John Mearsheimer On Handling Russia And China

International relations scholar John Mearsheimer argues that the United States has pursued a misguided, ideologically driven foreign policy since the end of the Cold War, failing to account for the enduring logic of power politics. By attempting to spread liberal democracy through NATO and EU expansion, the U.S. inadvertently alienated Russia and created a security dilemma that led to the current crisis in Ukraine. Simultaneously, the decision to integrate China into the global economy transformed a backward nation into a formidable peer competitor, a strategic blunder that now necessitates a shift toward containment. Mearsheimer contends that the U.S. must abandon its crusader-state mentality, prioritize the East Asian theater, and recognize that great power competition—not the inevitable triumph of liberal democracy—remains the defining feature of the international system.