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.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/aug/27/cia-mos...
> The Wall Street Journal and CBS News reported CIA director John Ratcliffe aimed to dissuade Russia from attacking Nato members amid US intelligence assessments that Moscow could seek to test the alliance. Ratcliffe was reported to have flown to Moscow on a government transport plane on Tuesday, taking off from the Andrews air force base in Maryland.
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...
> For the third day in a row, NATO continued its unannounced operations along the eastern flank, with the military again operating around Kaliningrad, Poland, the Baltic states, and stretching to Moldova. And as NATO continued its show of force to warn Russia against attacking a NATO country, Moscow was yet again escalating.
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%?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%932026_Russian_fuel...
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/europe/ukraine-ru...
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.
> In fact my reading of Trump is that warfare is not really his cup of tea, making Iran a big shock to me.
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."