Has the US shut its 'Five Eyes' allies out of intelligence

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

US media has accused Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard of refusing to share information from Ukraine-Russia peace negotiations with Washington's closest allies -- to the potential benefit of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Are cracks appearing in the West's longstanding anglosphere "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance?

Posted by LampLighter at 06:15 PM | 10 COMMENTS | permalink

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... Are US intelligence services withholding information from their closest allies on peace negotiations with Russia and Ukraine?

According to anonymous intelligence officials, a memo issued by Gabbard weeks ago explicitly ordered that all information on Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations be withheld from US allies, US news channel CBS reported on August 22.

In the memo, the talks were reportedly classed as "NOFORN" by US intelligence, meaning no foreign dissemination. That included withholding intel from members of the "Five Eyes" alliance -- a traditionally tight-knit intelligence network linking the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The alliance has been one of the world's best organised intelligence-sharing groups since it was founded in 1946. Since the end of World War II its members have been the US's closest security allies, and a potential move by Washington to distance itself from Five Eyes has worried intelligence experts. ...

The idea that Washington would now privilege a confidential relationship with Putin over its longstanding allies is striking.

"There has never been a precedent in which the United States had stopped sharing intelligence or has given a precedence to its main other adversary as opposed to Five Eyes," Trenta added. "But here we have a case in which the United States is openly favouring an authoritarian regime against its traditional, historical democratic allies." ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-08-26 06:19 PM

@#5 ... It does not seem to be the first time that Pres Trump has seemingly sold Ukraine down the river to appease Pres Putin. ...

What Does 'Sold Down The River' Really Mean? The Answer Isn't Pretty (2014)
www.npr.org

... For generations, the phrase "sold down the river" has been used to signify a profound betrayal.

"River" was a literal reference to the Mississippi or Ohio rivers. For much of the first half of the 19th century, Louisville, Ky., was one of the largest slave-trading marketplaces in the country. Slaves would be taken to Louisville to be "sold down the river" and transported to the cotton plantations in states further south.

In his 2010 history of the Mississippi River, Wicked River: The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild journalist Lee Sandlin said "the threat of being 'sold down the river' was seen as tantamount to a death sentence."

Because white planters valued men over women as laborers, male slaves were far more likely to be "sold down the river." In addition to the tragedy of being separated from family, to be sent down the river meant a sentence of brutally hard labor. As the global demand for cotton grew, the demand for more and more slave labor grew at an equally large pace. ...