smartdissent.bsky.social
Be Smart. Stay Informed. Actively Dissent. #SmartDissent
PRO DEMOCRACY. ANTI CONVICTED FELONS, STUPIDITY, CULTS AND FASCISM.
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Until the counterintelligence team at the Brazilian Federal Police hunted them down.
Many had already left Brazil by the time the agents found them. So they turned to Interpol to circulate their names and photos worldwide -- all but guaranteeing they will never work abroad again.
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Big Russian spy operations have been disrupted before. This one was different.
They weren’t there to spy on Brazil. They were there to bolster their cover stories — spending years becoming Brazilian before heading off to spy elsewhere.
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We got hold of text messages between Shymrev and his Russian wife, another intelligence officer, that offer a glimpse at the personal and often frustrating life deep undercover. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/w...
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One of the most interesting spies is Gerhard Daniel Campos Wittich -- whose real name we learnt is Artem Shymrev.
He spent 8 years in Rio building up a bonafide business and a cover identity so convincing it had fooled his Brazilian girlfriend, colleagues and friends.
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We reveal the identities of six Russian spies who have never been publicly named before –– and we have new details on three others.
All nine intelligence officers had managed to obtain authentic Brazilian birth certificates under their cover identities.
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Coincidentally, when I ask some people what keeps them on X, it's that they're turned off by the idea of taking an ethical stand, in part because it feels culture war-y tothem. here's my rebuttal to that:
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this is, i suppose a scoldy piece by nature...but that's not really my point. i'm interested in how the online dynamic leads people to accept circumstances they'd never, ever tolerate in the physical world
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It was a team effort to go through this list of attendees and attempt to contact them. Also to go out to the Trump golf course in Virginia and to be there at the White House, all to document this event. Thanks readers for supporting this work.
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Here is our story on some of the $TRUMP buyers: folks who paid money to the Trump family and their partners in exchange for getting access to the president of the United States. A free link.
Who Won a Seat at Trump’s Crypto Dinner?
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/u...
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Was quite a moment, a sense we reached some kind of inflection point in U.S. history. You can now personally pay a U.S. president to gain an audience.