A former CIA agent claims the West is moving towards direct war with “unhinged” Vladimir Putin which may well turn nuclear.
Robert Baer believes the situation is “likely to get a lot worse” with Putin pursuing “Russian fascism” and that no one predicted the extent to which he would go.
The ex-CIA case officer, who discusses the threat from Putin in his new book “The Fourth Man”, said that the US was left flat-footed with Russia ’s invasion of Crimea and then the attack on Ukraine that began on February 24.
He told the Express : “What we have today is worse than anything during the Cold War.
“There’s no question the West had to support Ukraine but at the same time we’re inching towards a direct conflict between NATO and Russia.
"Whether or not it goes nuclear is anyone’s guess.”
He added: “Everyone knew about Putin’s supposedly finding God and his embrace of what can be described as Russian fascism, but on other hand no one forecast his delusions would be translated into an open-ended land war and genocide.
“If Putin is truly as unhinged as he appears, things are likely to get a lot worse.”
Mr Baer is also unsure whether there is any truth about whether Putin is suffering from cancer or another illness.
Many reports have referred to Putin looking puffy in the face, in recent months, which could suggest that he was on steroids.
At Russia’s Victory Day parade last month Putin looked frail and used a blanket to keep warm, which contrasted markedly with the macho image he has cultivated in the past.
Mr Baer said: “As for Putin’s health, I won’t comment other than to say while I was in the CIA I listened to our doctors predicting various tyrants’ demises but in the end when they finally did die the timing came as a surprise.”
The former CIA agent believes it was a mistake by the West to underestimate Russia after the end of the Cold War.
“After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CIA considered the KGB a defeated force and all but stopped spying on it," said Mr Baer.
“It turns out it was a grave mistake because through the 90s the KGB was plotting its return, infiltrating everywhere it needed to.”
He feels that Russian spy working in the US also were successful in ensuring that the West missed what was happened.
"KGB moles in America also did an enormous amount of damage, worse than the Cambridge Five," he said.
“So little wonder the CIA missed the KGB hardliners behind Putin and their plans to turn back the clock, to include folding Ukraine back into the Russian empire.
“Incidentally, the more I learn about Putin’s rise the more I believe he was the frontman in a silent KGB coup rather than a mistake by Yeltsin.”
The infiltration had blunted the United States' ability to predict Putin's movements, Mr Baer claimed.
He said: “The immediate impact of the CIA’s failure to keep Russia’s pulse is that it’s been unable to connect the dots, namely Putin’s takeover of Crimea in 2014 with his decision to invade Ukraine this February.
“Not truly understanding Putin’s ambitions and then not reacting decisively to Crimea amounts to President Obama and Europe’s Munich.
“As for Trump, Putin was all the more encouraged by Trump never stopping talking about leaving NATO. This is not to mention Putin thought the US was led by an illiterate, nativist fool who’d managed to return the United States to isolationism.”
