(ANSA) - UDINE, 08 MAR - "There is a new Iron Curtain, but
it's the one Russia is building. During this war, Russia has
implemented censorship and repression, closing its borders,
expelling people, describing them as foreign agents, and making
Russia so authoritarian that 100,000 Russians have left. Russia
did so to shield itself from Western influence". That is what
historian and analyst Mark Kramer, director of Harvard
University's Center for Cold War Studies, said today in Udine,
where he will open tomorrow the international forum
"Borderlands: from the Cold War to the Conflicts of Our Time,"
scheduled to take place in Udine and Gorizia until March 11,
organized by Friuli Storia with the universities of Udine and
Harvard.
"It matters to us whether Russia is a deeply authoritarian
country because the foreign policy that the current Russian
government has pursued - Kramer said - is the result of this
authoritarian system; the launching of the war in a more
democratic Russia wouldn't have happened. Western Countries feel
the need rightly to defend against Russia. Therefore, they have
to spend a lot more on military forces. Hence, the reimposition
of a new Iron Curtain matters a great deal".
"For the last years, there has been one superpower worldwide -
Kramer added - and this is the US, right now and for an
indefinite future. China has greatly increased its economic
potential, but it still isn't a superpower; it hasn't any
significant military strength except in a minimal area, eastern
Asia". According to Kramer, "the risk of a nuclear war has been
greatly overstated, the Russian government sometimes used the
nuclear threat to deter western countries supporting Ukraine,
but there was never a follow-up, nor did I should expect it. So
this is something to be pleased about: the Russian government is
authoritarian and repressive. Still, fortunately, it is not
irrational". "The end of the war - he then underlined - is going
to be determined on the battlefield; the Russian government over
the last year has shown that it attaches no value to the
commitments taken in international treaties, do the only way I
see this war is going to end is through either a Ukrainian or a
Russian victory on the battlefield." (ANSA).
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Ukraine: Kramer, 'Russia is building new iron curtain.'
Historian in Udine at forum on "Borderlands and the Cold War"