John Mearsheimer

No sensible Iranian leader is going to wage his country's survival on who gets elected president of the United States.

— John Mearsheimer

Great powers must be forever vigilant and never subordinate survival to any other goal, including prosperity.

— John Mearsheimer

Military might is built on economic might. You need an economic foundation to build a really powerful military.

— John Mearsheimer

Afghanistan is ideally suited for guerrilla warfare, as the Soviets discovered in the 1980s.

— John Mearsheimer

I believe it is no accident that the world is populated with nation-states.

— John Mearsheimer

If you take the long view, Australia has never been able to sit on the fence when there was a threat in…

— John Mearsheimer

To be sure, no one will miss such by-products of the Cold War as the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.

— John Mearsheimer

I think the United States is a thoroughly nationalist country.

— John Mearsheimer

In fact, as soon as it declared independence, Ukraine should have been quietly encouraged to fashion its own nuclear deterrent.

— John Mearsheimer

Nuclear weapons are the ideal middle-class weapons for Americans. They provide massive amounts of deterrence on the cheap.

— John Mearsheimer

The U.S., over the course of the 1990s and the first decade-and-a-half of the 2000s, went to great places to make China…

— John Mearsheimer

Because there is no world government to protect states from one another, major powers are acutely sensitive to threats - especially near…

— John Mearsheimer

I'm a realist, and I thought from the get-go that NATO expansion was going to lead to one heck of a lot…

— John Mearsheimer

Since the mid-1990s, Russian leaders have adamantly opposed NATO enlargement, and in recent years, they have made it clear that they would…

— John Mearsheimer

If Ukraine becomes a pro-American liberal democracy, and a member of NATO, and a member of the E.U., the Russians will consider…

— John Mearsheimer

You are going to have a situation where India and the United States, Vietnam and U.S., India-Japan, Australia-U.S. are all going to…

— John Mearsheimer

The best way for any state to deter a rival from using its nuclear arsenal for political gain is to have its…

— John Mearsheimer

NATO expansion, E.U. expansion, and turning Ukraine and Georgia and other countries into liberal democracies were all about creating a giant zone…

— John Mearsheimer

The question of whether or not the United States or any other great power should expand, should pursue regional hegemony, or pursue…

— John Mearsheimer

As the Cold War came to a close, Soviet leaders preferred that U.S. forces remain in Europe and NATO stay intact, an…

— John Mearsheimer

The Russians have intensely disliked but tolerated substantial NATO expansion, including the accession of Poland and the Baltic countries. But when NATO…

— John Mearsheimer

The American expeditionary force would easily rout the Taliban in a conventional war - which is why there would not be one.…

— John Mearsheimer

Of course, the last thing Washington, Tel Aviv and Riyadh want is for Iran to acquire the bomb. But it is hard…

— John Mearsheimer

Obama is principally responsible for getting the United States involved in Syria - although we didn't use military force there, we have…

— John Mearsheimer

People who believe their critical faculties can help them find moral truth are deluding themselves.

— John Mearsheimer

I believe that the existing power structures in Europe and Northeast Asia are not sustainable through 2020.

— John Mearsheimer

The most dangerous states in the international system are continental powers with large armies.

— John Mearsheimer

Important benefits often accrue to states that behave in an unexpected way.

— John Mearsheimer

China, in short has the potential to be considerably more powerful than even the United States.

— John Mearsheimer

The links between Ukraine and America continued growing under the Biden administration.

— John Mearsheimer

Containment is an alternative to war against a rising China. Nevertheless, war is always a possibility.

— John Mearsheimer

In the anarchic world of international politics, it is better to be Godzilla than Bambi.

— John Mearsheimer

Georgia and Ukraine are not just states in Russia's neighborhood; they are on its doorstep.

— John Mearsheimer

A state's potential power is based on the size of its population and the level of its wealth.

— John Mearsheimer

In the eyes of Russian leaders, E.U. expansion is a stalking horse for NATO expansion.

— John Mearsheimer

Convincing adversaries that they cannot achieve quick and decisive wins deters wars.

— John Mearsheimer

When World War II started on September 1, 1939, the German army contained 3.74 million soldiers and 103 divisions.

— John Mearsheimer

Normally the world's most powerful political ideology, nationalism had limited influence in the Soviet Union because it was at odds with communism.…

— John Mearsheimer

Great-power politics is tragic because the structure of the international system forces states that seek only to be secure nonetheless to act…

— John Mearsheimer

Despite its huge population, booming economy and growing nuclear arsenal, President Clinton, like his predecessors, refuses to show India the respect it…

— John Mearsheimer