Espionage, alive and well

Europe has a long history of espionage but the EU acknowledges that underground communication exists now more than ever, thanks to new media. The information battle is controlled by intelligence officers who have expressed concerns about Russia and China, as well as within the EU and especially among women. "We are not only pointing the finger at journalists. It could be the pretty trainee with the long legs and blond hair," said EU commission spokeswoman, Valerie Rampi. Just this year American female journalist Roxana Saberi was tried in Iran and sentenced for espionage, which was later reduced to possession of classified information. The key problem is that the increasing liberation of information through global media is at odds with the strategic information control of most governments, especially in foreign policy.

Saberi, Miss North Dakota, 1997 and accompanying the president of Iran, Mohammed Khatami, 2007