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At its peak, the Stasi employed one agent for every 165 East Germans. Spying was a labour-intensive business then — you needed to monitor telephone calls, steam open mail, plant a bug, follow suspects on shopping trips and then write reports for the KGB. The advantage was that, human nature being what it is, the Stasi would probably succeed in gathering dirt on all but the most saintly.
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Fraser Nelson and Lord Falconer discuss snooping in this week’s ‘View from 22’
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As the US decides, so can you
Subscribe today and get a $50 Amazon gift card if you correctly predict the next US president.
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