The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority. Absolutely free. Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher.

Hello and welcome to the Americano podcast, a series of discussions about American power, politics and society.

On each episode, I will talk to an American expert or an expert on America

about something that's going on in America in 2023. I am very honored today to be joined by

Professor John Meersheimer, who is a very distinguished international relations scholar at the University of

Chicago, and we're going to be talking about America's role in Ukraine. John, could I start by asking

about something that's in the news today a bit in Britain, which is Boris Johnson's glory tour of

America, if you like at the moment, where he has made quite a few

statements on Ukraine. He seems to see his role now as a kind of global ambassador for the war

effort in Ukraine, and he's been trying to buck up, to gee up, the Americans, the Republican

party in particular, to be more hawkish about sending weapons to Ukraine.

And he's also said that he's downplayed fears about whether Vladimir Putin would use nuclear weapons.

And he has encouraged and said that actually now the reasons not for Ukraine not to be admitted into NATO are now obviated.

I'd like, first of all, to have your reaction to that.

I think what's going on here is that the balance of power on the battlefield has changed.

And whereas in the summer and in the fall, it looked like the

Ukrainians might win the war, it's now quite clear that the Russians are on the march. And when

you look forward as to what the balance will look like six months from now, it looks like the

Russians will be even in a better position.

And I think that people like Boris Johnson, who are deeply invested in this war because they were

present at the creation, have a vested interest in doing everything they can to rescue the

situation. So he and a number of other people, individuals like

...