[Dakmar]

LarryLied,

I am pinging you because of the wierd historical stuff in the article. I am well aware that the content may set off certain 'sensitivities', but that can be fun, too, unless you're dealing with people with no sense of humor, then it gets ugly!

[aristeides]

This report suggests to me that it was the Stasi, and not Kujau, that forged the fake diaries. A secret police or intelligence agency has far better facilities for forging things than a mere private individual does. I'm reading a book now about the spy "Cicero" who turned documents over to the Germans from the British embassy in Turkey during WWII. Cicero was paid in British pounds that were counterfeited by an arm of the SS, the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, which circulated the forged notes wherever it could.

[aristeides]

I also wonder whether the true intent of the Stasi was to discredit anybody. It seems much more likely to me that the Stasi was just out for the money it hoped would be paid for the diaries. By the 1980's, East Germany and the Stasi were desperate for hard currency wherever they could get it.

[Boyd]

Putin was part of the Stasi, too.

According to published reports, He was actually part of the monetary dissolution effort. Let's 'axe' him.