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From Putin to Mullah Omar, traces of cold war paranoia still shape our world From Putin to Mullah Omar, traces of cold war paranoia still shape our world
(about 17 hours later)
In an interview on Desert Island Discs in 2006, David Cameron told an amusing anecdote about a jaunt to Yalta when he was 19: over lunch in the resort city on the Black Sea, the KGB had “interviewed” the young prime minister-in-waiting with view to future employment. Now Russia’s secret services have taken umbrage at the story: Moscow is as shocked at the allegation as Claude Raynes’s Captain Renault was to find gambling going on in Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca. For suspicious cold war old hands, one detail stands out. Inquiries had been made, sniffed a spokesman, and “no file exists” on the young Dave. Had there been an approach, the source insisted, a record would have been kept. In an interview on Desert Island Discs in 2006, David Cameron told an amusing anecdote about a jaunt to Yalta when he was 19: over lunch in the resort city on the Black Sea, the KGB had “interviewed” the young prime minister-in-waiting with view to future employment. Now Russia’s secret services have taken umbrage at the story: Moscow is as shocked at the allegation as Claude Rains’s Captain Renault was to find gambling going on in Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca. For suspicious cold war old hands, one detail stands out. Inquiries had been made, sniffed a spokesman, and “no file exists” on the young Dave. Had there been an approach, the source insisted, a record would have been kept.
Of course, Cameron could be hyping a shallow tale. A politician exaggerating for effect? We’re shocked, shocked. But the blanket Russian denial does not stand up either. It was common for eastern bloc services to approach westerners it thought might be worth targeting as agents or sources, without the outcome being documented in the Stygian cellars of files.Of course, Cameron could be hyping a shallow tale. A politician exaggerating for effect? We’re shocked, shocked. But the blanket Russian denial does not stand up either. It was common for eastern bloc services to approach westerners it thought might be worth targeting as agents or sources, without the outcome being documented in the Stygian cellars of files.
Related: Taliban leader Mullah Omar is dead, says Afghan governmentRelated: Taliban leader Mullah Omar is dead, says Afghan government
This I can be sure about, having been on the end of a recruitment bid when I was living in East Germany in the mid-1980s, around the same time Dave was in Yalta. Like salesmen fearful of missing a corporate target, recruiters often failed to record conversations that did not end in what was delicately called a “continuing relationship”.This I can be sure about, having been on the end of a recruitment bid when I was living in East Germany in the mid-1980s, around the same time Dave was in Yalta. Like salesmen fearful of missing a corporate target, recruiters often failed to record conversations that did not end in what was delicately called a “continuing relationship”.
I must have looked like a likely target, spending a lot of effort trying to get into East Germany, once in 1984 to study at Ilmenau Technical University and again at the Humboldt in 1986. Bernd, my minder, was a large, sweaty man. Over ice cream (milk over-production in state-run agriculture meant there was tonnes of it), he would ask what I thought of world events and the Soviet Union. The Stasi connection was barely disguised.I must have looked like a likely target, spending a lot of effort trying to get into East Germany, once in 1984 to study at Ilmenau Technical University and again at the Humboldt in 1986. Bernd, my minder, was a large, sweaty man. Over ice cream (milk over-production in state-run agriculture meant there was tonnes of it), he would ask what I thought of world events and the Soviet Union. The Stasi connection was barely disguised.
Finally, I moved up the chain of snufflers. A more worldly chap at the German news agency ADN took me to see his office, before syphoning us into a side room with a nameless “colleague”. “Could you imagine yourself staying in the east?” said my host. “We could offer you a position here at ADN – and a three-room flat ...” They tried to persuade me to write a piece about the arms race for a good fee and hoped I might “be helpful”. When I wasn’t, they gave up. Finally, I moved up the chain of snufflers. A more worldly chap at the German news agency ADN took me to see his office, before syphoning us into a side room with a nameless “colleague”. “Could you imagine yourself staying in the east?” said my host. “We could offer you a position here at ADN – and a three-room flat ...” They tried to persuade me to write a piece about the arms race for a good fee and hoped I might “be helpful”. When I wasn’t, they gave up.
Two tranches of files duly emerged from the rubble of the East German state after 1990: but the main meeting doesn’t figure in any of them. The agency man, it later emerged, was an “officer with special tasks” – an elite of a dozen experts who were to help run the war economy in the event of invasion by the west, so at least I’d have had a contact in high places come Armageddon.Two tranches of files duly emerged from the rubble of the East German state after 1990: but the main meeting doesn’t figure in any of them. The agency man, it later emerged, was an “officer with special tasks” – an elite of a dozen experts who were to help run the war economy in the event of invasion by the west, so at least I’d have had a contact in high places come Armageddon.
I was on the end of a recruitment bid by the Stasi when I was living in East Germany in the 1980sI was on the end of a recruitment bid by the Stasi when I was living in East Germany in the 1980s
Looking back to that time brings out the tragicomedy of Soviet-era societies and the sense of living, historically pickled, in aspic.Looking back to that time brings out the tragicomedy of Soviet-era societies and the sense of living, historically pickled, in aspic.
But more striking as we deal with the greater complexities of a post-cold war era is how many names, themes and stories continue to play some role today. I worked with the late Markus Wolf, the East German spy chief, on his memoirs. One of his pet theories was that in the intelligence world, “nothing ever really goes away”.But more striking as we deal with the greater complexities of a post-cold war era is how many names, themes and stories continue to play some role today. I worked with the late Markus Wolf, the East German spy chief, on his memoirs. One of his pet theories was that in the intelligence world, “nothing ever really goes away”.
We called on a hardline TV propagandist, Karl Eduard von Schnitzler, who snarled that the west had brought the east to its knees, then gestured towards a map of Saddam’s Iraq and prophesied that “this is the country” that would undo the west.We called on a hardline TV propagandist, Karl Eduard von Schnitzler, who snarled that the west had brought the east to its knees, then gestured towards a map of Saddam’s Iraq and prophesied that “this is the country” that would undo the west.
At the time that I was pottering round among students in Saxony and Thuringia, Vladimir Putin was recruiting in Dresden, liaising with the local Stasi.At the time that I was pottering round among students in Saxony and Thuringia, Vladimir Putin was recruiting in Dresden, liaising with the local Stasi.
The position of East Germany – materially in advance of the Motherland and on the doorstep of the glittering west, fascinated Putin. Its demise haunts a man who went on to combine a high tolerance for capitalist avarice (including his own) with an authoritarian view of the state and rejection of liberalism.The position of East Germany – materially in advance of the Motherland and on the doorstep of the glittering west, fascinated Putin. Its demise haunts a man who went on to combine a high tolerance for capitalist avarice (including his own) with an authoritarian view of the state and rejection of liberalism.
Those summit shots of Putin and Angela Merkel remind us that she had joined the growing citizen’s protest movement in 1989, while Putin was burning files that documented collusion with the Stasi.Those summit shots of Putin and Angela Merkel remind us that she had joined the growing citizen’s protest movement in 1989, while Putin was burning files that documented collusion with the Stasi.
For the full pathos, seen from the other side, there’s a documentary film made by a Putin acolyte as High Noon of the brave Soviets under siege from pro-democracy protesters. “Putin succeeded in persuading the crowd to fall back and made clear he was prepared to use his pistol,” runs the commentary. “This is Soviet territory and you’re standing on our border.” For the full pathos, seen from the other side, there’s a documentary film made by a Putin acolyte as High Noon of the brave Soviets under siege from pro-democracy protesters. “Putin succeeded in persuading the crowd to fall back and made clear he was prepared to use his pistol,” runs the commentary. “This is Soviet territory and you’re standing on our border.”
As my old frenemy Wolf put it, these things don’t stop mattering. They colour Merkel’s optimistic belief that, because she knows the strange byways of the old communist world better than others, she could bring “reason” (her favourite word) to discussions with Putin over Ukraine. Her background also accounts for steadfastness, even rigidity, when it comes to the long haul on the eurozone’s woes. As my old frenemy Wolf put it, these things don’t stop mattering. They colour Merkel’s optimistic belief that, because she knows the strange byways of the old communist world better than others, she could bring “reason” (her favourite word) to discussions with Putin over Ukraine. Her background also accounts for steadfastness, even rigidity, when it comes to the long haul on the eurozone’s woes.
Footsteps echo through history. My first big argument in a university bar in 1983 was over Soviet shooting down of the Korean airliner over Sakhalin – a trigger-happy incident dressed up as an espionage story and not much different from the obfuscation dished out over the shooting down of the MH17 flight over Ukraine.Footsteps echo through history. My first big argument in a university bar in 1983 was over Soviet shooting down of the Korean airliner over Sakhalin – a trigger-happy incident dressed up as an espionage story and not much different from the obfuscation dished out over the shooting down of the MH17 flight over Ukraine.
One of my Ilmenau peers ended up as leader of the German Social Democrats for a while. This week Mullah Omar, who made his personal mythology as a Taliban fighter, was declared to have been dead for some years – like the Castilian legend of El Cid, whose empty armour was sent into battle to scare the enemy. Afghanistan and Soviet retreat was the hot topic being skirted nervously in the seminars on “Peace and the Global World Order” I dozed through at the Humboldt University.One of my Ilmenau peers ended up as leader of the German Social Democrats for a while. This week Mullah Omar, who made his personal mythology as a Taliban fighter, was declared to have been dead for some years – like the Castilian legend of El Cid, whose empty armour was sent into battle to scare the enemy. Afghanistan and Soviet retreat was the hot topic being skirted nervously in the seminars on “Peace and the Global World Order” I dozed through at the Humboldt University.
From Iraq and Afghanistan and their effects on those who tangle with them, to Russia, still under the thumb of the former KGB man watching “his” Germany fall apart, the traces of the old world shape the exhilarating, risky one we struggle with now.From Iraq and Afghanistan and their effects on those who tangle with them, to Russia, still under the thumb of the former KGB man watching “his” Germany fall apart, the traces of the old world shape the exhilarating, risky one we struggle with now.
As for the European hegemony of Merkel, it would have seemed like a far-fetched fantasy in the era of Helmut Kohl. She lisped, wore frumpy skirts and was nicknamed “The Milkmaid”: gauche and fresh-faced. Clearly, she was going nowhere that mattered.As for the European hegemony of Merkel, it would have seemed like a far-fetched fantasy in the era of Helmut Kohl. She lisped, wore frumpy skirts and was nicknamed “The Milkmaid”: gauche and fresh-faced. Clearly, she was going nowhere that mattered.
• This article was amended on 31 July 2015. An earlier version misspelled Claude Rains’s surname as Raynes.