Bangladesh, Sept. 5 -- The sudden and unusually secretive trip by CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow has generated exactly the kind of speculation that Washington normally claims to dislike but routinely encourages.

Was he there to discuss Ukraine? Iran? Prisoner exchanges? Intelligence channels? Or some new attempt to keep a line of communication open between Washington and Moscow?

Perhaps.

But the more interesting question may not be what Ratcliffe said in Moscow. It may be who benefits from the political atmosphere created by the trip.

Because timing matters.

Ratcliffes reported visit came as European governments were once again debating security, military spending and the future allocation of enormous sums of public money. At ...