Moscow Rules…

Something from back in the day that is becoming applicable here, which is something I thought I’d never say… dammit…

  1. Assume nothing.
  2. Technology will always let you down.
  3. Murphy is right.
  4. Never go against your gut.
  5. Always listen to your gut; it is your operational antennae.
  6. Everyone is potentially under opposition control.
  7. Don’t look back; you are never completely alone. Use your gut.
  8. Go with the flow; use the terrain.
  9. Take the natural break of traffic.
  10. Maintain a natural pace.
  11. Establish a distinctive and dynamic profile and pattern.
  12. Stay consistent over time.
  13. Vary your pattern and stay within your profile.
  14. Be non-threatening: keep them relaxed; mesmerize!
  15. Lull them into a sense of complacency.
  16. Know the opposition and their terrain intimately.
  17. Build in opportunity but use it sparingly.
  18. Don’t harass the opposition.
  19. Make sure they can anticipate your destination.
  20. Pick the time and place for action.
  21. Any operation can be aborted; if it feels wrong, then it is wrong.
  22. Keep your options open.
  23. If your gut says to act, overwhelm their senses.
  24. Use misdirection, illusion, and deception.
  25. Hide small operative motions in larger non threatening motions.
  26. Float like a butterfly; sting like bee.
  27. When free, In Obscura, immediately change direction and leave the area.
  28. Break your trail and blend into the local scene.
  29. Execute a surveillance detection run designed to draw them out over time.
  30. Once is an accident; twice is a coincidence; three times is an enemy action.
  31. Avoid static lookouts; stay away from chokepoints where they can reacquire you.
  32. Select a meeting site so you can overlook the scene.
  33. Keep any asset separated from you by time and distance until it is time.
  34. If the asset has surveillance, then the operation has gone bad.
  35. Only approach the site when you are sure it is clean.
  36. After the meeting or act is done, “close the loop” at a logical cover destination.
  37. Be aware of surveillance’s time tolerance so they aren’t forced to raise an alert.
  38. If an alert is issued, they must pay a price and so must you.
  39. Let them believe they lost you; act innocent.
  40. There is no limit to a human being’s ability to rationalize the truth.

h/t My Daily Kona

 

 

Comments

Moscow Rules… — 22 Comments

  1. When our great grand folks walked this land, they were familiar with at least some of these concepts. It’s weird to me that we didn’t keep the flame burning.

    We got too soft.

    • StxAR: That is the arc of history. Hard times create strong men. Hard men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times. I don’t exempt myself. I know that I am weak compared to my ancestors, especially when I look back at what they accomplished with so little, while I live a life of relative luxury and accomplish far less.

  2. No such thing as too much practice.
    Thanks for the reminder.

    • An amateur practices until he gets it right. A professional practices until he can’t get it wrong.

      *sigh* Thanks for the kick in the pants to do the right thing.

  3. Good reminder of how it was done, and could be done again. I personally pray we don’t have to do it, but events seem to be moving in that direction.

  4. Hey Old NFO;

    Those are good ones, something we need to keep in mind for the bad old days coming if we don’t want to get scarfed up in some dragnet in some city because they are targeting conservatives and Trump Supporters.

  5. Actually, we’re not under Moscow Rules. We are now under East German Rules, which were even harsher. Since the new rulers have introduced the modern version of the Stassi, and all the Stassi’s tools like everyone rats on everyone else. I wish we were just under Moscow Rules.

    So… EG Stassi-survival Rules are Moscow Rules with the addition of…

    Trust no one, not even yourself.
    The closer they are, the less you can trust them. Family will turn on you for favors.

    Kind of an ‘every man is an island.’ A polluted, non-functioning, semi-starvation island surrounded by mutant killer beasts, some of which look like your own family.

    Think I’m kidding? We are already having family turn in and report on members who went to the Capital on January 6th. Blog after blog is reporting that their own family members are cutting them off, and I am awaiting for the silencing and doxxing of all of us to begin.

    My non-biological almost-daughter has gone full government stooge on me.

    I think the most telling is over at the Intrepid Reporter, the Serbian War Criminal neighbor of his (BigCountry’s words, not mine) said after the November 3rd fiasco that things were beginning to look familiar, as in ‘right before the Excrement hit the Rotary Air Movement Device in Serbia’ familiar.

    Rules for now.

    Trust no one. Believe nothing. Everything lies. Nothing is as it seems. Always assume the worst, and then expect worse than that.

    If you think I am being silly, ponder the reason why 25,000 troops including air support and light armor are now in the Capital.

    And then ponder how long the movement order has been in place for those troops and airmen for them to now be in the Capital.

    And then ponder how long the preparation and logistics orders have been in place before those troops even got their movement orders.

    You all who have been in the Military know Big Military doesn’t move quickly, even in natural disasters. Light infantry, with trucks, okay. But not air assets or armored assets. Moving either, as air comes with huge material needs and support structure and armor only moves long distance on rail or big trailer, takes a lot of time and a lot of planning. That they did this without train-spotters or highway spotters questioning what was going on means that the transport assets were in place at least a week ago, maybe more.

    • There were comments about armor movements out of Texas about a week ago.

  6. All- Thanks for the comments, and yes, it’s getting…messy out there. Beans- Good points, worth thinking about.

    Posted from my iPhone.

  7. 19: Make sure they can anticipate your destination. Huh? One would think that would only apply if your destination were not “that” destination.

    • Think of it this way: don’t give them a reason to dig deeper than your cover.

      If they know who you are and what you do, and you follow your routines enough that they can easily anticipate you… they may not look closely enough to see if you’re doing Something Interesting on the way there.

    • If they know where you’re going, when you accidentally — through clumsiness, you understand — lose them, they’ll reacquire you at your destination.

      Losing people during normal, routine surveillance happens, usually because the person you’re watching is a schmuck.

      Soviet-era surveillance typically wouldn’t report a brief loss of contact.

      Which gives all sorts of opportunities for … stuff.

  8. From all that I have read and heard from a couple of ‘in the know” folks, it all begins tonight or early tomorrow morning. So do as Uncle Remus would remind us, “Stay away from crowds”!

    Last I heard, they now have 190,00 warrants to serve over the next few days. I wonder just how many of these DS rectum orifii have already fled the country to a place with no extradition treaty with the US, and how many of them are going to be accommodated at the newly renovated resort Sandals Gitmo!

  9. “Break your trail and blend into the local scene.”
    Dude! How the heck am I gonna “blend?”

  10. At this point I’m pulling for nukes and EMP. Imagine no technocrats… That would settle their little digital hegemony.

    Welcome back to old school either way.