Every Russki in America arrested for spying

[Paul Rigby]

From this morning's Daily Coalitiongraph, our old friend, Con Coffin:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/concou...-the-west/

The spy scandal shows Russia is no friend of the West

They might not have comprised the most glamorous spy ring the world has ever seen, but the 11 people arrested in the U.S. for spying for Moscow is yet another chilling reminder that modern Russia, for all its protestations to the contrary, is no friend of the West.

Only last week Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, received a personal gift of an Iphone 4 from Apple magnate Steve Jobs when, during a visit to Silicon valley, he proclaimed the joys of close commercial cooperation between Russia and America. No doubt Russian technicians are now busily dismantling the new device to see how best they can copy it profitably for their own companies’ use.

Mr Medvedev might present the happy, smiley face of Russia to the outside world, but only a fool would be taken in by this ploy. In London the Russian Embassy runs as many agents in Britain as it did at the height of the Cold War, and I imagine the same goes for the U.S.. And why do the Russians still feel the need to maintain their extensive network of agents?

Part of it is motivated by their historic paranoia that everyone is out to get them: but the main motivation is a desire to make sure the Kremlin is always one step ahead of its Western rivals, whether it comes to basic commercial calculations about how best to exploit Western markets, or how to keep the West on the defensive so far as global security challenges are concerned.

Either way, you can bet on the fact that nothing Moscow ever does is aimed at making life easier for its so-called allies in the West.