As it happens I reheard the lecture today. He said that some claim that Putin would try to conquer all of Ukraine. All of it.[1] He said that that would be a m

As it happens I reheard the lecture today. He said that some claim that Putin would try to conquer all of Ukraine. All of it.[1] He said that that would be a mistake and that Putin is “too smart” to do that. And what does Russia care about Western Ukraine? He also said that it would be a mistake for Russia to get bogged down in Ukraine for a long time. So then it depends on whether you think Russia is already “bogged down”; then either Mearsheimer changed his mind or else he’s contradicting himself. [1] There was also the outlandish “try to re-establish Greater Russia” which is a bit absurd since Russia doesn’t have the capacity to do that even if it wanted to (2015 Mearsheimer said either that Putin does want that or that he may want that).