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14 Year Old Debates Ex CIA Deputy Director
14 Year Old Debates Ex CIA Deputy Director
Alexey Palladin grew up inside the Soviet embassies in Washington, D.C., and Ottawa, surrounded by KGB and GRU officers. In this clip, he shares firsthand stories of meeting President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, revealing what life was like behind the scenes of the Cold War.
Living Inside the Soviet Embassy Among KGB & GRU Spies
Atomic Spy Secrets KGB Chief's Daughter Reveals All! #communism #sovietunion #kgb #alexeypalladin #kouroshtari #standuphistorian
Atomic Spy Secrets KGB Chief's Daughter Reveals All!
What was it like to grow up surrounded by Cold War spies? In this first installment of our four-part series, I sit down with historian, technologist, and former Soviet special forces veteran Alexey Paladin to explore one of the most fascinating periods in modern history—the Cold War. Alexey's story is unlike any other. Raised in Soviet embassies in Canada and the United States during the height of the Cold War, many of his classmates were the children of KGB and GRU officers. Some disappeared overnight after FBI investigations. Others would later become central figures in one of history's greatest intelligence conflicts. In this episode, we discuss: • Growing up inside Soviet embassies during the Cold War • The real difference between the KGB and the GRU • Legal spies, "illegals," and diplomatic cover • Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames—the FBI and CIA traitors • Rudolf Abel and Soviet espionage in America • Kim Philby, George Blake, and the Cambridge Five • Lavrentiy Beria, the NKVD, and the origins of the KGB • Meeting Vyacheslav Molotov and Oleg Penkovsky's widow • Training with GRU Spetsnaz and hunting Pershing II nuclear missiles • Why Alexey refused to join both the KGB and the Communist Party • The massive February 4, 1990 protest that signaled the beginning of the Soviet Union's collapse This conversation combines firsthand experience with historical analysis to reveal the human side of espionage, ideology, and the nuclear standoff that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. This is Part 1 of a four-part documentary series. In Part 2: The world moves closer to the nuclear abyss as we examine the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet intelligence operations, and the extraordinary individuals whose decisions may have prevented nuclear war. If you enjoy thoughtful conversations about history, totalitarianism, intelligence, and geopolitics, please consider subscribing to Stand Up Historian. Every week we bring historians, eyewitnesses, scholars, and experts together to explore the events that shaped our world. #ColdWar #KGB #GRU #CIA #History #Espionage #SovietUnion #RudolfAbel #GeorgeBlake #KimPhilby #StandUpHistorian #AlexeyPalladin Chapters 00:00 Growing Up Among Soviet Spies 01:08 Introduction 03:30 Life Inside Soviet Embassies 05:00 Friends Whose Fathers Were KGB & GRU Officers 06:55 The Three Types of Soviet Spies 08:10 KGB vs GRU Explained 09:30 The Origins of Soviet Intelligence 10:45 Robert Hanssen & Aldrich Ames 12:35 Soviet Executions for Treason 14:00 Viktor Cherkashin and FBI Double Agents 16:00 Living Under the Nuclear Shadow 17:25 Debating a Former CIA General at Age 14 20:00 Returning to the Soviet Union 21:00 Progress Publishers & Hidden Soviet History 22:15 The Death of Stalin and Molotov 24:30 Meeting Molotov 26:10 Oleg Penkovsky's Widow 27:30 Inside GRU Spetsnaz 30:00 Destroying a Pershing II Missile (Training) 32:15 Soviet vs Modern Spetsnaz 33:30 Was Alexey Ever a Soviet Spy? 34:00 Recruitment by the KGB 35:40 Refusing the Communist Party 36:50 The February 1990 Moscow Protest 39:00 Applying Spycraft at Cisco 43:45 Meeting Soviet Spy Masters 45:30 Aleksandr Feklisov 47:00 Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five 51:00 George Blake 55:00 Why Alexey Rejected Soviet Ideology 57:20 To Be Continued...
Growing Up Among Cold War Spies | Inside the KGB & GRU (Part 1)
As a child growing up in Iran, Dr. Maryam Sabetian dreamed of one day coming to America. After years of religious persecution, an illegal crossing into Pakistan, and a long and uncertain wait as refugees, that dream finally became a reality. In this clip from my conversation with Dr. Sabetian, she recalls the moment her family arrived in New York City in 2002. Looking up at the skyscrapers for the first time, she describes the experience as “standing at the gates of heaven”—the realization of a childhood dream and the beginning of a new life. Dr. Sabetian, who came to the United States as a refugee at the age of eleven, would eventually fulfill another of her dreams: becoming a physician. Today, she practices medicine in Washington State and is the author of Flowers of Kindergarten, a memoir that chronicles her remarkable journey from Iran to America. 📚 Flowers of Kindergarten by Dr. Maryam Sabetian: https://www.amazon.com/dp/9798199583664 🎙️ Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/FWlLJeoZKrE If you enjoyed this story, please consider liking, subscribing, and sharing. #America #NewYorkCity #RefugeeStory #Iran #Immigration #AmericanDream #StandUpHistorian #MaryamSabetian #FlowersOfKindergarten #Freedom
Standing at the Gates of Heaven: A Refugee Girl Arrives in New York
University of Washington School of Medicine, and she is a practicing doctor living and practicing medicine in the state of Washington. Welcome, Dr. Sabatin. It's it's a true pleasure to have you here. Before we start this conversation, I want to introduce your book, which is Flowers of Kindergarten. You can find this book. This is this is her story. This is the story of a family and everything they had to endure until they could finally get to the land of opportunities, land of the freedom. Welcome. Okay, where do you like to start? Let's I I'll I'll leave it to you.
Refugee's journey to becoming a doctor in America #america #freedom #refugees #bahai #religion
In a way it's a double life. I lived the same life in the same country, different time frame. Yeah obviously years earlier. And you pl you you you start to play a role for for the public. And then you have a private life. In your private life, you have you have all the realities of your life, your beliefs, everything else. But when you go outside, you have to wear this mask. Nobody knows who you are because you'll be in trouble. And that's that's very that's very unfortunate. And Baha'i Faith is not considered a of an officially recognized religion or a denomination in Iran.
Living a double life in Iran #minority #bahai #iran #persécution #freedom #religion
The next door is a a Muslim man and he invites us for tea. He has this specific glasses for us because non-Muslims are not clean.
Jewish uncle's tea invitation #iran #jewish #islam #bahai
Well, you know, as a ten year old girl with with a lot of optimism, for me it was more like an adventure. I could feel the intensity and the fear in my mom and dad. I could feel that it was physically enduring and challenging to be in that hot weather and just be there. But I was just fascinated to just see the different parts of the world. my god, this is the border. What like it looks the same, you know, they for some he said, we are in Pakistan. I was like I looked back and it it all looks the same. I was expecting like a door or a wall or something barbed wire you know there's nothing. and yeah Yeah, I mean to trust somebody like that is crazy. I mean, as an adult, I cannot imagine what my parents must have been through. But at even at in fact, I left this part out of my book. At some point, my dad says that I had this intense fear that this guy is gonna abandon us. And he he for some reason is gonna just, or for some reason might kill us here. And that that intense fear in him, he always talks about. Especially that scene where I talk about us stopping and just like having watermelon. My dad always recalls that moment. He's like, I prayed to God with everything that I had that we're gonna make this true, make true. And and and make it true.
Crossing borders a ten-year old's journey #iran #pakistan #islam #bahaifaith #bahai #freedom
As a child growing up in Iran, Dr. Maryam Sabetian learned that her family’s Bahá’í identity had to remain hidden. Religious gatherings were held quietly inside private homes, and even the children were taught to keep their faith secret. One Friday, Bahá’í children gathered at Maryam’s home to read, sing, learn about their faith, and spend time together. Their shoes were hidden, everyone was told to remain quiet, and they were prepared to say they were simply relatives visiting the family. Then came an aggressive knock at the door. Maryam opened it, and the fear that followed would remain with her for years. She remembers only fragments of the traumatic incident—her father on the floor, blood on his arm, and the realization that their home was no longer safe. They never held another children’s gathering there. In this clip, Dr. Sabetian reflects on the incident that helped convince her family they could no longer remain in Iran. Their search for religious freedom would eventually take them across the border into Pakistan and, years later, to the United States. Watch the full interview: https://youtu.be/FWlLJeoZKrE Read Dr. Sabetian’s memoir, Flowers of Kindergarten: https://www.amazon.com/dp/9798199583664 #Iran #BahaI #ReligiousPersecution #RefugeeStory #FreedomOfReligion #MaryamSabetian #StandUpHistorian
The Day We Knew We Had to Leave Iran
Okay, okay, perfect. Okay. Yeah, so it it was almost like a compound. So this the there's this street and then there's Baha'i Center right here. Down the road is this this big house. and so you enter and then there's one little building, another building right there, like four different buildings, and then we are kind of tucked at the our place was tucked towards the end of it, and then a big yard with swing and then grass and everything and it was exciting because i got to you know live have our separate area but then I could go and mingle in the area with the girls from our landlord and yeah it was fun. Neighbors
Baha'i freedom in Pakistan #bahaifaith #bahai #iran #pakistan #religiousfreedom
So that's Darsah Clock. so I I don't know if you participated, but it's it happens every Friday 'cause Fridays are off when you're on and well every other Friday as much as possible where we gather as kids and le read literature, sing Baha'i songs, it gives time for the Baha'i kids to mingle and and just teach us about Adabiyot, Adobe, not just religion, but you know, just being polite, you know, the cultural values and so that's that's what we were having you know it because there is no Baha'i house or Baha'i center in Iran and so we gathered around in each other each other's home so that particular day happened to be happening at our house we rarely did it because our house was smaller and but we did it a couple times and that one time where bad things happened.
Baha'i children's gathering in Iran #bahaifaith #iran #persécution #religion
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