The former Swiss Intelligence officer turned contrarian author spoke to the AAPA on the eve of the English language translation of his latest book, Ukraine Between War and Peace.
“The West is a victim of its own narrative” Baud claims, concerning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. But he never answered our questions about what the West got wrong in that narrative concerning Russia’s capacities and why the combination of military retaliation and economic sanctions did not result in a swift Ukrainian victory.
Instead, we were assailed by a 90-minute litany of reasons why Russia’s invasion of a sovereign nation was justified. Baud’s refusal to be drawn off his own narrative outlasted the best attempts to do so by members of the FT, Times of London, Australian TV, and a handful of other outlets in attendance who produced hard evidence to disprove many of his comments.
Is he a contrarian? Russian apologist? Hardened realist? In the end, we decided Baud was an author in search of a point of view.
-picture credit: Andrei Brauns