
Interview with Prof. Mearsheimer on Ukraine’s defeat and the genocide in Palestine
January 23, 2025
Q: I wanted to ask you, ultimately, what would be necessary for Russia and the United States to experience an enduring peace. But before we get there… This week, President Trump threatened President Putin – he said he’s ruining Russia; claimed Russia has suffered a great deal more casualties than any credible statistics that you or I have seen; and offered to impose more sanctions on Russia, if President Putin doesn’t sit down when Trump wants him to, and negotiate with President Zelenskyy.
So, this has brought laughter in Moskov, since the only thing that’s not sanctioned from Russia to the United States is something which the U.S. needs, which is uranium for power plants – I don’t even know if Trump is aware of that… Bottom line, does Trump know what he’s talking about?
A: I don’t understand what Trump is doing here. It’s remarkably foolish. There’s no question that he stands a reasonable chance of working out some sort of deal with the Russians. But for that to happen, he really has to deal with Putin in a sophisticated way. And he has to treat Putin with great respect.
He has to show appreciation for Russia’s position. This is all absolutely necessary if he’s going to get a deal. The idea that he can sort-of slap Putin around, and treat him like he’s a second-rate citizen in the international system, and force Putin to do what Trump wants him to do, is ludicrous. I mean, I just don’t understand what he’s thinking here.
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Q: Where is he getting his intel from? If he’s using Joe Biden as statistics on the number of Russians killed, which he says is over a million. There is no credible source for that, of which I’m aware at all.
A: No, that’s not even close. I mean, there are not even a million Russian casualties, which would include wounded plus killed. And wounded always outnumber killed by around three to one (3:1).
So, the argument that over a million Russians have died in this wat is not a serious argument. I don’t know where he gets his numbers. As you well know, Trump is not famous for sticking to facts. He invents facts of his own. He creates his own facts, and this is just another example of it.
But if he’s using these facts, in his own brain, as a way of calculating what’s going on here – and using that as a basis for formulating a negotiating strategy – is doomed to fail.
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Q: Well, in the same time period when he posted that clip of Prof. Jeffrey Sachs ripping into Netanyahu, he did have a major Mossad asset [Miriam Adelson, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Adelson] seated at his inauguration, directly behind Hillary Clinton. So, what message is he sending to Netanyahu?
A: Well, I think that Trump understands that he’s going to have to play hard ball with Netanyahu at certain points, over the next few years. And at the same time, he fully understands that he has to deal with the Israel lobby. And he’s going to try and walk a fine line. This is just evidence of that.
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Q: Wow, do you think he’s going to give Netanyahu everything the way Joe Biden did? I know some of the Zionist claims that Joe slow-walked some of the 2,000-pound bombs that they were dropping on people in tents. But for the most part, we know that through Joe Biden, the United States totally founded and financed the genocide in Gaza.
A: Yes, there’s no question about that. But the fact is that… Trump is walking into a very different situation. The Netanyahu government has just agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza. And the Israeli press is full of stories – you don’t see this in the West – that basically Israel lost in Gaza; that Hamas is alive and well, and it’s running Gaza; and Israel has no way of solving that problem.
So, this is the world that Trump is dealing with – he’s dealing with a Netanyahu who’s in a very different position than the Netanyahu that Biden had to deal with. […]
What does Netanyahu do if he resumes the war? Does he have a war-winning strategy? Does he now have the magic formula to defeat Hamas?
Remember – he fought against Hamas for 14 months, with Joe Biden’s full assistance. He pounded the living daylight out of the people in Gaza. He turned the Gaza strip into rubble. And he failed to defeat Hamas.
What’s he going to do to defeat Hamas if he restarts the war? And the answer is – he has no strategy. So, he’s in really deep trouble. […]
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Q: Here’s what Trump said when asked if the ceasefire would hold….
Footage of Trump talking with the press on inauguration day:
“Q: How confident are you that the ceasefire in Gaza will hold?
Trump: I’m not confident, this is not our war, this is their war. I’m not confident, but I think they’re very weakened on the other side. Gaza, boy… I looked at a picture, and Gaza is like a massive demolition site. That place is really… It’s got to be rebuilt in a different way.
Q: Do you plan to help rebuilding Gaza?
Trump: I might. You know, Gaza is interesting. It’s a phenomenal location – on the sea… the best weather… You know, everything is good. Some beautiful things can be done with it. It’s very interesting… Some fantastic things could be done with Gaza.
Q: How do you see the future in governance for Gaza?] Well, it depends. I can imagine you could have… well, you certainly can have… the people that were there… most of them are dead. [sic]”
End of footage.
Q: It’s not our war, it’s their war, but it’s a made-in- America war – he certainly understands that. And he has no intention of reducing the flow of cash and armaments, does he?
A: No, I’d be shocked if he did. But again, it doesn’t matter. He can give them more 2,000-pound bombs. What are they going to do? Make the rubble bounce? I don’t understand what more bombs are going to do.
The fact is that the Israeli army is in really bad shape. That’s one of the reasons why the Israelis have agreed to a ceasefire. The IDF desperately wanted a ceasefire. It is in serious trouble.
They have NO military option for defeating Hamas. Trump is wrong when he basically says that Hamas is defeated. He’s right that Gaza has largely been turned into rubble. But Hamas is alive and well. And this is a huge problem for Netanyahu politically, and it’s a huge problem for Israel.
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Q: […] I’d be interested to hear your reaction to [Elise Stefanik’s] acceptance of the right-wing Zionist historical view of the founding of Israel. [Footage of Stefanik questioned by Sen. Van Hollen of Maryland] Well, her views are absurd, but consistent with Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.
A: Well, I believe that this was a debate between the senator and Elise Stefanik about a two-state solution. And what Sen. Van Hollen is saying is that the Palestinians have a right to self-determination, which means they have a right to their own state.
And of course, that state should be in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.
And of course, many Israelis – not just Smotrich and Ben-Gvir – but many Israelis believe that there should be no Palestinian State.
And of course, she was agreeing with that position, as you would expect…
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Q: But she agrees with a position that “God the Father” gave this real estate to the Israelis 3,500 years ago and therefore, they own it today. But this ridiculous.
A: You’re going to get no argument from me on that. But that’s a common argument you hear, because it’s necessary to justify what Israel did to the Palestinians in 1948, 1967, and is trying to do today.
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