During her participation in the II Valledupar Book Fair that ended last week, journalist María Jimena Duzán shared some impressions of her trip to Ukraine, where she experienced the invasion carried out by Russia up close.
“A third world war is going to be inevitable,” “Ukraine is going to end up in the hands of Putin,” the renowned communicator predicted in the auditorium of the House of Culture.
Read: The journey to hell of the journalist María Jimena Duzán
EL PILÓN interviewed the Bogotá political scientist about this conflict that intensified in 2022 and that she has managed to investigate from her own experience in Ukrainian territory.
Why is a third world war inevitable?
It is evident that there is going to be a confrontation with Europe because there already is, the only thing missing is for troops to enter and for NATO to activate its systems, but otherwise everyone is already involved: Germany, which does not produce weapons, produces parts, now is sending parts to Ukraine; France is already sending weapons to Ukraine; Spain has just said that she is going to rule and so does England.
The United States has just approved an amount of money to finally fulfill its promise that it was going to deliver more money to Ukraine again and told it that it could even use weapons against the Russians and against Russian territory. What does that mean? That Europe is already involved and the United States is involved.
Behind Russia are China and Iran, who between Ukraine and Russia can have the possibility of sustaining a long war? Today, Russia.
What role do you consider Colombia should play in this conflict?
We must understand that the world is changing and that the possibility of a new world conflict has to be included in all the analyzes that we do and that is why I congratulate that Gustavo Petro has finally paid attention to this conflict, which is not a minor conflict, as he says and said initially.
CANCELLATION OF PETRO TO SUMMIT IN SWITZERLAND
Although President Gustavo Petro was going to attend the Ukraine Peace Summit, held in Switzerland this weekend, and would meet with his counterpart Volodimir Zelensky, the Colombian president canceled his participation, arguing that he is willing to participate in conferences that “ “They freely dedicate themselves to seeking the paths of peace and not to building blocks for war.”
The president of Brazil, Luiz Lula da Silva, did not attend either, but the head of state of Chile, Gabriel Boric, did. In that previous dialogue with María Jimena Duzán, she considered the position of these 3 leaders representing Latin America to be important, especially that President Petro understands the significance of this conflict.
“It is time to say that this conflict must be paid attention to, it is not true that it is a war that cannot be important for us,” Duzán exclaimed.
Nor is it a war foreign to Valledupar, for example.
Not at all, this is going to be the world’s new conflict, how can we stay out of this? The war in Ukraine already impacted us, it increased the price of fertilizers, it increased the price of inputs because the breadbasket of the world is Ukraine, because the one that produces fertilizers is Ukraine, that’s just happening today and that had a profound impact on everything in Colombian agriculture, imagine what is going to happen if there is a world war that involves the United States and all of Europe, we are talking about a security problem for Europe and Europe at this moment is losing the war.
You have witnessed important events at a national and global level. How do you think journalism should adapt to the possibility of a war of this magnitude?
Platforms give the possibility of doing things, I, for example, am doing podcasts and it is going well, I never thought I would go that way and I do daily podcasts and I think it is a way to reach new audiences and explain things , that’s why I went to Ukraine because I’m going to do a podcast about Ukraine because I think it’s important that people understand the context of what that conflict is in relation to all our realities in Latin America.
The way of doing journalism has changed, the way is the digital platform and I think we also have to understand that audiences do not necessarily need black and white, that is a lie, the fact that the podcast is so fashionable is precisely because it allows light-dark, gray and explain, people want us to explain, more than an opinion and that is what I am doing, everyone gives opinions, but the explanation is much more complicated.
By Andrea Guerra Peña / EL PILÓN. [email protected]
