John J. Mearsheimer

And then support the attacks with drones and missiles against Mother Russia because that will affect Ukraine.

civilian population in ways that caused the population to rise up against Putin.

There's lots of people who still believe this, despite the fact that after four plus years, it hasn't worked.

And if anything, the Russians are going to win the war.

Well, the United States during the unipolar moment, and the unipolar moment runs from about 1992, immediately after the Soviet Union collapses, up until about 2017, is by definition the only great power in the world.

And we don't like the idea of being challenged when we are the unipole.

We think that it's our way or the highway.

And you want to remember that in 2000, this is in the middle of the unipolar moment,

Putin takes over in Russia.

And Putin, over the course of the time from 2000 up to 2026, has stood up to the Americans.

He gave a famous speech at Munich in 2007, where he made it very clear to the West that he was sick and tired of how the West was treating Russia.

And the fact is the United States does not like anybody standing up to it.

You have to do it our way, right?

You have to be subservient.

And Putin was not subservient.

Contrast him, Putin, with Boris Yeltsin, who ran Russia during the 1990s.

Yeltsin basically did what we told him to do.

We had him in our hip pocket.

That was not true with Putin.

So for that reason, we got increasingly angry with Putin.