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

More from the article ...

... 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." ...

Why does Pres trump seem to be distancing our closest allies in favor of helping Pres Putin?

Our peaceful trading partners are not our enemies, they are our allies. We should beware of the demigods who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends, weakening our economy, our national security and the entire free world, all while cynically waving the American flag.
-- fmr Pres. Ronald Reagan, November 26, 1988

@#4 ... If this is true, there may be some underlying tensions at NATO HQ and shared US/UK NSA/GCHQ listening posts. ...

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

@#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. ...

@#6

Wow, I did not know that.

I had just thought that "selling down the river" was not a good thing.

Now I understand the significance of the idiomatic phrase.

Thank-you NPR.

@#9 ... Trump has no allies.

He has Putin, to whom he's indebted. ...

Sadly, that seems to be quite true of late.

Pres Trump has p!ssed off our long-time allies.

The allies seemed to have sucked up to him because they know that unfettered adulation is the way to gain favor with him.

But that adulation looks to be more of a ruse, a ruse that Pres Trump has not sensed because he has been wallowing in the transactional adulation and not why that adulation is present.