Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

'It鈥檚 not the Cold War any more'

Wikileaks has published documents which it says shows NSA spied on Francois Hollande.

Wikileaks has published documents which it says shows that the US National Security Agency spied on French president Francois Hollande and his two immediate predecessors between 2006 and 2012.

The US was interested in France's leading of the Libya intervention and Europe鈥檚 handling of the economic crisis during Nicolas Sarkozy鈥檚 presidency, as well as Francois Hollande鈥檚 policy on Mali, said former CIA officer Michael Scheuer.

When there was a clear threat from a common enemy, Western allies were a "closed club" who refrained from spying on each-other, said the Professor of Security Studies at Georgetown University.

But now there was no common enemy 鈥 despite the West having 鈥渕anufactured" a threat from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not the Cold War any more,鈥 said Michael Scheuer. 鈥淚t鈥檚 much more like the 19th Century when countries look out for themselves."

鈥淲e鈥檙e all [economic] competitors now, there is no need for unity.

3 minutes

Podcast