Isn't this more or less Mearsheimer argument again? Some time ago I read McFaul's and Sestanovich's arguments against Mearsheimer and Mearsheimers reply [1]. Al

Isn't this more or less Mearsheimer argument again? Some time ago I read McFaul's and Sestanovich's arguments against Mearsheimer and Mearsheimers reply [1]. Although I lean more against Mearsheimer arguments, he writes this in his reply: > I did call NATO expansion "the central element of a larger strategy to move Ukraine out of Russia's orbit and integrate it into the West." > Yet I also emphasized that the strategy had two other "critical elements": > EU expansion and democracy promotion. So, no matter what side of the arguments you fall on, it becomes more or less: Russia (or Putin) sees democratic (or western) values in its vicinity as a threat, which it is willing to violently neutralize. The question boils down to: Is Europe/EU, NATO or the U.S. willing to allow Russia to attack and overthrow sovereign countries, because it doesn't like them being or becoming democratic? If the answer is no, which it (in this day and age) is, then war (cold or not) with Russia is inevitable in my opinion. [1] https://www.mearsheimer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Moscows-Choice.pdf https://www.mearsheimer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Mosco...