Face-palm.

 Ah, yes, Robert Gates, big honcho. 

Yet, this former CIA Director and SecDef who prides himself in "working on USSR and Russia" for decades still cannot grasp simple geopolitical truths and delivers this pile of a bovine excrement as his conclusions. 

"I'm not sure even in a face to face that you can judge Putin's intention," said Gates, who served as defense secretary under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. "My own view, having dealt with him and having spent most of my life working on Russia and the Soviet Union, is Putin feels that he has a destiny to recreate the Russian Empire. And as my old mentor, Zbigniew Brzezinski once said, without Ukraine, there can be no Russian Empire." 

Not surprising for a guy whose mentor was possessed Polish political pseudo-science Ph.D. who lived on hatred of Russia and Russians and, as his "forecasts" demonstrated was nothing but a hack. Gates' knowledge and grasp of Russia is minimal, based around same sources of fringe Russian so called "liberals" who in 1990s and 2000s still have been in positions of power and influence. The intellectual and expertise collapse of the American "elites" is complete. Robert Gates just proved it. Are you surprised that we all find the US in the present state of a complete disarray? It was inevitable ...