PROFESSOR JOHN MEARSHEIMER: THE CRISIS IN UKRAINE 

There is even a Ukraine flag while waiting to skip ads now....The attempts to block reality is astounding

Just saw this too.. copied the link I sent a week ago and it was a surprise

+1

well not a huge relief.... because this is going to get ugly

Guys it officially began last night, Ukraine is getting “wrecked” as he so elegantly predicted in 2015. Mearsheimer was right

@Ricardo Cima He is both a power hungry authoritarian (which the world has no lack of) and a seasoned player on the board of great power struggle, not a comic book villain/fool that can't see what's coming.

GREAT MINDS. The grestest is PROF. JOHN J. MEARSHEIMER.

He’s got an interview from a few days ago. I can’t remember who it was with. It’s with him and Ray McGovern.

You are the limited people who notice him making a gravely wrong prediction at the end of video.... Those who praise him like a god here probably haven‘t even watched the whole thing! Historians are good at explaining history, not very good at making prediction I guess.

@sung po-yu he even admits he was wrong in his latest interview but his reasons for thinking russia wouldn’t invade are pretty spot on. It’s already very costly to them for instance. And years ago he did say that if Russia ever does invade Ukraine, they’re looking to tear it down and pressure nato into reconsidering. Seems to be half right, unless Russia has decided to ravage and level all of Ukraine. You’re right, they can’t tell us the future but they can attempt based off what they know about the past and present.

@sung po-yu I mean, that's kind of the gig. And of course we have, sometimes predictions come out as hopes. People are allowed to be wrong eh? So what if he gives an hour and a half of well spoken and good information and then makes a false prediction on the other side? No big deal. What, are we supposed to read Putin's mind?

Agree, it is important to understand that it was recorded on Fe.15 before the Russian invasion into Ukraine and Pf. actually states in Q&A that he does not think that Putin would do that

There was a discussion "Putin's Invasion of Ukraine Salon | Ray McGovern, John Mearsheimer" on the 4th of March, and the professor kept repeating the same facts all over again

"such clarity of detail" Is that really what you got from this? Because I what I heard was a bunch of armchair assertions and gut feelings that, correct or not, certainly did not display "clarity of detail".

@Hadron Of Theseus Well I felt he went sufficiently deep given the time limit and without skewing the overall picture. What detail was unclear to you or which you felt he should have covered?

@the0cool0guy And I found he gave absolutely no support for his assertions at any point despite having ample time to do so. For instance about halfway in he baldly asserts that many people in the West suffer extreme paranoia regarding the character and motivations of Putin, but he doesn't elaborate in any way and he doesn't delineate any conditions for evaluation. What is an intelligent listener to make of this nebulous claim, and how is this scholarship, even by the extremely relaxed standards of extemporaneous conversation? Could you give me a time stamp where any argument of any kind is actually made? I certainly heard none.

​@Hadron Of Theseus Well, then how do you guarantee that the conventional western wisdom is totally based on evidence but not bias? Isn't it more likely that all wars have a cause, not that the Russian leader is such a fool to introduce so much cost of war?

@Xingjian Hou "Well, then how do you guarantee that the conventional western wisdom is totally based on evidence but not bias?" This question is much too broad. Please ask me something more precise. "Isn't it more likely that all wars have a cause, not that the Russian leader is such a fool to introduce so much cost of war?" No. And if you wield Occam's razor that unskillfully you're going to wind up badly lacerated.

Thanks from Russia. The professor says everything correctly. On my own behalf, I will add that for us Ukraine is like one of the states for Americans. The same people live on both sides of the illegal border. Most of them had relatives on both sides of the borders. In Ukraine, Russians began to be lynched because they do not recognize the separation and want to speak their native language.

@Егор Кузнец bullshit

@Kellen Dunkelberger It's not entirely bullshit. There is some level of truth to that, as there are certainly extremist groups in Ukraine who've gained power and have committed atrocities against Russians ever since Euromaidan. It's certainly not as widespread as the Russian government and media would have you believe, but it was certainly a thing that was happening to some degree in 2014. The extremist groups and the Ukraine government nearly ended up turning on each other (though not about this specifically). And if Egor is from Russia, youcan hardly blame him for believing this narrative. Just like we can't blame westerners for being oblivious to the extremism in Ukraine. I do completely agree with the OP however, that I'm standing with the people of Russia and Ukraine.

@Егор Кузнец and there is still 30 million people who simply dont want to speak russian and dont want to be rullled by Russian from Moscow. (one can consider that just using administrative borders from times of USSR was a mistake but it doesnt change the fact that majority of Ukraine really does not consider itself "russian" and doesnt want to be russian since Holodmor perpetrated by Stalin. there is 30 million people who definitely wish absolute separation now after the military action.

@Paerigos if everything is so transparent and the United States is ready to accept and, most importantly, listen to the will of the peoples of Russia and Ukraine, then why was it necessary to hold on to those territories that would never have reconciled with the Kiev regime. After all, there is a law on secession from the USSR, but people were not asked, but how slaves were given along with lands to another state. In the state whose state policy is the destruction of all Russian. There is no democracy here, there is only the geopolitical interest of the United States in initiating this dirty war. Russian Russian Slavs will kill a Russian Ukrainian, so that no American soldier will be injured.

He actually didn't predict anything he just explained realism theory. It's like having a formula in math; all things constant with the formula you get same result and that's what Ukraine crisis is all about.

@37Dionysos I fully agree. It's immoral to provoke war in the name of policy.

True. Unfortunately you didn't understand professor at all.

And scary, knowing the people who are currently in charge. 😊

"Professor John J. Mearsheimer makes geopolitics seem so easy" Because you cannot comprehend complexity.

It's easy if you know history really easy.

An overrated professor

It has always been surprising how some drunk of power and Russian imperialism people try to justify invasions on other countries and how far from a regular Russian people it is.

IKR. Thing is, Mearsheimer kind of stands alone when it comes to US analytics. He is just one voice in a massive sea of warmongering think tanks that are still working off of relics from the Cold war like the wolfowitz doctrine and liberal Democratic hegemony. All funded in one way or another by various military contractors.

Oh, those were not invasions, those have been humanitarian interventions.

@krysti musik wtf is wrong with your spell checker? And whether a country has a dictator or not, it's not a pretext for an invasion. Russia is doing what US did to Iraq except Saddam Hussein probably was more willing to cooperate to US re. WMD search than Zelensky was willing to cooperate with Russia re. neutrality. And many in the West calculated wrongly that Russia would not invade and the consequence of that is just on the innocent Ukrainian citizens

And Afghanistan

For your infomation, DeepL translator is quite an accurate free tool if you want anglophones to read your comment.

So true. Kind of like other empires throughout history that led them down the path of eventual destruction--whether in status or reshuffling of 'importance'.

Let's be real he did make some mistakes like saying Russia would never invade Ukraine in his famous talk about this conflict

@John Latham Why are you pasting the same comment in this section?

@Morgan he said it was unlikely because it doesn't make sense as he gets most of the benefit with almost no cost. This is a tricky one to play gotcha with because almost everyone was wrong on putin invading ukraine. Certainly no one was predicting a full scale invasion a few years ago, maybe limited incursion into the Donbas at most.

@Theknow All Thanks will check it out

Mearsheimer who's predictions failed at almost every level.

@Michael Dromes Ok. Ready to listen to you. WHICH of his predictions failed and/or were wrong?

@Selcuk Cilek 😄

@Etop Abasi I meant constructive argumenting people NOT clowns.

@Selcuk Cilek 😄... Seems you misunderstood. I was reacting to your comment at @Michael Drones not you. It seems he's still searching for a reference to back up his comment.

Too bad he doesnt talk about Americas domestic politics. Would love to hear his in depth take on those issues.

Academia

Living in democratic countries, being citizens, we sort of have a responsibility to be aware and listen to people like him.

Same, I've been reposting his talk from back in 2015 so that hopefully more people stop contributing negatively to the conflict online and use more than two brain cells to think critically about what's at stake.

Send them this video as well trvid.com/video/video-JrMiSQAGOS4.html. Everyday I try to do my bit in the comments promoting his talk so that this doesn't become another Iraq.

same here

Amen to that. This is actually the only thing that could save Ukraine from destruction. But the drones cheer on... it's so frustrating and sad ..

check out 'Ukraineonfire' from OliverStone

So do you think NATO should break up ?

how's he correct? he predicts that russia will not invade in this very interview... and he was proven wrong mere days later

Good call on Warsaw Pact, probably something well within memory

It is a fallacy to say that the invasion of Ukraine has something to do with Russia’s national interests. This is said by people who have a very shallow understanding of the Russian heart. If Alexei Navalny would be the President of Russia, Russia would never have invaded Ukraine. If Navalny would be the president of Russia, you would see the reestablishment of democratic norms and checks and balances to power in Russia, and you would see Russia drifting back into the European family maybe even one day joining the EU and even NATO. The Problem is Putin, and sadly those fools that believe the Russia state media blindly

@施博修 I am confused. Can you tell me when Russia asked to join NATO?

@The Intellectual Exchange During the Clinton administration. It has been documented.

They say politicians make war when diplomacy fails; did anyone try diplomacy?

@Dana M. million time. Professor forgot to mention Neo-Nazi in Ukraine.

@Yeong wen Lee Your name could be of Chinese origin. I admire the Chinese, but from the way they obey the government mandates they seem to be very compliant. After research, I am of the opinion that the ruling class that is driving this war is best described in a video such as, 'All Wars Are Bankers' Wars', narrated by Michael Rivero. Lots of copies on odysee. On the topic of critical thinking, I believe that the ruling class is causing a reduction of this skill in humans. Their main two campaigns for achieving this are i) vaccines and ii) fluoride in the water supply. There are other campaigns that input toxins into humans. Campaign i) is particularly effective and greatly increases profits for big-pharma by also causing auto immune diseases, i) does not assist human health in any way.

@Theknow All I am a Chinese, but not from China. I am from south-east Asia. And I received my higher education in the States. I have been in the States for about 7-8 years and then I left and return to my own country. And recent years after I left (before pandemics), I return to the States to teach for a short period and notice a huge change and differences in academic settings. It is only after I left and return home again that I realise the ‘woke culture’ which very much reflect upon my experience. The main regards to that culture is the fundamental approach in thinking process, which is often ‘black and white’ or perhaps ‘all-or-nothing’. And too often students that I encounter jump into conclusion in such absolute way before investigating and attempt to understand deeper. The ability to have meaningful discussion and to have contrast point of view seems to be absence. Which is very different from the experience I had 20 years ago when I was still at student at US. So that is why I responded the way I did. :)

@Yeong wen Lee I agree. I am retired and from my point of view, I have found that there are many people, (intelligent in most respects), who are not capable of critical thinking if they listen to the corporate media. They are absolutely rigid in their beliefs and won't look at evidence that contradicts the media. They follow the media and the government like a sporting team. The 'pandemic' or 'plandemic' has made me realize how many people are like this.

@Theknow All yeah. I think too often, many follow a presumption of moral or ethics code of justice. Though that suppose to a good thing, but when such is blindly followed, any good thing can turn out to be deconstructive. In addition, cos it is base on moral and ethical code, any challenges will be perceived as ‘evil’, and that doesn’t allow any further discussion to understand better beyond the surface. Thus with Ukraine-Russia crisis, it is easier for many to assumed good and bad and to decide which role each individual is playing, and perceiving the events based on the assigned roles. And such perception, often creates more division and tension, rather than resolutions and understandings.

You really think they dunno? Lmao this is the situation they want

Now Russia is rank 2 country export natural gas and petrol to Europe. So if the Russia higher the price then who you think will supply to Europe

@Invisible Well... If someone makes a statement (EU Parliament) that - from now not just women's, than "genders" can give birth - so in this context for example a ~a man also can give birth ~ just because this is a modern and liberal way of life - and who support this... I think they are not entirely on that intellectual level to understand this... just a little bit complexed case... So the answer is yes at least for the majority of the EU, and what i read about americans comments, for them also "yes" is the answer. The public is uninformed and does not even want to be informed... Thinking is tiring, what they get ready and build on someone’s hatred makes it easier to embrace...

​@Invisible Here in Hungary, we have a long-term contract with Russia on a favorable price for a huge quantity.. You know, there’s a leader who anticipates and negotiates, and there’s some who are completely stupid and in retrospect brings sanctions that do the most harm to themselves. They can buy shale gas from America on multipled price. I can only congratulate them on this ...

They need to manufacture a new war to replace Afghanistan. Kissinger makes the point in a recent article to focus on how this crisis will end. But, and that is a big BUT, this assumes that the US is interested in winning the contest and a favourable outcome. But, if the objective of the MIC is to provoke and prolong a war, then a long drawn out conflict is the desired outcome. Many people think Afghanistan is a total failure. But, for the MIC and the politicians who are financed by them, it has been a very profitable 20-year US$3 trillion ride all the way to the bank.

That’s correct. And the crisis only ended when the US agreed to remove their missiles from Europe.

so, what was provoke russian-ukrainian 2003 Tuzla Island conflict. It's important to understand.

Probably might need to go one more critical step earlier: the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.

The knowledge in this thread all misses the main component. View the video, 'All Wars Are Bankers' Wars', narrated by Michael Rivero. Lots of copies on odysee.

Guys please use critical thinking and stop blaming West for what is happening, you are taking thigs out of context. Russia has always been aggressive, USSR was aggressive as well (the ideology of communism and world global revolution), USSR was allied with Nazi Germany and started the WWII together! Which caused huge problems to the whole world and the U.S. in particular. After "liberating" territories occupied by Nazis, USSR has occupied all these territories of independent countries! NATO was created as a response to this, don't fail to identify the CAUSE and the EFFECT. Claiming that West and NATO expansion is CAUSE of what is happening, means to ignore hundreds years of Russian history, as well its attacks on independent countries like Chechnya or Moldova or Georgia (first Georgian war), all these conflicts happened in 90s! Long before NATO was expanding.

Well your government is doing the best it can do. The Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, Lu Yucheng said that he, “agreed with Moscow’s assessment that NATO’s unchecked expansion in Eastern Europe and the failure to address Russia’s national security concerns had paved the way for the current crisis. He said a simple “commitment of no eastward expansion could have easily ended the crisis and stopped the suffering.” “Instead, one chose to fan the flames at a safe distance, watching its own arms dealers, bankers and oil tycoons make a fortune out of the war, while leaving the people of a small country with the wounds of war that would take years to heal.” There’s a whole world behind your country and its leadership.

@Lele S если скопировать ссылку на это видео и открыть его через яндекс браузер, то браузер предложит сделать синхронный перевод (вполне сносный)

@Lele S Нейросеть яндекс браузера вслух очень неплохо переводит. Намного лучше субтитров, хотя я к ним привыкла, все фильмы с ними смотрю.

никто слушать не будет. я изза этого рассорилась со своей семьёй

@blessyou аналогично

Как вовремя это интервью!! Поделилась в Канаде и США: пусть изучают факты и снижают градус русофобии, действительно, она была и сейчас обострилась, увы. Лайк- непременно!!!

Like blaming a rape victim for her situation? Always worth cheering! (Irony might exist...)

What about sympathy for Ukraine? Or sympathy for Alexei Navalny ?

we should make many clones of this man and send them in every countries of this planet.

🤣🤣🤣 but seriously you are NOT wrong

Otto-Ville Kuusinen olisi ylpeä. Allegro kulkee vielä joten hyppää ihmeessä kyytiin.

@Eetu Lehtonen Trolli.

Exactly! When you are shown the bad guys, ask yourself who and why benefits from it

it's nice to see that someone from Germany is interested in the truth, and dont read Bild newspaper

How do the germans feel about European, and their own, involvement ?

I was leaning towards the views expressed within this video prior to watching it, though the rhetoric and social movement all push the whole "Russia Bad" narrative that I was starting to think I may be wrong in my leaning but couldn't find real information on it.

@Kodiak Trickler Prof John Mearsheimer is unique because he has integrity and sees truth as important. But he had a privileged position at the University of Chicago, therefore there is one component of all this that he is not allowed to mention. View the video, 'All Wars Are Bankers' Wars', narrated by Michael Rivero. Lots of copies on odysee.

@GreenGrayBear Listened to that. Kotkin is another lackey for the establishment. After the fall of the Soviet Union 30 years ago, NATO made agreements to Russia not to move eastward towards Russia's borders. It is indisputable that NATO lied and Putin explains this clearly in his speeches. Today NATO countries border Russia and USA missile systems sit on Russia's doorstep. To counter nuclear missiles directed at Moscow there must be a distance limit for security and the Ukraine border is too close to Moscow. Russia has been airing its security concerns for years but they are ignored. Big-money is in control. The USA were funded to organize a coup in 2014, ultimately financed by the cabal who have $billions at their disposal because they control the central banks. The coup in the Ukraine is explained in great detail in the documentary. When the coup was over the USA appointed the unelected puppet, current President Volodymyr Zelensky. As expected, Ukraine joining NATO was then proposed. Would the U.S allow Russian missiles on its border? Not a chance. Putin has been talking about this NATO aggression for years. He has been more than patient. In December Putin and Lavrov sent written proposals expressing changes take place to ensure Russia's security, like removal of weapon systems (remember NATO moved towards Russia's borders not vice versa). These proposals have been rejected. Russia has been backed into a corner. Ukraine has a long history with Russia, Kiev once being Russia's capital.

I agree, sanctions should hit Russia's wealthy but not the population. My deepest empathy for both the Russian and the Ukrainian civilians

Thanks professor simply magnificent

The Russians' behaviour, as indicated by the current surge of atrocities is simply unforgiveable. It is barbaris similar to what was allowed to happen in Syria.

I don’t believe he discounts invading Ukraine but said that HOLDING occupied Ukraine would be extremely difficult.

France can't stand up to a stiff breeze

@Willo James lmao

There are 2 people from Germany and France who were with Nuland and Pyatt during the presidential coup in Ukraine in 2014. So I think they are as deep as the US/EU in the mud in this case.

@Willo James remember Srebrenica? The Dutch Bats were left there and had to witness the massacre despite their repeating calls to UN. France should’ve sent airforce, but they chose to do nothing

Whilst I agree with what you say in principle, I think as Meersheimer says, smaller countries in reality have to take account not just their own histories but their geographies too. They need to take account of their neighbours especially so if those neighbours are great powers. That requires diplomacy and finesse and realising that if you want peaceful relations you might not be able to join all the institutions you would like to. Unfair you say? Well, yes. But it's the reality. If you push ahead anyway (encouraged or played by another great power) then the consequences, as has turned out in Ukraine, can be dire. We can label countries aggressors and in violation but that hardly helps Ukraine who is now paying a heavy price for not compromising.

You are so right. I hope there’s a dedicated video platform for these interviews that have actual values to people. The talk has so much depth and makes so much sense even for people who don’t understand geopolitics.

What?? This guy is a known US-hater.

@Ricardo Cima You are exactly the kind of uninformed people @J, Lawton is talking about. Thanks for making his point.

@Selcuk Cilek I agree it's not a synonym. The establishment is more international. The main central bank, the BIS, is in Switzerland. The establishment is currently destroying the USA economy.

Americans only know one language so give us a break

It is a fallacy to say that the invasion of Ukraine has something to do with Russia’s national interests. This is said by people who have a very shallow understanding of the Russian heart. If Alexei Navalny would be the President of Russia, Russia would never have invaded Ukraine. If Navalny would be the president of Russia, you would see the reestablishment of democratic norms and checks and balances to power in Russia, and you would see Russia drifting back into the European family maybe even one day joining the EU and even NATO. The Problem is Putin, and sadly those fools that believe the Russia state media blindly

@The Intellectual Exchange Russia asked to join EU (and OTAN also) in the past, it was categorily denied.

@Renan Rodrigues I just looked into this and its true there were some discussions. But there was no formal request. But there was an interest by Putin. I think this will happen in the future.

@Renan Rodrigues I think the NATO -Russian cooperation was working, but then Russia engaged in hostile threats or actions against Moldova/Transnistria(1992-2016); Georgia (2004-2012); Estonia (2006-2007); Ukraine (2014-present); Syria (2015-present) and Turkey (2015-2016), among others. Then in 2014 tensions increased between NATO and Russia as a result of the Russia's move to annex Crimea: On 1 April 2014, NATO unanimously decided to suspend all practical co-operation with the Russian Federation, in response to the Annexation of Crimea, but the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) was not suspended.

In Russian "Мир" has a deeper meaning. This is a complex system that is in balance and everything obeys certain laws.

You should watch Mearsheimer’s lecture at Yale about the false promise of liberal hegemony. You’ll understand why

The problem with these arguments is it ignores the idea that Ukrainians have the right to self determination.

@Thomas Reinstadtler please explain.. do you mean the "People's Republic of Donetsk and Luhansk"? Putin did state that he recognizes these as independent states. Is it true that NATO/USA has been financing bioweapons labs in Ukraine since 2012 and prior? Perhaps we should have a Legitimate world court procedure to let all sides present their evidence and witnesses to find out the truth.

@Paul Marciniak What I mean is that Ukraine is a sovereign nation that controls their own politics and economic policies. If they would prefer to have closer ties to the west, it’s neither NATO’s or Putin’s right to determine otherwise. If they want to have closer ties to Russia, it’s also their business. While I don’t dispute the Professors points about NATO expansion and US policy playing a large role in this conflict, he simply takes the good vs evil narrative and flips it. Maybe there’s more nuance to it. Maybe Latvia, Estonia and other former Soviet republics saw signs that Putin wanted to make Vassal states of them all and sought the protection of NATO.

@Thomas Reinstadtler let's find out if it is true the people of the Donetsk and Luhansk eastern provinces did indeed have a people's vote to declare themselves People's Republic(s) of Donetsk/Luhansk? If that is verified as truth then those 2 provinces had already changed their status into 2 new nation states independent of both Russia and Ukraine. Perhaps is still in process and they requested support of Russia to complete it? It will be interesting to watch this unfold.