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

newyorker.com

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

#3
post #2

The journalist, Isaac Chotiner, thinks he's a lot smarter and in better command of history than John Mearsheimer. That's really annoying.

Not really. He lets Mearsheimer himself get into a knot where he rebrands imperialism into “great power politics”.

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

#4
A lot of current news feels very biased, even from sources I previously found unbiased. Fortunately I was recently shared a link to John Mearsheimers 2015 YT video where he very clearly explains what has led to the current situation. In that light I now feel it's a lot easier to filter the news.

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

#5
post #2

The journalist, Isaac Chotiner, thinks he's a lot smarter and in better command of history than John Mearsheimer. That's really annoying.

I agree - it was abundantly clear Isaac wanted to push the prevailing narrative, had no interest in alternative perspectives, and wanted to score some smartypants points in the process.

Mearsheimer sounded cogent and intelligent, and I think he made some very interesting points.

His article from 2014 seems like it could have been written this week with how prescient it is: https://www.mearsheimer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Why-t...

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

#6
As a Lithuanian...

All the „It's the West fault“ crowd is missing the elephant in the room. What is the alternative if West did what Russia want? De-facto Iron curtain still up with tens of millions of people living under authoritarian regimes similar to Belarus and, well, Russia.

Yes, it's completely „West fault“ since they could have left us for Russia to eat for lunch. More „West faults“ please.

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

#8
I took a number of classes with Mearshiemer in college. He's right on many things, wrong on others. In this case, he's right that NATO expansion at least contributed to the current situation, but I think he's wrong in undervaluing the great increases in peace and prosperity that have been gained in those countries that did join NATO.

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

#9
Mearsheimer also is directly blaming Ukraine here in a way that hardly seems reasonable.

"When you’re a country like Ukraine and you live next door to a great power like Russia, you have to pay careful attention to what the Russians think, because if you take a stick and you poke them in the eye, they’re going to retaliate. States in the Western hemisphere understand this full well with regard to the United States."

This seems too forgiving of Russia and also the US re: Central and South America. "It's not our fault those countries poked us in the eye by being [democratic/socialistic/whatever]."

Maybe Putin and American leaders both need to stop trying to ruling other countries. Putin has fucking nukes, is he seriously afraid of being invaded himself?

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

#10
Whether John is right or wrong, I am personally interventioned-out. You'd think that after Vietnam, Iraq, Haiti, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria (and any others I might have missed), people in the US would see the pattern by now. Butting into the middle of a fight between two nuclear powers doesn't seem advisable.
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