Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger warned in a new essay that Russia being "rendered impotent" from the war in Ukraine could have vastly negative consequences on the entire world.
The essay—entitled "How to Avoid Another World War"—appears in the new issue of The Spectator. In it, Kissinger lays out several opinions on the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched on Ukraine in late February.
The German-born political consultant, who served in the cabinets of former Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, compares the situation in Ukraine to World War I, which he called "a kind of cultural suicide that destroyed Europe's eminence."
During the Great War, the nations of Europe managed to "inflict unprecedented devastation on one another," Kissinger, 99, wrote in the British weekly magazine.
He said former President Woodrow Wilson made a costly decision in delaying a mediation for peace until after the presidential election. As a result, another 2 million people died and the war continued on for two more years, "irretrievably damaging Europe's established equilibrium" in the process.
The former secretary of state then warned that the same should not be allowed to occur in Russia, lest the balance of world order be upended.
"The preferred outcome for some is a Russia rendered impotent by the war. I disagree," Kissinger wrote. "For all its propensity to violence, Russia has made decisive contributions to the global equilibrium and to the balance of power for over half a millennium. Its historical role should not be degraded."
The retired diplomat said that even with setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine, Russia still remains a dominant nuclear power. He added that if such capabilities were hindered or if Moscow was dissolved, the enormous territory could become a "contested vacuum."
"Its competing societies might decide to settle their disputes by violence. Other countries might seek to expand their claims by force," Kissinger said.
Earlier this year, Kissinger found himself in controversy after saying at an economic forum that Ukraine should give up parts of it territory in order to broker peace with Russia. In a video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to Kissinger's suggestions by likening the proposal to attempts of appeasing Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
Zelensky said that Kissinger's "calendar is not 2022, but 1938"—referring to the Munich Agreement, which was signed by Britain, France, Italy and Germany in 1938 and paved the way for Nazi Germany to annex western Czechoslovakian territory.
"Whatever the Russian state does, you will always find someone who says 'Let's take its interests into account,'" Zelensky said. "You get the impression that Mr. Kissinger...thinks he is talking to an audience not in Davos but in Munich back then."
In his essay for The Spectator, Kissinger maintained he sides with Ukraine in the current war while also calling for peace talks.
"I have repeatedly expressed my support for the allied military effort to thwart Russia's aggression in Ukraine," he wrote. "But the time is approaching to build on the strategic changes which have already been accomplished and to integrate them into a new structure towards achieving peace through negotiation."
Newsweek reached out to Kissinger for further comment.
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About the writer
Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
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