«Putin will always do worse, power makes him insane. But in this way he united us »-Corriere.it

From the rise of medieval cities to the intrigues of the Cold War, no one doubts the narrative inventiveness of Ken Follettone of the most acclaimed British writers: and his latest book, For nothing in the world, is a geopolitical thriller that sees the planet on the brink of an atomic conflict. But this time it’s fictional pages that sound like news of these days
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Mr Follett, unfortunately reality seems to surpass fiction … Did you expect it?

«No, I didn’t expect it: and I wish my prophecy wasn’t so accurate! I would be much happier if the world hadn’t turned out the way I painted it! It’s a little different, however: I thought the danger came from China, while it came from Russia instead. And also in my book all the national leaders try to avoid a war: but in the last two weeks we have a leader, Putin, who has not tried to avoid the war, but has been intent on fighting it. But what is similar to my book is the role of escalation, the way one side does something and the other side responds: and everything gets worse every time. This is what we need to worry about now. The question now is: what will Putin do? He clearly did not expect the strength of the Ukrainian resistance and the severity of Western sanctions: and someone like Putin does not say “I made a mistake, I withdraw”. This does not happen. He will probably do something worse than what he has done so far. What will he try to do to us? I don’t have the answer, but it’s a very worrying question. “

She said the events leading up to World War I, a conflict that no one seemed to want, inspired her to write her latest book. Is history repeating itself?

“We are seeing the initial steps: what has happened so far is typical of what leads to a larger and more serious conflict. I fear this could happen: I see the worrying possibility of a further escalation ».

Putin has gradually been compared to Stalin, Hitler, Peter the Great: how do you see him?

“I compare him to Robert Mugabe, the dictator of Zimbabwe: because he had tight control over his country and because his years of absolute power had changed him. Absolute power corrupts: but what Putin has in his hands makes people slightly insane. In the end, Mugabe didn’t care about his country or killing people: Putin is a bit like that, he doesn’t seem to care about Russia. The Russians are worse off than they have been for a long time, but he doesn’t care. But how long can it last? The only hope is that the sanctions will hit the oligarchy inside the Kremlin: the only way Putin can be overthrown is if the generals and oligarchs ally, the army and the money. But it is terribly difficult ».

If Putin is no longer rational, this is even more worrying.

«Putin has appeared very strange recently. We saw him in a huge room with all his men at the opposite end of him: and this shows the isolation he has created for himself. All those people were like trained monkeys: he was very strange, a rational man would understand that this is not the image to give of his own government. I believe that Putin is on the border of irrationality ».

Which makes the possibility of irrational decisions more likely.

“Yes, it’s absolutely terrifying. Our national leaders talk to their ministers every day and so their opinions are influenced by other rational people: but a leader who doesn’t do this is much more dangerous ».

Is Russia Lost Forever?

“There are two ways in front of Russia: the first is that of North Korea, the second is that of China. If they take the former, they will become more and more authoritarian, more inefficient, poorer and more dangerous; but if they take the Chinese road as under Deng Xiaoping, they will become richer and we will have a freer, more democratic and more prosperous Russia ».

Did the end of the Cold War only generate a great illusion?

«We forget how long it takes to create a free country. England had the Magna Carta 800 years ago: this is what it takes to go from tyranny to democracy. We must not be completely discouraged when efforts to create a democratic society stumble: the idea that Russia could become a democratic country was not an impossible dream ”.

Western democracies have been able to react to Putin.

“Yes, I didn’t think so. This invasion has united and strengthened the West: everyone is improving their defense, now we know that we need NATO. The left has criticized it for half a century, but now even leftists like me say: yes, we need NATO ».

How will it end?

“I don’t know, but maybe we can hope that Putin isn’t crazy, that he realizes he’s made a terrible mistake and somehow puts together a peace deal that will allow him to save face. The chance they are small, but this is what we have to hope for ».