
The MI6 Spy Who Perfected the Art of the 'Honey Trap' - lermontov
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-brilliant-m16-spy-who-perfected-the-art-of-the-honey-trap
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dtornabene
Love the soft-pedaling of who precisely she was working on behalf of in 1936
Spain, a "pro-communist" govt. So she worked on freeing fascist aristocrats.
Awesome.

~~~
danharaj
Liberals are better than fascists are better than communists are better than
anarchists. Such is the order of the world as it is imposed.

tongue-in-cheek

~~~
antocv
"Liberals" in the meaning above is purposefully left undefined.

Liberal ideals and principles can and often are ignored, see Occupy
Wallstreet/2008-Financial crisis, if it suites the existing power holders. In
short, could modify from liberals to "power of oppression".

~~~
danharaj
For sure. The only difference between a fascist and a liberal despot is that
the fascist is proud of their violence while the liberal dissimulates it and
belittles and destroys those who point it out. The same is true for the state
communists. Disagree with Stalin? Revisionist. Etc. Even in anarchism there
are people who will use the ideology in a purely instrumental way to justify
or hide their use of violence.

Ideology is a smokescreen for power.

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Ygg2
Interestingly, her Wikipedia page, mentions that a lot of things article
credits her for was found as incorrect.

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nxzero
Having run across seducers of secrets in really life, they were always up
front about what they were after, and find it hard to believe those who fell
into Betty's trap didn't know what they were doing.

As such, a deep respect for her, since there's only so many times you play
with fire before you get burned.

~~~
rublev
Realistically how do you become a spy?

~~~
hackaflocka
You don't contact them. They contact you.

Like the earlier poster said, you need a high profile career where you are
able to signal intelligence, mental toughness, and your political and
patriotic leanings.

Journalism leads to all sorts of amazing career opportunities (if you want to
think of it that way). A lot of journalists are actually doing lobbying for
some special interest or the other.

~~~
rdtsc
In the university math department I heard this joke:

Q: How do you get a job with the NSA?

A: You call your mom and ask for an application form.

~~~
nxzero
If only the NSA was that clever.

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lamarkia
Looks like she found in MI6 the justification to a life of affairs.

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anabis
In any other job or social position, her temperament could have destroyed her
life. It seems miraculous that she found her calling.

~~~
wavefunction
I suppose. From the article, it's noted that she abandoned her young child for
her "life." I don't have respect for people like this, though it's certainly
their "right."

~~~
lostlogin
Her life or her husbands? And as cold as it was, some allied soldiers lived
because of this.

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datasutra
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12473813](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12473813)

