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Russia’s spies misread Ukraine and misled Kremlin as war loomed
- acqbu 4y agohttps://archive.ph/LAD7p https://archive.ph/LAD7p
- rossdavidh 4y agoInteresting reading. Of course, I don't know how much to believe, since accounts, during a war, of behind-the-scenes shenanigans that led up to it, are rarely as accurate as what you have ten years or twenty years later. What this version of events suggests, though, is that Putin learned absolutely nothing from the Bush administration's mistakes in the runup to the invasion of Iraq, where they were unwilling or unable to admit that things would not go smoothly. It is odd that Putin's KGB background did not apparently enable him to realize when he was being given bad intelligence.
- wrp 4y agoAbout Putin, it appears he was an undistinguished functionary during his time at the KGB. It wasn't until he got into politics that he started to get noticed as an effective operator. His KGB experience doesn't seem to have imbued him with any great analytical ability, though it has left him with paternalistic feelings toward his old outfit. As for balanced coverage of the Kremlin, I wish I could find a good source. The NYT and WaPo seem to uncritically accept the narratives from Washington and Ukrainian sources. In military affairs, I know of a few European analysts who rely more on direct observation and their accounts differ considerably from mass media. For political analysis, the people whose past work I consider the most knowledgeable and careful seem to be largely silent now. Maybe, in the lack of solid intel, they consider it most responsible to not say anything.