BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG
We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
THANKS to NOT MY pres drumpf/trump, NOT MY vp vance, that loud mouth neo-nazi fascist fotze trunt punk Sec of Defense petie lola hegseth with the rest of the ass licking cabinet and the gop / greed over people-republican party America and NATO are more at risk of attack by Russia since the Iron Curtain collapsed. So many American missiles have been wasted in the illegal and immoral war on Iran if Moscow decided to move against America and NATO it will be difficult to defend ourselves without sacrificing thousands of our troops. So fascist fotze trunt johnnie joanie ratcliffe crawled off to Moscow, reportedly with panties all bunched up, warning the Russians not to do anything against NATO because if they do America will give them the biggest pinch and possibly might have to resort to nuclear weapons. ALSO note, my comments are extremely flippant because everyone knows NOT MY pres drumpf/trump will not do anything that will harm his "bromance" with putin, even with the evidence that Russia is supplying Iran with satellite info for targeting American forces in Persian Gulf countries resulting in the deaths of American military personnel ( SHOULDN'T THIS BE GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT??? ). Quite the c-i-c, eh? This from Kyiv Independent and CBS News.....
CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials during a visit to Moscow this week against escalating tensions with NATO members, particularly Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Politico reported on Aug. 26, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Ratcliffe traveled to the Russian capital on Aug. 25 in a previously unannounced visit, marking the first known trip to Moscow by a CIA director during U.S. President Donald Trump’s current administration.
His "meeting was primarily to warn Russia against any escalatory action against the Baltic states," one person familiar with the talks told Politico.
Earlier in August, U.S. intelligence assessments warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could test NATO’s resolve with a limited attack on an alliance member as early as this fall, the Wall Street Journal reported. The assessment marked a shift from previous U.S. expectations that Moscow was unlikely to target NATO while its military remained heavily engaged in Ukraine, and echoed similar warnings issued by European officials in recent months.
The visit comes amid growing concerns over possible Russian actions against NATO countries supporting Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly threatened Western governments backing Kyiv, while Russia has also been accused for years of using cyberattacks, sabotage, and other hybrid operations against European countries.
Under NATO’s collective defense principle, an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against all.
Ratcliffe also urged Moscow to reduce its military and economic support for Iran, Politico reported, citing one of its sources and a U.K. official familiar with the trip. According to the British official, the CIA director called on Russia to stop providing Iran with weapons and defense technology and advised Moscow against "overreacting" if it is affected by expanded U.S. sanctions targeting countries that maintain economic ties with Tehran.
Trump described Ratcliffe’s visit as "semi-routine" in a radio interview on Aug. 26 and rejected speculation that the CIA chief had specifically been sent to prevent Russia from testing NATO’s resolve.
"I hate to disappoint people. We would like to see the war with Ukraine end," Trump said, acknowledging that the visit was related to efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Politico reported that the military aircraft carrying Ratcliffe to Moscow had departed from Latvia, according to publicly available flight-tracking data. The CIA did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment.
Olena Goncharova is the Special Correspondent for the Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russia not to attack NATO member states during his visit to Moscow this week, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, amid U.S. intelligence assessments that Russia could try to test NATO.
Ratcliffe also brought up Iran, warning of additional sanctions if the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen to shipping traffic, the people familiar with the matter told CBS News.
The secretive visit to the Russian capital came to light on Tuesday, after a U.S. Air Force jet was spotted flying into a Moscow airport and a diplomatic motorcade moved through the city. CBS News was first to report the trip, which is Ratcliffe's first known visit to Russia as CIA director. Ukraine was told that a U.S. delegation would travel to Moscow and was asked to hold off on strikes for the duration of the visit, according to a senior Ukrainian official.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on Ratcliffe's warning not to attack NATO.
The CIA declined to comment on the reasons for Ratcliffe's trip.
President Trump confirmed the visit to Moscow in an interview with radio host Glenn Beck earlier Wednesday, but said it wasn't related to Iran or to Russian desires to test NATO, describing it as a "semi-routine" trip. Mr. Trump said "something may come out of" Ratcliffe's visit, pointing to his push to end Russia's war with Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that Ratcliffe spoke with Russian intelligence officials but didn't meet with President Vladimir Putin.
On Thursday, Peskov dismissed media reports about the purpose of Radcliffe's trip, French news agency AFP reports.
"A lot of such scare stories are being published right now. Of course, they have nothing to do with reality," Peskov said, adding that Russia "is facing a very aggressive policy towards itself from European countries."
Recent American intelligence assessments have indicated that Putin could be willing to authorize provocative actions on NATO territory, including cyberattacks, hybrid actions and other operations that fall short of conventional military action, CBS News reported earlier this month. The likely goal would not necessarily be to trigger a war, but instead to test NATO's unity and the Trump administration's willingness to defend NATO allies, according to U.S. officials.
A pattern of recent Russian actions has prompted concerns, the officials said, including drone incursions into Romania, a Russian missile that crossed into Poland last month and an uptick in alleged sabotage actions and cyberattacks in Europe.
Under Article 5 of the treaty that created NATO, members of the alliance are expected to come to each other's defense if attacked, a provision that the U.S. invoked after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. But Mr. Trump has long questioned NATO's reliability and criticized member states for — in his view — not contributing enough to their own defense.
Mr. Trump has also publicly pushed Russia and Ukraine to end their four-year-long war, though diplomatic efforts have appeared to stall.
Meanwhile, Russia has maintained its partnership with Iran during the U.S.'s war with the Middle Eastern state, providing intelligence to Iran on U.S. positions in the region, CBS News reported earlier this year. The two countries have also cooperated on drone manufacturing for years.
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