John Mearsheimer – America's Sunk Cost in Ukraine

The Glenn Show

Glenn Loury

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.9 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2023

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

0:00 Why John thinks Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was rational

6:55 How small states deal with world powers

10:13 If Russia’s action were rational, were the US’s?

16:40 John: The Ukraine invasion violates international law, but Russia has reason to see it as just

21:58 The risk of escalation

29:26 Zelensky’s expert manipulation of the West

33:51 Is it a coincidence that so many recent presidential scandals involve Ukraine?

39:57 Can tolerant liberals tolerate illiberal societies?

45:45 American Russophobia didn’t cause the war, but it’s not helping

49:19 John: If Putin is overthrown, his replacement will probably be even more brutal

53:35 The foreign policy establishment’s grip on both Democrats and Republicans

Links and Readings

John’s Substack

John’s book, with Sebastian Rosato, How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy

John’s essay, “Bound to Lose”

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

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Transcript

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0:42.4	Thank you.
0:43.4	Hi everybody, this is Glendlaury and you've tuned into the Glend Show.
0:51.6	I'm with John Mirshimer, who's professor of political science at the University of Chicago
0:56.0	and a very distinguished student of politics and foreign policy, and we're here to talk
1:03.7	about the issue of the day, which is the conflict in Ukraine.
1:08.2	Thanks John.
1:09.2	Thanks so much.
1:10.2	Glad to be here, Glendlaury.
1:12.6	Okay.
1:13.6	Why not start with the question, was Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine a rational act?
1:21.9	I think that kind of touches both bases in terms of the conflict and also your more
1:29.9	general reflections on rationality of state action?
1:32.9	Yeah, I think the conventional wisdom is that it was an unprovoked and irrational move
1:40.6	on Putin's part, that he was bent on creating a greater Russia.
1:46.9	He was an imperialist at heart.
	...

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