Ray McGovern

At St. Petersburg International Economic Summit in 2016, Putin warned Western journalists the West’s dismissive approach to arms control had forced Russia to field new kinds of sophisticated weapons to gain advantage. War in Ukraine = QED. Don’t miss:

LTC Aguilar assesses latest exchanges of fire in Iran “ceasefire”; hypothesizes re next US military operations. Ray reverts to old role as infantry/intel officer; delighted that some ops planners are still taught how to assess enemy capabilities/intentions.

Israeli influence: examples from 1963-2026, amid pending legislation tying US-Israel militaries even closer together. How long will we let Israel drive US foreign policy? At end, short video clips suggesting the kind of “intervention” that is now required.

Putin uncharacteristically dyspeptic re drones http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/79910

Asked if drones were launched from Latvia: “All locations would be “legitimate targets”, implying, as Russian Intel has already done publicly, that NATO membership conveys no immunity.

On Dialogue Works Friday, Nima and I tried to make some sense out of Trump’s behavior on Iran after three months of war. Also discussed: what Moscow’s reaction to killing of 21 students at the teachers college in Lugansk is likely to be over the near term.

Larry Johnson, Scott Ritter, and I discuss our Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) Alert Memorandum, “Avoiding Catastrophic Failure in Cuba”, issued earlier on Friday:

https://consortiumnews.com/2026/05/29/vips-memo-avoiding-catastrophic-failure-in-cuba/

C.I.A. Director John Ratcliffe, President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy, monitoring U.S. military operations in Venezuela, from Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 3, 2026. (White House /Molly Riley)

We also reviewed the bidding on Iran, Ukraine.

NATO’s Ukraine proxy war seeks to weaken Russia and topple Putin. To launch an economic, information and ground war, NATO needed Russia to invade. Now it needs Russia to attack a NATO nation to justify direct war. Sat. 8pm EDT.

WATCH: The World This Week — ‘Luring Russia into War’

NEARSIGHTED and ARMS FOLDED they waded knee deep in the Deep Muddy – this time Cuba. Before the US gets waist deep, and before “the big fool says to push on”, words of caution from a savvy former intelligence analyst of Latin America and 15 VIPS colleagues

https://consortiumnews.com/2026/05/29/vips-memo-avoiding-catastrophic-failure-in-cuba/

C.I.A. Director John Ratcliffe, President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy, monitoring U.S. military operations in Venezuela, from Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 3, 2026. (White House /Molly Riley)

Can US blithely dismiss the possibility that Putin and Xi will rattle sabers — or worse, if US moves to “regime-change” Cuba? Might they opt to put some teeth in their rhetoric against “all unilateral acts of bullying”? Relevant context from the early 60s

CUBAN FIASCO II? Arthur Schlessinger report to JFK, 06/30/61: “…CIA analysts were not told of Bay of Pigs operation; not asked re likelihood Castro would fall; would have given “quite a different estimate.” https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/18285-national-security-archive-doc-02-memorandum READ THAT MEMO, Rubio!