"Who are you going to trust, a retired MI-6 operative or the government of Russia?"

[kpete]

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/819908847330557953

[chelsea0011]

1. So, what is a failed spy, anyway?

[shraby]

4. A failed spy is usually in jail or dead.

[chelsea0011]

12. that's what I thought

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Not just "a retired MI6 operative"

the former head of MI6's Russian section. (You don't get a job like that if you're incompetent.)

[FarCenter]

7. He went to Cambridge - competence is not a factor

[JHan]

3. I'll go with retired MI6 Operative.

[smirkymonkey]

5. Someone get that guy a thesaurus.

Can't he come up with another insult besides "failed"?

[Motley13]

6. overrated, disaster,

he knows words, he has the best words

[Cha]

8. lol#sad!

[Denzil_DC]

9. That'll be the "failed spy" who busted the FIFA scandal

wide open last year, Donny boy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32897066

You know, the one who played a major role in revealing widespread long-term corruption and sparked off mass arrests of a network of officials and their cronies who'd been lining their pockets for years.

That one.

[JHan]

10. Good call! thanks for sharing.

I completely forgot.

No wonder the BBC is reporting on this *with more seriousness than the ChuckieTodds of M$M

[Denzil_DC]

11. You're welcome.

For anyone not familiar with that case, here are some details:

Who is Christopher Steele, the former British spy who created the Donald Trump Russia dossier?

...

The Reuters news agency, citing former British intelligence officials, reports that Steele supplied the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with information on corruption at Fifa, international soccer's governing body.

...

According to reports, in the summer of 2010, members of a New York-based FBI squad assigned to investigate "Eurasian Organised Crime" met Steele in London to discuss allegations of possible corruption in Fifa, the Swiss-based body that also organises the World Cup tournament.

People familiar with Steele's activities said his British-based company, Orbis Business Intelligence, was hired by the Football Association to investigate Fifa.

...

The FBI squad whose members met Steele subsequently opened a major investigation into alleged corruption that led to dozens of US indictments, including those of prominent international football officials.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/12/christopher-steelethe-former-british-spy-created-donald-trump/

Steele may have gone to ground at the moment, but this is a guy who's no stranger to living in some danger, having crossed widespread, powerful international crime syndicates.

[Paladin]

13. I'd take a retired MI-6's word in most instances.

And I'd damn sure take it against Donald Trump and Vlad Putin.

[oberliner]

14. Is "neither" an option?

Because it should be.