Kissinger US-Ch Cold War is more dangerous than the first\'

Kissinger: 'A second US-China Cold War would be even more dangerous than the first'

https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/kissinger-a-second-cold-war-usa-china-would-be-even-more-dangerous-than-the-first/

"Eventually we will have to find a place for Ukraine and a place for Russia, if we don't want Russia to become an outpost of Beijing in Europe"

March 26 2023

A “second Cold War”, fought between United States and China, could be more dangerous than the first one, which pitted Washington against Moscow. This was stated by the former presidential security adviser and US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, in an interview with the British historian Niall Ferguson, published by the Spanish newspaper “El Mundo”. “Two countries capable of dominating the world – the United States and China – face each other as last contenders. They are governed by incompatible internal systems," Kissinger said, according to whom a war between Washington and Beijing "could overthrow civilization, if not destroy it altogether." As noted by the former US official, both superpowers now have comparable financial resources, which was never the case during the first Cold War, and the technologies of destruction are even more terrifying, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence. Kissinger believes that "waiting for China to Westernize" is no longer a plausible strategy. "I don't think world domination is a Chinese concept," he observed, but the two superpowers "have a minimal common obligation to prevent a catastrophic collision from happening."

The Russian president Vladimir Putin "he is at the head of a country in decline" and "has lost his sense of proportion" with the war in Ukraine. There is "no excuse" for what Putin did, Kissinger said. The Russian president has “a vision of Russia as a kind of mystical entity that has been held together across 11 time zones by some kind of spiritual effort. And in this vision Ukraine has played a special role. The Swedes, French and Germans passed through that territory when they invaded Russia and were partly defeated because the journey exhausted them. This is Putin's vision,” Kissinger said.

About the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Kissinger highlighted how he "carried out a historic mission". “He comes from a background that has never emerged in the Ukrainian leadership at any time in history” – in reference to the fact that Zelensky is, like Kissinger, Jewish. “He was an accidental president because of his frustration with the country's politics. And then he was faced with Russia's attempt to return Ukraine to a position of total dependence and submission. And he rallied his country and world opinion behind him in a historic way. This is his great achievement,” the former US official noted.

La NATO he must ask himself the question of how to end the war in Ukraine, he said again. “Eventually we will have to find a place for Ukraine and a place for Russia, if we don't want Russia to become an outpost of China in Europe,” Kissinger explained. NATO was "the right alliance to deal with an aggressive Russia when it was the main threat to world peace," said the former US official. The Atlantic Alliance has become “an institution that reflects the collaboration between Europe and the United States in an almost unique way. This is why it is important to preserve it”, said Kissinger, according to whom “it is also important to recognize that the big questions will take place in the relations of the Middle East and Asia with Europe and America”. In this sense, "NATO is an institution whose members do not necessarily have compatible points of view". The unity shown on Ukraine “reminded them of old threats and they did very well. I stand by what they did. The question now will be how to end the war,” he added.