The East-West Rivalry Heats Up

How annoying - Russian spies display a particular East Coast bias when planting moles!

The alleged agents were trained by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and sent to the US to infiltrate policy-making circles and collect information, according to court papers filed in US District Court for the southern district of New York.

Some of them had been living in the country under false identities since the early 1990s, using codes and and engaging in advanced computer operations, including posting apparently innocent pictures on the internet which contained detailed texts, investigators say.

The FBI also reported observing older techniques, such as money being buried next to a beer-bottle marker and "brush pasts" in parks.

Five of the suspects will appear later in a Manhattan federal court - a couple known as "Richard Murphy" and "Cynthia Murphy", who were arrested in Montclair, New Jersey; Vicky Pelaez and a man known as "Juan Lazaro," who were arrested in Yonkers, New York state; and Anna Chapman, who was arrested in Manhattan, New York City.

Another three - Mikhail Semenko and a couple known as "Michael Zottoli" and "Patricia Mills" - will appear in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, after being arrested in Arlington, Virginia.

The final two people - a couple known as "Donald Howard Heathfield" and "Tracey Lee Ann Foley" - were arrested in Boston, Massachusetts, and will appear in a federal court in the city.

A suspect known as "Christopher R Metsos" remains at large.

So what about the flyover cites? What are they, chopped liver? And WHAT ABOUT ALASKA? And of course, L.A. We got lots of important industry here! Where's OUR Russians?

Well, that's why they're not a superpower any more.