John Mearsheimer

speaker

2,303 appearances 7 recordings 5 series first heard Nov 2023 last heard 28 May

John Mearsheimer’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 5 in all, peaking in May 2026 with 4.

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Lex Fridman Podcast · #401 – John Mearsheimer: Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, China, NATO, and WW3 · 18 Nov 2023 podcast

Yeah, and we talked before about 1812 when Napoleon invaded and Moscow got burned to the ground.

We talked about World War I where the Russians were actually defeated and surrendered.

And then we talked about 1941 to 1945 where although thankfully the Soviets prevailed, it was...

It was a close call.

And I mean, the casualties, the destruction that the Soviet Union had inflicted on it by the Germans is just almost hard to believe.

So they are sensitive.

You can understand full well, or at least you should be able to understand full well why the idea of bringing Ukraine up to their border really spooked them.

I don't understand why more Americans don't understand that.

It's just it befuddles me.

I think it has to do with the fact that Americans are not very good at putting themselves in the shoes of other countries.

And you really if you're going to be a first class strategist in international politics, you have to be able to do that.

You have to put yourself in the shoes of the other side and think about how they think so you don't make foolish mistakes.

Yeah, I agree with you 100%.

I always think of Michael McFaul at Stanford, who was the American ambassador to Russia, I think, between 2012 and 2014.

And he told me that he told Putin that Putin didn't have to worry about NATO expansion because the United States was a benign hegemon.

And I asked Mike what Putin's response was to that.

And Mike said that Putin didn't believe it.

And but Mike believed that he should believe it and that.

We could move NATO eastward to include Ukraine, and in the end, we'd get away with it because we are a benign hegemon.

But the fact is, that's not what Putin saw.

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