'Paranoid' Russia can push itself to enter into new Cold War with US, says intelligence chief James Clapper

Washington: Russia is "paranoid" about being challenged by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) and its efforts to rival American power could push it into a new Cold War, the head of US intelligence said Tuesday.[caption id="attachment_2619006" align="alignleft" width="380"] Director of U.S. National Intelligence James Clapper in a file photo. Reuters[/caption]"They're greatly concerned about being contained," the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.Clapper said that Russia fears the installation of a missile defense network in Europe could negate the threat posed to the West by its nuclear arsenal."I think the Russians fundamentally are paranoid about – about Nato," he said."So, a lot of these aggressive things that the Russians are doing, for a number of reasons — great power status, to create the image of being co-equal with the United States etc. — I think could probably — could possibly — go on, and we could be into another Cold War-like spiral here," he added.Relations between Moscow and Washington are at a low point, amid disputes over Nato's expansion in eastern Europe and Russia's military interventions in Syria and Ukraine.AFP