Nexus - 0805 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

AMPLIFIED MIND POWER RESEARCH IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION AMPLIFIED MIND POWER RESEARCH FORMER SOVIET UNION IN THE By 1970, most parapsychology research in the Soviet Union was authorised and controlled by the KGB. Part 2 of 3 uring the Cold War it became a commonplace observation that the Committee for State Security (Komitet gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti, or KGB for short) permeated Soviet society at all levels. Its role in psi research was clearly a minor aspect of KGB activity. The KGB's uneasy role in psi research illustrat- ed that it was not, and could not have been, a monolithic agency. Its sometimes contradic- tory aims, as well as its enormous domestic and international scope and diversity, made total efficiency impossible. Western analysts have concluded that the KGB took control of Soviet studies in para- psychology no later than 1970. More precisely, the agency appears to have taken a seri- ous interest in the field during this period, and its involvement after that became more active and consistent. The KGB's alternately benign and hostile attitude towards psychic studies is well illus- trated by the rise, fall and resurrection of the bioenergetics laboratory attached to Moscow's A. S. Popov Scientific-Technical Society for Radio Engineering, Electronics and Communication (known as NTORES, the acronym of its Russian name). The origi- nal initiative for the Popov lab came from members of its Bionics Section in 1965, who suggested a series of telepathy experiments under the label "biological communication". The new section met on 11 October 1965 and developed a three-point program: 1) study and analysis of international literature on the subject; 2) a synthesis of spontaneous telepathic phenomena previously observed; and 3) a plan for laboratory-controlled telepathic experiments. The resulting Laboratory for Bio-Information functioned on two levels, private and offi- cial. The core of the operation was a team of unpaid volunteers, who were permitted to work on premises leased by the Popov institute and whose activity was "officially autho- rised". The little band of parapsychology enthusiasts inside the Bio-Communication Laboratory was well aware that they operated under official scrutiny, that at least one KGB operative was a staff member and regularly reported to the agency. Much of their work was clearly visible, such as the long-distance telepathy experiments, but other stud- ies were never published. Among the unpublished studies was the work of Yuri Korabelnikov and Ludmilla Tishchenko-Korabelnikova, a husband-and-wife team who organised more than 8,000 clairvoyance tests. They placed different geometric designs of numbers inside opaque envelopes. According to the group's compilations, the two psychics were able to name about 70 per cent of the images correctly, compared to 20 per cent expected by probability. In addition to the existence of rival "idealistic" and "materialistic" cliques, there was a continuous effort on the part of publicity-conscious Edward Naumov to push for more research in psychokinesis, while the laboratory's director, Professor Kogan, favoured telepathy experiments. Barbara Ivanova, then employed as a government translator, engaged in a series of experiments that included remote viewing and distant healing. Larissa Vilenskaya, impressed by the performances of Rosa Kuleshova, investigated dermo-optic vision and developed techniques for teaching this ability. One of Ivanova's early students, Boris Ivanov, eventually denounced her as bringing an "idealist" taint to healing research. Ivanov himself specialised in "charging" water with "bio-energy"—a technique that had long been examined by a Canadian researcher, Dr Bernard Grad of McGill University, Montreal. After Ivanov left the Popov laboratory to continue his studies at the Institute of By 1970, most parapsychology research in the Soviet Union was authorised and controlled by the KGB. From the website: www.biomindsuperpowers.com/ Pages/Ebon1 .html NEXUS = 35 by Martin Ebon © 1996 AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2001 www.nexusmagazine.com