11779 replies to this topic

[Greg]

"We really need to send Ben to Ottawa" seems like an acceptably ambiguous slogan that could work for two cohorts of Victoria voters.

[rmpeers]

"We really need to send Ben to Ottawa" seems like an acceptably ambiguous slogan that could work for two cohorts of Victoria voters.

Everybody wins.

[Barrrister]

Cant we be more traditional and send Ben to a Gulag like Uncle Joe would have done?

[spanky123]

Yes, well said.

Really it’s a showdown between Victoria-Beacon Hill and Oak Bay-Gordon Head. Both of those could go in any direction, but the Greens ran a formidable campaign for Saanich-South in 2017, nearly doubling support from 2013 to garner 25% of the vote with just a fraction of what everyone else spent. They’ll be pushing very hard here. The Greens also landed in #2 spot in Esq-Saanich-Sooke.

I don’t doubt the TV machine could be quite the match for the NDP machine in Victoria, and quite possibly the other three adjacent ridings.

 

TV is the progressive fraction of the NDP for the most part. A large part of the UVIC NDP community feel as though the NDP has become too centrist (you know what always happens with ruling parties on either side). The Greens used to have a brand but now that everyone has latched on to the green message they are losing support.

[VIResident]

CBC's municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy is saying he's heard rumours Isitt is considering running for Carole James' seat under the Green Party banner. Just a rumour but still it's notable to hear it bubbling up through mainstream media. He's pretty well sourced.

 

our ears run with similar birds.

[Mike K.]

TV is the progressive fraction of the NDP for the most part. A large part of the UVIC NDP community feel as though the NDP has become too centrist (you know what always happens with ruling parties on either side). The Greens used to have a brand but now that everyone has latched on to the green message they are losing support.

They suffered on two fronts, for sure. One was the fiscal improbability of their budget, the other as you say, the environmental aspect that has been embraced by the young NDP up and comers.

[spanky123]

They suffered on two fronts, for sure. One was the fiscal improbability of their budget, the other as you say, the environmental aspect that has been embraced by the young NDP up and comers.

 

And the fact that both Federal and Provincial leaders have quit.

[mbjj]

Here's another one. Ben writes about the time he hung out in a bar and drank beer with Russian military intelligence officers. 

 

Ben Isitt 1.png

 

 

Here's another one. Ben writes about the time he hung out in a bar and drank beer with Russian military intelligence officers. 

 

Ben Isitt 1.png

 

 

Here's another one. Ben writes about the time he hung out in a bar and drank beer with Russian military intelligence officers. 

 

Ben Isitt 1.png

Oh ya? Well my ma danced with drunk Russians officers in 1975 in Kalinin, lol.  

[mbjj]

Sorry, don't know why that quote went crazy!

[Mike K.]

And the fact that both Federal and Provincial leaders have quit.

Yup.

[David Bratzer]

Something's a bit bizarre here. Aren't operatives, you know, a bit more clandestine about their work as operatives and would know better than to discuss their roles with a person who just arrived from Canada and is traveling around the hinterland?

 

These are just my personal thoughts.  Part of me thinks he is simply naïve, or misguided in the extreme. Part of me wonders if him or the other party was trying to get these meetings out in the open in case they were observed. He must of known his “research” might attract attention. He was repeatedly traveling from the home of MARPAC to Vladivostok (headquarters of Russia’s pacific fleet).

 

One part that stands out for me is when I ran for school trustee in 2011. He was running for council. He and I shared similar views on drug law reform. We did some "together but separate" campaigning. I came over to his place on election day. He started the morning by playing Soviet labour songs (in Russian).  He said it was for good luck. He wanted to start the day on the a positive note.  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

 

All in all, I honestly don’t know what to think. We were on friendly terms but we’ve long since parted ways. I have been extremely disappointed with his inflammatory behaviour and comments.

 

[Nparker]

TV is the progressive fraction of the NDP for the most part. A large part of the UVIC NDP community feel as though the NDP has become too centrist...

Then they need to splinter off and become what they truly are, the New Socialist Party.

[spanky123]

Then they need to splinter off and become what they truly are, the New Socialist Party.

 

I think that is where the friction point is with the UVIC NDP. They want to promote the fact that they are socialists while the core NDP is trying to be perceived as centrist. I think there is a real chance that several of the leftist members are elected and we wind up with a "squad" type thorn in Horgans side for the next 4 years.

Edited by spanky123, 16 September 2020 - 05:00 PM.

[gstc84]

Then they need to splinter off and become what they truly are, the New Socialist Party.

I think a faction is trying that: https://www.bcecosocialists.ca/

[Rob Randall]

Part of me thinks [Isitt] is simply naïve, or misguided in the extreme. 

 

Ben has fetishized Soviet culture since he was a teenager. I believe he thinks Communism could have been a success and the bad parts of Soviet culture were caused by corrupt individuals not getting with the program and Western economic sabotage. 

 

Part of me wonders if him or the other party was trying to get these meetings out in the open in case they were observed. He must of known his “research” might attract attention. He was repeatedly traveling from the home of MARPAC to Vladivostok (headquarters of Russia’s pacific fleet).

 

 

That's an interesting angle. I guess a realistic interpretation depends on whether you think the operatives in this case more closely resemble the Russians in a Tom Cruise/Sean Connery movie or the ones in a Dan Ackroyd/Bill Murray movie.

 

I know that Russians stuck in the far east would be intrigued with a quirky character like Isitt. They probably notified superiors up the ladder who laughed and assured them he was a small fish.

[Mike K.]

I know that Russians stuck in the far east would be intrigued with a quirky character like Isitt. They probably notified superiors up the ladder who laughed and assured them he was a small fish.

They called up their superiors who laughed and assured them a random stranger arriving from a NATO country was a small fish. As if they’d know who he was.

I think somebody’s been watching a few too many Jason Bourne movies. C’mon, man!

It’s quite possible the accounts were exaggerated. There was no such thing as the KGB in 2008. And no dang Russian spy or intelligence agent, former or active, would divulge such information to a random stranger on a train. It defies logic that such would happen. Seriously.

[rjag]

Ben has fetishized Soviet culture since he was a teenager. I believe he thinks Communism could have been a success and the bad parts of Soviet culture were caused by corrupt individuals not getting with the program and Western economic sabotage. 

 

 

 

Met an old client of mine a few years back and we were chatting about the CoV and Ben...he laughed, he said he went to school with Bens Dad and basically said "if you think Bens hardcore you havent met his dad!"

 

I'm thinking there was a childhood of indoctrination that took place

[Rob Randall]

They called up their superiors who laughed and assured them a random stranger arriving from a NATO country was a small fish. As if they’d know who he was.

I think somebody’s been watching a few too many Jason Bourne movies. C’mon, man!

It’s quite possible the accounts were exaggerated. There was no such thing as the KGB in 2008. And no dang Russian spy or intelligence agent, former or active, would divulge such information to a random stranger on a train. It defies logic that such would happen. Seriously.

 

Ben's post said military intelligence, so I'm guessing that's GRU rather than KGB. Unlike the KGB, the GRU wasn't broken up after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The GRU has been operating non-stop since before Canada was a country. And there's a lot of them. Not all superspies. Ben probably met a couple of low-level flunkies. Nothing top secret about their jobs. I buy his story 100%.

[LJ]

^I buy the part about getting drunk.

[Mike K.]

Ben's post said military intelligence, so I'm guessing that's GRU rather than KGB. Unlike the KGB, the GRU wasn't broken up after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The GRU has been operating non-stop since before Canada was a country. And there's a lot of them. Not all superspies. Ben probably met a couple of low-level flunkies. Nothing top secret about their jobs. I buy his story 100%.

 

The first post spoke about a KGB agent. He wrote "...and the friendliest people in the world. Like the KGB agent who got me drunk on a train in the wilds of Siberia."