New Reasons To Remember The Lurid Russia Dossier On Trump - Forbes

[TomSea]

A bit of reading but what the author lays out is interesting.

New Reasons To Remember The Lurid Russia Dossier On Trump
Melik Kaylan ,  Contributor

As scandals of varying substance flare up and fade incessantly out of Washington these days, they tend to blur together. The historic and the trivial mix indistinguishably; we swiftly lose sense of what to watch closely. One such story, not easily forgotten, keeps coming to the fore with new revelations – the lurid Donald Trump Russia dossier. Most recently, the action moved to Moscow where Russian security was busy arresting top officials suspected of leaking state secrets to the U.S. Clearly, something got triggered with the release of the dossier and ensuing ruckus – all of which somehow shook out fresh information for the Kremlin to follow up. A number of news reports even suggest that a KGB general found dead in his car, Oleg Erovinkin, was actually rubbed out specifically for playing a part in the Trump dossier leaks.

I don’t propose to rehash the dossier’s overheated issues: allegations of shenanigans with call-girls, Buzzfeed controversially publishing the raw material or why the FBI kept its inquiry quiet for so long. What no one’s pursuing is the fate of the dossier’s author, former British intelligence analyst Christopher Steele  who suddenly decided to go ‘underground’ at the peak of the brouhaha. By all accounts a highly intelligent and respected M16 man for decades, he had opened his own private information bureau which is how he came to compile the dossier which ended up in the U.S. As it happens, Steele’s switching from one investigative trade to another is not so rare a career move in the UK in recent years. Some 15 years ago, I found myself being informally approached by just such an outfit via a former Brit journalist friend who now worked for a firm of information consultants. The firm’s senior staff were ex-M16, officer class types with tailored suits and cool cars. For them private enterprise espionage paid better – as it did for my journo pal – but one sensed that they never fully severed ties with Her Majesty’s Government.

Continued: http://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2017/02/02/new-reasons-to-remember-the-lurid-russia-dossier-on-trump/#68bb72ef61e6