Why did the CIA chief go to Moscow? We have to assume the worst-case scenario
John Ratcliffe's visit to the Russian capital was both unannounced and incredibly ostentatious. And that's precisely what should worry us.
John Ratcliffe's visit to the Russian capital was both unannounced and incredibly ostentatious. And that's precisely what should worry us.
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To say, "Thank you." in recognition of the state of affairs in the global agenda propaganda media and foreign controlled domestic national interest politics.
Nobody knows how to play this game.
https://www.nato.int/en/what-we-do/introduction-to-nato/coll...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/aug/27/cia-mos...
It was, if reporting is accurate, to communicate “Don’t fuck around and find out.”
Russia has been pretty blatant in it testing Finland, Romania, and Slovakia.
https://olgalautman.substack.com/p/update-natos-operations-c...
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/20/finland-suspec...
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cyber-security/sl...
(Ukraine has taken ~40% of Russia’s refinery capacity offline with drone strikes, not much more to go)
What about the remaining 60%?
Remains operational for continued targeting and impairment, to the best of my knowledge, as of this comment. ~85% of Russia's oil refining capacity is within the strike range of Ukrainian drones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%932026_Russian_fuel...
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/europe/ukraine-ru...
Yes, the USA has never been asked for support under the NATO agreement, though they did themselves call on support after 9/11 (and Trump did imagine he might get support in Iran which definitely doesn't qualify).
I suspect they would not want to be put in the position of supporting a European nation against Russia.
In fact my reading of Trump is that warfare is not really his cup of tea, making Iran a big shock to me.
Exactly, which is why the meeting was held. They do not want their commitment tested at this time, as it would potentially lead to high(er) volatility with uncertain odds of success.
He got sold into it by Netanyahu and is now stuck in the quagmire we see before us. He thought we'd be in and out, "Mission Accomplished" banner unfurled in a few days. Bad news.
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Good Dog' until you make it to the rock."
Axios: Trump to Axios: I'm not worried Russia will attack NATO - https://www.axios.com/2026/08/27/trump-nato-russia-ukraine-w... - August 27th, 2026