That CIA Thingy.

And Larry Johnson certainly has the background to pass the judgement. He, rephrasing a wonderful statement from freshly awaken Agent Cooper in Twin Peaks: The Return, "am the CIA"(c). So, he knows a thing or two, which also fits well with opinions of other former CIA professional Phil Giraldi. Larry writes:

When someone is telling you how important he or she is, it is a pretty good indicator that person is not terribly relevant. I think the same principle applies to the CIA, who in the last week is bragging through sources that thanks to the Agency’s intel the Ukrainians are whacking a dozen Russian Generals and sinking the Moskva. There was a time when the CIA actually tried to keep secrets and shied away from advertising its hidden helping hand.  

Larry is correct when arriving to this conclusion: 

I believe that Russian intelligence professionals are scratching their heads trying to figure out what the hell America is really doing. They probably are wondering if this leaking of sensitive information is actually a clever capitalist plot to get Russia to chase imaginary squirrels? Or are the Americans just plain incompetent? I side with the incompetence explanation. CIA Director William Burns latest public remarks is a case in point.

Read the whole thing at Larry's blog. Meanwhile, Germany continues to humiliate itself. 

A German museum dedicated to World War II, and to the ending of that conflict in Europe, has decided to drop the reference to Russia in its name, in response to Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine. The German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst is housed in the building where Hitler’s forces signed Germany’s unconditional surrender on the night of May 8-9, 1945, ending the war in Europe. The document was signed in the presence of representatives of the Soviet Union, the US, Britain and France. The museum dedicated to German-Soviet relations, was first opened to the public in 1995 and is sponsored by Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Jorg Morre, the museum’s director, told German media earlier this week that the institution has decided to drop the reference to Russia from its name, in protest at Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The new name is just Museum Berlin-Karlshorst. “Already on the first day of the invasion we said this is such a profound turning point that we had to do this,” Morre told the broadcaster rbb24. In addition to the name change, the German, Russian and Belarusian flags have been removed from the poles in front of the building, and only the Ukrainian flag was left.

Well,  no wonder Russians do not want to deal with Germany at all. I wouldn't. I am too fastidious.