Sheldon Richman on What NATO Would Consider If It Were Realistic
Don't hold your breath, but it would be refreshing if NATO leaders meeting in Wales this week spoke candidly for once about Ukraine. They could start by embracing the observation by John Mearsheimer, the distinguished foreign-policy scholar at the University of Chicago, that "the United States and its European allies share most of the responsibility for the crisis," largely because of NATO enlargement. This will startle most people who rely on major media outlets for their news and analysis. But, writes Sheldon Richman, Mearsheimer is no fringe character or fan of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He's a member of the "realist" school of foreign policy, which assumes that governments tend to act rationally in their political self-interest. Russia was provoked, as many had warned, for nearly 20 years, that it would be.
