Master of espionage
Michael Jansen The author, a well-respected observer of Middle East affairs, has three books on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The author, a well-respected observer of Middle East affairs, has three books on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
31 Dec 2020 John le Carre British spy novelist John le Carre, who died on Dec.14 at the age of 87, and master spy George Blake who died at 98 two weeks later, are forever linked by Cold War intrigue. Blake, a real life British spy who defected to the Soviet Union, was the opposite number of John Le Carre’s fictional character Alec Leamas, who was sent by Britain to Communist East Berlin to pretend to defect.
by Binoy Kampmark / December 29th, 2020
Filling the espionage ranks with legions of the non-belonging comes with its share of risk. The process is counter-intuitive, putting stock in skill and aptitude above the potential compromise of loyalty and divergence. Eventually, such a recruit might find a set of closely guarded principles.
The son of a Sephardic Jew and Dutch Protestant might well count as excellent material for British intelligence but George Behar ended up condemned in Britain and the toast of the now defunct Soviet Union. George Blake, as he came to be known, along with that other great British export of betrayal, Kim Philby, was always convinced that to authentically betray, you had to belong. That belonging came in loyalty to the Soviet Union. As Russian President Vladimir Putin declared solemnly on Blake’s passing this month, “The memory of this legendary person will be preserved forever in our hearts.”
Never Belonging: George Blake s Spy Exploits - » The Australian Independent Media Network theaimn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theaimn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Monday, 28 December 2020, 2:52 pm
Filling the espionage ranks with legions of the
non-belonging comes with its share of risk. The process is
counter-intuitive, putting stock in skill and aptitude above
the potential compromise of loyalty and divergence.
Eventually, such a recruit might find a set of closely
guarded principles.
The son of a Sephardic Jew and
Dutch Protestant might well count as excellent material for
British intelligence but George Behar ended up condemned in
Britain and the toast of the now defunct Soviet Union.
George Blake, as he came to be known, along with that other
great British export of betrayal, Kim Philby, was always
How British spy George Blake became a KGB colonel AP; Getty Images; Global Look Press; Legion media The MI-6 operative was one of those double agents of the Cold War era, who worked for the USSR in service of an idea - not money. And neither the breakup of the Soviet Union, nor that of the socialist regimes across the globe as a whole, could deter him from his faith in communism.
On December 26, George Blake passed away at the age of 98. The man was one of the most celebrated double agents of the Cold War years. An MI-6 operative, he worked for Soviet intelligence for almost 10 years, becoming one of the most valued agents in its history.