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There is a glowing review of Obama-esque ‘hope’ concerning the nomination of William ‘Bill’ Burns as the new administration’s Director of CIA. The review is plausible/improbable & outcome remains to be seen. [1]
Written by an Indian diplomat, M K Bhadrakumar, he takes an interesting quote from Burn’s book ‘The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for its Renewal‘ in a context of less ‘militarization’ wherein Burns asserts American diplomacy should:
“…harness all the tools of American statecraft – from the soft power of ideas, culture, and public diplomacy, to … intelligence-gathering and covert action”
As well, Bhadrakumar notes:
“Burns is widely praised as a titan of the foreign policy world and also happens to belong to that breed of diplomats who believe that diplomacy and espionage are two sides of the same coin”
One presumes the article & quotes more or less exclude CIA paramilitary operations (e.g. Syria) as a direction that should be emphasized in Burns’ philosophy as the new Director of Central Intelligence.
But, there is this other point, in case of Burn seeing diplomacy & espionage as “two side of the same coin” where in fact the CIA & USA’s Department of State are historically more like ‘Siamese twins.’ This second is a qualified point that sees things a bit differently than two sides of the same coin (public postures vs back-stabbing acts) in a matter of Siamese twins or more than one cognitive process pushing or initiating policy in fact. This is more than a typical two-faced ‘diplomacy’ coin, in a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is up to.
Of course, as always, it will be the factual legacy Burns leaves behind him that will determine what will be and what came to naught. In this vein, it should do to examine a bit (just a bit) of Burns’ history, raise a question and propose a litmus test.
My recollection of Bill Burns in respect to Iran is a bit different to the pundits of the present; as a matter of fact Burns has been in past circumstance of having to work with some of the USA’s nastiest ‘diplomatic’ personalities and guilt by association, e.g. a murderess or the murderous Condoleezza Rice, is ‘just deserts’ in the political game. [2]
That Burns is presumably a good reporter of facts is no solid indicator his proposed philosophical outlook will be of any significance whatsoever. [3]
The question posed is, how much control over the actual function of the CIA Burns will actually possess (or even care to possess.) He will be pressed from above and below to implement criminal policies, and authorize criminal acts. His superiors are incompetent politicians steeped in aggressive geopolitical lies & greed, e.g. ‘The Russians did it’, no matter if or when the Russians did not do it & rank corporate corruption or practically unlimited “Citizens United” undisclosed PAC money and; his minions (senior CIA operatives), are quite frankly, tactically & socially stupid, not only patently treasonous, international criminals. [4]
Litmus test: when the present and two preceding FBI directors (Mueller, Comey & Wray), all of them, have shielded a narcotics cartel hit-man (serial killer), that is Enrique ‘ricky’ Prado, for the fact Prado doubled as a high ranking CIA officer-operative, does Burns stop protecting Prado, allowing prosecutions to go forward, or does Burns consider shielding Prado that part of “covert action” that is legitimate ‘statecraft’? [5]
In fact it is time someone cleaned up the CIA’s act. Will Burns do it or will he even exercise control over an agency shielding numerous rank killers, not only Prado? Does the Obama-Brennan era extra-judicial “Kill List” targeting American citizens, and the harassment, sabotaging the personal lives of, and framing of dissident Americans living abroad (a laundered, CIA version of the FBI’s COINTELPRO) cease and desist or do these mafia quid pro quo programs see new ‘life’ breathed into them? [6]
This target (yours truly) wants to know. Because as of this week, in Serbia, it is become clear the ‘dogs have not been called off.’ [7]
But maybe I should know already. The counter-point analysis that should be read, relating to Burns’ “The Back Channel”, describes a man incapable of comprehending his failures. The teaser from John Helmer:
“William Burns is the man who might have been US Secretary of State if Hillary Clinton had been elected President in November 2016. Since then he has been composing an apologia pro vita sua — a book of religious convictions describing what went wrong through no fault of his own or of God’s, explaining what a victim Burns and the United States have been of bad luck; bad timing; President Donald Trump’s “narcissism”, “erratic leadership” and “active sabotage”; and Russian malevolence
“To the ex-Ambassador to Russia and ex-Deputy Secretary of State, the Russian evil is a motiveless, psychopathological crime. Russians, especially the few high-ranking ones Burns met as a State Department apparatchik, can’t help themselves. There is no cause and effect between action and reaction, between US offence and Russian defence. Nothing Christian Brothers alumni and missionary Americans like Burns have done explains (in Burns’s tract) why the Russians behave so badly, and why their souls must forever burn in hell unless they repent. Five hundred pages of holier-than-thou, confessor to the wicked Russians — that’s been the Burns mission” [8]
A former Sergeant of Operations and Intelligence for Special Forces, Ronald Thomas West is a retired investigator (living in exile) whose work focus had been anti-corruption. Ronald had lived over thirty years in close association with Blackfeet Indians (those who still speak their language), and is published in international law as a layman: The Right of Self- Determination of Peoples and It’s Application to Indigenous People in The USA or The Mueller-Wilson Report, co-authored with Dr Mark D Cole. Ronald has been adjunct professor of American Constitutional Law at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany (for English credit, summer semester 2008.) Ronald’s formal educational background (no degree) is social psychology. His therapeutic device is satire.
Contact: penucquemspeaks@googlemail.com
“Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with the good” -Mahatma Ghandi
Ronald Thomas West 
[…] paramilitary operations and intelligence-gathering. Burns is described as a career diplomat who believes diplomacy and espionage are two sides of the same coin. Burns is an old-school American diplomat […]
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[…] operations and intelligence-gathering. Burns is described as a career diplomat who believes diplomacy and espionage are two sides of the same coin. Burns is an old-school American […]
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