc
The article mentions the applicable exception:

> Everyone who is born in Canada is eligible for Canadian citizenship, with
> one exception: those who are born to employees of foreign governments.

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jnbiche
So do the children of "actual" Canadians who betrayed their true country and
turned to work for foreign, non-Canadian governments have their citizenship
annulled? The children of the Canadian counterparts to Ames and Hansson? (I'm
sure there have been some)

Or have about those Canadians who work legitimately for foreign embassies?
Canada clearly has those [1]. I assume their kids don't have their citizenship
retracted.

My guess that this is meant as some sort of punitive action against the
parents, but it seems wrong to punish the children. Even assuming the kids
knew, as the article pointed out, what's a 16-year old who finds out his
parents are foreign spies supposed to do? Call the FBI? I can see children in
a totalitarian country reacting that way out of fear or an excess of
patriotism, but have we really reached that point here in the West?

1\. [http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ntcs/frgn-eng.html](http://www.cra-
arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ntcs/frgn-eng.html)

~~~
cperciva
Children of Canadian citizens acquire citizenship by blood. The "employees of
foreign governments" clause only applies if the parents are neither citizens
nor permanent residents.

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mookerific
It clearly sounds like money is no obstacle, and perhaps this is due to the
parents' return to Russia as heroes and subsequent plush career placements.

So while the kids's psyche are probably quite damaged, they won't be going
hungry.

Very interesting read.

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id122015
maybe its time for all the people everywhere to start to act like secret
agents, and thus we can achieve equality. Never talk about yourself, fake your
CV or dont have one, mount recording cameras everywhere around you,use SSL,
dont care too much about the borders that governments make. You will not
suffer that much as real agents do sometimes. No more ambush sufferings
either, as people will avoid meeting in public crowds.

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cafard
I assumed at the time, and at the time of other similar busts, that US
counterintelligence (mostly but probably not entirely the CIA), is aware of
some number of persons doing illicit intelligence-gathering here. Whether,
when, and whom to arrest and deport I take to depend on factors including
whether our agents have been arrested, whether there is some other point we
need to make, etc. I would not be surprised to learn that more than another
ten Russian agents remained known or at least suspected, but unmolested for
various reasons: to protect informants, to channel information or
misinformation through them, or simply to have someone to arrest a few years
down the road.

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pbreit
Surprised not a single mention of "The Americans" which sounds very similar
(and a great show).

Edit: my bad. I did a search and it didn't return anything.

~~~
osipov
I liked the 1st season and stopped watching in the middle of the 2nd one, felt
that the writers deliberately tried to make the main characters less likable
than they were in the beginning.

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maxerickson
I think they tried to use a softer introduction and then harden them up once
the audience got to know them. They are brutal killers, you aren't necessarily
supposed to like them.

SPOILERS

They eventually reveal themselves to the daughter and she tells her priest.
It's really pushing suspension of disbelief for me that the several additional
mouths stay shut.

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MichaelGG
Except, from the little I read, there was no murders attributed to these
"illegals".

No doubt a bit of TV license. Just like the top spies or doctors spend time
doing boring labwork a low level worker could do.

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toomanythings2
Dramatic TV shows, movies and books are about entertainment, not telling the
truth as it really happened. Almost all such things carry the disclaimer
"based on" and anything can be changed and be different.

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Pingviini
This is a pretty cool story. A shame they got caught. :(

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gaius
This is probably quite common among Grauniad writers.

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zaro
To me, after all the Snowden leaks , the story about two Russian spies sounds
kind of ridiculous because of the level of hypocrisy :)

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zaro
Usually hypocrites don't like it hypocrisy being mentioned ...

