Prof John Mearsheimer: War is a Quagmire

Prof. Mearsheimer compares both the Ukraine war and the Iran war to an earlier, prototypical conflict, the Vietnam war. Johnson’s resignation in the face of mass protests signified that the US was losing the war. Nevertheless, when Nixon and Kissinger took over, they could not withdraw immediately. They were still hoping they could find a way to win. But popular resistance at home kept getting stronger, and resistance on the part of soldiers who were drafted and did not want to die in a lost and pointless cause became especially strong. Some began “fragging” their commanding officers. Nixon and Kissinger finally got to the point of realizing that the war was indeed a losing proposition, and the best course of action was to withdraw American troops and let Vietnam win. They had bigger fish to fry involving their relationships with China and Russia. Mearsheimer says we are seeing the same thing in the Ukraine and Iran wars. Both are militarily and politically lost, but the US is finding it impossible to admit defeat, even though popular opinion is against involvement in both wars and soldiers are unwilling to fight and die in a losing cause. But NATO countries are still talking war and nourish the hope of defeating and partitioning Russia, and US/Israel still seek to do the same to Iran. At the NATO summit, it appeared that Trump has rejoined the Europeans. Russia understands that there is only one “Collective West”, only one Anglo-European Empire. Will they strike at European NATO countries that are attacking them? They will if they have to, but at this point they are still concentrating on finishing off the UkroNazi government in Ukraine.