A biography for John Mearsheimerhasn’t been written yet.
“Overall, the best formula for maintaining stability in post-Cold War Europe is for all the great powers - including Germany and Ukraine - to have secure nuclear deterrents and for all the minor powers to be nonnuclear.”
“When vital interests are at stake, countries are invariably willing to suffer great pain to ensure their security. There is no reason to think Russia, given its history, is an exception.”
“Because there is no world government to protect states from one another, major powers are acutely sensitive to threats - especially near their borders - and they sometimes act ruthlessly to address potential dangers.”
“Occupation almost always breeds an insurgency, as the U.S. discovered in the Philippines, and later in Viet Nam.”
“Mr Putin surely knows that the costs of conquering and occupying large amounts of territory in eastern Europe would be prohibitive for Russia.”
“The Russians have intensely disliked but tolerated substantial NATO expansion, including the accession of Poland and the Baltic countries. But when NATO announced in 2008 that Georgia and Ukraine 'will become members of NATO,' Russia drew a line in the sand.”
“In the eyes of Russian leaders, E.U. expansion is a stalking horse for NATO expansion.”
“Great-power politics is tragic because the structure of the international system forces states that seek only to be secure nonetheless to act aggressively toward each other.”
“People are allowed to have multiple loyalties. They have religious loyalties, loyalty to family, to an organization and you can have loyalty to other countries.”
“If Ukraine becomes a pro-American liberal democracy, and a member of NATO, and a member of the E.U., the Russians will consider that categorically unacceptable.”
“As we learned during the Cold War, the presence of massive nuclear arsenals does not stop great powers from worrying about conventional force balances or from competing with each other to control territory and water.”
“The links between Ukraine and America continued growing under the Biden administration.”
“Of course, the last thing Washington, Tel Aviv and Riyadh want is for Iran to acquire the bomb. But it is hard to see how to avoid that outcome. The United States is certainly not going to invade and occupy Iran - forever - to ensure that it does not go nuclear.”
“Containment is an alternative to war against a rising China. Nevertheless, war is always a possibility.”
“Both the national security establishment and the high-tech community are interested in working overtime to contain China.”
“I hate uniforms. I hate guns.”
“Crimea, a casualty of the West's attempt to march NATO and the European Union up to Russia's doorstep, is surely lost for good.”
“Just to focus on the Middle East... I think it is quite clear that, except for the Iran nuclear deal, under President Obama we have helped create a zone of disaster in that region of the world.”
“Georgia and Ukraine are not just states in Russia's neighborhood; they are on its doorstep.”
“If we hadn't had nuclear weapons, we would have had to have a much larger conventional army.”