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

Post by dragonwriter » Fri, Mar 04, 2022, 8:19 PM UTC

warner_of_doom wrote: post #44

mantas wrote: post #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.

I am all for making Poland and the Baltics a hard red-line front that we protect against Russia. But, taking Ukraine from Russia in this non-neutral manner is just wrong. We can easily hold the Polish and Baltic fronts. And, Russia can live with that too. We can then trade as usual.

Post by majormajor » Fri, Mar 04, 2022, 8:19 PM UTC

erichocean wrote: post #39

majormajor wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if that happened... who would you blame? Russia?

I'd blame Canada for putting the Russian military on American's doorstep. Who would you blame?

Post by steveylang » Fri, Mar 04, 2022, 8:20 PM UTC

empressplay wrote: post #21

majormajor wrote: post #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."…

I'm Canadian. As a Canadian I am fully aware that my country exists strictly at the whim of the US. If we were to decide to form a military alliance with Russia, hosting Russian troops on our soil, Canada would be invaded by the US in a New York minute. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool. It sucks of course but it is what it is. That is all he is saying.

Post by propesh » Fri, Mar 04, 2022, 8:21 PM UTC

empressplay wrote: post #36

propesh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, who is to blame outside the hand-waiving of the whole world? And I guess we should just throw out common criminal law foundations of 5000 years. Fine, I say lets blame the sun.

No, you're right, this is a failing of the whole world, or at least all those that hold any power in it. The answer here is to adapt and mitigate these sorts of outcomes in the future by dropping our current 'us vs them' ideology and replace it with one that looks out for the interests of everyone, understanding that our needs as humans for security and stability are largely universal, and our self-interests need to…

Post by projektfu » Fri, Mar 04, 2022, 8:22 PM UTC

empressplay wrote: post #21

majormajor wrote: post #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."…

I'm Canadian. As a Canadian I am fully aware that my country exists strictly at the whim of the US. If we were to decide to form a military alliance with Russia, hosting Russian troops on our soil, Canada would be invaded by the US in a New York minute. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool. It sucks of course but it is what it is. That is all he is saying.