Re: The Great Delusion with Professor John Mearsheimer

I realized that this is the same guy that I criticized because of a previous video.  (Bottom.)  He blames the West for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

However, his presentation here is very interesting.  He argues that we should be more about the balance of power than trying to make other countries like us.  He appears to value stability over freedom.

However, I have much sympathy for people living under oppression.

I have long leaned toward the idea of liberating Cuba, although I consider it highly unlikely that we would ever do this.  According to the video, we just would get ourselves involved in a quagmire.  If hypothetically we were to liberate Cuba then our goal should be to establish a stable government and get out.  I would offer them statehood, but according to the video, people everywhere are highly nationalistic and prefer to have their own state.

The relevant question is if we are wrong to try to encourage Democracy and free markets in other countries?  I think not, but if it involves an invasion force and war then probably so.  After 9-11, I think that we were correct to go into Afghanistan, but the invasion of Iraq was far more questionable.

I get into arguments over World War I and World War II.  If war broke out in Europe today, why would we want to get involved?

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

On Wed, Apr 20, 2022 at 12:11 AM John Coffey  wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrE_RPNogG4

I am only 35 minutes into this video, but he has been very insightful about U.S. foreign policy and politics.  Four years ago he made predictions about Afghanistan and Ukraine that essentially have come true.

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: John Coffey

Date: Tue, Mar 1, 2022 at 1:55 PM

This video is from 2015, but relevant.

John J. Mearsheimer is a Bernie Sanders supporter.  He even sounds a tiny bit like him.  I don't trust him to be objective.

He repeatedly quotes the Monroe Doctrine as a rationalization for his position.  In 2013, two years before this video, Secretary of State John Kerry declared that the Monroe Doctrine is dead.

I agree with him when he says that Ukraine is not in the National Interest of the United States.

He makes claims to the effect that Russia does not want to build a greater Russia and would not want to get involved in the quagmire of an invasion of Ukraine, which seem to be disproven by current events.

I assumed that Putin's security concerns were just an excuse for invasion, but this video gives some legitimacy to Putin's concern.  Nevertheless, Ukraine is an independent country that should be allowed to decide its own alliances.  If it wants to be part of Europe then it is not the right of Russia to block this.

Comparing Ukraine possibly joining NATO, which wasn't even on the table, to the Cuban Missile Crisis is to equivocate two things that are not the same.  It is a poor comparison.

Therefore, this invasion is an unjustified aggressive event.  It has caused a seismic shift in world politics.  Europe is rapidly trying to distance itself from Russia.  Germany has changed its position on where it gets its energy and is contemplating embracing Nuclear Energy again after having closed all its nuclear plants.

There is a possibility that Putin will get the opposite of everything he wants.  I have been predicting a coup in Russia, possibly a military coup followed by a temporary military government.  Reportedly, the Russian military is not happy with this invasion, nor is the public.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey