What's With All the Russian?

One curiosity in the Oswald case which has recently caught our attention is the large amount of Russian language spoken among Oswald and his closest associates. We do not yet know what to make of it, but we will draw the picture to encourage additional thought.

First let us deal with Lee HARVEY Oswald, the man accused of murdering President Kennedy on November 22, 1963 in Dallas' Dealey Plaza. We accept the idea that there were more than one Oswald, quite possibly up to 4 significant Oswalds. There is the one just mentioned; the one who impersonated HARVEY in the Texas Theater and elsewhere also known as LEE using John Armstrong's convention; one who allegedly spoke with Patricia McMillan at the hotel where Oswald stayed in Moscow, and one whom we believe returned to the US with Marina in 1962.

(As we have argued elsewhere, we do not believe that HARVEY went to the USSR.)

The significant issue at the moment is not how many Oswalds we can count, but the fact that HARVEY could speak fluent native Russian. James Norwood provides strong evidence including contemporary documentary support that HARVEY's command of Russian was superb, and that he read difficult Russian works in a language already known for its difficulty.

We quickly note that LEE couldn't speak of lick of Russian to save his broken tooth which is why there are conflicting reports about "Oswald's" ability to speak Russian.

While in the US, HARVEY did not hide his Russian speaking abilities before fake-defecting to the USSR, but while in the Soviet Union he feigned complete ignorance, and made only token advances in learning the language during his 2 1/2 year stay.

When Oswald returned to the US, he brought with him his new wife Marina who quite obviously spoke Russian. She pretended not to understand English, but this was clearly a ruse. Researchers such as Armstrong have shown how she was able to negotiate complex contracts written in English.

One of Oswald's early handlers was George De Mohrenschildt, also a good friend of George Bush, who spoke Russian natively, and would most frequently converse with Oswald in Russian.

Finally, we have the vile Ruth Hyde Paine who was extremely proficient in Russian, long before she made the fake claim that she wanted Marina to live with her so that she could improve her Russian. So in Dallas, when Marina was living with Paine, and on occasions when HARVEY spent time there, Paine was hosting a house full of fluent Russian speaking spooks.

We are not suggesting that the ubiquity of Russian was a sign of Soviet intelligence work. But we are asking why this language was prevalent among these intelligence agents and operatives. Was it to speak in a language which neighbors could probably not understand when discussing CIA work? Was Ruth Hyde Paine Oswald's handler? Did everyone know that everyone else in this cozy confab spoke excellent Russian and worked for the CIA?

We have surmised previously that Paine was assigned to Oswald to keep an eye on Marina so that she could observe any of her Russian conversations, and likewise for HARVEY.

Nevertheless, we feel as though we are still dancing around the issue, and that the Russian language characteristic indicates something more than we currently know.

Reference

James Norwood, Oswald's Proficiency in the Russian Language, Harvey and Lee (harveyandlee.com), nd, accessed 10/22/2017

Copyright 2017 Tony Bonn. All rights reserved.