— Perhaps European leaders really would like to be in a state of open war with Russia. But I will say it plainly: Europe has been seized by “fantasocracy.” All the stories about Russia supposedly wanting to attack Europe, to invade it — these are simply fantasies.

— You don’t believe that?

— No. I have long and clearly spoken about Russia’s goals in the war. It wants to reach the Dnieper, it would like to take Odessa, perhaps turn the remaining part of Ukraine into a new satellite — and stop there. Going further is not advantageous. It does not have the demographic resources for that, nor a strategic interest. The real problem is that the European discourse about a “Russian threat” does indeed exist. And in part it can be interpreted in psychiatric terms.

— Psychiatric?

— I mean that many of those who say this are sincere. That is, we are dealing with paranoia. And some of these people are in power. But I believe it is not only that… Something is wrong in Europe, something that touches the main theme of my book The Dislocation of the West (Dislocation de l’Occident). The essence of the book is to show… Of course I talk a little about Russia there, a lot about China and Iran, but what interests me most is the process of internal disintegration. Not of an abstract Europe, but of specific Germany, France, the entire Western system, including the United States. And it is this process of disintegration that produces such a paranoid vision of the world.

@kozakrichala