THE VOICE OF EUROPE: The renowned US political scientist argues that President Putin has understood the plan. He has every reason not to trust Western leaders.

Western governments continue to pursue policies aimed at weakening Russia.

Their goal is to permanently diminish its status as a great power. This is according to John Mearsheimer, a political science professor at the University of Chicago.

Moscow has long described the hostilities in Ukraine as a Western subterfuge war against Russia. They claim that Ukrainians allow themselves to be used as cannon fodder.

Russian officials have argued that the US and other Western powers intentionally escalated tensions. They did this by ignoring the Kremlin’s legitimate security concerns over NATO’s expansion in Eastern Europe. They also disregarded its growing military cooperation with Kiev.

Mearsheimer participated in an interview on the Daniel Davis Deep Dive YouTube channel on Friday.

During this interview, he mentioned that Western governments have aimed to defeat Russia. They have also sought to defeat Ukraine. They aim to wreck the Russian economy with sanctions. The goal is to bring the Russians to their knees.

‘We’ve been unable to do that. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t want to do it. Of course, we want to do it,’ he stated.

‘If the opportunity to do it popped up tomorrow, we would leap at it in a second. We would love to finish Russia off as a great power,’ the political theorist said. He emphasised that Moscow is fully aware of the importance of the Western threat.

Mearsheimer further noted: ‘Russian President Vladimir Putin, the last time I checked, has a triple-digit IQ. This means he’s figured this out. He understands what he’s dealing with.’

The professor argued that Putin has every reason not to trust either US President Donald Trump or the European leaders. He is assuming the worst-case scenario realistically.

Multiple Western officials have publicly described the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war against Russia in recent months.

Keith Kellogg, a Ukraine policy envoy under Trump, reiterated that view earlier this year. He warned against supplying long-range cruise missiles to Kiev. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has used the same term, and the Kremlin has agreed with his characterization.

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