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magic9mushroom  If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me  1yr ago (abc.net.au)   1699 thread views

Interview with chief Australian spy re: possibility of great-power war (among other things)

abc.net.au

This dropped a few days ago: the head of ASIS (Australia's version of MI6 and the CIA) gave an interview. It's 26 minutes with no speedup option, so while most of it's pretty interesting I'll give some timestamps for things that are relevant to the broader geopolitical situation and thus might be the most interesting for non-Australians (as opposed to "how does ASIS work" and "reflection on specific past incidents"): 5:00-7:00, 9:17-11:17, 21:59-25:29 and to some extent 16:25-18:19.

Thought this might be of interest to you guys; also interested in what others think he meant with the various vague allusions, since I have my own ideas but I could be projecting my prejudices.

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I want to ask: why are we listening to interviews given by spies of all people, anyway? We know those are the people whose job literally is (or was, if you believe they really aren't an asset anymore) to lie and deceive. What utility could be gained from hearing them speak, other than finding out what it is that their handlers want you to believe?

To be clear, this is the dude in charge of the spy agency, not an agent on the ground. He reports to Cabinet and the PM, but my understanding is that, like most bureaucrats, he has/had a great deal of latitude. He could be lying (or, rather, deliberately making false implications), but it's probably in service of what he personally thinks is in Australia's interest if so.

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