Mearsheimer: There’s no diplomatic way out of the Ukraine war

John Mearsheimer discusses the Ukraine war, Trump’s diplomacy, the legacy of 9/11 and the global shift from unipolarity to a multipolar order American political scientist John Mearsheimer has claimed that the Ukraine conflict can’t be resolved diplomatically because the two sides’ goals remain irreconcilable and it will ultimately be settled on the battlefield. Mearsheimer made the remarks during a visit to Moscow in an interview with Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy and editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs. Fyodor Lukyanov: John, if a time machine brought great diplomats like Metternich and Talleyrand into the present day, what would they do to stem the bloodshed and bring today’s conflicts to an end? Would they succeed?John Mearsheimer: Well, they were definitely skilled diplomats. And if we talk about the Ukraine-Russia war, they would go to great lengths to try to solve that. But I think that they’d be unable to do it. I don’t think that war, the Ukraine war, can be settled diplomatically. I think it’s going to be settled on the battlefield. Now you say to yourself, why do I think it can’t be settled diplomatically? ...