JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin is reckless because we allow him to be” – Washington Post/ David Ignatius
“… Putin keeps defying the norms of international behavior. … Intelligence agencies have … evidence … Russian military intelligence officers, from … shadowy Unit 29155 of the GRU, paid … Taliban … whose bombing killed three U.S. Marines in … 2019. … [S]ources … [claim] forensic links between the [Afghan operation] GRU officers … and GRU colleagues who carried out the attempted assassination of … Skripal … in … England. … Putin is stuck in an endless loop of revenge. The Soviet Union is dead and gone … the Cold War … ancient history – but not for this former KGB officer. … still fighting the lost cause:
It’s not enough to denigrate his enemies; he actively pursues and tries to kill them. … GRU covert warriors were so brazen … they even created a ‘rear base’ in the French Alps… [with] 15 operatives, according to … Le Monde. … [A] 2018 New York Times report alleged … Russia sent a hit man to Florida four years before to kill an unidentified defector there. …”