Cold War Intrigue

I’m rather griped by the story of the former Russian spy – a good old fashioned cold war mystery. I have to remind myself that it is real (not an Ian Fleming novel), someone has died and others may be affected, but I’m still finding it interesting.

I think it is because when I was young, before the first war with Iraq, the vague threat of nuclear war still hung over us – I remember being unable to sleep for worry after watching ‘When the Wind Blows’. And the enemy back then was still thought to be Russia. All that has gone away in recent years with the terrorists from the middle east being the new enemy so I think I find something almost comforting in the thought of Russia once more being a threat because I know where I am with that.

Not that I have anything against Russia – the two Russian people I know (OH’s ex-boss’s wife and my hairdresser) are lovely people. I never quite understood what was so wrong with communism (led to some awful regimes, but as an idea it seems quite a good one), but the power of the oligarchs there now is easy to fear. Even the word oligarchy is rather ugly and menacing sounding.