larry johnson returns and gives us this assessment;

During my recent sojourn in Russia, a common theme from the people I interviewed was the failure of the West to comprehend that Russia is NOT dependent on international trade… Russia is self-sufficient in all critical natural resources. It looks like the US intelligence community (IC) is slowly beginning to grasp this, although most of the IC continues to falsely assert that Russia is suffering massive casualties and facing an economic collapse.

The CIA has proven itself to be the most delusional of the agencies that fall under the umbrella of the IC. Earlier this year, the CIA was at odds with the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (aka INR). A report this week from NBC highlighted the rosy scenario being spun by the CIA since Trump took over:

CIA assessments have sometimes been optimistic about the prospect of finding common ground with the Russian leadership, according to two former officials. ..........more...........