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Posted on 03/03/2014 11:38:55 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The last time Russian troops invaded one of its neighbors, the U.S. intelligence community was also caught off guard.
The year was 2008 and the country was Georgia instead of the Ukraine. And just as in 2014, back then there were early signs that Moscow was serious—it was issuing visas to ethnic Russian speakers inGeorgia, like it's doing now in Ukraine. U.S. analysts just didn’t believe Russia would go as far as it did.
Today, as in 2008, American policy makers have found themselves burned after trying to make Vladimir Putin a partner when Putin himself sees America as a rival. This has often led Republican and Democratic led administrations to find themselves flat footed in the face of Russian aggression and U.S. intelligence analysts racing to explain how they misread Putin’s motivations.
“This is less a question of how many collection resources we throw at Russia and more broadly about the analytic challenge of understanding Putin’s mind set,” said Michael Hayden, a former CIA director and NSA director under President George W. Bush. “Here our Secretary of State is saying this is not the Cold War, it’s win-win and it’s not zero sum. But for Vladimir Putin it is zero sum. That’s what we need to understand.”
Of course, U.S.-Russian relations have overlapped in some areas of mutual interest. The two countries have worked to maintain the International Space Station, with Russian Soyuz capsules bringing American astronauts into orbit. Both countries have cooperated, at times, on sanctioning Iran for its nuclear program. And both sides agreed to an ambitious plan in Syria to dismantle the regime's chemical weapons arsenal.
But when it comes to the status of the newly independent nations that used to comprise the Soviet empire, the United States and Russia have been at odds.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“Why U.S. Spies Get Putin Wrong”
I am not sure how far back into history where you will find where US Spies got anything right.
Every conflict of the 21st century seems to have stumped them.
It's career ending to tell Obama something he doesn't want to hear.
How can they NOT get Putin???? He is (and always will be) KGB. He is a commie. I don’t care what G.W. thought of him, the man is evil.
Many times in the past the spy’s have the intel right, it is their bosses who have not shared that intel because it did not support the narrative of their superiors.
Iffen you read Diana West’s book—her research will show you that they (the Commies) have been RUNNING OUR SHOW for, like FOREVER.
Since Woodrow Wilson, at least.
Maintaining Ukrainian infependence was a simple diplomatic job until the Administration screwed it up. Now, because of their neglect and incompetence it's an impossible job.
Cable TV showed Gene Wilder and Richard Prior in “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” last week. There is a classic scene where Wilder tries to convince Prior that all people have to do is talk their problems out; i.e., the usual liberal view of things.
A fist fight breaks out between a cabbie and a passenger who is stiffing him. Wilder attempts to intervene and approaches them to “talk things out”. He was quite successful as the passenger was extremely polite and provided the required funds. He came back to Prior triumphant that his method had worked! Prior was dismissive.
What Wilder missed was that as he was approaching the combatants, the cabbie had latched a pair of pliers on the privates of the passenger. Thus, the passenger was agreeable to any suggestion. The facial expressions of the passenger were really convincing.
I took the whole scene to be a statement on how liberals are without a clue about confrontations.
Gossip over intelligence.
Next you'll be trying to convince me that the Saudis are not "our dear friends"...
“..how many collection resources we throw at Russia ..”
I believe I read articles from reliable authors who say CIA and military intelligence no longer use human resources, but rely on electronic eavesdropping and satellite imaging for their intelligence gathering.
Your point?
Putin is more patriotic for Russia than Obama is for US.
Can we do a “Reset” on Obama? Please?
There are situations where it is impossible to have human assets with access to leadership on the ground. Then electronic sources are the only sources available.
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