I suppose it’s fair enough that we are all laughing at poor Ryan Fogle the American diplomat who is accused of spying for the CIA by Russia after being “caught” wearing a silly wig under his baseball cap by Russian security officers in Moscow. Everyone is asking could he really be an American spy in the 21st Century and yet use such a blatantly amateur disguise. The United States government hasn’t commented yet but I’m sure we’ll find out more soon about this awkward young man who’s been paraded for the cameras by a jubilantly outraged Russia. Maybe it’s a Russian set up or, just maybe, this really is modern American espionage found out.
One thing’s for sure, Ryan Fogle must have felt a real plonker being filmed like that in the silliest of wigs, his baseball cap back to front and sunglasses completing the “disguise.” To compound the amateurism, he was found with a compass and a map of Moscow as well as a stash of money and a weirdly incriminating open letter to a potential Russian recruit. It certainly looks like a plant but whether it is or not, Ryan Fogle must have felt truly caught lying there on that Moscow street with an unfriendly knee in his back.
Maybe we’ve all seen too many spy films or read too much John le Carré but it just isn’t what we expect from our spies these days. Only someone with a bizarre sense of humour could have thought this one up – either that or an idiot. The joke feels less funny if it turns out that the secret services of either country, the USA or Russia, could threaten international diplomacy with such risible incompetence. Meanwhile let’s feel a bit sorry for Mr Fogle. He’s being sent home to mam and, I suspect, to a lot of mockery, poor man. Maybe he should put on another disguise for that inevitable US airport moment. Any one got a Santa outfit he could borrow?
