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Comment by namaria | Hacker News Reader

Who is this 'the West' and how would you expect it to monitor and protect millions of Russians amongst billions of people in hundreds of countries?

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"the West" is normally understood to be a certain collection of governments, people, ideas, and institutions. The police of Spain and Spanish intelligence would be included here. They should've made sure that the defected soldier could, if he wanted, remain totally anonymous.

The Spanish government is optimized to win elections in Spain, not to secure foreign operators who appear to have defected from selected countries. This sort of armchair security policy analysis skips over reams of complexity for the sake of shaking fingers at single events that get published.

The intelligence operations that succeed don't get published. If we decry western incompetence at each apparent Russian assassination, the FSB is achieving its goals.

Also, why do these guys always go to Russian enclave and tourist sea side towns? It is very easy to disappear in Spain, but not in the type of places where he was killed. If you want to flee from something, you go throw a dart somewhere under or above Madrid, far from the sea. No one wants to be there, there are no Russians and the post office cannot find you so you don’t even get mail IF you register there (which you wouldn’t if you are trying to hide).

For some reason people go to Marbella, or other well known mainland coastal places or, of course, Ibiza. Good for vacation (if you enjoy that type of thing), but how is it smart for disappearing of the fsb grasp.

Southern Spain is Russian organized crime playground. There are probably a lot of connections available there for all kinds of operators from Russia.

Exactly. So if you are trying to get away from the Kremlin, you wouldn't go there. And yet, he did.

You have a very simplistic view of things. I don't think Andalucia's Russian criminal underground is a very united or pro-Kremlin crowd.

'The West' is the collection of countries comprising "The Anglophone Five Eyes", Europe and Japan as an honorary addition.

What other name would you use for this bunch of people? "The West" has become the normal accepted term over the last few decades.

The BRICS is also a well defined group of nations that has little in common besides some investment banker report from how their economies correlated in the early 2000s and bureaucratic plans for mutual currency swap.

Naming groups of things doesn't make them a coherent whole.

theres border control for a reason...if foreign hitmen can get into the country, kill someone, and get away with it, whats the point of border control?

Could of easily have been a local hitman

> whats the point of border control?

Harassment of ordinary people for the sake of security theatre.

thats what im saying...all those d***heads throwing away my perfectly legal shower gel without even looking, they should be ashamed of themselves this is happening

I went on a business trip to China some decade ago. On the way back, at the Shanghai airport, I forgot that I had an entire unopened tub of yogurt in my carry on. The security screening attendant just waved that through, like they don't give a damn.

All that hoopla about liquids on planes originates from America. 9/11 didn't happen in China, so they probably think it's just some foreign bullshit they have to implement, which they do half-assedly.

Not even security theatre, but maybe just mere nationalism/jingoism - countries create border controls to create a clearer "us vs them" mentality

Border control catching every hitman with the backing of an entire country… You need to stop watching CSI shows buddy.

Border control is for plebs. Intelligence services can forge passports and use that to get in[1]. The way to stop assassinations is counter-intelligence.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/15/ireland-israel...

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