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Did the CIA Conclude That Stalin WASN'T a Dictator?
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It was certainly foolish and irresponsible of us (I am also guilty of it), but the CIA conforming to the liberal view isn't all that surprising when they are working with a hypothesis that they didn't have all that much ability to falsify and didn't have information from the Soviet archives about, for example, Stalin being repeatedly outvoted on basic issues.
As I recall, here's another famous note "from the CIA" about Cuba, specifically how attempts to create broad opposition within Cuba to the communist regime have failed even in the extreme circumstances Cuba has faced for its whole existence, and the only remaining option (in so many words) is to use sanctions to just turn Cuba into a failed state. I now wonder what the provenance of that note is and if it reflects or conflicts with better sources . . .