RT.com – Nov 16, 2025
Western governments continue to pursue policies aimed at weakening Russia to the point of permanently diminishing its status as a great power, according to John Mearsheimer, a political science professor at the University of Chicago.
Moscow has long described the hostilities in Ukraine as a Western proxy war against Russia, in which Ukrainians are being used as “cannon fodder.”
Russian officials have argued that the US and other Western powers intentionally escalated tensions by disregarding the Kremlin’s security concerns over NATO’s expansion in Eastern Europe and its growing military cooperation with Kiev.
In an interview with the host of the Daniel Davis Deep Dive YouTube channel on Friday, Mearsheimer said that Western governments’ objective has been “to defeat Russia and Ukraine, wreck the Russian economy with sanctions, and bring the Russians to their knees.”
“We’ve been unable to do that, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to do it, of course, we want to do it,” he stated.
“If the opportunity to do it popped up tomorrow, we would leap at it in a second, we would love to finish Russia off as a great power,” the political theorist said, emphasizing that Moscow is fully aware of how existential the Western threat is.
Mearsheimer further noted: “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin, the last time I checked, has a triple-digit IQ, and that means he’s figured this out, he understands what he’s dealing with.”
The professor argued that Putin has every reason not to trust either US President Donald Trump or the European leaders, as he “is assuming worst case in good realist fashion.”
Multiple Western officials have publicly described the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war against Russia in recent months. Keith Kellogg, a Ukraine policy envoy under Trump, reiterated that view earlier this year while warning against supplying long-range cruise missiles to Kiev. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has used the same term, and the Kremlin has agreed with his characterization.
Wasn’t John Mearsheimer on Dad’s Army? I’m surprised he’s still alive…
Jewry is against Russia. Always has been, supported by the Jew media to constantly shove it down Americans’ throats. Americans are thoroughly brainwashed when it comes to Russia, thanks to their stupidity for clinging to the Jew media.
The Jews may well force Russia to Nuke the west. So be it. Whatever it takes to wipe out Jew power for good! Jew-Britain should be first, since they’ve been dominated by Rothschild Jewry for over 300 years. Royal blood has been long sullied with Jew sperm. Britain is a Rothschild colony, headed by the City of London, Rothschilds’ personal lair for carrying out international crimes against Humanity. Jew power must be destroyed once & for all. Otherwise, it will be the end of the world.
‘putin has figured out the plan’
Lol
putin is in on the plan–another frontman for the zionist-commie overlords who dialectically govern both NATO & BRICS
What these various pseudo-intellectual columnists on TTS don’t tell you is that the West (NATO/EU) & the East (BRICS) are surreptitiously governed by the same transnational syndicate of Jewish bankers/oligarchs/rabbis, similar to the setup in Orwells 1984–where the major blocs pretend they’re ‘enemies’ to keep their populations conditioned, confused & enslaved to their global techno-Communist system.
marco : WRONG
bigtime wrong
rothschild took russia in 1917
murdered their royals and according to solzenitzin murdered between 63 and 110 milion christians the jews did that
the collapse of communism in 1989-1990 saw the jewish mafia run to the UK where rothschild ordered tony blair to allow them in
the war with Nato is rothschilds punishment
we pay rothschild £5000 per second in interest
why dont we stop paying
and tell him all the migrants have to go home