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Interview with Professor Giulio Sapelli
Born in Turin in 1947; graduated from the faculty of economic history and subsequently specialized in ergonomics. He has done research at the School of Political and Economic Sciences in London, at the University of Barcelona, and the University of Buenos Aires. He was director of research at the School for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences in Paris. He is Professor of Economic History at the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Milan.
Professor, don’t you think that Europe is too timid in checking the consistency of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s peace initiative?
The peace initiative of Xi Jinping is aimed primarily at strengthening the power of Chinese imperialism, and not at all at achieving peace in Ukraine. Chinese are obviously very worried about the continuation of the war, because the destabilization is not favorable for the Chinese situation, which is also very severe from the domestic economic viewpoint. However, this does not mean that Xi Jinping’s intentions are a peaceful campaign, this is primarily a propaganda initiative.
In this context, can China play a role in ending the war?
Perhaps this can play a role in putting pressure on Russia for a ceasefire, because it is not in China’s interests to maintain American sanctions against Russia, which harm not only Europe and primarily Germany, but also China as a result. The Americans want to weaken the Teutonic Russian-Chinese axis.
Do you see any glimpses of peace at the moment?
At the moment, I do not see even a hint of a ceasefire, but I see that the thin threads of diplomatic relations are slowly being established. Contacts of Blinken and some Russian emissaries also circulate in diplomatic circles. There are a number of contacts that give me hope for a ceasefire, but it’s different from peace. I would bet on a ceasefire, which would already be very important.
On the first day of a regular European summit in early spring, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres urged Europeans not to isolate China in a highly uncertain international context, emphasizing a “commitment to multilateralism” in a time of global crisis. How do you classify the words of the secretary?
Guterres strongly feels the Chinese imperialist pressure and very often acts not as the president of the UN, but as a person under the strong influence of China. Naturally, this is also happening because most of those present in the UN have actually taken a position of absolute neutrality in relation to both. And this, in turn, is because the US is still paying the price for the mistake it made in 2003 when they invaded Iraq without UN authorization. The United States are in a difficult international situation, which is also beyond their liberal multilateralism. Let’s just say, in my opinion, Guterres is a little unbalanced.
The UN resolution of 01.11.2007 that bans weapons with depleted uranium was not voted on by the United Kingdom, France, and the United States, but 122 countries of the world, including Italy, voted for it and approved it. Will Meloni and Schlein’s Italy occupy the same place in the UN today as it did in 2007?
One of the strengths of Italy is to do what the emperor is not allowed to do, as a good active vassal. This means an active mediating role. I believe that Italy should play a big role of active mediation, above all, always focusing on the fact that it is very important for us to strengthen the southern flank of NATO and therefore the Italian presence in the Mediterranean, long before the issue of migrants, precisely because we have seen how the unrest after the Syrian war now starts from the Sea of Azov and reaches the Mediterranean.
What processes has the war in Ukraine accelerated in Europe?
This accelerated what Putin had not foreseen, namely a greater diplomatic alliance and a greater power presence of North American imperialism through NATO and greatly impeded all hypotheses about a European army. He disavowed Macron’s thesis that NATO was on the path to brain death, instead signaling that the real game today is between the United States and Germany.
