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Article: Seeing Russia plain: the Russian crisis and American intelligence.(includes related article on Harvard University's Institute for International Development)
- Article from:
- The National Interest
- Article date:
- March 22, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 The National Interest, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Whenever the CIA is accused of spinning its intelligence analysis to fit policy preferences, it replies tartly that it "tells it like it is." For the most part, it really does. But in the case of Russia, telling it like it is, and seeing it like it really is, are both very difficult. This article explores some of these difficulties.
The saddest disappointment of the post-Cold War era has been the failure of Russia to find and follow the path of political and economic democracy. In the long run, this disappointment may also be the most dangerous: Russia is a country that spans ten time zones and contains thousands of nuclear weapons and other deadly materials ...