The Cold War supposedly ended decades ago but male British diplomats stationed in Moscow are still introduced to one of the harsh realities of their job before they've even got their feet under their desk.
asserted
they → end → desk
In a standard briefing, an embassy security officer urges these middle-aged males to not forget to look into the so-called 'ugly mirror' every morning – to remind themselves, with a glimpse of their reflection, that if some beautiful young Russian woman suddenly finds them irresistible, it isn't because of their looks.
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it → urge → looks
One can only imagine that 63-year-old Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, strutting around like a bespectacled peacock with his $9,000 Tom Ford leather biker jackets, billionaire status and rock star reputation in his native Taiwan, has never thought he needed to peer into an ugly mirror.
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he → imagine → mirror
If he had, the man married to Lori Huang since 1985, might never have fallen for suspected Chinese spy Alice Huang and avoided the same fate of powerful, older men who for centuries have fallen for the oldest trick in the espionage book – the honey trap, which may now be the catalyst in his fall from the pinnacle of the tech world.
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which → have → world
Exploiting the seemingly inevitable weakness of men of a certain age for women of a younger age, femmes fatales have been seducing mighty men to gain information or influence since Delilah wheedled out of Samson the secret to his superhuman strength (his flowing mane of hair) for her Philistine paymasters in the Old Testament.
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Delilah → exploit → Testament
For decades, Soviet Russia, and later communist China, particularly relied on honeytrapping – also known as honeypotting and 'sex warfare' – to make up for the West's advantages in more conventional espionage areas.
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Russia → rely → areas
And experts attest that, by preying on the loneliness or unsatisfied sexual desires of targets, often living far away from home in countries where there is limited scope for socializing with local people, it can be incredibly effective.
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it → attest → people
And America's principal adversaries clearly continue to rate honeytraps highly, encouraged perhaps by the fact that so many targets nowadays are – like Huang, who admitted that working as a waiter at Denny's in his youth helped him overcome his crippling shyness – techie types who may find it especially challenging to connect romantically with women.
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it → continue → women
Only last month, it was revealed that the artificial intelligence giant OpenAI issued a warning to its engineers about the danger of honey traps.
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giant → reveal → traps
It reportedly illustrates the danger with the story of how foreign spies seduced a US diplomat in Russia by first sending a blonde woman to his hotel room with champagne.
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spies → illustrate → champagne
It remains to be seen how Alice Huang first met Jensen Huang
Lori Huang and Jensen Huang married in 1985, eight years before Jensen co-founded Nvidia
When he declined, the spy agency sent a red-headed woman and, then, a young man.
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agency → remain → woman
Hollywood churns out movies and TV shows about honey pot spies – from Hitchcock's 1959 classic North by Northwest and pretty much every James Bond film, to far more recent series such as The Americans and Ponies – as often light-hearted, glamour-fueled entertainment.
However, intelligence experts say it remains a very serious problem, particularly now that China has recognized that US dominance in advanced technologies such as semiconductors and AI is a strategic vulnerability that can be addressed by so-called HUMINT, or human intelligence.
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that → churn → HUMINT
The latter includes using attractive young women, either professional agents working for China's Ministry of State Security (the country's equivalent of the CIA) or – because China is infamous for pressuring ordinary citizens into spying – other Chinese people persuaded to flirt or even sleep for the state, say Beijing watchers.
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watchers → include → state
China has for years concentrated its spying activities on economic rather than military or political espionage.
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China → concentrate → espionage
This, say experts, has the advantage that their quarries are businessmen and industrialists, so-called 'soft targets' who won't have the training or protection of people in government or the military.
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who → say → government
Often, as it appears in the case of Alice Huang who is a Senior Executive at a Singapore tech company, if they are not already businesswomen, academics or investors, they will pose as them to provide them with cover and a useful, unsuspicious way of making initial contact with their target.
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they → appear → target
Although bars are a favored way of making that first contact, they are rather obvious, say espionage analysts, and potential victims are consequently more on their guard when they are in one.
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they → favor → one
And of course, while hacking can be an effective way of stealing information, establishing an intimate personal relationship not only provides potential access to the data but, often even more usefully, the opportunity to influence the target.
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establishing → steal → target
Some intelligence experts believe that Jensen Huang's status as a close friend and advisor to Donald Trump as he framed his policies on China and AI will have been far more attractive to Beijing than anything their agent might have been able to glean about Nvidia's technological secrets.
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agent → believe → secrets
Nvidia boss Jensen Huang is said to have fallen for fragrant suspected Chinese spy Alice Huang, as older men who for centuries have fallen for the oldest trick in the espionage book – the honey trap
On Wednesday, allegations emerged in the New York Times that the CEO had a second extramarital affair, this time with Kimberly Powell, an executive at the company who reports to him
Jensen Huang has apologized for being 'unfaithful' to his wife and also addressed Nvidia's Board of Directors has initiated an independent investigation.
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Board → say → investigation
'I support the investigation and will cooperate fully,' he said in an internal memo on Sunday, November 8.
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he → support → Sunday
'I love our country and our company.
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I → love → country
I am committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting America's national security.
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I → commit → security
'
But the situation went from bad to worse for Huang on Wednesday, when allegations emerged in the New York Times that the CEO had a second extramarital affair, this time with an executive at the company who reports to him.
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who → go → him
Nvidia shares dropped sharply after hours when the news emerged, and reports have since swirled that the company's board is preparing to oust Huang from his post, a decision that many fear could pop the AI bubble and cause a ripple effect across the global economy.
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many → drop → economy
US intelligence has been warning for years that, amid increasing technological and trade tensions with China, Beijing was making aggressive use of honey traps to exploit any vulnerabilities among western men it can find.
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it → warn → men
Incidents of western diplomats falling victim to honey traps are usually hushed up and the target quietly brought back home but US intelligence insiders say there have been two publicized cases of it happening in China.
They say that the problem is particularly severe in China because the country's state security doesn't just use spies to gather intelligence but routinely puts pressure on its own citizens to provide information either by threats or intimidation.
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security → fall → threats
This means that any Chinese lover of an American ex-pat could be vulnerable to being turned into a spy.
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lover → mean → spy
Alice Huang is a Senior Executive at a Singapore tech company
Experts attest that preying on the loneliness or unsatisfied sexual desires of targets, often living far away from home is an effective strategy
As an illustration of the threat that China is perceived to pose in this sphere, it was revealed last year that – for all the US President's warm words about Chinese leader Xi Jinping – the Trump administration was keeping a Biden era ban on US government staff in China from having any romantic or sexual relations with locals.
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administration → attest → locals
The US government has long required staff to disclose romantic relationships with foreign nationals while China, naturally averse to being caught out by its own tactics, forbids its own government staff from any such relations (unless, of course, they are spies).
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they → require → course
Rather like the UK's 'ugly mirror' reminder, US diplomatic staff heading to China are now given presentations in which they are warned of the dangers with briefings on case studies in which attractive women were dispatched to seduce their colleagues.
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women → head → colleagues
And they're warned that dozens of Chinese state security agents can be assigned to monitor a single foreign diplomat.
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dozens → warn → diplomat
The Biden ban on sex with the locals had a historical precedent.
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ban → have → precedent
Honey traps were, predictably, rife during the Cold War when agents for both sides were able to work in their adversaries' countries.
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agents → work → countries
In 1987, the US government barred staff stationed in the Soviet bloc and China from befriending, dating or having sex with locals after a US Marine in Moscow was seduced by a Soviet spy.
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Marine → bar → spy
The Marine, Clayton Lonetree, was seduced by Violetta Seina, a Soviet embassy employee, then passed to a KGB handler.
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Marine → seduce → handler
Lonetree was convicted of espionage charges and jailed for nine years.
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Lonetree → convict → years
The restrictions were only relaxed after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
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Union → relax → 1991
In the intervening years since then, US personnel in China had to report any intimate contact with Chinese citizens to their supervisors but were not explicitly forbidden from sexual or romantic relationships.
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personnel → intervene → relationships
In presentations before being stationed in China, US personnel are briefed on case studies where Chinese intelligence services sent attractive women to seduce American diplomats and warned that dozens of Chinese state security agents can be assigned to monitor any individual diplomat of interest and try to identify their vulnerabilities, according to a report by the Associated Press.
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dozens → station → Press
…and 46 more, not listed.
The Aporia
