ALL FOR MOTHER RUSSIA – AT 7:52 P.M. ET:  It's perfectly clear that some of the more chic members of the media would like to shove the new Russian spy scandal under the rug – it's so Cold War, dearies – but the sordid facts keep getting in the way.  In days when movies told stories, rather than featured special effects, this would be a natural:

A former City University of New York professor accused of spying for Russia told federal authorities right after his arrest that he had a fake name and that "he would not violate his loyalty to the" Russian secret "service even for his son," federal prosecutors said today.

Given the politics at the City University of New York, a professor who spies for Russia might wind up with an honorary doctorate.  Okay, I shouldn't have said it.

The ex-prof, who lived in Yonkers under the fake name "Juan Lazaro," also told investigators on Sunday that his wife, El Diario columnist Vicky Pelaez, had delivered letters to their spymasters on his behalf, and that their Yonkers home "had been paid for by the 'Service,'" according to a filing by federal prosecutors.

Pelaez is being held without bond along with "Lazaro" -- who is refusing to provide his real name -- on charges that they acted as agents for Russia. The filing indicated that federal authorities were monitoring their conversations by "microphones" in the Yonkers home "for years."

That filing also revealed that two other people accused of participating in the same spy ring -- Richard and Cynthia Murphy of Montclair, NJ -- had a safe-deposit box containing $80,000 in cash.

COMMENT:  Frugal spies.  That's what we like to see.

This is a serious scandal.  I would like to see the response of the institutions for whom these people worked. 

July 1, 2010