Pakistan, Sept. 7 -- Presidents do not like hearing bad news. CIA Director John Ratcliffe went to Moscow to brief Russian counterparts on the U.S. assessment of the state of the war in Ukraine. The news could not have been good.

Even if Ukraine is not winning the war, its costs to Russia in blood and treasure have been extraordinary. Now, Russia's energy infrastructure is being increasingly shut down.

Suppose Russian President Vladimir Putin reversed the favour, sending Foreign Intelligence Service head Sergey Naryshkin to brief President Trump on America's "excursion" into Iran. Imagine how that would go down if Naryshkin relayed the reality? Trump would be apoplectic.

Using U.S. reporting, Naryshkin would tell the president that tota...