<story><title>Understanding the War in Ukraine</title><url>https://acoup.blog/2022/02/25/miscellanea-understanding-the-war-in-ukraine/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Jerry2</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve read a bunch of articles on this conflict and this video by Prof Mearsheimer from University of Chicago explained it the best to me:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jolux</author><text>I respect the difference of opinion but it&amp;#x27;s hard not to think Mearsheimer has been proven wrong about Putin&amp;#x27;s motivations by this invasion. It&amp;#x27;s basically inconceivable that the full-scale invasion of Ukraine is really in Russia&amp;#x27;s best interests. At this point it&amp;#x27;s liable to destroy their economy and encourage the remaining non-NATO states that border them to join NATO. It has solidified and reinvigorated opposition to Russian interests in the West. As of now it looks like a blunder.&lt;p&gt;edit: to say nothing as well of the anti-war protests that are happening in the streets of Moscow and across Russia. If they continue and grow they will pose a risk to regime stability.</text></comment>
<story><title>Understanding the War in Ukraine</title><url>https://acoup.blog/2022/02/25/miscellanea-understanding-the-war-in-ukraine/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Jerry2</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve read a bunch of articles on this conflict and this video by Prof Mearsheimer from University of Chicago explained it the best to me:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>vore</author><text>While I haven&amp;#x27;t watched the video, I did read the article posted earlier which I assume covers the same details: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.mearsheimer.com&amp;#x2F;wp-content&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;Why-the-Ukraine-Crisis-Is.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.mearsheimer.com&amp;#x2F;wp-content&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;Why-t...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think it lays too much of the blame on the US and the West and ignores the fact that Ukraine itself is an entity with its own autonomy and not as simple as just being a US pawn. Mearsheimer&amp;#x27;s analysis seems to dismiss it completely and assume that basically everything that occurs in Ukraine are just machinations of the US political machine, but very reasonably, since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, it is rational for Ukraine to seek closer ties with NATO.&lt;p&gt;That said, I do appreciate his perspective on why Putin might act like he does, but &amp;quot;Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault&amp;quot; is... interesting framing.</text></comment>