‘Who’s The Fairest Vlad of All’: Expert Perspective on the Russian President’s Next Move
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — “Mirror, mirror on the wall—who’s the fairest one of all?” is the famous misquote from the movie Snow White. Speaking at a […] More
Putin
The Core of Putin’s Weakness
OPINION — In 2017, I wrote a short piece for Foreign Policy asking if Putin was more a product of his KGB background and personal […] More
The Last Chapter in Putin’s War
OPINION — After his speech at the Georgia Institute of Technology last Thursday, CIA Director William Burns was asked about the risks that President Biden […] More
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s New Role in Ukraine
And China’s Dissemination of Russian Disinformation OPINION — On February 4th, President Xi Jinping signed a Joint Statement while in Beijing at the Winter Olympics, […] More
Is Negotiating with Putin even possible at this point?
Is Negotiating with Putin even possible at this point? OPINION — The war in Ukraine has now moved into its second, more protracted, and likely […] More
What History Teaches Us About Putin
OPINION — As a long-time student of European history and a former SIS officer and senior executive in the CIA’s Directorate of Analysis, I have […] More
Former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates has a Signal for President Putin
OPINION — “Even if the war stops, when you look at the number of civilians and Ukrainian soldiers and others who have died; and when […] More
This is NATO’s Casablanca Moment
OPINION — In the 1942 Hollywood classic Casablanca, Ingrid Bergman, playing Ilsa Lund famously says, “Play it, Sam.” A little under a year later, the […] More
Ukraine is Putin’s Forever War
OPINION — Like millions of others, I have been riveted to the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine as the world tries to make sense of this […] More
Putin Likely Didn’t Plan on Publicly Available Information in his War in Ukraine
OPINION — Even a cyber and info war aficionado like Russian President Vladimir Putin must begrudgingly appreciate the karmic role that the slew of publicly […] More
The Cornered Putin Problem
Bottom Line: As the Russian invasion of Ukraine presses into its third week, Western leaders continue to focus on the Russian President’s state of mind […] More
Putin Isn’t the First Dictator to Invade Ukraine
OPINION — Vladimir Putin is the third modern dictator, after Napoleon and Hitler to make the mistake of invading Ukraine, albeit the first to try […] More
How Russians Can Bring an End to Putin’s Chekist State
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — “Nothing”, Fyodor Dostoevsky observed in Crime and Punishment, “is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand […] More
The People in the Best Position to Stop Putin are His Own
The Cipher Brief: Understanding that there is no clear view into what Russian President Vladimir Putin is really thinking – what do you think Ukraine […] More
The Risks Facing Putin and his Inner Circle
As Cipher Brief Expert and former CIA Chief of the Central Eurasia Division, Rob Dannenberg writes for Subscriber+Members the way that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s […] More
With His only Option being Escalation, this is How Putin’s War Must End
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Vladimir Putin wanted this war. The “special military operation” launched in Ukraine, is just another step toward confrontation and conflict with the […] More
The Facts that Putin Cannot Change
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — As we used to say in government, it could be worse. A single death or wounding, a single destroyed hospital, school or […] More
Putin’s Health and State of Mind are very Hard Targets
OPINION — The current horrific invasion of Ukraine – including aerial bombing of civilian targets in large cities – by Russian military forces, and Russian […] More