Excellent. Having lived in the region from ‘90 to roughly 2018 and politically awake, I learned of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran through my female friends and all the while wondering if we were asleep at the switch. Always make friends with the women. They know everything.
I am new to SPYTALK and read this more than interesting article by Mr Stein.
It is about the Intelligence reporting to the Power Structure and I quote “It’s an overused term, but it's extremely important, especially in my current role, to speak truth to power,” he said. “It's true for diplomats, it's certainly true for intelligence officers.”
Further it appears truth was not heard concerning Hamas and I quote "“Part of the responsibility of my agency at CIA is to work as closely as we can with both the Palestinian security services and the Israeli security services to prevent the kind of explosions of violence that, you know, we've seen in recent weeks as well,” he added. “That's gonna be a big challenge as well."
The much bigger problem was Russia and Burns trips to Moscow before War broke out. What truth did Burns tell the Powers that he already had not told them many times about Russia "Nyet means Nyet" and the West inablity to understand Russian or Russians. George Kennan said it also "“Expanding NATO would be the most fateful error of American policy in the post cold-war era. Such a decision may be expected . . . to impel Russian foreign policy in directions decidedly not to our liking.”
It seems we are now heading towards the Middle East as we have with Russia. Is Burns going to tell the Powers and possibly lose his job as War expands around the World? Howard Walther Santa Barbara CA
I, too am new to Spy Talk. As a novice on foreign policy and intelligence matters but an admirer of candid, objective analysis, I appreciate Jeff Stein's article. Well written, informative and concise.
It seems the lessons from history continue to repeat themselves.
Thank you for this report. History is easy to forget.
Excellent. Having lived in the region from ‘90 to roughly 2018 and politically awake, I learned of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran through my female friends and all the while wondering if we were asleep at the switch. Always make friends with the women. They know everything.
I am new to SPYTALK and read this more than interesting article by Mr Stein.
It is about the Intelligence reporting to the Power Structure and I quote “It’s an overused term, but it's extremely important, especially in my current role, to speak truth to power,” he said. “It's true for diplomats, it's certainly true for intelligence officers.”
Further it appears truth was not heard concerning Hamas and I quote "“Part of the responsibility of my agency at CIA is to work as closely as we can with both the Palestinian security services and the Israeli security services to prevent the kind of explosions of violence that, you know, we've seen in recent weeks as well,” he added. “That's gonna be a big challenge as well."
The much bigger problem was Russia and Burns trips to Moscow before War broke out. What truth did Burns tell the Powers that he already had not told them many times about Russia "Nyet means Nyet" and the West inablity to understand Russian or Russians. George Kennan said it also "“Expanding NATO would be the most fateful error of American policy in the post cold-war era. Such a decision may be expected . . . to impel Russian foreign policy in directions decidedly not to our liking.”
It seems we are now heading towards the Middle East as we have with Russia. Is Burns going to tell the Powers and possibly lose his job as War expands around the World? Howard Walther Santa Barbara CA
I, too am new to Spy Talk. As a novice on foreign policy and intelligence matters but an admirer of candid, objective analysis, I appreciate Jeff Stein's article. Well written, informative and concise.
It seems the lessons from history continue to repeat themselves.
Thank you.
Thanks for your generous comment, Jim. We really appreciate your becoming a paid subscriber.