r/worldnews United24 Media 10h ago

Russia/Ukraine CIA Chief Told Moscow Russia Is Getting Weaker—Putin Reportedly Canceled Their Meeting

https://united24media.com/world/cia-chief-told-moscow-russia-is-getting-weaker-putin-reportedly-canceled-their-meeting-22121
11.3k Upvotes

808 comments sorted by

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u/SneakyWheeler 10h ago

No wonder the first thing that leaked was that Russia "thinks the US is weak". 

Projection has been the theme of this decade, hasn't it?

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u/Savings_Macaroon3727 10h ago

I mean certainly not the same order of magnitude but US is not projecting strength vis a vis Iran.

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u/BenDover42 9h ago

No and if they would have kept their head down a while after Venezuela they looked so sharp there between intelligence and military. It’s been a mess in Iran. They struggled against the new age of drones it would appear but let the boys down at Raytheon, Lockheed or General Dynamics figure out how much money they’ll make and they’ll release some insane tech in a year or two.

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u/Apprehensive-Pin518 8h ago

I mean if looking sharp means ignoring international law then yeah they looked real sharp.

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u/SpecialistCut7101 8h ago

Think like one of his supporters though, ignore laws and morals, focus only on what makes us look strong.

His supporters like looking strong. They do not like looking weak and they do not like paying a ton for gas.

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u/Parliamen7 7h ago

Enforcing the world order you created is wahat makes you stronger

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u/Good_Restaurant15 7h ago

Problem is their whole schtick is nothing but a dumb person's idea of what a smart/strong person looks/acts like.

They don't know what it means to maintain 'world order', they only know how to grift, and chaos is their means to do it.

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u/TheMaskedMan2 5h ago

Their average supporter seriously thinks that all that influence was
‘weakness’ and ‘being taken advantage of’.

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u/GipsyDanger45 4h ago

And that USAID was a waste of money, they don’t understand global issues or what “soft” power is.

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u/Alundil 3h ago

This is because it's IN the name. It's "SOFT" power and so they, simplistically, think it's lesser than other forms of power/influence.

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u/Itsjeancreamingtime 4h ago

The crazy thing was the JCPOA was probably the single best diplomatic success in American foreign policy history in terms of harm mitigation, but nooooo we needed $5 gas

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u/ExitLiquidity2026 2h ago

JCPOA was a softlanding for a moderate Iran to be integrated to the normal world. This should have paved way for Iranians to end hostilities towards USA, move towards a moderate oil player.

Republicans, in their classical stupidity and hate, fucked it all up.

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u/sandgoose 7h ago

In their minds the world order US imperialism created has resulted in the US being taken advantage of. They are... not smart people.

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u/leostotch 7h ago

OK but you're talking about what actually makes you stronger, not what makes them feel stronger.

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u/iytrix 3h ago

That’s impossible to do because I can’t fathom what looks strong to them. They wore diapers over their clothes…..I’ve never interacted with people that have that low of thinking power, and I interact with thousands of the public daily. The closest I can grapple with it is their brains are just off and they wait for what to think. Like there is no “looking strong” action, just do anything and say “we so strong” and THEN that looks strong to them.

Paying more for gas and food is probably the only thought I’ve seen them have on their own, but even when told it’s not that bad a LOT of them got quiet. It’s like they’re taken the NPC modern insult and turned it into a badge of honor.

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u/portobox2 3h ago

I cannot and will not divorce myself from reality so distinctly. Its like asking someone to really endeavor to think like an ant; serve the colony, serve the "King," consume consume consume.

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u/[deleted] 7h ago

[deleted]

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u/SpecialistCut7101 7h ago

If the workers had access to good public education (they don’t) they wouldn’t be regarded drones.

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u/Bleyo 7h ago

Regardless of how you feel about Trump and his decision, it's fucking insane that our military flew into contested airspace and arrested a foreign president with no casualties.

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u/mannyman34 6h ago

If you think that wasn't pre orchestratred with members of the venezualen government I got some coins and shoes to sell you.

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u/Thisguymoot 2h ago

If you think that doesn’t also speak to how exceptional that operation was, I got some coins and shoes to sell you.

Everything that went into planning and making that possible, years of it, of having the right intel assets in the right places, was a textbook worthy example of a successful SMO. Compare it to the rushed and haphazard attack on Iran.

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u/Freshwater_Spaceman 8h ago

Is there any incentive for ‘insane tech’? The government is so corrupt that they’re just funneling money their way regardless of outcome. This is how empires fail.

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u/Daniel_The_Thinker 5h ago

I mean the coverage is a little one-sided.

Is Trump achieving his goals in Iran? Hell no.

But its basically open season on the leaders of the Iranian government, the US has killed their leader, their cabinet, and a bunch of high-ranking military officers.

Our missiles work, our missile defense struggles from the same problem it always has: its cheaper to fire a missile than shoot down a missile.

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u/John-AtWork 1h ago

It is almost like "strong men" ultimately weaken a country.

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u/-Moonscape- 6h ago

They will rebound by bombing some fishing boats in cuba

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u/Wurm42 8h ago

"Every accusation is a confession."

It's almost like these guys are working from the same playbook...

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u/macaronysalad 6h ago

It has become so blatant and obvious. Almost every accusation is close to spot on what they do. Only reasoning I can think of is deflection. If they make the accusation first, then it makes it more difficult to reveal the truth without looking retaliatory.

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u/KlingoftheCastle 7h ago

Fascism is rarely creative

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u/Desertcow 9h ago

The US threw its soft power out the window, has been pulling assets and draining its stockpiles from around the world to triple down on one of its biggest military blunders, and can't reasonably do much to oppose Russia at this point besides sharing intelligence with Ukraine. The US' allies are almost as united against the US as they are against Russia right now

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u/taylorisntavril 8h ago

Aheam! FORMER allies!

When USA threaten to invade us, we are no longer allies.

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u/Geckost 9h ago

The US is weak, but Russia is weaker.

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u/obeytheturtles 9h ago

The children are fast, but Big Bird is faster.

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u/jtr99 8h ago

Why is Big Bird chasing the children?!

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u/obeytheturtles 8h ago

To keep his kill steak going.

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u/digitalscavenger 8h ago

To keep his kill steak going.

Killer steaks is on my 2026 bingo card.

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u/chonny 3h ago

Killer steaks is on my 2026 bingo card.

This bingo card is sponsored by RFK Jr.

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u/jimicus 8h ago

The secret is in the eyes.

You look at the sort of thing you might see flying in your garden - maybe a tit or a robin or a magpie - they've all got one thing in common. Their eyes are on the side of their head.

This is typically seen in prey species - creatures that regularly get eaten. They don't need binocular vision, but they do need to see roughly where a predator is coming from at all times so they can fly off in the opposite direction.

Now look at an owl or a peregrine falcon. Their eyes point forwards, and they have to move their head if they want to look back.

This is what you see in predators. They typically don't have to worry too much about something catching and eating them; instead they have good 3D vision so they can figure out precisely how far they are from their prey.

So - back to your question: Big Bird's eyes are on the front of his head.

He is therefore likely a predator.

Those children are his dinner.

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u/mynamesyow19 8h ago

Speaking of eyes.

Biden told Putin in the early 2000s: ""You said you know he doesn't have a soul," Stephanopoulos said in an interview with Biden recorded in March 2021.

"I did say that to him, yes," Biden said. "And his response was 'We understand one another.' I wasn't being a wise guy, I was alone with him in his office. That's how it came about. It was when President Bush had said, 'I've looked in his eyes and saw his soul.' I said, 'I looked in your eyes and I don't think you have a soul,' and [he] looked back at me, he said, 'We understand each other.'"

https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-putin-russia-visit-soul-2022-3

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u/TelescopiumHerscheli 7h ago

Big Bird's eyes are on the front of his head.

My eyes are on the front of my head. I'm looking forward to roast Big Bird for dinner sometime soon. There is no greater predator than man (and his children).

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u/jimicus 7h ago

Good man; that's the right attitude to have.

But I don't think roasting him is the way to go. Big Bird is canonically 8ft tall; a bird that size will be practically cremated on the outside long before he's cooked in the middle.

Perhaps if you cut him up into pieces and slow-cooked them for pulled big bird?

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u/PopGoesTehWoozle 6h ago

You had me at a tit in the garden

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u/jimicus 5h ago

There is nothing wrong with watching tits in your garden.

If you can't find any, I suggest this cute little pair.

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u/Spork_Warrior 8h ago

Russia also starting talking about possibly using nukes right after this meeting. They don't like feeling weak. They also don't like dealing with reality or exploring any sort of cooperation.

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u/gokarrt 8h ago

they're both weak. china just sitting in the back rubbing it's hands together.

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u/Tormidal 8h ago

The People's Republic of Doing Nothing and Winning

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u/plaxitone 7h ago

I suppose if you call becoming a manufacturing superpower, buying up ports and global infrastructure nothing

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u/Orange_Queen 8h ago

Wait by the river long enough and you will see the bodies of your enemies go floating by.

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u/AVRVM 9h ago

Both can be true at the same time. 20th century weapons and tactics just doesn't work in the 21st century it seems and both of the 20th century world powers can't adapt fast enough.

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u/dragon-fence 5h ago

Well it’s not complete bullshit. The US has been severely weakened and damaged by MAGA.

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u/ArgentineBeauty 10h ago

Putin reportedly cancelled the meeting because the truth hurts.

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u/totallyRebb 9h ago

Small man syndrome + Grandpa yelling at clouds syndrome + Malignant Narcissism + Psychopathy

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u/darkstarr99 9h ago

Same problem the US leader has

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u/Jazzlike_Creme_8851 9h ago edited 9h ago

Cancelled because he thinks he is still writing the plot and doesn't want any different narratives/distractions in the final weeks before Duma elections. Because, fucking Russia. 😞 

Ukraine needs to kick it into overdrive and just embarrasses TF out of his regime. It may finally be time to make down the Kerch bridge and announce the full liberation of Crimea. Another Operation Spiderweb level of attack would also be effective. Turn those tables.

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u/LoquaciousTheBorg 8h ago

My (limited) understanding is that they're paartly leaving it up  because it's too weak to be used to send in resources, so it's not a threat, but is still strong enough for people in Crimea to leave, which is what they want. 

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u/LeafsWinBeforeIDie 8h ago

Giving your enemy an escape route instead of being cornered with no where to run hurts everyone less. (In this situation)

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u/TheArmoredKitten 7h ago

Yeah, sandboxing Crimea right now is exactly the move Putin needs to shore up internal support. "Protecting the Crimeans" was a big propaganda token for starting this mess and the last thing we need is for it to come true.

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u/fugaziozbourne 4h ago

Also, Ukraine kept drone bombing the military infrastructure in Crimea very easily, and cost them a fraction of what it cost Russia to repeatedly re-up that infrastructure. It was a drain of attrition and it wouldn't have worked if the bridge or ferry was destroyed initially. It was smart war tactics.

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u/Netzath 9h ago

if he didn't cancel he would appear as if he agreed which would make him look weak, his power undermined, and opposing faction would try to overthrow him. Making appearances of strength is important in keeping power.

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u/cboel 9h ago

Russia wants to put more pressure on Ukraine via their northern areas. They are attempting to build up troop numbers to do so. They think it will relieve pressure on the southern and eastern areas of occupied Ukraine.

Putin is clearly showing signs of dementia and nobody can call him out on it. One of the more publicly obvious examples was when he was talking to a guy who went to the North Pole and he went into a weird diatribe about killer whales killing polar bears, confusing polar bears with penguins (which also don't live at the North Pole, etc.).

It is looking like there might not be a way to stop him from getting worse. The CIA chief's visit was, in addition to everything else, a reminder that when Putin goes, his supporters/enabler are going to have be prepared to face justice in one form or the other.

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u/ProEraMoka 9h ago

They would if they could

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u/DamnIamHigh_Original 9h ago

They are destroying every single refinery, tf u talking about

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u/DeeJayDelicious 9h ago

Exactly,

too many western audiences are ignorning just how exhausted Ukraine is. The reason they're relying so heavily on drone warfare is because they have no other options. They need to fight efficiently as their personell and ressources are stretched to the limits.

Russia might be taking heavier losses and tanking its economy. But it's a much bigger and more ressourceful country.

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u/Pariahb 8h ago

Ukraine has Europe backing them economically, which is bigger and more resourceful than ruzzia, and they help them with weapons in a limited capacity, but are giving permission to let Ukraine develope some weaopns, like UK/France Storm Shadow/Scalp missiles:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8zxqn57z3o

While also co-developing a new Air Defense system to replace the US Patriot Air Defense systems:

https://www.newsweek.com/what-is-freyja-prototype-air-defense-system-wanted-ukraine-compares-12252669

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u/Thermodynamicist 9h ago

Ukraine needs to achieve an exchange rate equal to the inverse population ratio, i.e. 143 million Russians / 32 million Ukrainians = 4.5:1 to stand still.

The fact that Ukraine is taking aggressive steps to preserve the lives of her soldiers cannot reasonably be used to infer that she is exhausted, whether you mean that in political or absolute military terms, because she would do this anyway.

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u/othercomputerdoctor 9h ago

bigger in size, not support

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u/ffswhythiswhynow 8h ago

Don't worry, India has them by the hand, buying their crude and selling them back refined fuels. Think of the poor lil empty gas stations! /s

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u/Zal3x 7h ago

Thats only partly true. They’re relying on drone warfare because it’s the future of warfare. And they’re damn good at it and production is going extremely well. Go watch Perun on YouTube if you want to educate yourself about the topic.

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u/jhustla 10h ago

No wonder Trump loves him so much

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u/[deleted] 9h ago

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u/wrathful-anus 10h ago

Not like anyone in Russia has the balls to tell him how many people die a week

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u/Apart_Jelly8948 10h ago

Now he will probably do something stupid to pretend that the cia guy was wrong

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u/qwogadiletweeth 9h ago

This would explain why Putin has doubled down in many areas since the visit. It’s a big stubborn denial of what is happening and he doesn’t want to show weakness to the US. Russia keeps banging on about perceived historical victories as if it should help them in today’s modern world. They live in the past.

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u/BigBananaBerries 6h ago edited 4h ago

Watching their media this is 100%. They're never done talking about the Great Patriotic War (WWII) or things that happened even longer ago. They go on like military achievements when it was cavalry & spears are still relevant. As if their Soviet manufacturing capabilities are still fully operational. Their heads are in the clouds. I suppose this is what happens when everything they put out is skewed for propaganda purposes.

E:typo

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u/Grand_Pop_7221 4h ago

Sooner or later, the snake eats its own tail with propaganda, I think. You end up with true believers who might "embody" the lie better than its originators. Given its foundations as a lie, it just can't produce results.

Truth is usually messy, complicated, and not always a good look. But at least having an honest reckoning and introspection can keep refining a system and producing results.

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u/BigBananaBerries 4h ago

Yep. There inevitably comes a time where the BS needs to be backed up with reality. If it's all based on lies then you're going to have a bad time.

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u/qwogadiletweeth 2h ago

Absolutely. As well as Russias romanisation of the past and its capabilities, it’s engrained in their culture only to deliver good news to those above them in the chain of command; even if it means lying. The movie ‘Death of Stalin’, illustrates well how their culture still works to a certain degree.

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u/Lonely-Abalone-5104 9h ago

Sounds like something someone else we know would do

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u/FlyingKittyCate 8h ago

You could replace Russia with US or Putin with Trump in most of the comments here and it would still be accurate. Funny to see the ignorance mixed with arrogance.

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u/thatoneguydudejim 5h ago

It’s because we are under the delusion it’ll be a quick recovery back to “normalcy”

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u/RelegatedRick 10h ago

I feel like thats just undeniable fact at this point, people were afraid of Russia 15 years ago.

Now we know they can’t even handle a non-nuclear much smaller neighbour literally next door, regardless of if they win or not, they look like a paper tiger incapable of large scale warfare and their economy is on the brink of utter collapse to top it all off.

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u/Tiddlewinkly 9h ago

People should still be afraid of Russia, but not for their combat ability.

It's the information warfare they've been aggressively encouraging since the cold war to this day. It's no secret that their mass disinformation campaigns have been significantly influencing western nations in their attempt to destabilize them. One can say they've been largely successful at it.

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u/gambiting 6h ago

As someone from Poland, it's terrifying. People don't realize we're already at war with Russia - that war is just waged every day on our democracy by thousands of online trolls that attack and spread misinformation online, but which also fund groups inside Poland to incite hatred in real life(mostly against Ukrainians, but it's not limited to them - the more discord the better). This isn't just "oh they write some angry comments on Facebook" - it's a concentrated campaign hitting from thousand angles and while no missiles might be flying above Polish soil it absolutely is an attack on our country.

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u/fugaziozbourne 3h ago

Kremlin literally says that the information front is more important to their plans than air, sea, or land. They're not hiding this.

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u/tang-tw 3h ago

Taiwan has long been accustomed to this kind of online propaganda offensive. They collect local vocabulary and terms to create databases, impersonate locals to spread rumors and interfere in elections, and launch large-scale cyberattacks. This year, AI proxy attacks have also emerged. Taiwan has also become accustomed to their indirect infiltration and bribery of military personnel and corporate employees to steal secrets. China and Russia are both exchanging and learning from each other's achievements.

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u/Chance-the-Gardener 7h ago

The world at large is like that now. The age of information has become a world of deceit.

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u/cattaclysmic 7h ago

Russias neighbors will always be afraid og Russia. Untrained gopniks with a gun will still kill you even if they aren’t efficient about it. And Russia will just throw bodies at you and has a nuclear deterrent.

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u/paulywauly99 9h ago

We just need our hackers to hack their hackers and out hack them I guess?

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u/genital_lesions 8h ago

It's not even traditional cyber hacking so much as it is just Russia's ability to influence Western public opinion with disinformation and misinformation.

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u/asspounder-4000 9h ago

Bring in hacker man, won't even need to hack time, all he needs is a floppy disk, a zip drive and a payphone. The kremlin will fall in a day

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u/FlukemanFrancis 8h ago

Impossible, Russians can’t be affected by disinformation for the same reason fish can’t drown

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u/jtr99 8h ago

Where is Johnny Lee Miller when we really need him?

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u/Expensive-Raisin4088 7h ago

Got donnie elected twice. Which severely destabilized NATO and weakened the US

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u/WeedstocksAlt 9h ago

And they effectively already lost, there’s no coming back with an actual win from it.

It’s legit like … one of the biggest military failure in history lol.

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u/dat_oracle 9h ago

the only win they still can get is the end of putins dictatorship

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u/Superb-Draft 9h ago

America spent 20 years in Afghanistan just to hand it back to the Taliban. There’s plenty of shame to go around. 

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u/TrainingAmphibian354 9h ago edited 9h ago

Afghanistan didn't make life genuinely hard for US citizens, and 500k+ Americans didn't get turned into fucking tomato paste even after 20 years straight of fighting.

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u/Arcayon 9h ago

Yea and how many Americans died over that 20 year period compared to Ukraine. They are not even comparable military blunders lol.

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u/TTrampz 9h ago

Afghanistan was not a military blunder or defeat, it was a political one.

Ukraine looks like it’s both , military and political
Defeat

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u/Arcayon 9h ago

100% with you friend.

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u/kinkakujen 9h ago

America dominated afghanistan and beat it and occupied it within weeks. WEEKS. That's the part Russia is failing at in Ukraine.

The political nation building disaster after beating them militarily is a whole different topic, but certainly not a military defeat. 

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u/vincentkun 8h ago

I don't think it quite tracks. Afghanistan was conventionally defeated and its very, very far from the USA. What we were doing there was trying to nation build and extract more out of them. Russia has been unable to defrat Ukraine conventionally, an enemy that is just next door.

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u/Straight-Ad-7387 9h ago

Except %gdp wise and troop deaths over that entire 20 years don't compare to russias losses.

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u/soldiernerd 9h ago edited 9h ago

US met their military goals in Afghanistan, they just couldn’t get people to buy into the dream of a pro western democracy.

Also Russia has, since Feb 2022, experienced about 50% of the KIAs the US has had in its entire 250 year existence.

I’ll also remind everyone that Ukraine is Russia’s neighbor with a largely shared culture and language, not a radically different country halfway around the globe.

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u/SketchTeno 8h ago

Remember how many russians died in ww2 compared to the rest of the western world? Excluding china, more russians died than just about the entire rest of the world combined in the war.

And they STILL had the ussr for decades afterwards.

...there is a very different perspective on life there.

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u/Ossa1 8h ago

You have to add that around a third of the russian soldiers died by starvation in german POW camps.

Russia lost around 7 million in combat, around 3 were starved/killed in german Camps.

Around 16 million soviet civilians were killed by hunger, forced laber or outright shot.

These numbers dwarf quite a lot of conflicts.

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u/SketchTeno 7h ago

Yeah, when you have 16 million non-combat civilians die in a conflict, and still come out as a world power for decades afterwards... you're just doing something very different than what the western world is used to at that point.

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u/xakeri 7h ago

A big part of it is just having that many people.

Most western countries simply don't have a population that could handle that. In 1939, the US had 130 million people. The Soviet Union had 170 million. France had 42 million and the UK had 47.8 million.

A comparable amount there would have been 4-5 million, which would still have been insane, but is way smaller in raw numbers.

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u/Justame13 9h ago

There was a wide stretch of that time that it was more dangerous for troops to go to the National Training Center in CA than Afghanistan

There is not a comparable case in Europe

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u/BurntWaffle303 9h ago

Yall remember Vietnam right?

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u/mlhender 9h ago

For Russia, Ukraine is arguably already considerably worse in raw military losses. CSIS estimated in July 2026 that Russia had suffered roughly 1.4 million battlefield casualties, including as many as 450,000 deaths, since February 2022. CSIS describes those fatalities as more than four times U.S. fatalities in all American wars combined since WWII.

https://www.csis.org/analysis/russian-blood-and-treasure-ballooning-costs-putins-war

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u/morningreis 8h ago

Russia is losing personnel in Ukraine every 2-3 days equivalent to what the US lost in the entire 20 years.

The scale is completely different.

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u/WeedstocksAlt 9h ago

And knowing that, it’s not even a bit close lol

Russia’s casualties are above 1,4 million ……. 10s of thousand of armour, tanks, artillery system lost.

The are buying from North Korea….

And all that to invade their direct neighbour, not projecting forces across the globe.

It’s not even close to being comparable

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u/Jared_Kincaid_001 9h ago

Sure but this equivalent is if the US lost to Manitoba (with the entire population of Canada in it). Just a tiny country with no real nuclear capability.

Granted the Canadian military has been known to put belt to ass, but they're also known mostly as peace keepers/pacifists.

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u/MazzleMaze 6h ago

My guy, Ukraine has the 6th largest active military in the world. They have around 700,000 - 900,000 soldiers. Russia has about 1.2 - 1.3 million.

Much smaller is definitely an overstatement.

u/user_account_deleted 1h ago

Except Ukraine has a quarter the population and a tenth the GDP. Ukraine is a demonstrably MUCH smaller neighbor. They cannot sustain their level of military enrollment for nearly as long as Russia can sustain theirs, and they're fighting with a fraction of the military budget should aid slow or stop.

One number does not a correct comparison make.

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u/SuperSquirrel13 10h ago

What happened after the fall of the soviet union - lots of arms sold. 

When this collapse happens, I fear the same, but with nukes. Imagine the terror events and warlords in africa that can be done using sold russian nukes. 

Im sure there will be "control", but still. The concern is what keeps me nervous. 

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u/doc5avag3 9h ago edited 9h ago

There was a reason that both the US and China worked together very quickly and civilly when the Soviet Union collapsed. Nobody wants to see what happens if you don't monitor and maybe even step in when a Nuclear Power faces the possibility of balkanization.

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u/hyldemarv 9h ago

Nope. It would be fun watching Mad Max tribes roam around the steppes brandishing nuclear warheads but the maintenance needs will make them become duds rather quickly.

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u/40StoryMech 9h ago

The US needs to get ahead of this and flood the market with nukes. Imagine the money Tru ... I mean, WE could make.

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u/Abslalom 9h ago

Right, because of the trickle down economics

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u/123_alex 8h ago

warlords in africa that can be done using sold russian nukes

I'll give you a nuke for free. Can you maintain it and use it?

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u/jl2352 9h ago

They won’t sell nukes because the controls and infrastructure needed is too great. It’s physically too impractical to sell.

Then there is the attention. The US military doesn’t care if a shipping container of small arms is sold to a warlord. That’s a problem for Interpol, the FBI, or whoever. Whereas the US military would carry out a small invasion if it thought there were nukes being sold.

What did happen after the Soviet Union is lots of Soviet nuclear scientists and other specialists went to work for other regimes. That helped the proliferation of missile and nuclear technology. That is the main fear.

The US did some work to help fund Russian fields in this area. It’s one reason (of many) on why the US would support the Russian space program. It keeps the Russian expertise in Russia.

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u/RezzleG 10h ago

Russia are having a bad time in conventional warfare vs Ukraine, that much is true, but it's unwise to under-estimate Russia, even now they have an unknown amount of nuclear weapons capable of being fired through various means, and the largest ICBM stockpiles in the world stored all around the country. They have adjusted to a wartime economy reasonably well (considering all the sanctions) and their production power is second only to China. That's not even taking into account their ability to meddle in foreign affairs and their cyber-warfare capabilities.

All that being said, that they are still a very dangerous country, and what makes it worse is that they are unpredictable. The closer Russia gets to essentially being made to surrender, the more desperate they become, and the more dangerous they become.

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u/Consistent_Ad3181 10h ago edited 9h ago

Russia has a GDP slightly larger than Spain.

Edit

Nothing wrong with Spain, it's a fine proud country but it's not considered a military and econonic super power.

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u/KatsumotoKurier 4h ago edited 45m ago

Russia has a GDP slightly larger than Spain.

With an economy roughly the size of Canada's yet with over 100 million more people, with an overall life expectation that's like 12 years less, a much lower overall quality of life, horrible corruption issues, and what some experts are calling an HIV epidemic.

Meanwhile it is enormously resource rich yet still insists on invading its neighbours for needless expansion wars. Like really - imagine being 150x the size of Norway and with a population 70x the size, and with all the same resources in enormous plentitudes, yet... not being a better country? Russia seems like a land of massively wasted opportunities and potential. It could genuinely be a serious and respectable world leader in so many admirable regards.

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u/TD_Lemon_1901 10h ago

The amount of nukes doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if you can blow the whole world only 1 time or 20.

Their conventional forces suck balls and they've lost 2/3 or their tanks and IFV they had beenn stockpiling for over 50 years.

Regardless of the outcome, they will never recover from this, they're done.

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u/Jacc3 4h ago

Regardless of the outcome, they will never recover from this, they're done.

Long term, sure. But short term Russia is still very scary. They may have used up most of their armour but their drones forces are arguably quite competent and have lots of real battle experience.

Sure, Russia wouldn't stand a chance against NATO, not even without the help of USA. But that is no guarantee that Russia wouldn't try attacking the Baltics for example. Putin may bet on the larger militaries of NATO either not wanting to risk a larger war, or being too slow to react.

Russia is a threat to be taken seriously, they shouldn't be underestimated

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u/micropterus_dolomieu 9h ago

MAD obviates the ability of one state to blackmail other nuclear states though. Putin isn’t some Bond villain in a hidden underground lair. We know how to destroy Russia with conventional or nuclear weapons.

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u/Shamino79 9h ago

Oligarchs like staying alive. What fool is gonna start a nuclear war.

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u/m0j0m0j 9h ago

The Soviet thing collapsed despite having even more nukes

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u/JakeTheAndroid 9h ago

Their manufacturing isn't as advanced nor as effective as China. Their wartime economy is still producing plenty of supply failures. And their actual equipment isn't that great. Outside of deciding to destroy the world with nukes, they're not nearly as scary as people assumed 10+ years ago.

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u/qwogadiletweeth 9h ago edited 9h ago

Nukes mean nothing. It’s potentially the end of the world if they use them. They have the choice of continuing to try to win the war, loose the war, or end the world at worst. If Putin wins then he is safe, if they lose then Putin will be toppled internally. China has warned them not to use Nukes. They need China on their side.

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u/CorrectOrder 9h ago

I doubt they have maintained the nuclear arsenal any better than the rest of the country. Even the dead hand is probably just chatter as a deterrent.

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u/Asleep_Context_399 9h ago

This is a dishonest take.

Ukraine had intelligence help from before invasion and mostly has full on help minus NATO troops on the ground.

Were it just Ukraine, it probably would have fallen already even with the botched Kyiv infiltration.

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u/BritishAnimator 9h ago

“His message sounded as if Zelenskyy was already standing on Poklonnaya Hill looking at the Kremlin through binoculars. Everyone understands that this is not the case,”

Yes, everyone understands this is not the case, so why use it as an example?
Ukraine is defending themselves against YOUR aggression. No wonder negotiation's constantly break down. They are incapable of seeing reason.

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u/TimSylvester_ 5h ago

They're so devoted to lying at every turn that they insist on even lying to themselves.

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u/PalmovyyKozak 10h ago

Imagine, you are a dictator anf can only find out what's going on in your own country from a spy from your enemy state.

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u/EightyJay 9h ago

Enemy state?

Does an enemy state send a secret CIA delegation to its doorstep (only to be disclosed after it was “found out”?

Does an enemy state allow it to go unchecked as it kills tens of thousands of innocent civilians in a friendly democracy?

There’s absolutely nothing “enemy” about the Trump administration for Vladimir Putin.

And you think Putin finds out anything from American media? Ha. He’s got the media leverage via bots. He’s the secret operative turned dictator.

Trump cowers to social media. He doesn’t call any shots. He’s the dog that’s wagged by the tail.

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u/crossdtherubicon 7h ago

They maintain diplomatic relations but, otherwise are directly and indirectly mutually hostile.

Despite the Trump admin and Republicans having favorable views of Putin, and proven political and financial ties, the US at large is still subjected to Russia's hybrid war tactics. Along with the EU and others.

It's not a secret that Russia/Putin is hostile to the US beyond mere rhetoric.

This is a pretty standard view, regardless of the current political climate.

The US has repeatedly applied sanctions and other restrictions against Russia too. Trump has yet to single-handedly repeal the general restrictions and sanctions writ-large. They are probably motivated to continue their relations without scrutiny, rather than draw global attention to the matter.

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u/zachrywd 7h ago

This, unfortunately war is not two-party concent. Elements within the US may be friendly to ruZZia, but the ruZZians themselves are hostile to the US... If my biased about ruZZia isn't apparent.

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u/BigBananaBerries 6h ago

Does an enemy state send a secret CIA delegation to its doorstep (only to be disclosed after it was “found out”?

Yes. Diplomatic discussions are going on all the time between enemies.

Does an enemy state allow it to go unchecked as it kills tens of thousands of innocent civilians in a friendly democracy?

Yes. If they think it's of no consequence to their own agenda or even furthers it, i.e. Russia's Ukraine blunder is weakening it substantially. To quote Napoleon:

"when the enemy is making a false movement we must take good care not to interrupt him.”

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u/Paatos 9h ago

Doesn't matter. Steinersky's attack will set everything alright.

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u/TumbleweedMain4608 8h ago

Mein Zar. Steinersky's attack did not happen.

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u/Raetekusu 7h ago

These people remain. Keitelsky, Jodlev, Krebsin, and Burgdorov.

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u/Safe-Razzmatazz3982 4h ago

DAS WAR EIN BEFEHL!

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u/RebelliousInNature 9h ago

La la la not listening not listening. He’s pretty sensitive about that, huh 🤣

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u/plan_with_stan 9h ago

Eh, all of these types of reports are basically filler info, especially with headlines such as these. I won’t believe what people “report” they discussed, nobody knows for sure and everything else is just opinion….

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u/PerpetualGreen 2h ago edited 32m ago

The CIA director John Ratcliffe is a Trump sycophant and a contributor to Project 2025. Forgive me if don't believe anything he says, much as I don't believe anything the Russian media alleges he said. I'm just gonna go ahead and assume he was there for nefarious reasons.

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u/Relevant-Safety-2699 2h ago

I'm not sure I believe that the visit was unplanned, as is being reported. The director of the CIA is going to fly to Moscow in a US Military plane, request permission to land and then what...get in a taxi and start knocking on doors?

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u/mixxituk 9h ago

Best bud doesn't want secret intelligence from trumps CIA any more cause it's too real 

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u/VoidHunterRaymond 7h ago

Putin knows Russia flopping hard and has thrown away decades of progress. Still even a dying bear can still maul anyone near it and we cant let up. Russia will push hard for their misinformation war on EU and US to try and get another Orban.

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u/macross1984 9h ago

No one like to hear bad news but bad leaders, dictators, autocrats, etc. have thin skin and here Putin show his weakness by refusing to listen to bad news and Russia has plenty piled up and more to come.

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u/DoktorFreedom 7h ago

Imagine that he just flew over, got off the plane, taken the limo in to waltz up to the counterpart just to say "yall suck lol"

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u/jaymzx0 6h ago

Sounds like a good way to get poked in the leg with an umbrella.

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u/DoktorFreedom 5h ago

That's how you know you got em!

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u/gimmebanter 10h ago

So all these stories about his yes-man keeping him in a bubble are bullshit. He refuses to hear any hint of truth, in fact, he literally throws it out the window whenever he can

He is the source of the delusion

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u/ProudPPortuguese 5h ago

I don’t fully believe it, I don’t think this leaks tell the whole truth about the visit.
Trump is in bed in one shape or form with the Russian, the US inviting them to G20 is a proof of that.

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u/Reddit_2_2024 4h ago

It is too bad Wagner Mercenary Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin halted and did not complete is advance on Moscow.

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u/RpiesSPIES 2h ago

Why believe what a compromised person says?

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u/wileyfoxyx1 1h ago

And why believe a government-owned media too?

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u/dalitima 2h ago

top 10 thing that never happened

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u/el_coo_cooi 1h ago

The United States is getting weaker too.

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u/Sodacan259 5h ago

I personally, would not believe a word the CIA or the Russians have reprotedly said even if it was (or especially if it was) reported through Agentstvo.

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u/paulsteinway 2h ago

"You are getting weaker.

You could be easily defeated.

You should sign a peace treaty.

You are getting sleepy (I should have said that one first)."

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u/TheDecepticonIdeal 9h ago

Gosh people believe anything these days

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u/Cockandballs987 9h ago

Yeah the CIA guy totally just flew there to say that and not make deals/transfer information...

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u/-Jiras 5h ago

Does he think that does signal anything but a temper tantrum from a little weak baby?

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u/StraightAirline8319 4h ago

To summarize in talks the American delegation with the CIA chief mentioned the reality that Russia is losing the war slowly. The war doesn’t benefit Russia and they have no hope to an actual end. Just more people dead and both Ukraine and Russia worse off.

Putin on learning this got upset and cancelled the meeting. Which only shows you Putin and the Russian leadership aren’t being realistic in their assessment.

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u/snickwiggler 4h ago

So Ratcliffe was due to tell Putin what is plain for everyone else to see. The clock is ticking for Vlad.

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u/troubleman_se 4h ago

a Stephen Kotkin quote "Russia's ambition is greater than its ability"

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u/userhwon 4h ago

He did not fly 400 tons of airplanes to Moscow to tell Putin the obvious. Get the fuck out with this.

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u/CopiousAmountsofJizz 3h ago

As if either side would tell us the truth about anything these days.

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u/criticalpwnage 1h ago

So he flew all the way to Russia just to fuck with them. Love it

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u/ezagreb 9h ago

Even if this was true Russia doesn’t listen to their own intelligence why would they pay attention to American intelligence? However I can almost believe the hubris of this administration in thinking that they would

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u/Packolypse 8h ago

Probably because it’s easier to deal with a single devil you know then the fallout

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u/Phoenix2111 9h ago

Nothing shows strength quite like rage quitting eh?

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u/IskanderDeezNuts 6h ago

Yes, the CIA director got on board a C17 Globe Master, flew all the way from Washington to Moscow, with a small stop in the Baltics - just for Ratcliffe to tell Putin you're losing; I supposed out of concern for Putin and Russia, because it's fact of life that the CIA only has the best of intentions for Russia. Sounds about reddit.

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u/wary 8h ago

Makes me wonder of Iran is our self-test against the new warfare model. The scope is limited but it has some of the new aspects of drone/missile warfare. I dont think our military is not aware of the changes we aee happening through the Ukraine/Russia war. Fucked up leadership aside, the core of the military understands the shift in tactics and knows things need to change

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u/My_18th_Account 8h ago

Be funny when Krasnov finally double-turns because he only likes winners like Zelensky 😂

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u/Fabster_3000 8h ago

Truth hurts

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u/Drednox 8h ago

Dictators are surprisingly sensitive to criticism. Would-be dictators too.

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u/VirtualPercentage737 8h ago

Russia needs to stop fighting and start fucking. Their population is crumbing.

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u/obscuregamer000 7h ago

"I will end the war in 24 hours"

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u/Magnus_Helgisson 7h ago

Cancelling the meeting to avoid hearing you’re weak, what a power move! I wonder if putin stomped his little feet while cancelling

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u/Brassens71 5h ago

It's a clown show all around, isn't it.

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u/GrandmaPoses 5h ago

I'd have cancelled it, too. Sounds like it could have been an email.

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u/TheMostyRoastyToasty 4h ago

Putin is scared. He’s in too deep.

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u/fzammetti 3h ago

Okay, I'm usually pretty good at sussing such things out, but I gotta admit this one has me tumped.

What was even the goal here?!

Is it as simple as "U.S. intelligence doesn't think Putin is being properly informed so we're gonna do it?" Well, if so, that blew up in our face and we had to know that was a likely outcome, right?

Certainly we couldn't have thought we would actually get Russia to back down just based on our words, right? I certainly hope not or we're in delusion territory.

So what was the purpose of this? Maybe to show how deeply our intelligence gathering assets are? I doubt that since it seems like something you really never want to do.

The only thing that makes ANY sense to me is the notion that we don't want Russia to outright collapse since nukes are involved and you really don't want them in a failed state. So if that's what we assess is all but inevitable here if Russia doesn't stop - which, yeah, I would agree with that assessment in the long term - then I can see taking the chance to convince Putin of that,maybe stave off outright collapse and the potential proliferation issues that might arise.

But even if that WAS the reason, you gotta know it's NOT gonna work, right?

I mean, even if Putin and Russia as a whole said, "yeah, agreed, you're 100% right", they're going to do the exact opposite just so as to not appear subservient to the U.S.. If anything, this visit would likely have the opposite effect of what you want.

And I know I'm no super-genius, so I gotta think those in the intelligence community would know this too and so wouldn't make this move... which leads me to think it's got to be something else that I'm not seeing.

Anyone?

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u/CrosseyedDixieChick 2h ago

my thought would be US would like a stronger Russia because at least there is another challenge for China.

Russia does not want to piss off China so is acting like "hmm...weird the US is here". China wants to look closer to Russia then they are.

Russia can play the US card as long as it wants. No one else is playing the game anymore.

Or, more realistically, China is the one calling all the shots.

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u/Dry-Cut1589 3h ago

The US is telling Russia they are getting weaker?? It may be true, but maybe the US needs to look in the mirror!!

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u/8_of_clubs 3h ago

Yeah let’s trust that the people aspiring to follow Russia’s authoritarian path will tell us why they went to meet with Russia.

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u/RussiaIsLoosing 3h ago

Russia and Putin must taught a lesson they won't forget for centuries!!!

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u/Independent-Owl3387 2h ago

Why are we sending non-diplomats to be diplomatic work? There is specific training designed to facilitate diplomacy.

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u/Potential_Nose_7728 1h ago

Don’t know what has happened to White House , they are sending intelligence chief to collect open source, public domain data

u/pmacs16 1h ago

In the other hand, US is getting…

u/Dear-Examination-507 47m ago

Something funny about a delegate of one of the biggest liars in the world being turned away by one of the biggest liars in the world because the delegate was supposed to tell the truth.

u/tesla1986 46m ago

Russia can't handle Ukraine. USA can't handle Iran.

I am waiting to see what China capable of.