CIA Director William Burns on Monday said US intelligence agencies haven’t concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin has plans to invade Ukraine, contradicting recent media reports that said otherwise.
“We don’t know that Putin has made up his mind to use force,” Burns told The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit.
Last week, The Washington Post reported that US intelligence had found Russia has “plans” to invade Ukraine in early 2022. The media reports have added to the hysteria over the Ukraine situation, which could be used to justify more military aid to Ukraine and more US troops in the region.
Burns said he is still concerned about Russia’s military positioning in the region. “But what we do know is that he’s putting the Russian military, Russian security services in a place where they could act in a very sweeping way,” he said.
For their part, Russia denies it is planning an invasion and has said any troop movements inside its own borders are not meant as a threat. Putin has pointed to the increase in US and NATO activity as the reason for tensions and seeks guarantees that the Western forces won’t move further east.
Putin expressed his desire for NATO to stop its eastward expansion in a virtual summit with President Biden on Tuesday. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Biden warned Putin that if Russia invades Ukraine, the US would slap harsh sanctions on Russia, send more troops to NATO’s “eastern flank,” and send more weapons to Kyiv.
“US Intelligence” now, that’s funny!
Oxymoron for sure.
“US Intelligence” doppelganger of Mosad
CIA’s problem is that Putin is a lot smarter than they are. Russia is merit based. The ruthless rise to the top. In CIA, it’s a rich investors old boy club. They have proven absolutely no competence so far and only useless misplaced ruthlessness.
Nicely stated.
Russia has the right to put its forces on its side of the borders……..anywhere. We have allowed our allies to put our missiles on the Russian border.
The fact that the notion of a Russian “invasion” of Ukraine is even mentioned anywhere is a demonstration of how massively controlled the Western media is and how ignorant of reality the Western electorates are.
However, I assume Russia has detailed intelligence on the situation in Kiev as well as on the contact line. I also assume that Putin’s and Shoigu’s military moves are predicated on that intelligence.
What that tells us is that Russia believes Ukraine is being persuaded by the CIA and the neocons and their own predilections to attack Donbass at some point in the near future. In much the same manner as the CIA has said they “don’t know” whether Putin intends to invade, Russia presumably can’t be certain yet that Ukraine has 1) been given a green light by the US to do so, or 2) that the internal political forces of Ukraine have produced a result that will definitely produce a new offensive on Donbass.
So Russia positions its forces so as to be able to respond within hours if the situation deteriorates.
Since nothing that comes out of the mouths of US politicians can be taken as factual, all the statements are “rock solid support” of Ukraine, that US and NATO forces will *not* help Ukraine if Russia “invades”, etc. can be ignored. What matters is the overall situation which can be summed as follows:
1) Zelensky is toast if he doesn’t do something “positive” in the next six months to a year. Once the transit fees stop flowing, he’s looking at being deposed (if not arrested and jailed.)
2) The Kiev regime is a hot bed of extreme nationalists and neo-Nazis with unending enmity towards Russia. It is highly unlikely that Zelensky will be replaced by someone more conciliatory towards Russia.
3) The CIA and the neocons can be assumed to want a war between Ukraine and Russia *regardless* of the outcome for Ukraine. The original neocon plan in 2014 was for Ukraine to seize the Russian Black Sea naval base, then join NATO. Putin nixed that. So the new plan has to be provoke a war between Ukraine and Russia in order to further demonize Russia, increase hostility between the EU and Russia, and perhaps other agendas as well. It doesn’t matter whether these agendas are achievable or even rational – neocons don’t operate in reality.
4) The US and NATO know full well that Russia has the military advantage over both Ukraine and NATO and the few US forces stationed in Europe. Therefore there is no intention of directly involving US and NATO forces against Russia, regardless of what happens to Ukraine’s military.
5) Therefore, if a war does break out between Ukraine and Russia, the US and NATO will do nothing militarily to respond. Instead, Ukraine will be thrown to the wolves and its fate used to promote whatever agendas the neocons prefer.
The conclusion is that a war between Ukraine and Russia is virtually inevitable. The only question is when and how.
Ukraine is endlessly involved in trying to ethnically cleanse the Donbass region. The East of Ukraine is almost totally sympathetic to Russia. The big problem, is that the coup of 2014, allowed a far right element to take charge in Kiev. This whole thing is a situation manufactured by the US, to put constant pressure on Russia’s borders and of course, once our propaganda machines get going, it will be made clear that this is Russia’s fault.