Imagine the delirious celebrations which must have occurred last week within the editorial offices of media outlets like the New York Post, Daily News, CNN, and so many more upon receiving the news of the Department of Justice’s arrests of ten-and-a-half deep cover Russian spies.  Perplexing international intrigue? Check.  National security scare and moral panic of the enemy within? Check!  A conspiracy regarding precious metals futures?  Check. A somewhat sultry red-headed jezebel spy?  Not quite, but whatever, let’s run with it … check!  Break out the champagne – we’ve got a news story here with legs, not quite Clinton-Lewinsky, but much richer than your average foiled terrorist attack.

Despite the media enthusiasm and copious coverage of spymania minutiae, I somehow don’t really feel like the story is stimulating the American public in any meaningful way.  On the one hand, the alleged Russian spies weren’t exactly caught at the height of their intrigue – in fact, the charges are for failing to register as a foreign agent, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.  Many assume that the FBI pounced at this moment because there were other, unannounced developments which were the real cause of concern, but there was no coherent plot for the conspiracy theorists to chew on.