Humint and Russia

It is a common fallacy to explain everything anybody does in the world as a reaction to America, as if other powers did not have their own agendas (agendas, not just interests). Not everything in the world happens because of America. The missile defense shield is not an "aggressive military step". It is absolutely no threat to Russia and the regime must know this. It is therefore not really "scared". It has acquired symbolic value exactly because Putin chose to raise a stink. And you are falling for it.

Putin´s reaction to the missile shield was designed to drive a wedge between Europe and America, because he had observed that a mixture of threats and complaints works with Europe and that there is virulent anti-Americanism to be exploited (just as his employee Schröder did when he was chancellor).

Expanding NATO eastwards was far more consequential than the missile shield, but at the time the Europeans were on board, so it would not have worked as a wedge issue.

You are not going to convince me that Bush planned the Russian overreaction by placing a radar installation in the Czech Republic (which last time I looked was a sovereign country no longer under Russian rule from which it is separated by about 700 miles). I find it touching that you can put yourself in these people´s shoes, but one can overdo these things.

„Too many people are making too much money, and too many trends are pushing Russia towards the West for Moscow to blow it all with any sort of military action.“ - True. They probably can spread their brand of corporatist fascim without large-scale military action. How that is a trend that pushes Russia towards the west is unclear. The idea is to split and weaken the West and bad ideas have bad consequences down the road.

As for your defense of the CIA and that self serving bureaucrat Tenet – sorry, I don´t know what you´re talking about. Sounds like Bush Derangement Sydrome to me.