Super long article about how US intelligence is completely embedded within private security that corps like ebay, Microsoft, and sport franchises use to protect CEOs from getting Luigied:
Juicier bits:
Recently released documents expose new details about the eBay cyberstalking scandal, Senior Security Director Jim Baugh's alleged CIA past and how the revolving door between Big Tech and the US national security apparatus threatens free speech and press freedom.
At her criminal sentencing, Security contractor Veronica Zea called the culture at eBay under Baugh cult-like, toxic and abusive, weaving a stomach-churning story about how a carefully selected group of mostly young female analysts (nicknamed "Jim's Angels") were systematically broken down through coercive control techniques, sexual harassment and assault, sleep deprivation, and routine exposure to graphically violent content.
While Zea's letter to the court contains the most shocking revelations about the toxic culture at eBay, Baugh's sentencing letter gained even wider attention due to explosive claims that he had previously served in the National Clandestine Services - the undercover arm of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Baugh's letter to the judge was surprisingly candid about his government intelligence background - including claims that he worked for the CIA after a stint at Microsoft and that he assisted the CIA and FBI with intelligence gathering activities on a voluntary, unpaid basis after returning to the private sector as an independent security consultant on high-profile protection details including guarding then-Vice President Joe Biden at the 2016 Oscars.
The letter also revealed Baugh's supposed CIA and FBI code names as well as claims that during his private sector career, he assisted with recruitment of foreign agents and electronic surveillance of foreign leaders; reported observations from international travel and business meetings; and recruited colleagues (including a CEO) to assist the government by allowing the use of their private sector resources.
Other documents from the criminal sentencing which have not been sealed show that Baugh contends he was hired by eBay specifically for his prior government experience which demonstrated an "ability to solve difficult problems through unconventional means" and that this practice is not uncommon in corporate America, citing a New York Times article about a former CIA officer who was employed by Uber as one example.
During the time between Microsoft and bgC3 in which Baugh claims to have been working for CIA Clandestine Services, his resume shows he was a Strategic Planner at defense contractor Northrop Grumman, lending plausibility to the idea that he may have at least been contracted to the CIA during this time, if not directly employed by the agency.
The West's industrial and military prowess hasn't rotted away yet due to neoliberalism and can actually put up a fight.
The PRC would almost certainly have went to war with the SU, in which case it becomes a SU vs PRC war with the West marching into what's left of the SU after the SU defeats the PRC, so the West can triumph over both the SU and the PRC instead of just the SU.
There was a brief period of time when the PRC wouldn't have gone to the war with the SU in this hypothetical (ie when Stalin was still alive), but the SU was still recovering from WWII. This is basically "Stalin shouldn't have stopped at Berlin." The SU wouldn't get ICBMs until after Stalin's death, so even if Stalin didn't stop at Berlin, the US would still be around.
I guess there's also the very end of Gorbachev's reign, but the Soviet political class was thoroughly compromised by that point.