We know how powerful the US intelligence agencies are. The fact that the CIA has been able to install leaders in previously hostile governments shows their competence. Aside from Iran, most of their operations were successful. Even in their missteps, they were able to limit its influence in the region.
So how did it come to this? Why does it feel like the CIA dropped the ball on China?
Because the CIA, literally, dropped the ball on China. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/asia/china-cia-spie...
> Last year, an F.B.I. employee pleaded guilty to acting as a Chinese agent for years, passing sensitive technology information to Beijing in exchange for cash, lavish hotel rooms during foreign travel and prostitutes.
That's how.
1) I don't think the CIA has ever has been that powerful and 2) the US political establishment got arrogant and lazy after the fall of the Soviet Union.
If there is a civil war and the CIA backs one side with weapons, and that side wins, it doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t have won without CIA support.
Yeah, it controls pretty much every communication device.
>> Even in their missteps, they were able to limit its influence in the region.
Compared to whom? No other country is any close in terms of controlling the world.
Some Americans love to watch America suffer, because it makes them feel better about themselves; a similar thing to the British intellectuals who celebrated every British loss and defeat of the second world war, though they would not enjoy a total defeat.