Cold War games in Venezuela? – ex CIA chief Jack Devine

LONDON — The Venezuelan people are bearing the brunt of the socialist policies of their President Nicolas Maduro. Images of people looking for food in the rubbish and telling the world of their plight can be seen daily on news outlets all over the world. But Maduro is blocking aid to the country to his starving nation saying that his people aren't beggars and he doesn't trust the United States. The Trump administration supported by some Western nations including the United Kingdom has recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim President of Venezuela in what some political commentators see as a 'soft coup'. But Russia, China and Turkey are backing Maduro and South Africa has insisted that Maduro is the duly elected leader. In an interview with the former chief of the CIA's worldwide operations, Jack Devine, who now heads the Arkin Group told Bloomberg that the Americans' backing of Maduro could be seen as another proxy war with Russia. – Linda van Tilburg.The Venezuelan people are bearing the brunt of the socialist policies of their President Nicolas Maduro. Images of people looking for food in the rubbish and telling the world of their plight can be seen daily on news outlets all over the world. But Maduro is blocking aid to the country to his starving nation saying that his people aren't beggars. The Trump administration supported by some Western nations including the United Kingdom has recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim President of Venezuela in what some political commentators see as a 'soft coup'. But Russia, China and Turkey are backing Maduro and South Africa has insisted that Maduro is the duly elected leader. In an interview with the former chief of the CIA's worldwide operations, Jack Devine, who now heads the Arkin Group told Bloomberg that the Americans' backing of Maduro could be seen as another proxy war with Russia..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.As you know, I'm a cold warrior, unreformed if you will and if you stay in a game long enough it repeats itself so, when I look at Venezuela today with my background, having spent so many years in the struggle with the Russians and the Cubans. This is a very familiar pattern. They see a vulnerability on our flank in a fear of influence and they push it for maximum advantage. Now, I think most Americans haven't been following over the past several years, just how important Russia's financial support has been to Venezuela, and on, again, the professional side, the part that I'm quite familiar with, having supported the Cuban Intelligence Group, and being able to monitor the opposition and how to counteract – it's very reminiscent of the Cold War. Having said that, the second part of that play is we have always resisted those adventures into this hemisphere, and the strong actioning of sanctioning Venezuela is all part of this bigger chess game and I do think we have to keep Russia and Cuba from gaining another foothold in the region..Mr Devine also said that he believed it was going to be a long struggle against Venezuela and this sounds quite familiar when you consider American intervention in other areas of the world including Iraq. But he believes, in the end, Maduro will go..I think it's a very complicated situation. We tend to underestimate how far a country has to fall before there's an eruption of a regime change. So, when you look at the dynamic and the inflation in Venezuela. The shortages of goods. The lack of sufficient protection for the citizens. The autocratic nature of the Maduro government, they're at a very low point in the process. That doesn't mean that it's going to be resolved quickly. Actually, I was reading an article today in which one of the opposition leaders said, 'one of our reformer abilities here, if we think that this is a short game, we're going to dissipate our energy so, this is a sustained effort..I don't think it's over any time soon and as you know the key, or at least many analysts would say, where does the military come down? But the military is not a united monolithic group. You have military leadership and then you have the private and sergeant that's living with inflation and shortages and his family so, the military doesn't have a lock on it and the question is, at what point in this process does the system break? And it is, I don't want to say it's a game of chicken that the minister said, but this is going to be a move, a countermove, I think, for some period of time. Over the long play – Maduro goes, not sustainable..Questioned about the differences between the CIA and President Donald Trump, Mr Devine said, he believed in the long-term the intelligence agencies will prevail and although he seems to agree with the Trump's Administration Foreign Policy in Venezuela. When it comes to Iran and the Treaty on Nuclear Development – he says that Iran has not broken the Treaty..My experience in the agency is that morale is often directly correlated to how important the agency is in the scheme of things in our policy and how much is the administration using the CIA? That is really the ingredient. As a population it's probably split 48:52 Republicans and Democrats switching. It's part of America so it's not so politicised in that regard. Today, whether you had a Republican president or a Democratic president – the CIA is a really critical piece of the action. So, at the working level, as opposed to we're seeing it played out in some level disputes but the rank and file is more interested in doing the job..Now, at the policy level, the mission of the CIA, engraved on its wall, and we've talked about this before. Its product is to just tell the facts the way they are and when it gets in trouble it deviates from that. So, policymakers need to understand that and live with it, and the best ones understand that that is a strength. So, I think looking at the situation today, I think everyone is looking that there'll be a fight between the intelligence community and the policymakers – I think that's not good for this country and I think over time, good, objective, intelligence prevails, and most presidents have eventually succumbed to them to the importance of relying on them..So, you're saying that some of the commentary from President Trump and the administration denigrating the intelligence agencies – your sense is that these agencies can withstand that, certainly in the near-term, and focus on the longer-term?.I may be an optimist but my experience leads me to believe that truth does prevail. That reason does prevail and I think when you look at the assessments – there's things that are said in the public forums, and other things were said in the backroom. I know the intelligence community really considers Iran an evil empire, right. In my career I was in charge of Iranian operations at one point. There's no school of thought inside the agency that Iran is a good nation and part of the brotherhood. So, I think the dispute is whether or not the specific ingredients of the Treaty worked out with on nuclear development is being adhered to, and I think the sense is, it is..They would point out, if pressed, and I believe it's probably even in the record, that this is not an iron clad agreement, the Nuclear Agreement, so there is room for developing missiles, there's sites that can't be worked so, it's not as clean as maybe portrayed publicly. So, I think the CIA is very much aware about all of these things and they understand the motivations. But if you look at the technical point-A, point-B – they haven't broken it..And that is Jack Devine, the former Chief of the CIA's worldwide operations on Venezuela, and Trump's battle with the agency, speaking to Bloomberg. This is Linda van Tilburg in London, for BizNews.

Cold War games in Venezuela? – ex CIA chief Jack Devine

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