French writer Emmanuel Carrère, visiting Santiago, described a Europe cornered by the war in Ukraine, according to CNN Chile. "We are caught between China, which ignores us; Trump, who despises us; and Putin, who hates us", he said on the program Influyentes, in an interview with journalist Paula Escobar.
Carrère came to Chile at the invitation of the Bolaño Chair at Diego Portales University (UDP). CNN Chile did not report the dates or locations of his public activities in its article.
The author of The Adversary, a book about a man who spent years pretending to lead a life he did not have, won the Princess of Asturias Award. His work blends fiction, reportage and personal narrative.
Two years ago, Carrère traveled to Ukraine to film a documentary on trains running through areas near the front. That experience left him pessimistic. "I find it hard to imagine an ending, a way out, that would be good, that would be even slightly morally acceptable for Ukrainians," he said.
The writer spoke ironically about the rhetoric of the Kremlin, the seat of the Russian government. According to Carrère, Putin repeatedly says he is "a man of peace," while demanding that "the Ukrainians hand over their entire country to us." He added that during his trip he saw exhaustion among the population, but also courage, and that Ukrainians "have only one fear: being forgotten."
His perspective on Russia has family roots, which he explores in his new book, Koljós (the name for Soviet collective farms). His mother, Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, was permanent secretary of the French Academy and a specialist in Soviet history. She has since died.
According to her son's account, before the invasion she believed Putin was a brutal head of state, but did not expect an offensive of that magnitude. "Not just the fact that Putin invaded Ukraine, but the fact that she had been wrong. That was even harder for her," Carrère said.
In the interview, he also discussed artificial intelligence (AI) and disinformation. He defended the professional press against social media and leaders who attack the media: "Journalism has the role of reminding us that facts exist, that facts are not alternative."
Carrère said he does not delegate his creative or analytical work to digital tools. For him, reporting consists above all of "establishing what the actual facts are", beneath the layers of falsehoods placed over them.
