Posted on 10/03/2022 8:02:44 AM PDT by JonPreston
Why Mearsheimer is wrong Mearsheimer’s argument also rests on the flawed reading of Russia as devoid of imperialist goals. In fact, for him, Russia is not acting but simply reacting.
In praise of reality, not realism: An answer to Mearsheimer
Veronica Anghel and Dietlind Stolle June 28th, 2022
Mearsheimer’s central point is that US foreign policy was geared to transform Ukraine into a Western bulwark on Russia’s border – by pushing it closer to NATO, championing its EU integration and financing Ukrainian democracy. What is more, NATO itself continued to substantially arm the country and train its military over the years. According to this mono-causal narrative, the result was that Russia felt actively threatened like a “big bear feels when he is poked between the eyes.” This picture of a United States determined to bring Ukraine into NATO and committed to aggressive NATO expansion is not supported by facts.
During the Obama administration, the White House pivoted to Asia and reduced its attention to Central and Eastern Europe altogether. The idea of NATO enlargement towards the East was far from a priority. Language similar to that used in 2008 cannot be found in subsequent NATO summit declarations. It was not until Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 that NATO member states (slowly and indecisively) realised the necessity to invest in securing the Eastern Flank. That agenda did not, however, include NATO enlargement further East. It has also lacked financial follow-through. Despite a commitment from all member states to spend 2 percent of their national budget on defense, by 2016 only five member states had met that target. By 2021, the number was still at just ten.
President Obama’s reaction to the annexation of Crimea was soft (the ‘no Cold War over Crimea’ speech, for example) and Republican Party leaders were ambivalent. While NATO decided to heighten its presence in Europe through joint training, enhanced troop interoperability and troop rotations (Warsaw Summit Declaration 2016), the cooperation with Ukraine entailed mostly medical, communication, cyber-defense and limited military cooperation. NATO summit declarations that followed the annexation of Crimea reveal NATO’s interest to maintain dialogue with Russia, and to moderate its aggressive stance towards its neighbours through diplomacy.
Mearsheimer’s argument also rests on the flawed reading of Russia as devoid of imperialist goals. In fact, for him, Russia is not acting but simply reacting. Yet Putin has turned to imperialism as a buttress for Russian authoritarianism, for which there are numerous accounts from experts working on the region (Shevtsova, 2014; Politkovskaya, 2003; Robertson and Greene, 2019; Snyder, 2022). Putin himself has referred repeatedly to the idea of a divided Ancient Russian World (Russkiy mir) and highlighted Russia’s aspirations to restore unity. In June 2021, he claimed that Ukrainians and Russians are one people and that Russia and Ukraine are a single country. He continues to compare himself to Peter the Great in justifying a quest to take back Russian lands. This shows that NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe is but a pretext for a colonising Russian agenda.
Perhaps most surprisingly, Mearsheimer overlooked in his presentation at the EUI not just Russian but also Ukrainian agency. Starting with the Orange Revolution of 2003–2004, continuing through the Maidan Uprising (2013) and into the Revolution of Dignity (2014), which led to the overthrow of the Russian-influenced government, the Ukrainian people expressed their desire for a democratic, European future, divorced from their authoritarian past. Ukrainians fought alone on the Maidan, without EU or NATO assistance. As the war of 2022 continues, we are all witnesses to the same struggles for freedom and dignity.
In many ways, Ukrainians and East European NATO member states have reasons to wish Mearsheimer were right in his view of history. US and NATO overcommitment to these countries and a peaceful, non-colonising Russian agenda sound great to East European ears. Unfortunately, this is a faulty vision – to which these authors hope to have contributed a correction.
https://euideas.eui.eu/2022/06/28/in-praise-of-reality-not-realism-an-answer-to-mearsheimer/
My oldest brother, God rest his soul, once wrote, "Generals deal in dreams, dreams of dreams and dreamers."
You make me understand what my brother saw.
You are assuming that Texas would want to be part of China.
Let’s deal with reality:
Russia has claimed that the four eastern Ukrainian territories it has illegally annexed WANTED to become part of Russia.
If Texas seceded from the US, it would not be to become part of China, or any other foreign country; it would be to become independent, or to join up with other seceding states to form a new country. Does that sound familiar? BTW: I think Texas is capable and innovative enough to BE its own country.
There is NO WAY Texas would want to be part of China.
Hawaii might, though.
“Ludicrous delusion #1.”
What’s ludicrous? Are you denying that Ukraine is an independent country, and has the right to join any alliances it wants?
Has Putin pulled his tongue out of that kid's navel yet?
LOL, 'genocide', or asked to learn the language of the country they live in.
Good analogy, but some idiots here are still living back in the good old Cold War days. Just like most Liberals live bckin the 1950’s and earlier Jim Crow days.
Why can’t people live in 2022??? I know it kind of sucks here, what with the queers and trannies and such, but it is kinda the year in which we find ourselves.
Have you noticed Demented Joe around kids, yet here you are marching with him to war. What gives?
Even our democrat media would have had to take notice if Joe had done what Putin did in front of God, the public and a bunch of photographers. So it gets tedious to hear the Putin jock carriers try to pretend Putin is some sort of moral paragon defending decency.
That was a silly post, but living in a fantasy and refusing to see what military watchers all over the world are seeing is not dealing with reality.
Russia’s status (and effectiveness) as a military power is vastly diminished.
That is the question.
If it is just a disagreement between two countries then no.
However, if this is a “Germany annexing the Sudetenland” situation then yes.
The question is, would Putin stop at just the Eastern Ukraine? And if he wouldn’t stop then at what point does it become too hard to stop him. As Churchill said, there is a choice between dishonor and war.
And no, I don’t like the current GloboHomo regime running the US right now. But we have the chance to vote them out. No one is voting out Putin.
“Russia wouldn’t have invaded if Ukraine hadn’t dressed so provocatively.”
Yup. Showing a bit too much ankle was enough to set off the loutish Russians. Hell, if the Russians see a knee, the nukes will fly.
“You act as if it’s an independent nation.”
It is.
You sure about that?
“See the various LGBTQ comments associated with Zelenskyy.”
By YOUR side! The key phrase being ASSOCIATED WITH. YOU guys regularly employ such comments. It’s as if you all have an unhealthy fascination with homosexuality.
If you have Zelensky’s exact quotes to support your claim, then trot them out.
No answer? Do I have to post any one of the thousands of PedoJoe pics that you are ignoring simply because you revel in war? Don’t have me do it. We have all seen enough of them.
We have a better chance than Russia does.
Even with the vote fraud there are enough people who are tired of the Biden disaster. I believe this will be as bad for the Democrats as the ‘94 Republican takeover of congress.
Plus, unlike Russia we still have the Ammo Box.
зеленський любить дітей
provide a link to the proof of all your wild allegations
please
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