World faces cold-war-era threat levels, says former MI6 chief

The world faces cold-war-era threat levels, Sir John Sawers, the former head of MI6, has said, due to the west vacating the stage in Syria and failing to recognise that the growth of Russian military power over the past 15 years required the development of a new strategic relationship with Moscow.

 

“We are moving into an era that is as dangerous, if not more dangerous, as the cold war because we do not have that focus on a strategic relationship between Moscow and Washington,” Sawers told the BBC on Wednesday.

 

He said the west needed to recognise that the balance of power had changed in the world because of an increase in Russian military power, and its willingness to use that power.

 

Read More: World faces cold-war-era threat levels, says former MI6 chief | Politics | The Guardian