The Spanish diplomat analyses where current geopolitics is heading, with a tendency towards an "unfriendly multipolarism"

Jorge Dezcallar presents his new book 'Embracing the World'

photo_camera Jorge Dezcallar

Jorge Dezcallar (Palma de Mallorca, 1945) has devoted his entire professional life to diplomacy and foreign policy. An experience that, in recent turbulent years, has allowed him to reflect on where the world is going and to capture it in this book, 'Embracing the World', which could not be more timely after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and in which he leaves concerns, suggestions and some ideas on what the course of geopolitics could be from now on. "The world's slide towards an unfriendly multipolarism is confirmed in a trend that has accelerated with the COVID-19 pandemic," says the former director of the CNI.

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine puts an end to the security architecture that has governed Europe since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991," says Dezcallar. "In one fell swoop Putin has revitalised an Atlantic Alliance that Macron had given up for dead a few months earlier, united us Europeans as never before, and healed the wounds that Trump had inflicted on the transatlantic relationship. Moreover, he has put an end to the pacifism maintained by Germany since 1945, he has made Sweden and Finland doubt their neutrality, and he has forced Europe to rethink its energy dependence on Moscow, while the whole world shudders at the brutality of the aggression and leaves Russia isolated," according to the Spanish diplomat.

"The ideal would be to be able to discuss these issues calmly... something that is impossible while Russian tanks are in Ukraine", admits the author of 'Embracing the World', where he analyses the changes brought about by the revolutions in technology, information and genetics; international relations dominated by the United States and China and Russia, and the role of the European Union; and local conflicts and wars that have begun or are about to begin.

Abrazar el mundo Jorge Dezcallar"In this book I try to analyse the vectors influencing geopolitics in the second decade of the 21st century with a profound humility, because the experts did not see coming - and the very few who did saw it did not pay any attention - neither the implosion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, nor the Arab Spring, nor the 2008 crisis, nor the current pandemic that makes us yearn for the years that preceded it, something we could never have imagined," explains the ambassador.

But Jorge Dezcallar does not limit himself to describing situations; he offers possible solutions and encourages the reader to draw their own conclusions and develop a sense of belonging to the same community: the human community. "Only by embracing the world that sustains us will we be able to embrace ourselves again without fear of the future. In other words, let us learn lessons to create a world of greater solidarity, with clear rules and strong international institutions where we can resolve our differences through dialogue and negotiation," he said.

Jorge Dezcallar has devoted his entire professional life to diplomacy and foreign policy. An experience that, in recent turbulent years, has allowed him to reflect on where the world is going and to capture it in this entertaining book, in which he leaves us with concerns, suggestions and some ideas on what the course of geopolitics might be from now on.

Jorge Dezcallar
The author

Jorge Dezcallar de Mazarredo (Palma de Mallorca, 1945) is a career diplomat. He was Director General for twelve years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has also been ambassador to Morocco, the Holy See and the United States of America. In 2001 he was appointed the first civilian director of the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), with the rank of Secretary of State. He has published 'Valió la pena. Una vida entre diplomáticos y espías' (2015), 'El anticuario de Teherán' (2018) and, with great success in La Esfera, 'Espía accidental' (2021), his first novel, which deals with the harsh world of spies against the backdrop of the war in Syria and the confrontation between Israel and Iran in the Middle East, with the participation of Spain's CNI intelligence service as a participant in the plot.

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