but i'm pretty confident that the cia has been providing support to its counterparts. so they've had a lot of time to prepare for what they're going to do. >> yeah. and you pointed this out in a fascinating piece in foreign affairs. as you say, since the invasion of crimea, the u.s. may well have helped ukraine plan an insurgency. but on the flip side, i guess mr. putin expects such a thing and has his own counterplan. how messy would it be were to it happen? >> insurgencies are very messy by design, and they're supposed to inflict casualties. they're supposed to seize the narrative. they're supposed to undermine political support at home. dictator or not, putin still responds to what's going on domestically. one of his greatest concerns is a grassroots opposition at home. i think the idea would be to send video and carnage and such like that that russians were so connected internationally despite what he might do to the internet are going to see.