(UnitedVoice.com) – Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has gone badly wrong. What should have been a lightning-fast victory against a much smaller opponent has turned into a bloody slugging match that’s left thousands dead. Now intelligence officials say Putin might not even know how big a mess the situation is.
U.S. and U.K. officials say intelligence indicates Vladimir Putin has been "misinformed" about how badly the Russian military is performing in Ukraine, in part due to "yes-men" advisers who are "too afraid to tell him the truth." https://t.co/XqMS1bbt9L
— Axios (@axios) March 31, 2022
Western intelligence agencies believe the Russian president is being misinformed about how operations in Ukraine are going – and it’s his own fault. On March 30, Sir Jeremy Fleming, the director of GCHQ (the British equivalent of the National Security Agency) said it looks like Putin has “massively misjudged” what’s happening because he isn’t being told the truth, a common problem for ruthless strongman leaders.
Putin has a reputation for punishing anyone who annoys him, and while he was elected, his behavior can be similar to dictators like Stalin or Hitler. Not coincidentally, Stalin and Hitler often made mistakes because their advisers were afraid to tell them the truth. Sir Jeremy says GCHQ believes Putin is having the same problem.
GCHQ’s analysis was backed up by White House communications director Kate Bedingfield, who said on Wednesday the US has information suggesting Putin feels misled by his generals. The question is, what will happen when the temperamental ex-KGB agent realizes the truth? Will he back down, or go for broke and use every weapon at his disposal?
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