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i know it's not quite as black and white as this, but since the end of the cold war and the scales of power tipped towards the usa things have gone tits up.
ok, there were a shit load of problems back then, but we are closer to ww3 now than ever before
if russia was still a force to be reckened with i think we would'nt have the 'war on terror' right now. araq would'nt have been invaded for the second time, the us would'nt have dared 'free' afghanistan as russia would still have (a least some) control over it.
any new 'hitler'or would be terrorist who thought they could do just as they please would think twice if russia was still a dominate force.

The US and British secret services have both tried to reinvent themselves since the end of the cold war. I'm of the opinion that much of the so-called "dependable" information the Met is acting on these days is coming from the MI people.

Initially, the thought in the UK was that the intelligence services could do a job sorting out the IRA, but since the situation in Northern Ireland quietened even that has been denied them.

In the US, the CIA has pretty much always been its own boss, with its own agenda.