S2 Book Club: Spymaster - Startling Cold War Revelations of a Soviet KGB Chief - podcast episode cover

S2 Book Club: Spymaster - Startling Cold War Revelations of a Soviet KGB Chief

Sep 30, 20231 hr 6 min
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Episode description

Hey everyone, here's the result of our first book club choice; as many of you pointed out this was a great choice to start with. I don't know if we're going to be able to be this in-depth with other books, so this format will probably change over time. Gotta start somewhere though, and I think this is a great way to deep dive into some of the history that is becoming important to understand a bit more clearly.

Here's the youtube link for those that prefer that platform: https://youtu.be/XPbmbcZ0G6w


00:00 - Introduction 

02:11 - The Author and Sources 

07:31 - Preface 

08:43 - Breaking American Ciphers - And Starting a War 

10:04 - Two Views of Culture 

12:31 - Target: The American Embassy 

16:48 - Inside a Deadly Purge 

22:18 - Into Foreign Intelligence - And England 

28:59 - A Mole and a Tunnel 

33:54 - "Why Do You Need All Those People Here?" 

36:10 - A Unique Look at the Hungarian Revolution 

36:28 - Spy Center Vienna 

36:54 - The KGB's Nazl Underground 

38:46 - Richard Sorge Redux 

39:55 - Organizing to Disinform 

41:22 - Active Measures 

43:27 - "How Could CIA Ever Have Believed in Than Man?" 

47:54 - The Top Hat Paradox 

49:47 - Prague Spring at the Politburo 

50:26 - Other Places 

51:08 - The Irony of Helsinki and Watching it End 

51:44 - Epilogue and Appendix 

52:50 - Closing Thoughts and Comments  

Notes and Corrections: 

*16:09 - Not American, he was Swedish.

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