In recent years, Britain has become the villain of choice in Moscow's eyes. It has been accused of plotting drone strikes on Russian airfields, blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline, directing terrorist raids inside Russia, and even abetting last year's gruesome Islamic State concert attack in Moscow. This week, a new charge was added to the pile: Russian authorities claimed that British intelligence had tried and failed to lure Russian pilots into defecting to the west.
Mamdani surprised supporters by asking current Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to stay on after his inauguration early next year. Tisch, a technocrat heir to a vast real estate fortune, clashes with Mamdani on several fronts, including policy (she believes New York State's bail reforms caused rising crime) and the geopolitics that inevitably make their way into New York City's streets. (Tisch's family are key figures in the Israel lobby; Mamdani is vociferously pro-Palestinian.)
In a parallel court filing, the government alleged that these recordings, as well as previous ones in which a now former senior official reveals an alleged internal corruption network, are part of an illegal intelligence operation aimed at destabilizing Argentina's democracy. According to Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, journalists and people linked to Russian intelligence services with influence in Venezuela are behind the plot.
