Jonathan Tremblay: History Shows that Sex is Much Better than Torture
[Jonathan Tremblay is a historian and is a Breaking News editor for the History News Network]
News has trickled out of Russia that several dissidents against Moscow’s government have been taped with prostitutes and or while engaging in some ‘unconventional’ behaviour. Ilya Yashin is amongst these dissidents and describes the ploy as a ‘honey trap’ set up by Russian officials to discredit him and the ideals of his protest movement. He claims he was simply getting involved in a ’summer romance’ when a woman lured him back to an apartment rigged with cameras. Yashin says he didn’t become suspicious “until drugs and sex toys were brought out”. In all seriousness, he was probably more tipped off by the Youtube video that was subsequently posted online. Whether or not the Russian government is directly involved in the ploy, the orchestration and success of the ‘honey trap’, in over a dozen cases in the past few months, has been guided by the age-old principle that sex makes fools of us all (sorry Shakespeare).
Ilya Yashin was presumably the only victim/Joe unmarried enough to openly talk about the incident but there are apparently a dozen more that are being enticed to lay low if they do not also want their ‘private functions’ to become very public. Yashin has been hosting anti-government protests around Russia for years (pushing for an orange democratic revolution similar to what happened in Ukraine a few years back) and says that the video will not impede his efforts. He recognizes however, as have many analysts and historians, that the tactic can and will be effective and is a swift return to KGB style extortion and entrapment.
Indeed, the Soviet secret services routinely trained female operatives to seduce and “interrogate” western diplomats, officials and known spies in their own special way. Where torture revealed unreliable and coaxed information, the vixen spies would easily extract information with more stroke than strike. Beyond the fact that it happened, we know very little and it will remain so until the KGB’s successor, the FSB, deems it necessary to make the archives public (never) or are forced to reveal them by Moscow (probably already incinerated).
Further back in the twentieth century history of “sexual interrogation”, we have perhaps the most well known case of seduction and deceit.
Her name was Margaretha Zelle. She was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands in 1876 and had suffered both a broken home and a violently alcoholic husband by the time she was 20. An officer of the Dutch colonial army, Margaretha’s husband had brought them to the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) where the Netherlands were still desperately hanging on to their colonial empire. It was here that Margaretha adopted Indonesian culture, joined a native dance troupe and adopted her stage name: “Mata Hari” (“eye of the Dawn”). She followed her abusive husband back to Amsterdam where, after 11 years of unhappiness and two deceased children, they divorced. She then took her act to the big leagues and became known throughout the West for her exotic dancing. Mata Hari was a staple of the French cabaret and has even been credited with bringing a certain culture to the style (keeping in mind that ‘exotic dancing’ is still basically stripping).
Having achieved notoriety, Mata Hari took her fame from the stages of France to the bedrooms of Europe. From her dancing, she was invited to parties and finally became a courtesan (a classy term for mistress in some cases and prostitute in others) to some wealthy and powerful men. It is not unheard of for a talented, cleaver and ambitious woman to use her “attributes” to gain wealth, power and fame but we later learned she was after much more. Here is where the story of little Margaretha becomes less “Tina Turner’s bawdy double” and more “James Bond Villain”.
By the time the First World War rolled around, she was spending most nights with military officials and royalty around Western Europe. As France, Germany and most of the free world began fighting, Mata Hari had lost her cabarets but was lucky enough to be a neutral Dutch citizen, free from travel restrictions. She continued to ‘tour’ some important and influential beds until 13 February 1917. An intercepted German message mentioned “operative H-21″ and went into great detail discussing the great service she had done to the Fatherland. Indeed, Mata Hari was arrested in Paris, put on trial and found guilty of being a spy for Germany. She had passed along information that led to the deaths of 50,000 Allied soldiers. A firing squad put an end to the seductive Dutch courtesan in October of that year. She was 41. Her last words are said to have been “Merci, monsieur”, a fitting remark.
As an epilogue, much speculation still surrounds Mata Hari, her alleged spy work for the German Crown, her possible double-agent status for the French government, her recurring bedfellows and her loyalties in general. Oddly enough, that did not matter very much in her 1917 trial. She had been in the beds of dozens of influential men and clearly many of them revealed things to her that they had previously vowed never to divulge even under torture. If Mata Hari was NOT guilty of passing on classified information, she was certainly executed for having heard it.
Mankind has progressed by leaps and bounds yet no amount of progress can curb the ultimate power of sex over man.
Read entire article at The End is Coming (Blog)
News has trickled out of Russia that several dissidents against Moscow’s government have been taped with prostitutes and or while engaging in some ‘unconventional’ behaviour. Ilya Yashin is amongst these dissidents and describes the ploy as a ‘honey trap’ set up by Russian officials to discredit him and the ideals of his protest movement. He claims he was simply getting involved in a ’summer romance’ when a woman lured him back to an apartment rigged with cameras. Yashin says he didn’t become suspicious “until drugs and sex toys were brought out”. In all seriousness, he was probably more tipped off by the Youtube video that was subsequently posted online. Whether or not the Russian government is directly involved in the ploy, the orchestration and success of the ‘honey trap’, in over a dozen cases in the past few months, has been guided by the age-old principle that sex makes fools of us all (sorry Shakespeare).
Ilya Yashin was presumably the only victim/Joe unmarried enough to openly talk about the incident but there are apparently a dozen more that are being enticed to lay low if they do not also want their ‘private functions’ to become very public. Yashin has been hosting anti-government protests around Russia for years (pushing for an orange democratic revolution similar to what happened in Ukraine a few years back) and says that the video will not impede his efforts. He recognizes however, as have many analysts and historians, that the tactic can and will be effective and is a swift return to KGB style extortion and entrapment.
Indeed, the Soviet secret services routinely trained female operatives to seduce and “interrogate” western diplomats, officials and known spies in their own special way. Where torture revealed unreliable and coaxed information, the vixen spies would easily extract information with more stroke than strike. Beyond the fact that it happened, we know very little and it will remain so until the KGB’s successor, the FSB, deems it necessary to make the archives public (never) or are forced to reveal them by Moscow (probably already incinerated).
Further back in the twentieth century history of “sexual interrogation”, we have perhaps the most well known case of seduction and deceit.
Her name was Margaretha Zelle. She was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands in 1876 and had suffered both a broken home and a violently alcoholic husband by the time she was 20. An officer of the Dutch colonial army, Margaretha’s husband had brought them to the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) where the Netherlands were still desperately hanging on to their colonial empire. It was here that Margaretha adopted Indonesian culture, joined a native dance troupe and adopted her stage name: “Mata Hari” (“eye of the Dawn”). She followed her abusive husband back to Amsterdam where, after 11 years of unhappiness and two deceased children, they divorced. She then took her act to the big leagues and became known throughout the West for her exotic dancing. Mata Hari was a staple of the French cabaret and has even been credited with bringing a certain culture to the style (keeping in mind that ‘exotic dancing’ is still basically stripping).
Having achieved notoriety, Mata Hari took her fame from the stages of France to the bedrooms of Europe. From her dancing, she was invited to parties and finally became a courtesan (a classy term for mistress in some cases and prostitute in others) to some wealthy and powerful men. It is not unheard of for a talented, cleaver and ambitious woman to use her “attributes” to gain wealth, power and fame but we later learned she was after much more. Here is where the story of little Margaretha becomes less “Tina Turner’s bawdy double” and more “James Bond Villain”.
By the time the First World War rolled around, she was spending most nights with military officials and royalty around Western Europe. As France, Germany and most of the free world began fighting, Mata Hari had lost her cabarets but was lucky enough to be a neutral Dutch citizen, free from travel restrictions. She continued to ‘tour’ some important and influential beds until 13 February 1917. An intercepted German message mentioned “operative H-21″ and went into great detail discussing the great service she had done to the Fatherland. Indeed, Mata Hari was arrested in Paris, put on trial and found guilty of being a spy for Germany. She had passed along information that led to the deaths of 50,000 Allied soldiers. A firing squad put an end to the seductive Dutch courtesan in October of that year. She was 41. Her last words are said to have been “Merci, monsieur”, a fitting remark.
As an epilogue, much speculation still surrounds Mata Hari, her alleged spy work for the German Crown, her possible double-agent status for the French government, her recurring bedfellows and her loyalties in general. Oddly enough, that did not matter very much in her 1917 trial. She had been in the beds of dozens of influential men and clearly many of them revealed things to her that they had previously vowed never to divulge even under torture. If Mata Hari was NOT guilty of passing on classified information, she was certainly executed for having heard it.
Mankind has progressed by leaps and bounds yet no amount of progress can curb the ultimate power of sex over man.