What to Make of the Intelligence Failure Over the Steele Dossier?

At the time (January 13, 2007), I expected the intelligence community to reach the same conclusion as I that the Steele Dossier was pure garbage. All that would be required was for them to observe general rules of intelligence collection. I was wrong then. To my alarm, the FBI was taking the fake dossier seriously. We are still waiting for some kind of disavowal of the dossier from our masters of intelligence.

go to The Hill 

Where are Biden and Merkel's sanctions against Putin's gas weapon?

 go to The Hill

In July, President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to reimpose sanctions if Vladimir Putin used gas as a “geopolitical weapon.” This agreement constituted a concession in return for Biden’s waiver of sanctions on Nord Stream 2, which allowed its completion. Merkel had already vouched for continued gas deliveries through Ukraine — a questionable pledge from a politician leaving office.

Despite these Biden-Merkel assurances, Putin’s Kremlin has engaged in undisguised blackmail to render Europe hostage to Russia’s gas monopoly, Gazprom. Putin’s blackmail aims to force the speedy certification of Gazprom’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline by delivering less gas to Europe. Putin’s ultimate goal: Destroy the European Union’s competitive and transparent energy market.