In an interview with The New Statesman, renowned academic Noam Chomsky declared that “we’re approaching the most dangerous point in human history” due to the threat of nuclear war and the current climate crisis.
“We are now facing the prospect of destruction of organised human life on Earth from environmental destruction and not in the remote future. We are approaching irreversible turning points, which cannot be dealt with any longer,” Chomsky proclaimed.
However, he explained that it does not mean “everybody’s going to die” but that people are “moving to a future in which the lucky ones will be those who die more quickly.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Noam Chomsky, speaks to @georgeeaton about Brexit, the war in Ukraine and the return of Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/DxFzYcSlBd
— The New Statesman (@NewStatesman) April 6, 2022
Furthermore, he also condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “monstrous” war in Ukraine and questioned Putin’s motives behind the “criminal aggression” during the video interview. He claimed that if the West is to be believed, Putin’s “twisted mind” is responsible for the Ukraine conflict. However, the other way, according to Chomsky, would be to look at the events and history preceding the invasion.
“In September 2021, the United States came out with a strong policy statement, calling for enhanced military cooperation with Ukraine […] all part of the enhancement programme of Ukraine joining North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),” he stated.
Following the new alliance between the US and Ukraine, tensions between Kyiv and Moscow increased significantly, leading to a Russian military build-up of over 100,000 troops along the Ukrainian border. In December, Putin blamed the US and NATO for failing to consider Moscow’s security demands and for entertaining Kyiv’s NATO membership application, which fomented a hostile security situation in Europe. Despite threats of sanctions and several high-level meetings between the various world powers involved in the crisis, Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Chomsky stated, “You can take your choice, we don’t know which is right. What we do know is that Ukraine will be further devastated. And we may move on to terminal nuclear war if we do not pursue the opportunities that exist for a negotiated settlement.”
While responding to a question about Putin’s fear of democracy spreading within Russia’s ‘near abroad,’ Chomsky revealed that the Russian President is “as concerned about democracy as we are.” In this respect, he noted the US has a sullied history of “undermining and destroying democracy,” including in Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, and Chile in 1973.
Chomsky cites my recent interview with veteran US diplomat Chas Freeman, who warned that US policy amounts to fighting Russia "to the last Ukrainian." (https://t.co/sNZGoPGFIL)
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) April 6, 2022
Flooding Ukraine with weapons & blocking diplomatic solutions is a "death warrant", Chomsky says. pic.twitter.com/l4AhVeJIA9
“But we are supposed to now honour and admire Washington’s enormous commitment to sovereignty and democracy. What happened in history doesn’t matter. That’s for other people,” he remarked.
Referring to US President Joe Biden’s characterisation of Putin as a war criminal, Chomsky said, “If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every postwar American president would have been hanged.”
Furthermore, he mentioned the “explicit, unambiguous promise” made by former US Secretary of State James Baker and then-President George H W Bush to his Soviet Union counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 that there would be no eastward expansion of NATO if the former Soviet leader agreed to allow a unified Germany to join the military alliance again. But it was short-lived, as many former Soviet states ended up joining the alliance later.
Though he agreed with Biden for expressing “moral outrage” over Putin’s unprovoked war, he pointed out that Washington cannot be singularly focussed on Ukraine, and should respond to atrocities committed elsewhere as well. “In Afghanistan, literally millions of people are facing imminent starvation. Why? There’s food in the markets. But people who have little money have to watch their children starve because they can’t go to the market to buy food. Why? Because the United States, with the backing of Britain, has kept Afghanistan’s funds in New York banks and will not release them,” he commented.
Calling himself a libertarian socialist, he admitted to voting for the Republicans before, as they were “an authentic party,” but said they have now turned into a “truly dangerous insurgency.” “Because of [Donald] Trump’s fanaticism, the worshipful base of the Republican Party barely regards climate change as a serious problem. That’s a death warrant to the species,” he asserted.
In recent years, Chomsky has become an extremely vocal critic of former US President Donald Trump and openly compared the Republican party to the Nazis. “I can remember listening to [Adolf] Hitler’s speeches on the radio. I didn’t understand the words, I was six years old. But I understood the mood. And it was frightening and terrifying. And when you watch one of Trump’s rallies that can’t fail to come to mind. That’s what we’re facing,” he observed.
Noam Chomsky on climate & the nuclear threat: “A lot of young people; Extinction Rebellion in England, young people dedicated to trying to put an end to the catastrophe. Civil disobedience – it’s not a joke, I’ve been involved with it for much of my life."https://t.co/3U9uTR8Qtj pic.twitter.com/vpuAFWFlq6
— Extinction Rebellion (@ExtinctionR) April 6, 2022
Additionally, he called Brexit a “disaster.” “Brexit was a very serious error, it means that Britain will be compelled to drift even further into subordination to the US,” he added.
For example, in July 2020, following sustained American pressure, the United Kingdom (UK) performed a massive U-turn by banning telecom providers from buying Huawei’s 5G equipment. Before the ban, the US had threatened to withdraw spy planes, intelligence officials, and other military and intelligence operations from the UK due to the threat of Chinese “espionage and sabotage” that could threaten the sovereignty of both the US and the UK.
In a reflection of US influence on the decision, Trump had said following the ban: “We confronted untrustworthy Chinese technology and telecom providers. We convinced many countries not to use Huawei because it’s a big security risk. Just today, the UK announced that they are not going to be using it.”
Aside from the geopolitical implications, Brexit has also weakened the UK’s economy. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak admitted recently that the sharp decline of British exports compared to other G7 economies is due to the impact of Brexit. A report on international trade by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis recently found while global trade exports rose by 8.2% in the three months leading up to January compared to the same period in 2020, the UK’s exports declined by 14% over the same period.
Additionally, speaking about the world at large, Chomsky recalled writing his first article aged ten about the “fall of Barcelona” in 1939, in which he recorded the “grim cloud of fascism spreading over the world.” At 93, he claims that his opinion has not changed since then, as the situation has “just gotten worse.”
In such a bleak scenario, when asked about what gives him hope, Chomsky concluded, “A lot of young people; Extinction Rebellion in England, young people dedicated to trying to put an end to the catastrophe […] There are plenty of young people who are appalled by the behaviour of the older generation, rightly, and are dedicated to trying to stop this madness before it consumes us all. Well, that’s the hope for the future.”