Couple quezztions abt Christoper Steele : why did he "go to ground" when dossier was

[Leghorn21]

published? Wouldn't he have assumed that it was just leaking away all over the place before that (which I hear it was, tho don't know for sure, of course)? It just seems that...he would've disappeared as soon as it left his possession...?

But - before THAT, wouldn't he have covered his authorship so very well when handing it off that nobody but NObody would have known it was he who had written it? Like, wouldn't he have passed it to so and so who then would pass it (by hand) to another trusted so and so until there was no way to trace it back to him before it ended up as samizdat in DC for months on end (Sen. McCain had it at some point, right?) - ?

And lastly, why did he feel safe enough to return to the public eye when he did? Did he get word through trusted sources that he wasn't going to be murdered? What changed between the time he vaporized and the time he reappeared?

I am so endlessly, eternally grateful to this gentleman - but meanwhile, my brain hurts from puzzling over the above inquiries!!

Thank you

[bettyellen]

1. From what I understand he was unexpectedly unmasked after it leaked...

[Leghorn21]

6. Thank you - I just figured he'd have foolproof, untouchable, ironclad, deep deep cover - with

ZERO chance of being "unmasked" -

[MADem]

2. Once the material is "out there" and established as part of the public discourse, it becomes

suspicious if he finds himself dead unexpectedly. Before the material takes hold is the time to kill someone.

Also, as mentioned just upthread, he was unexpectedly unmasked. His room to maneuver went POOF when his name was bandied about.

Also, now there are separate sources that have come forward to verify the contents of the dossier.

The horse, as it were, has left the barn.

[Gabi Hayes]

4. Just ask David Kelly how things like this work out.

Oh, wait a minute............

[MADem]

10. Not even close.

A weapons inspector/scientist is not the same as someone who is skilled in the intelligence field and knows how to protect himself (which is the reason Steele "went to ground" for a bit).

Kelly didn't know how to protect himself--he didn't have the skillset.

[Gabi Hayes]

19. that's why I said "things like this"

you think a skill set of any manner is going to keep Steele alive if they really want him?

seriesly, the odds against him would be hugh!1!

[MADem]

33. Yes, I do--and it's down to the tremendous publicity his dossier has generated.

He's untouchable. If he's harmed in any way--even if his wife gets mad at him and shoots him point blank on 5th Avenue (to riff on Orange Foolius) and confesses to it--people will suspect Putin (he paid her, he forced her, he hypnotized her...etc., etc.) and give him the side eye and worse. Steele comes with conspiracies attached.

The anonymous bastards within the Russian infrastructure who gave Steele the information, though....not so much. If they haven't all been toasted, they need to keep their heads down and cover their tracks as best they can manage.

[Gabi Hayes]

34. oh, you mean like all those russian guys who were at least as well known as steele, including

candidates for office?

I see your point, but respectfully disagree.

if it comes down to him testifying here, it's going to be in a very maximum secure situation, with WHO the FFFF ''protecting'' him?

that said, I hope we don't find out the hard way

[MADem]

37. Those guys aren't UK, EU or US citizens.

No one is going to really investigate the deaths of those "Russian guys." At least not now--maybe a few years hence.

But if Steele ended up dead, it would be investigated to the Nth degree. His murder would not go unavenged. That's the difference--and it makes all the difference.

I'm quite sure Steele has already gone on record with everything he has to say. His testimony is simply a way of gilding the lily and moving the ball forward, to mix a few metaphors.

There's no percentage and enormous international risk (to include long term political/economic risk) in messing with him. Putin's tired of being a bit of a pariah-lite...it's why he tried this gambit with Trump in the first place. He wanted to push that reset button fi true, and march forward with a new US-Russia buddy - buddy relationship with HIM in the driver's seat.

He overplayed his hand, though, and while he got US (and UK w/BREXIT) to stumble a bit, other nations, like the Netherlands and France, are on to him. Everyone has a weather eye out for that asshole. When Putin comes around, he is like Trump, and nations are like virtuous ladies who put their purses in front of them to prevent his P-grabbing antics. For years to come, he'll be accused of shit he didn't even do. Serves him right. He's gotta be a bit annoyed. He can't even win swimmingly. He'd have been better off with a hamstrung Clinton than this Orange Batshit Screeching Liar who's on the edge of sanity.

[Gabi Hayes]

38. gild that lily! move that ball! hoist that petard! peel that grape!

you're probably right, and I have the attention span of a fruit fly on crank

buckle up!

[MADem]

39. LOL-I love that gif! nt

[Gabi Hayes]

40. wonder what they're going to get for selling that URL

wonder if the damage will ever be undone....

we still haven't gotten over the chimp........

[Blue_Roses]

36. I agree. Skillset is everything

in this case. Also, those other three-letter-agencies, may have given him safe harbor. I hope so.

[tblue37]

5. Putin and other such thugs don't care if the info is already out there. They are likely

to kill someone anyway, both as punishment and as a warning to others who might think of crossing them or getting in their way.

[MADem]

7. This material was directed at Trump, not Putin.

The WeeWee Tape is only a part of the intelligence (and Putin knows what he has; bfd if someone else knows too--it's the RELEASE that is damaging; the rumor is simply salacious--and of course, great fun).

When Putin thought that Trump was a halfway reliable "asset" who would lift sanctions and be his puppet, it was more important to protect him. Now that Trump is seen by USA and the world to be a fucking incompetent clown, Putin has to content himself with the knowledge that he corrupted and compromised our system of government. It's not worth it to kill the guy anymore--it'll just bring heat and not change any trajectories.

Putin tends to kill people who are of ongoing political danger to him, directly--people who challenge or threaten his position as the de-facto dictator of Russia. They're the ones who get the polonium. the defenestration, the odd car accident, or the bullet.

[tblue37]

12. I doubt that Putin likes the idea of anyone looking into and revealing

Last edited Thu Mar 30, 2017, 04:14 AM - Edit history (1)

the methods he uses to compromise people like Trump. The info damages Trump, but the collection of that info interferes with Putin's actions. Some of the recently killed Russians are people who were probably involved, perhaps even indirectly or unwittingly, in providing Steele with the information.

[MADem]

15. Yes, certainly, but the horse has left the barn.

All Putin can do is burn down the barn and kill a few farm hands who showed the horse how to open the barn door. He's not going to touch Steele. He may watch him closely, making it harder for him to collect information in future, but I'd be very surprised if he came to harm.

[Leghorn21]

18. Well alrighty then! Your lips to you know where, MADem!! Thank you! eom

[Leghorn21]

16. Apparently so , t - I hope Mr. Steele - stays in fine health!! eom

[Leghorn21]

14. Thank you MADem - this is comforting - !!! eom

[Leghorn21]

13. Yeah, I - I don't thnk the thugs care too much about keeping up appearances these days...thanks. eom

[Leghorn21]

9. Okay, copy that! "Before the material takes hold is the time to kill someone" - - okay, I

get that...sort of..because...well - I wonder if Putin would even give a shit at this point if Mr. Steele WAS to die "suspiciously" - ?

Don't answer that!! It's just that now, with talk of Christopher possibly/maybe meeting with US officials, oy - gettin hot up in here!

[MADem]

11. It is in Putin's interest that Mr. Steele remain in robust good health now.

If he got a legitimate disease and croaked, Putin would be accused. And reviled. And shunned--worse than he is already.

It's bad business for him if Steele ends up dead. The window of opportunity has closed.

[Gabi Hayes]

3. ever read alan furst?

I think you'd enjoy him

[Leghorn21]

20. Ha! No I have not and figured he writes spy novels and just googled and - well, I guessed

correctly, non? But see, that's why I have so little understanding of the spy world, because...I don't read spy novels, as I am an air-head, can't keep up, etc...and no, I did NOT make it even halfway through "Sailor Soldier Tinker Spy" (the movie)!!

But hey, maybe I should try again, what with these dreadful new "real life" (intel/undercover/intel/spook/spy) experiences I'm having these days...! - Thank you, Gabi!

[Gabi Hayes]

23. glad to whatever! Red Star was the first one I read, I think.

really..........this stuff is WAY more complicated than any fiction I've ever read

now, for some real paranoia-inducing stuff

A journalist is hot on the trail of a con­spiracy whose scope seems ever-expanding. Nicknamed “The Octopus,” the plot connects shadowy private-security contractors with an international criminal bank, government piracy of law-enforcement database software, a corrupt Native American reservation where experimental weapons are developed, and even Reagan’s October Surprise.

The journalist hopes to break the whole story all at once and find fame and fortune. According to his book proposal (quoted in Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen’s The World’s Greatest Conspiracies), he’s after a “web of thugs and thieves who roam the earth with their weapons and their murders, trading dope and dirty money for the secrets of the temple.”

Before he leaves to meet a source in West Virginia, he warns his family that, if anything happens to him, they shouldn’t believe the official story. A few days later, he is found dead in his hotel room.

His name is Danny Casolaro, and the year is 1991. And though his death is immediately ruled a suicide, there are contradictory clues: The notes he brought are nowhere to be found; a maid claimed she saw bloody towels in the hotel room after the journalist’s death. The slash wounds on his arms lack hesitation marks, and the autopsy was performed after the journalist was embalmed, distorting the results and violating state law.

It sounds like a story straight out of a ’70s-era paranoid thriller, like The Parallax View or Three Days of the Condor. Except it’s all true. Casolaro really did investigate the government’s theft of database software—a quest that lured him into pursuing ever-larger and harder-to-confirm conspiracies. And he really did die under mysterious circumstances on his way to meet a source he believed might crack the whole case open.

http://www.americantheatre.org/2014/11/19/the-conspiracy-theory-theatre-of-danny-casolaro-and-superheroes/

I read the SPY magazine stories upon which this is based, and have them somewhere. John Connolly, I think, wrote them. let's see what I can find.......

[Gabi Hayes]

24. forgot this is all about another YUUUGE government coverup:

inslaw/octopus, which has LOTS of similarities bewteen whatever Gate this one is about to be dubbed.

if you have the time, try this, which includes Cassolaro's death

https://www.wired.com/1993/01/inslaw/

[Gabi Hayes]

25. last one for now....may start a thread similarities

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2372640

[Leghorn21]

27. Oh no, got to use that word yet again; chilling...

[Gabi Hayes]

28. check this, ha:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028870672

[L. Coyote]

8. To protect his family.

This has been written about. Do a little research and you should find it. I forgot to bookmark it.

[Leghorn21]

17. Grrr - all I do is "research" these days, L.!! And I have not gleamed the answer to my queries,

hence, this post! Thanks!

[L. Coyote]

22. let's see what i can find quickly:

Former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, who produced Donald Trump Russian dossier, 'terrified for his safety' and went to ground before name released
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/11/former-mi6-officer-produced-donald-trump-russian-dossier-terrified/

Brit behind Trump dossier flees home 'terrified for his safety'
http://www.businessinsider.com/christopher-steele-brit-behind-trump-dossier-terrified-for-his-safety-2017-1

Trump Dossier Author Comes Out Of Hiding
http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/07/trump-dossier-author-comes-out-of-hiding/

[Leghorn21]

26. Thank you, L!! I was puzzling over, how did he get "unmasked" in the first place - apparently,

"these things happen"...and then I wondered why he came back whe he did, instead of hiding out the rest of his life, right? But it has been explained to me that once his name was out and about and attached to his material, well then, that's when you'll be safer, and THEY can't come...you, know...kill you. See, I didn't get that part, and now I hopefully do - -

[L. Coyote]

31. Buzzfeed published the 35 page dossier and WSJ then unmasked him.

Former MI6 officer lies low after unmasking as author of Trump dossier

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Mystery death of ex-KGB chief linked to MI6 spy's dossier on Donald Trump

[Leghorn21]

32. Thank you, L! eom

[splat]

21. He wanted to live. n/t

[nocalflea]

29. Steele has the "unofficial" support of MI6.

No small thing.They've been through this before.

[MADem]

35. Old intel officers never die....they just fade away.

That's assuming they aren't murdered, of course.

But even someone who is "retired" can be assumed to be an asset, if needs must.

[denbot]

30. I imagine if someone starts offing intel personnel..

The targeted group would respond in kind.