I thought the headline was saying the report was from VK, as in VKontakte, the Russian social media site, implying an additional level of intrigue.
for the non-Russian speakers, the v in VK means 'in' so VKontacte is basically InContact.
One of the things it mentions is the bike crash, there was an investigation but they couldn't find proof for it being anything other than an accident.
This is one of those things that are unknowable by the general public. It may have genuinely been an accident, but it may also have been an assassination. In both cases it is possible, even likely and expected, that the official account be the same.
A little potential snag in the story, though: "Nothing points to foul play, the Volkskrant said after speaking with people at the crash scene. Though, an anonymous MIVD employee told the newspaper that Van Sabben “paid a high price”" [1]. Perhaps that's there in the original piece you linked to: "‘Hij heeft een hoge prijs betaald’, klonk het bij de MIVD."
[1] https://nltimes.nl/2024/01/08/dutch-man-sabotaged-iranian-nu...
Yes, it could have been considered an act of war, and have caused major issues. There's a parliamentary commission that's responsible for controlling the Dutch intelligence services, consisting out of the leaders of the 5 biggest parties in parliament. The fact that they weren't informed is a scandal.
> Nice to see that European intelligence services are still capable of something
I don't think the AIVD has been criticized for being ineffective, if anything the other way around.
reputation, carefully curated, is that they're small but can punch above their weight.
they watched the Russians hack the US Democrats in real time, for example. that's how we know Guccifer was the Russians -- Dutch intel was already on those systems. Woulda been nice if they stopped them, but you don't become an APT by intervening constantly or blowing 0-days willy-nilly, and the attribution was useful enough.
A former head of the intelligence department is quoted that not briefing the PM is more or less default ("sweeping his sidewalk"), which is an insult to democracy. Not that I cannot see the rationale for this action, but it all falls under the broad perversions of democracy and justice that our former-PM (Rutte) has willfully accepted.
In a proper functioning democracy at least the prime minister should know what intelligence services are up to. As those politicians are ultimately responsible. It’s not that intelligence services are independent lawless sub-states.
Better source: https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/politiek-ontste...
Unless you are the Iranian state I guess.
Now that's... unfortunate...
https://www.ft.com/content/be09ba7c-b0d8-45e4-aff8-bf01b4aa5...
This is a glorious story for the conspiracy theorists!
> Twee weken na zijn raadselachtige vertrek uit Iran overlijdt Van Sabben bij een ongeluk in Sharjah, nabij Dubai. Hij raakt op 16 januari 2009 met zijn motor van de weg, slaat over de kop en breekt zijn nek.
Two _weeks_ later, not two years later. That is incredibly efficient of the Iranian secret service. This is most likely even before Stuxnet was starting to do damage. Almost as if it really were an accident. Or as if there was another secret service involved. One that already knew what was going on. No loose ends.
[0] https://www.volkskrant.nl/kijkverder/v/2024/sabotage-in-iran...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_wiretapping_case_2004%E2...
His work was done. It is far more likely that he was killed by his own side as a security measure
The guys you see red-lining a blue Lamborghini on Sheikh Zayed/JBR, with a selfie stick and two friends squashed into the back (sunglasses on at night of course), are almost always renters.
An MI6 agent found dead in his home, "neatly packed" [0].
KGB has a special division for tailored assassinations [1].
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gareth_Williams
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_laboratory_of_the_Sovie...
> A subsequent Metropolitan Police re-investigation concluded that Williams's death was "probably an accident".
Can't make this up...
