Even if I were in the room and Bennett showed Putin military assessments of the invasion, it would still be speculation that Putin didn’t know it. What is said or not said is not the basis of my speculation. The question is does Putin’s group tell him what’s going on? Every 4-star general is speculating on that question. All I pointed out is we have public knowledge that he met in person with someone outside his government after the invasion started. I pointed out the capabilities of that person’s country. The basis of learning is to come up with a hypothesis. In the future, we will learn if my speculation was correct or not. I have no idea.

Believe it or not, I understand where you’re coming from. However, if one tries to remove speculation from their geopolitics they end up with a blank page. One must also write with confidence, even if they question themselves. Try writing yourself. Then maybe you’ll understand that horse shit is the nature of the beast.