John Mearsheimer - Offensive Realism
by John Mearsheimer
Latest episode
No Guarantees, No Peace for Ukraine | Episode 15
No Guarantees, No Peace for Ukraine | Episode 15
About this podcast
The official podcast of Prof. John Mearsheimer
Episodes
- No Guarantees, No Peace for Ukraine | Episode 15 · 29 min · Season 1 Episode 15Become a member to submit questions for future videos. Click Join: https://www.youtube.com/@johnmearsheimer/join ———————————————————— PODCASTS Spotify…
- Have “Antisemitic” and “Communist” Lost Their Meaning? | Ask the Professor · 11 min · Season 2 Episode 13YouTube Channel member @GSM1 asks: When politicians use terms like communist and socialist, or countries call themselves people’s republics, what do these words actually mean to…
- The Danger of a Nuclear Middle East | Ask the Professor · 21 min · Season 2 Episode 12YouTube Channel member @Seniorquasimodo asks: if Iran builds a nuclear deterrent, will Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE follow, creating a stable balance of nuclear powers in the…
- Trump’s Post-Midterm Iran Plan Is a Loser | Episode 14 · 45 min · Season 1 Episode 14DESCRIPTION The Trump administration is desperately searching for a way to end the Iran war on favorable terms. President Trump has indicated that he would take steps after the…
- International Law Only Binds the Weak | Ask the Professor · 10 min · Season 2 Episode 11YouTube channel member @KamranRazvan asks: What does the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty actually offer a non-nuclear state if international law has no real enforcement? My…
- Was It a Mistake for Britain to Fight World War II? | Ask the Professor · 18 min · Season 2 Episode 10In this episode I answer a question from channel member @hassanakram8328 , who asks whether it was worth it for Britain to fight World War I and World War II, and whether Britain…
- Does Israel Win If the Gulf Burns? | Ask the Professor · 10 min · Season 2 Episode 9YouTube channel member @BrianPerry-f7b asks: Does Israel benefit if the Gulf states are devastated? Iran has threatened to hit Gulf civilian infrastructure if its own sites are…
- Israel’s Lobby vs US Democracy | A Special Roundtable · 1 h 31 min · Season 3 Episode 1BUY THE BOOKS: Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power by Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick: https://amzn.to/4gMNJey The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John…
- Are Aircraft Carriers Obsolete? | Ask The Professor · 10 min · Season 2 Episode 8Become a member to submit questions for future videos. Click Join: https://www.youtube.com/@johnmearsheimer/join YouTube channel member @JerryMcLaughlin-r8w asked whether…
- Trump's Three-War Trap | Episode 13 · 1 h 23 min · Season 1 Episode 13Become a member to submit questions for future videos. Click Join: https://www.youtube.com/@johnmearsheimer/join ———————————————————— PODCASTS Spotify…
- Did Russia Manipulate Mearsheimer? | Ask The Professor · 12 min · Season 2 Episode 7In this Ask the Professor, YouTube channel member @boresow asks how I separate real insight from propaganda after my visit to Russia, and whether I’m being used to amplify…
- Why Can’t America Contain China? | Ask The Professor · 10 min · Season 2 Episode 6YouTube channel member @GuanWang-n2g asks: why did Washington never devote the resources needed to carry out the pivot to Asia that the Obama administration announced in…
- We Can't Help Saudi Arabia | Ask the Professor · 10 min · Season 2 Episode 5YouTube channel member @sambaker7691 asks: how do you explain the shortcomings in U.S. efforts to give Saudi Arabia the air defenses it needs against Houthi missile and drone…
- Why Hamas Really Attacked Israel on Oct. 7 | Episode 12 · 53 min · Season 1 Episode 12October 7, 2026, marked the third anniversary of Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel. Considerable attention was devoted to commemorating that event in Israel and throughout the…
- We’ll Never Beat the Houthis · 11 min · Season 2 Episode 4DESCRIPTION YouTube Channel member @edhodapp6465 asks: should we go to war against the Houthis, and is damaging Iran's proxies a worthwhile strategy? My answer is no. We're at…
- The Korean War: America vs China | Ask The Professor · 16 min · Season 2 Episode 3YouTube Channel member @spacecometrue asked me to share my analysis of the causes and course of the Korean War. North Korea invaded the South on June 25, 1950, and nearly won…
- Trump Can’t Bluff Iran into Surrender | Episode 11 · 39 min · Season 1 Episode 11DESCRIPTION It seems clear that the Trump administration and its allies are working overtime to create the false impression that the United States is well on its way to defeating…
- Forget Vietnam, You Get Iran And Iraq | Ask The Professor · 12 min · Season 2 Episode 2I'll explain how the Vietnam War shaped my thinking about international relations, and the lessons it holds for today.
- Will China Attack Taiwan? | Ask The Professor · 7 min · Season 2 Episode 1I'll explain why I believe a Chinese invasion of Taiwan in the next decade is unlikely, and the one scenario that could change that.
- The Inescapable US-China Rivalry | Episode 10 · 54 min · Season 1 Episode 10President Trump and President Xi Jinping just concluded a three-day summit in Washington, DC, that was noteworthy for its lofty rhetoric and almost complete lack of progress in…
- Is Ukraine Committing National Suicide? | Episode 9 · 41 min · Season 1 Episode 9Iuliia Mendel, who served as President Zelensky’s press secretary from 2019 to 2021, published an article in The Spectator on September 15, 2026, titled “Zelensky’s Strategy Is…
- The Russia I Saw | Episode 8 · 47 min · Season 1 Episode 8I recently spent 8 days in Russia – September 5-12, 2026 – mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg. I gave a series of talks and interviews and spoke with numerous people in the…
- A Must Read Book on the Israel Lobby | Episode 7 · 42 min · Season 1 Episode 7Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick have just published a terrific new book called Israel’s Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power. It appears twenty years after Steve Walt and I…
- Why Ukraine Is Doomed | Episode 6 · 51 min · Season 1 Episode 6In recent months, Western news coverage of the Ukraine war tells us that Russia is suffering huge casualties on the battlefield while making hardly any progress capturing…
- The False Promise of Tactical Nuclear Weapons | Episode 5 · 34 min · Season 1 Episode 5There is considerable evidence that the US is interested in “expanding its options” for using its nuclear arsenal. In particular, it appears that the Pentagon would like to…
- The MOU Is Dead! Can a Blockade Save Us? | Episode 4 · 32 min · Season 1 Episode 4The June 17, 2026, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) expired today – August 17, 2026. The US has not achieved any of its initial objectives. It is now mainly concerned with…
- Iran Has Trump Over A Barrel | Episode 3 · 30 min · Season 1 Episode 3The aim of this video is to compare the terms of the new deal to end the Iran war, which key Iranian spokesmen have just described, with those of the June 17, 2026, Memorandum of…
- Trump Must Admit Defeat In Iran | Episode 2 · 43 min · Season 1 Episode 2In today’s video I’ll explain why I believe a US victory is not possible and why the longer Trump waits to cut a deal with Iran, the worse the outcome for the US. I’ll argue that…
- Origins of the War In Ukraine | Episode 1 · 37 min · Season 1 Episode 1In today’s episode I’ll explain why I believe a US victory is not possible and why the longer Trump waits to cut a deal with Iran, the worse the outcome for the US. I’ll argue…
