> Whether the KGB (and its successor, the GRU) could have or might have been successful is of course debatable, but no one can deny this kind of persistent effo

> Whether the KGB (and its successor, the GRU) could have or might have been successful is of course debatable, but no one can deny this kind of persistent effort to subvert another country's people over such a long horizon is... audacious (words fail me). > In particular, I find the idea of a long-term government-sponsored program whose goal is to "demoralize" people a bit upsetting: It stands directly against the let's-roll-up-our-sleeves, we-can-do-it optimism for which US entrepreneurs have long been known around the world. Though, IIRC, their subversion projects use a similar strategy to VCs: throw a bunch of efforts at the wall, and see which ones stick. For a lot of it, I don't think they had a big master plan, but tasked agents with coming up and implementing ideas for subversion and disinformation.