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This page contains all of the posts and discussion on MemeStreams referencing the following web page: Op-Ed Columnist: The Farewell Dossier. You can find discussions on MemeStreams as you surf the web, even if you aren't a MemeStreams member, using the Threads Bookmarklet.

Op-Ed Columnist: The Farewell Dossier
by k at 10:23 am EST, Feb 2, 2004

] Intelligence shortcomings, as we see, have a thousand
] fathers; secret intelligence triumphs are orphans. Here
] is the unremarked story of "the Farewell dossier": how a
] C.I.A. campaign of computer sabotage resulting in a huge
] explosion in Siberia -- all engineered by a
] mild-mannered economist named Gus Weiss -- helped us
] win the cold war.

i hope safire's not trying to insinuate that we should all lay off the prez and intelligence community for screwing up iraq, but this is a pretty interesting story. i'm glad the pipeline didn't blow up near anything populated... 3 kilotons worth of a natural gas explosion? damn.

RE: Op-Ed Columnist: The Farewell Dossier
by Decius at 12:20 pm EST, Feb 2, 2004

inignoct wrote:
] i hope safire's not trying to insinuate that we should all lay
] off the prez and intelligence community for screwing up iraq,

There is, at least, a little bit of that in there. This story is not accidentally timed.

] but this is a pretty interesting story. i'm glad the pipeline
] didn't blow up near anything populated... 3 kilotons worth of
] a natural gas explosion? damn.

Its really a neat story. I almost blogged it. Of course, the problem is that there is absolutely no way to confirm any of it. I've heard that the Siberian pipeline spent more energy transferring oil to Europe than the oil was worth on that market, and as such it acted as a drag on the economy. Blowing it up is pretty funny, and certainly cost the Russians time and effort, but having it operational hurt them anyway, so its not the best thing for us to disable.