John J. Mearsheimer
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
You know, when you occupy these places, you run into resistance.
Yeah.
Vietnam, French experience in Vietnam, American experience in Vietnam.
Algeria.
Afghanistan, Algeria.
Right.
That's exactly what you run into.
You know, I've... In 1979, when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan...
Everybody said, this is the end of the world.
The Soviets are on the march.
We're in deep trouble, and we have to do something to counter the Soviets.
I said at the time, this is dead wrong.
This is wonderful news for us.
If you're arms racing with the Soviets, if you're engaged in a security competition with the Soviets, what you want them to do is jump into a place like Afghanistan, just like they should have been happy that we went into Vietnam.
Right?
You're jumping into a quagmire.
You said that out loud in 79?
I said it out loud, but there was no internet at the time.
There was no Tucker Carlson.
Yeah, yeah.