Thomas Friedman, Seattle Times/New York Times: Is Putin a CIA agent?
The Russian leader consistently acts like a farmer who sells his most valuable beef in return for cubes of sugar.
President Donald Trump’s steadfast reluctance to say anything negative about Russia is so striking that a former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, once observed that Vladimir Putin manages Trump as if he were a Russian intelligence “asset.” He may be. But if I were a Russian citizen, I’d be asking this question: Is Putin a U.S. agent?
Why? Because Putin has undertaken so many actions in recent years that contributed to the weakening of Russia’s economy and human capital base that you have to wonder whether he’s secretly on the CIA’s payroll.
Beginning around 2007-08, Putin appears to have decided that rebuilding Russia by nurturing its tremendous human talent and strengthening the rule of law was just too hard — it would have required sharing power, holding real, competitive elections and building a truly diverse, innovation-based economy.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: Russian media responds to Thomas Friedman .... ‘Is Putin a CIA agent?’ NYT’s ‘dumbest paragraphs ever printed’ ridiculed online (New York Times).
