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“But knowledge to their eyes her ample page, rich with the spoils of time…” (Gray’s Elegy)

Why did Soviet born Aleksandr Kogan take a second name of Aleksandr Spectre? SPECTRE? “SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion”?

Is “Cambridge Analytica” a sly reference back to this? “The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom, who passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active at least into the early 1950s….” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Five

Aleksandr Kogan aka “Spectre” was born in the former Soviet Union (Moldova) but then moved to Moscow, and later moved to the US at age 7. He speaks Russian and teaches and does research for St. Petersburg University, Russia, Putin’s Alma Mater, as well as doing research for Cambridge University in the UK. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Kogan On the Cambridge University web site page he uses Spectre, while all of the publications listed on the same page are Kogan. It would be interesting to know where he lives, if he teaches in St. Petersburg, Russia, and only does research at Cambridge. According to Reuters “Academic in Facebook storm worked on Russian ‘dark’ personality project“, March 21, 2018, 12:34 PM, by Denis Pinchuk, Douglas Busvine and quoting a senior lecturer in psychology at St. Petersburg State University, Kogan (Spectre) was funded by a grant from 2015 to 2017. He advised the St. Petersburg team mostly from abroad, it is claimed. In “Read the Full Kogan email“, by Paris Martineau of “The Outline” , 22-03-18, a March 18 email which is supposed to be by Kogan-Spectre claims that he only went to St. Petersburg 3 times, each for less than one week, to give a workshop and “a few talks“.

Saint Petersburg University “is a Russian federal state-owned higher education institution based in Saint Petersburg. It is the oldest and one of the largest universities in Russia.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg_State_University
The university web site in English calls it Saint Petersburg University.

According to Bloomberg, March 19, 2018, Kogan and his wife decided to change their name to Spectre in 2015, six months before the film of the same name came out. This James Bond Spectre trailer was posted on March 2015: http://youtu.be/ashLaclKCik This was 8 months before the movie came out in November. As well, the James Bond SPECTRE name dates from 1961.

“SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) is a fictional organization featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming…. the international organization first formally appeared in the novel Thunderball (1961) and in the film Dr. No (1962)…” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPECTRE

Recall that Russian oligarch German Khan loved “The Godfather”, according to a US diplomatic cable from 2008 August 1, 12:18 (Friday), US State Dept. Cable 08MOSCOW2237_a: “1.(C) Summary: In a July 31 meeting with the Charge, TNK-BP Chief Operating Officer (COO) Tim Summers provided insight into BP and AAR’s negotiations,…. At dinner that evening, Khan had told a stunned Summers that The Godfather was his favorite movie, that he watched it every few months, and that he considered it a “manual for life.” Khan had also come to dinner armed with a chrome-plated pistol.” See more here: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2018/02/21/german-khan-and-the-godfather/
So, using “James Bond” isn’t so far-fetched.

Putting Spectre in the English to Russian translator we come up with ghost, spectre, and yes “spook”: “In folklore, a ghost (sometimes known as an apparition, haunt, phantom, poltergeist, shade, specter or spectre, spirit, spook, and wraith) is the soul or spiritof a dead person or animal that can appear to the living...” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost Spook can mean a “spy”.

It appears very strange indeed that Dr. Aleksandr Spectre is the name listed on the top of the Cambridge web site page and yet all of his publications are listed as Kogan, and his email is even AK, but there is no mention that the two are connected! He’s a man, but many women keep the name under which they did their Ph.D., even after marriage or remarriage. This is very strange. Kogan is Russian for Cohen. According to the Cambridge University web site, Dr. Aleksandr Spectre did his undergrad work at U. Cal-Berkley and received a Ph.D from the University of Hong Kong. He did his postdoc at U of Toronto before going to Cambridge, UK. The web site states that “Most broadly, Dr. Spectre’s research focuses on the biology and psychology of human kindness and well-being.” Read more here: https://web.archive.org/web/20180322060724/https://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/people/dr-aleksandr-spectre So, in short, he is abusing human kindness to manipulate people?

While James Bond fans would instantly notice Spectre, this blogger’s attention was drawn to the Russian (or Ukrainian) spelling “Aleksandr” and upon seeing “Spectre” thought of Arlen Specter who grew up in Bob Dole’s home town of Russell Kansas: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2017/03/23/russian-oligarch-deripaska-tied-to-manafort-also-has-past-links-to-bob-dole/ The late US Senator Arlen Specter’s parents came from the old Russian Empire (Ukraine): “Specter was born in Wichita, Kansas to emigrant Russian Jewish parents“. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlen_Specter In old age, with reddish hair, Specter actually looks like Aleksandr Kogan-Spectre. Moldavian should be Aleksandru. The Times of Israel reported: “Trump campaign mined Facebook user data using Israeli ‘intelligence gathering’ Cambridge Analytica CEO filmed boasting of using entrapment, bribes and honey-traps to influence election“, 20 March 2018.

While it is claimed that Aleksandr Kogan or Spectre didn’t name himself after the 2015 film, the name existed long before that – since 1961, anyway: “SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) is a fictional organization featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games. Led by evil genius and supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the international organization first formally appeared in the novel Thunderball (1961) and in the film Dr. No (1962). As an NGO, SPECTRE is not aligned to any nation or political ideology, enabling the later Bond books and Bond films to be regarded as somewhat apolitical though the former Gestapo members are a clear sign of Fleming’s warning of the Nazi fascists surviving after the Second World War first detailed in the novel Moonraker (1954). SPECTRE began in the novels as a small group of criminals but became a vast international organization with its own SPECTRE Island training base in the films, to replace the Soviet SMERSH.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPECTRE

The title to this Guardian article sums up the most critical findings on Kogan-Spectre: “Cambridge Analytica: links to Moscow oil firm and St Petersburg university Data company gave briefing to Moscow firm Lukoil, and the lecturer who developed the crucial algorithm worked for St Petersburg university” by Carole Cadwalladr and Emma Graham-Harrison Sat 17 Mar 2018 17.59 EDT https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-academic-trawling-facebook-had-links-to-russian-university The “Observer” mentioned in the article is the sister paper to the Guardian. It is not the paper owned by Kushner.

In the article, Cadwalladr and Grahan-Harrison explain that Aleksandr Kogan, a research associate at Cambridge University, UK, “who orchestrated the harvesting of Facebook data, had previously unreported ties to a Russian university, including a teaching position and grants for research into the social media network…” They state that Cambridge Analytica, with whom he worked “also attracted interest from a key Russian firm with links to the Kremlin,” (Lukoil). They found that “while he was helping turn Facebook profiles into a political tool he was also an associate professor at St Petersburg State University, taking Russian government grants to fund other research into social media… Online posts showed Kogan lecturing in Russian.”

HOW MUCH MORE CLEAR CAN IT BE?
HE MUST KNOWINGLY OR UNKNOWINGLY BE A RUSSIAN AGENT!
SPECTRE APPEARS TO BE A CODE NAME GIVEN BY CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND/OR THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT!

Bloomberg confirms that Kogan and Spectre are the same person. They also discuss the St. Petersburg job:
“The University said that Kogan had sought permission from the head of the psychology department to work with St. Petersburg University on the condition that any grants he received would be ‘in a private capacity, separate to his work at University of Cambridge.” See: “Meet the Psychologist at the Center of Facebook’s Data Scandal” By Jordan Robertson and Stephanie Baker, March 19, 2018, 8:03 PM EDT https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-20/meet-the-psychologist-at-the-center-of-facebook-s-data-scandal

“Michael Flynn to disclose advisory role linked to Cambridge Analytica
Former national security adviser prepares amended public financial filing revealing ties to data firm funded by Trump backer Robert Mercer” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/04/michael-flynn-cambridge-analytica-disclosure

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kogan

“Academic in Facebook storm worked on Russian ‘dark’ personality project“, March 21, 2018, 12:34 PM, by Denis Pinchuk, Douglas Busvine https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-cambridge-analytica-kogan/academic-in-facebook-storm-worked-on-russian-dark-personality-project-idUSKBN1GX2F6

“Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar, and professor at Pembroke College,Cambridge. He is widely known for his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, published in 1751…” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gray

Top photo:”View over Trinity College, Gonville and Caius and Clare College towards King’s College Chapel, seen from St Johns College chapel, Cambridge (UK). On the left, just in front of King’s College chapel, is the Cambridge UniversitySenate House. Photo by Bob Tubbs, 1997“. Released to public domain via Wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cam_colls_from_johns.jpg