Blake: How long have you lived here? academic thesis The recent dynamics in the Syrian situation remind me of the old days when we used to deal with the Soviets on arms control during the Cold War. And, guess what? Putin, a former Soviet KGB agent, remembers those days fondly, and has discovered what many of us have known for the past five or six years: That we have a crew of real rookies in our politically selected national security jobs, including our president, who is apparently clueless when it comes to being jerked around by Putin and his thugs, Assad's family mafia and Iran's Muslim fanatics.