John Mearsheimer

Yeah, well, that would assume the United States.

But you want to remember, you're hypothesizing a situation where China dominates Asia.

Yeah, it's already dominated Taiwan.

Where do you find the proxies?

Australia?

Well, the Middle East could be a good case.

I think in this scenario, if you're talking about a US-China competition-

And you're talking about the Middle East.

I think it's the Gulf.

It's the Saudis, the Iranians, the Iraqis.

It's the oil.

I think that's possible, yeah.

I think that's possible, yeah.

I mean, I hadn't thought about it until you said it, but yeah, I think that that is possible.

Isn't that terrifying?

Yeah, well, in your scenario, where China already dominates Asia and we dominate the Western Hemisphere, I think you start talking about where the most likely places that the United States and China go head-to-head or fight through proxies.

I think it is the Gulf or the Middle East and the scenario that you posit.

It's an interesting question.

I mean, it is sort of an abstract theoretical level.

My argument is that great powers act according to realist dictates and they understand those realist dictates and that could lead to cooperation or it can lead to war.