"Bridge of spies " !
That was a fairly good and diverting movie, i thought, directed by Spielberg with Tom Hanks playing a lawyer involved in an exchange of spies in the heart of the Cold war.
How reminiscent of the very recent events and exchange that saw a dozen westerners exchanged for a similar number of Russians. This time, so spies involved.
Remember several months ago, another one happened, freeing a US female basket ball player Brittney Griner among others for Viktor Bout, a notorious arm dealer.
And that sends back to warnings that traveling to certain countries may expose you to that kind of risk: being arrested on bogus charges to be a mean of exchange.
I reckon I am too small fish to interest anyone hence we stayed recently almost three weeks in Moscow. I was reminded a few times though that some conversations were best kept for private space.
It is interesting to note that according to some well informed people, prosecution for spy cases in Russia normally take several months. In the case of Mr Gershkovich, the Wall Street journalist arrested more than a year ago, only three hearings were needed : sentenced, pardon sent to Vlad by Yandex Express and off he goes.
So yes best to be careful what you take picture of !
And that reminds me a funny story ! Many years ago, we were in Minsk, capital of Belarus . President , Mr Lukashenka . In terms of human rights, not much above North Korea ! A few years ago, Belarus forced a Ryanair flight on its way to Vilnius to land in Belarus on a terrorist pretext to arrest two passengers, one of them opposition activist and journalist . But there we are, winter time, beautiful weather, blue sky, snow all over, sun shining and amazing ice stalactites forming from the rooftops of imposing buildings near the centre and where we were staying. They were part of some kind of government compounds. I noticed as there were quite a few uniformed security personnel around. But I had 15 minutes before lunch , so I was walking around , taking pictures and trying to avoid being in the line of site of those guys. CCTV cameras helping, one soldier came out, then a second one , then an officer, all taking a big interest in the small digital camera.
As they were very courteous, I could place a call to my wife to come down translate and explain. In the meantime, an even higher ranked person came , judging by the size of the jacket and belt.
Long story short , two outcomes : I had to show it wasn't an old analog camera so pictures could be deleted and were. A few words for the lunch delay. And a lesson of democracy from who I suspected was a high "general " : I was lucky to be in a civilized and respectful country ! If the same had happened near the White House ( DC), I would have got shot !
Advice well taken !
