One For The History Books
On the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the US sided with the bad guys
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ALEX’S WEEKLY RANT
In 1943, as war raged in Europe, Franklin Roosevelt declared, "We have faith that future generations will know here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war."
Today, the United States is led by forces of ignorance and intolerance, with a lot of personal animus and greed thrown in. The post-World War Two order, which was helmed by a United States that believed in the pursuit of democracy and the strength of alliances, ended this week. In a moment that will go down in the history books (if we are allowed to have them), the United States voted with Russia, Belarus, and North Korea against a United Nations resolution calling out Russia for its aggression against Ukraine, on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of that sovereign nation.
Also voting against the resolution were such bastions of democracy as:
Burundi: has been moving toward authoritarian governance and in 2023 signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia.
Central African Republic: was Ground Zero for Russia’s Wagner paramilitary troops and has been a hotbed of Russian foreign influence operations. The current president of CAR relies on Russian military troops for his personal security.
Equatorial Guinea: home of the Africa’s longest-serving dictator. For background, see my essay on dictators: HIGH HEELS, WIGS, AND FLAMBOYANT ROBES. That dictator also relies on Russian troops for his security.
Eritrea: another authoritarian regime, has also increased military cooperation with Russia, finding Russia a great partner from which to buy weapons. In return, Russia, in particular, is eyeing Eritrea’s naval port.
Haiti: a gang-ridden, violence-raddled country with very little actual governance that Russia has targeted with Wagner troops.
Hungary: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been a simp for Putin for years, rolling back democracy in his country and has becoming something of a middleman between Russia and the United States, as I wrote about here.
Mali: a major target of Russian influence. Russian troops helped install a junta in a military coup.
Nicaragua: also an authoritarian state, which it became with the help of Russian influence.
Niger: another major target of Russian influence in Africa. It underwent a coup in 2023, helped by Russian-trained mercenaries.
Sudan: another authoritarian regime in a country inundated with Russian influence and which recently signed an agreement to open a Russian naval base.
This is a good example of why Russia cultivates many of these relationships: to get these countries’ votes at the UN and other international organizations. It’s diplomacy at its finest (covert, coerced, and detrimental to the population).
It’s quite something (and not a good thing!) to see the US side with such a gallery of rogue nations. The US voting down the idea that Russia is the aggressor in this conflict and needs to be held accountable for that is a major shift, as is the new American insistence that countries we help should “be more thankful,” as we just saw in this disgusting display in the Oval Office.
Don’t Be Shocked By The Shift
Of course, Russia hasn’t only been investing in influence operations in Africa. It played the long game in the US, too (which readers of my Foreign Influence Operations course already know).
This excellent documentary, “Operation Trump: Russian Spies Conquer America,” looks at how the Republican party—once the anti-Russia party, the party of Ronald Reagan and “Tear down this wall!”—became the party of Trump, bff of Putin. (The documentary was produced by FranceTV; here is a link to the original French version.)
Russia invested for decades in influence operations in the United States. The journalists talk to former KGB officers who discuss how Trump was targeted in the 1980s. They look at "friendship" groups that infiltrated the Heritage Foundation (home of Project 2025) and other conservative groups to plant seeds of pro-Russia sentiment. This was a state-run, organized intelligence operation, and the purveyors of the op were well aware of the long game. It’s worth a watch.
About Those “Krasnov” Accusations
Along those same lines, a number of people have asked me about this investigation from Byline Times claiming Trump was “recruited” as a KGB asset back in the 1980s. This isn’t exactly new information, although the detail that Trump was given the code name “Krasnov” is, as far as I know.
Here is my basic assessment: absolutely Trump would have been a target of the KGB and other intelligence agencies. Any influential businessman would have been. Craig Unger has written extensively on this. The implication of the Byline Times story, however, is that Trump became a fully-controlled asset. I am less convinced of this. That doesn’t mean the KGB didn’t give him a code name, though. They probably did. But anyone who wants to attribute Trump’s actions to being a fully recruited asset controlled by Russia’s intelligence services is likely oversimplifying the relationship.
It is worth noting that the Byline Times story does not mention Trump’s known ties to the Russian mafia, members of which bought condos in Trump Tower, for example. This is important. Since Russia is a mafia state, doing deals with the Russian mafia is doing deals with the state.
It seems more likely, to me, that the relationship between Trump and Russian intelligence (through the Russian mafia) is a symbiotic one. This is just how business is done. Although today, I would argue, Putin has leverage over Trump simply because Trump so admires him. And Putin knows how to manipulate that ego.
I was going to write a deeper analysis, but I think this essay from former CIA Russia specialist
does a good job.
THE WEEK’S LINKS
A roundup of things you should be reading
DOGE SCREWS THE SPOOKS
How Trump’s government-cutting moves risk exposing the CIA’s secrets (CNN)
FBI JOINS FORCES WITH UFC CAGE FIGHTING
Inside FBI Director Kash Patel’s Whirlwind Start (WSJ)
EXCELLENT RESOURCES!
Just Security has launched WHAT JUST HAPPENED? as well as a litigation tracker to help readers keep up with the chaos
Alex Finley is a former officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa and Europe. She writes and teaches about terrorism, disinformation / covert influence, and oligarch yachts. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Reductress, Funny or Die, POLITICO, The Center for Public Integrity, and other publications. She has spoken to the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, France24, and numerous other media outlets. She was also invited once to speak at Harvard, which she now tells everyone within the first ten seconds of meeting them. She is the author of the Victor Caro series, satirical novels about the CIA. Before joining the CIA, Alex was a journalist, covering Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy. She reported on issues related to national security, intelligence, and homeland security. Did she mention she was invited to speak at Harvard?
