3 ms·

Why John Mearsheimer Blames the U.S. for the Crisis in Ukraine

2 points by georgecmu 5y ago

goatsneez 5y ago
Wonderful rational interview hitting several key points which are in fact taboo in most EU to even mention. At the end he says: "We (USA) should be pivoting out of Europe to deal with China in a laser-like fashion, number one. And, number two, we should be working overtime to create friendly relations with the Russians. The Russians are part of our balancing coalition against China. If you live in a world where there are three great powers—China, Russia, and the United States—and one of those great powers, China, is a pure competitor, what you want to do if you’re the United States is have Russia on your side of the ledger. Instead, what we have done with our foolish policies in Eastern Europe is drive the Russians into the arms of the Chinese. This is a violation of Balance of Power Politics 101."
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
sidibe 5y ago
#1 Putinversteher. The reason he's been right about some things is because he has aligned his theories with Putin's worldview so Putin does what he expects, but he hasn't accounted for any other actors like Ukrainian people or the EU. Some of these geopolitical academics are obsessed with USA, China, and Russia, noone else has agency and the only thing that matters about others is their relation to these 3
- goatsneez 5y ago
  I would say if you want to understand someone (especially in geopolitical power play) you better align your model of that entity to reflect his/her world view. That is precisely the diplomacy mistake (to ignore to discuss someone else's interests, especially since they were communicated and signaled for many years) "west" has been making in this conflict as Prof. Mearsheimer says. I do not think there are any assumptions about agency or not of other players. They have also stakes, but are not of strategic importance to the stronger guys. For instance, Austria and Germany has been aggressively pressuring Czech Rep. to close down it nuclear reactor based on nothing but ideology (which basically to make CZ utterly dependent energetically on the mercy and availability of neighboors--who by the way get richer by that). Same with Poland's coal mine -- for which it has been ordered to pay milions Eur. a day just to have hospitals and essential infrastructure running. How can they decide if we (each individual country) is so free and can do what we wish. We are not in fact and thats why economic sanctions (wars) and diplomacy pressures work in general. Countries are not independent, and contrary to popular academic idea, in practice you (as a weaker country) will be pressured to the will (ideological, economic, etc) by the stronger neighbor. Sometimes these interests may align and be productive, many times they will not be. But denying this reality is wishful thinking.

2 points by georgecmu 5y ago

Wonderful rational interview hitting several key points which are in fact taboo in most EU to even mention. At the end he says: "We (USA) should be pivoting out of Europe to deal with China in a laser-like fashion, number one. And, number two, we should be working overtime to create friendly relations with the Russians. The Russians are part of our balancing coalition against China. If you live in a world where there are three great powers—China, Russia, and the United States—and one of those great powers, China, is a pure competitor, what you want to do if you’re the United States is have Russia on your side of the ledger. Instead, what we have done with our foolish policies in Eastern Europe is drive the Russians into the arms of the Chinese. This is a violation of Balance of Power Politics 101."

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

sidibe 5y ago

#1 Putinversteher. The reason he's been right about some things is because he has aligned his theories with Putin's worldview so Putin does what he expects, but he hasn't accounted for any other actors like Ukrainian people or the EU. Some of these geopolitical academics are obsessed with USA, China, and Russia, noone else has agency and the only thing that matters about others is their relation to these 3

goatsneez 5y ago
I would say if you want to understand someone (especially in geopolitical power play) you better align your model of that entity to reflect his/her world view. That is precisely the diplomacy mistake (to ignore to discuss someone else's interests, especially since they were communicated and signaled for many years) "west" has been making in this conflict as Prof. Mearsheimer says. I do not think there are any assumptions about agency or not of other players. They have also stakes, but are not of strategic importance to the stronger guys. For instance, Austria and Germany has been aggressively pressuring Czech Rep. to close down it nuclear reactor based on nothing but ideology (which basically to make CZ utterly dependent energetically on the mercy and availability of neighboors--who by the way get richer by that). Same with Poland's coal mine -- for which it has been ordered to pay milions Eur. a day just to have hospitals and essential infrastructure running. How can they decide if we (each individual country) is so free and can do what we wish. We are not in fact and thats why economic sanctions (wars) and diplomacy pressures work in general. Countries are not independent, and contrary to popular academic idea, in practice you (as a weaker country) will be pressured to the will (ideological, economic, etc) by the stronger neighbor. Sometimes these interests may align and be productive, many times they will not be. But denying this reality is wishful thinking.