Let us not be deceived – we are today in the midst of a Cold War. Bernard Baruch, 1870-1965, address to South Carolina Legislature 16th April 1947
In the West we are told that the Cold War is over. But this is not so. The Cold War was never just about attrition between the two super- powers; it was fought mostly with the blood of far-away people considered expendable. In poor countries like El Salvador and Panama, Vietnam and Cambodia. It is surely the cruellest irony of 1990 that as the Berlin Wall is torn down, the Western democracies have rebuilt its equivalent around a nation of people who threaten no-one and with whom none of us have any quarrel. Indeed, the extraordinary efforts of the Cambodian people to recover from their nightmare ... The Khmer Rouge must be stopped. John Pilger, Cambodia – The Betrayal, ITV 1990
This hydrogen bomb was the most powerful weapon ever built by man ... The world was on a potentially fatal collision course. Secrets of War s1e19: Cold War: The Strangelove Factor, History 1998
Mutual distrust grew; relations between the United States and the Soviet Union rapidly deteriorated. ibid.
By 1962 the Russians had a problem: the United States had a 17 to 1 superiority in nuclear missiles and warheads. ibid.
The fundamental differences between the Soviet Union and the United States … This state of perpetual tension was called the Cold War. Secrets of War s1e37: Cold War: Inside the CIA
It was time to bring back some of the dirty tricks the OSS had developed in World War II. ibid.
The ultimate mission of the CIA and the OPC was to subvert the Russian hold on eastern Europe. ibid.
Joseph Stalin consolidated his grip on the Soviet state by utilizing the newly powerful secret service as his personal instrument of control. Secrets of War s1e38: Cold War: Inside the KGB
By the end of World War II Soviet agents had infiltrated all the world’s major military and political establishments and many of the lesser ones. ibid.
But from its very birth it was evident that Israel had no intention of building a socialist state on the Soviet model … Stalin felt betrayed and turned his wrath on the Jews in his own country. ibid.
‘The KGB regarded killing people abroad as well as in the Soviet Union as a normal part of its operations. It stopped in the early 1960s … the risks of being found out.’ ibid. Christopher Andrew, co-author KGB: The Inside Story
In Moscow George Blake was rewarded with a large flat and a country house. ibid.
Oleg Gordievsky successfully crossed the Finish border in the trunk of a car. ibid.
1954: Project Ajax: A secret CIA plot to overthrow leftist prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh codenamed The Old Bugger. The Shah would be maintained on the throne. Secrets of War s1e56: Cold War: Eisenhower’s Operatives
Dwight Eisenhower orchestrated some of the most devious covert operations the world has ever known. ibid.
Soon CIA aeroplanes were buzzing Guatemala dropping small bombs. ibid.
On March 17th 1960 Eisenhower authorised $4,400,000 to fund a cover operation to train a cadre of Cuban exiles. ibid.
In late April 1961 … Kennedy wondered aloud, How could I have been so stupid as to let them proceed? He was referring to the US Central Intelligence Agency which had just humiliated itself, the new president and the nation by completely bungling its secret invasion of Cuba. Secrets of War s1e57: Cold War: The Kennedy Years
The CIA’s deputy director of plans Richard Bissell claimed that there was significant internal support in Cuba to overthrow Castro. ibid.
One plan to kill Castro involved the use of poisonous cigars. ibid.
But for America missiles just ninety miles away was a new and terrifying experience. ibid.
Republican candidate Richard Nixon feared that the president was going to come up with an October surprise that would bring peace to South East Asia. Secrets of War s1e58: Cold War: Nixon’s Secrets
Nixon’s concern that his opponents were concealing something drove him to resort to clandestine tactics to uncover their secrets and seize the advantage. ibid.
Between March 1969 and May 1970 over 3,000 raids were flown across the Cambodian frontier … hundreds of thousands of civilians lost their lives. ibid.
Moscow March 5th 1953: Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet empire, died at the age of 73 … ‘The Imperialists will finish you off like flies.’ Secrets of War s1e59: Cold War: Krushchev’s Regime
Krushchev disposed of Lavrentiy Beria and seized the reins of power. ibid.
It’s still not known how many US planes were lost in these secret missions over the USSR. ibid.
Krushchev also introduced radical domestic reforms. ibid.
January 8th 1959: A triumphant procession through the Cuban capital of Havana marked the return of Fidel Castro … Castro was on the way to returning Cuba to self-rule and self-respect, free of its long-lived role as an international pawn. Secrets of War s1e61: Cold War: Cuba’s Communist Revolution
The United States targeted the Cuban revolutionary government and Fidel Castro himself for his anti-American rhetoric and his growing relationship with the Soviets. ibid.
He [Castro] increased wages, reduced rents and seized foreign-owned farm-land … Fidel immediately set out to cultivate his relationship with Washington and the American public. ibid.
The CIA sent bombers painted with Cuban markings to destroy Castro’s Air Force planes. ibid.
Following humiliating defeat in the Bay of Pigs John F Kennedy’s brother and attorney general Robert Kennedy vowed vengeance. ibid.
During his eleven year reign Soviet premier Nikita Krushchev diverged from the path of former dictator Joseph Stalin by instituting many controversial liberal reforms. Secrets of War s1e64: Brezhnev’s Kremlin
Brezhnev decided to disguise the coup as a democratic procedure. ibid.
Brezhnev remained devoted to the interests of the military complex. ibid.
It’s peculiar, don’t you think? A Russian Intelligence officer defects; and someone in Moscow rushes over the phone and calls someone in Paris. Topaz 1969 starring Frederick Stafford & Dany Robin & John Vernon & Karin Dor & Michel Piccoli & Philippe Noiret & Claude Jade & Michel Subor & Roscoe Lee Browne & Per-Axel Arosenius & John Forsythe & Edmon Ryan et al, director Alfred Hitchcock, Andre
Does the word Topaz mean anything to you? ibid. interrogator
We would like to know everything you can tell us about one subject – Cuba. ibid. interrogator
There is an arrangement in writing between Russia and Cuba which we must see. ibid. Mike to Andre
Why is Control calling me back? The Spy Who Came In From the Cold 1966 starring Richard Burton & Claire Bloom & Oskar Werner & Peter van Eyck & Sam Wanamaker & Rupert Davies & Cyril Cusack & George Voskovec & Michael Hordern & Robert Hardy & Bernard Lee et al, director Martin Ritt, Leamas to driver
It’s like metal fatigue. We have to live without sympathy, don’t we. We can’t do that for ever. One can’t stay outdoors all the time. One needs to come in. In from the cold. ibid. Control to Leamas
Our work as I understand it is based on a single assumption that the West is never going to be the aggressor. Thus, we do disagreeable things, but we are defensive. Our policies are peaceful but our methods can’t afford to be less ruthless than those of the opposition. Can they? I’d say er since the war our methods, our techniques that is and those of the communists have become very much the same. Yes. I mean occasionally we have to do wicked things. Very wicked things indeed. ibid.
New employer: Is your hand-writing legible?
Leamas: Except at weekends. ibid.
Communism, capitalism, it’s the innocents who get slaughtered. ibid. Leamas to Perry
That’s what the Party does for us – don’t you see – it organises our emotions. ibid. Nan Perry to Leamas
Bit by bit you’ll come across with the evidence that will kill Mundt. ibid. Control to Leamas
Fiedler, my dear Alec, is the lynchpin of our plan. ibid.
You’ve a paid defector on your hands – that’s me. ibid. Leamas to contact in Holland