“The Danger of Nuclear War Comes from the US”

In the documentary produced by Harici Medya, prepared by journalist Mehmet Kıvanç and directed by Çağatay Yurt, the question “Is the US-China rivalry a harbinger of a new Cold War?” was explored.

According to Canadian academic Prof. Dr. Radhika Desai, the West only managed to win a “Pyrrhic victory” with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Desai, who believes that the USSR in the past and China today have resisted imperialism, says that “Russia and China must act together.” Desai, a faculty member at the University of Manitoba and director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group, states, “We are in a process of profound change that represents the decline of imperialism,” and makes the following claim regarding the potential risks that this shift in power could create: “If there is a danger of entering a nuclear war, which is possible... This threat comes primarily from the US.” 

“There are many reasons to seek peace with China”

Swiss researcher and author Daniele Ganser also believes that the US is “currently facing a huge challenge because it is binding the Chinese and Russians together.”

Ganser, who draws large crowds at his conferences in Europe and is known for his critical remarks regarding the established status quo in the West, has striking observations about Turkey. According to Ganser, “The CIA overthrew the government in Turkey in 1980, and the goal at that time, while Jimmy Carter was still US President, was to keep Turkey in NATO.” 

Ganser explains the worldwide geopolitical tension with the words, “There is a new conflict that I see as NATO on one side and the BRICS countries on the other.”

Stating that “there are many reasons to seek peace with China,” Ganser believes that those living on the island of Taiwan do not want to end up in a “second Ukraine” situation. Interpreting the US Asia-Pacific strategy, Ganser says, “If we talk about China and Taiwan, these tensions will increase even further. If the Americans say that NATO should stand by Taiwan and fight against China, if at some point, so to speak, an incident happens there, then the French will definitely say, ‘This is not in our interest.’ I think the Turks will also say, ‘This is not in our interest.’” 

“Conflicts may increase during the transition period”

Speaking in the documentary, Başkent University faculty member Prof. Dr. Hasan Ünal points to the risk of a war breaking out between the US and China over Taiwan. According to Ünal, “It is likely that conflicts will increase during the transition from unipolarity to multipolarity. The US and its allies still do not accept multipolarity.” 

Ünal also shared the view that “BRICS and Shanghai are taking a stance against hegemony,” and continued his remarks with the comment, “Developing countries are increasingly taking a stand against hegemony. They are taking a stand to gather in BRICS.”

“The US is building a Second Cold War”

Journalist and author Mehmet Ali Güller believes that the Chinese administration is trying to manage the process without war during this painful transition period in the global order.

Stating that “China could take Taiwan militarily if it wanted to,” Güller says, “The US is building a second Cold War for its economic interests.” 

Güller argues that China is trying to pursue a “non-Cold War approach” and a “war-free” policy in its relations with the US and the world. 

Güller gives the following answer to the question of whether the Cold War will continue in Asia: 

“It is drawing a front line starting from the Arctic Ocean, descending through the Eastern Mediterranean to the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aden, and from there down to the Indian Ocean, and is carrying out an attack against Russia and the Asian world from this front.” 

German politician: The 30-year global order is changing

German parliamentarian Andrej Hunko shared the view that “China is the first country to challenge the unilateral superiority of the US, at least economically.” Regarding the new situation and the search for a new global order, the German politician makes the assessment, “We are witnessing a radical change in the unilateral order we have been accustomed to for the last 30 years, in which the US has been the dominant power worldwide.”

Andrej Hunko makes the following assessment regarding the rising threats in the global security environment: 

“From the US perspective, a conflict is being strategically fueled from the outside to weaken China, which is the US’s greatest and strategic rival.”  

Hunko previously served as a spokesperson for the German Left Party on European policy in the German Parliament.

“Europe is not part of the change, but it should be”

Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, whose entire life and career changed after dancing with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whom she invited to her wedding in 2018, is also among those who contributed to the Cold War 2.0 documentary. Stating that “Europe is not part of the change happening at the global level, but it should be,” Kneissl says she does not view the current geopolitical tensions within the brackets of a “Cold War.” According to the experienced diplomat, the current situation may be more dire than the Cold War. Kneissl shared her observation with the words, “In the Cold War, there was at least mutual respect based on deterrence. We don’t see that today.”

“The West will realize that sanctions do not work”

Prof. Dr. Michele Geraci, former Undersecretary of State for International Trade and Investment at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, who has first-hand observation and experience regarding China, says, “I think there is a certain Cold War attitude between the East and the West.” Geraci, who lived in China for 10 years and worked as a finance professor at various universities, also served as an Undersecretary of State at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development.

According to Geraci, whose views are included in the documentary, tensions and conflicts are occurring not only between countries but also within them. Geraci shares the view, “With the upcoming elections in the United States, I hope that there will be a debate in Washington during the presidential campaign about the pressure lobby created to prevent companies from wanting to do business with China.”

Geraci, who was one of the key figures in Italy’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative during his time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assessed the US’s economic policy of restricting China by saying, “I hope the US reduces these tensions. People in the US and the West will realize, as they did with the anti-Russian sanctions, that these do not work, that they harm themselves, and that they actually do not harm other countries much.”