Will Putin really invade NATO countries?
What did Nina Khrushcheva, great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, a professor of international relations in the United States for decades as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, say. The italics of Teo Dalavecuras
Nina Khrushcheva, as is known, is not only the great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, the man who in the Soviet Union told his compatriots what was hidden behind the legend of Joseph Stalin, some seventy years ago. She is also a Princeton graduate and has been a professor of international relations in the United States for decades as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations , the model that also inspired Alberto Pirelli when, in the 1930s, he contributed significantly to the foundation of our Inspi. He collaborates with some of the main international newspapers in the Anglo-Saxon linguistic area and follows topics related to the Russian Federation for Project Syndicate . Above all, Khrushcheva is an intransigent critic of Vladimir Putin's policies while remaining tied, even as an American citizen, to her country of origin (or perhaps precisely in the name of that connection). Asked for comment in the early days of the invasion of Ukraine, he said his great-grandfather would have called Putin's move despicable .
In a recent conversation on Project Syndicate, the following question was asked to Professor Khrushcheva: "Is the fear that Putin intends to invade NATO countries in the near future, possibly starting with the Baltic countries, justified, exaggerated or something else?". The response was drastic: “I find this rhetoric totally irresponsible. NATO countries are understandably upset that the Ukrainian counteroffensive in summer 2023 has failed to realize their (unrealistically high) expectations. Now they fear they will not be able to sustain the massive transfer of funds and aid they have provided over the last two years. Internal resistance ( to aid, ed. ) is intensifying. As a result, leaders try to get around it by scaring people with the argument that if Putin manages to win in Ukraine the next target will be NATO. This rhetorical escalation could make a military escalation more likely. Putin has shown no desire to wage war on NATO. However, by stoking fears that they might want to, NATO leaders risk giving rise to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even I, who am a consistent critic of Putin, consider all this provocative and senseless."
Who knows how Professor Khrushcheva would judge headlines in large letters such as the one on the front page of La Repubblica on Friday ("Putin threatens NATO"), or the words of the extremist Donald Tusk, the darling of the EU Commission who at least in part owes the victory in the last elections to the expectation that if the Poles had voted "good", the funds intended for Poland would have been released by Brussels. In an interview with several European newspapers, Tusk unhesitatingly embraces Macron's latest twist which "does not rule out" direct involvement of European countries in the war in Ukraine, suggests that the war against Russia is now inevitable and therefore urges people to prepare .
Quos Deus vult lose dementat prius. Or more secularly, as Khrushcheva would say, " foolish ". But this madness seems to be an unchallengeable drift, if not even an opportunity in the existential crisis of the European ruling classes and of the intellectual-publicist class that keeps them in check. Both today globally and irreparably despicable .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/putin-invadera-davvero-paesi-nato/ on Sun, 31 Mar 2024 08:04:00 +0000.