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If it turns out that he was somehow repatriated to his home country under compulsion that would not be terribly surprising. Nor would it be surprising if he was

by ctrlp 1y ago

If it turns out that he was somehow repatriated to his home country under compulsion that would not be terribly surprising. Nor would it be surprising if he was a "spy" or even a double agent. The FBI raiding his home suggests that he was somehow implicated either as a foreign agent or as a compromised intelligence asset, and one side or the other wanted him back.

mmooss 1y ago
> Nor would it be surprising if he was a "spy" or even a double agent. It would be very surprising. How many spies and 'double agents' are there?
- forrestthewoods 1y ago
  > It would be very surprising. How many spies and 'double agents' are there? Talk to anyone who deals in sensitive matters and attends conferences and they will tell you the number of people trying to pry information is overwhelming. So the answer to your question is lots. A tremendous number of people, especially in academia, feed information to foreign governments. Not only is it not rare, but it's obnoxiously common for those who have to deal with it.
- BirAdam 1y ago
  Even “friendly” and “allied” nations spy on each other.
  - mmooss 1y ago
    That doesn't tell us about the proportion of spies in the population.
    - BirAdam 1y ago
      I meant to simply imply: “more than one might commonly assume”
- ctrlp 1y ago
  Many, many, many.
- suraci 1y ago
  > Approximately 7% of Chinese people are registered CCP members so in a rough estimate, if you have 10 chinese coworkers around you, there is over a 50% probability that CCP is watching you
  - blitzar 1y ago
    20% of US people are registered Republican members. If you have 10 US coworkers around you, there is over a 90% probability that GOP is watching you.
  - csb6 1y ago
    This is some of the worst use of statistics I have ever seen on this site. Genuinely something the John Birch Society or McCarthy would have said.
declan_roberts 1y ago
Maybe the USA is finally cracking down on China's "thousand talents" program. https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/the-china-threat/chinese-talent-plans https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/the-chin...

by ctrlp 1y ago

mmooss 1y ago

> Nor would it be surprising if he was a "spy" or even a double agent. It would be very surprising. How many spies and 'double agents' are there?

forrestthewoods 1y ago
> It would be very surprising. How many spies and 'double agents' are there? Talk to anyone who deals in sensitive matters and attends conferences and they will tell you the number of people trying to pry information is overwhelming. So the answer to your question is lots. A tremendous number of people, especially in academia, feed information to foreign governments. Not only is it not rare, but it's obnoxiously common for those who have to deal with it.
BirAdam 1y ago
Even “friendly” and “allied” nations spy on each other.
- mmooss 1y ago
  That doesn't tell us about the proportion of spies in the population.
  - BirAdam 1y ago
    I meant to simply imply: “more than one might commonly assume”
ctrlp 1y ago
Many, many, many.
suraci 1y ago
> Approximately 7% of Chinese people are registered CCP members so in a rough estimate, if you have 10 chinese coworkers around you, there is over a 50% probability that CCP is watching you
- blitzar 1y ago
  20% of US people are registered Republican members. If you have 10 US coworkers around you, there is over a 90% probability that GOP is watching you.
- csb6 1y ago
  This is some of the worst use of statistics I have ever seen on this site. Genuinely something the John Birch Society or McCarthy would have said.

declan_roberts 1y ago

Maybe the USA is finally cracking down on China's "thousand talents" program. https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/the-china-threat/chinese-talent-plans https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/the-chin...