EquitableEqual

You are deeply misinterpreting Mearsheimer's conclusion in your piece. He's not saying that NATO has a responsibility to not upset Russia - He's merely (accurately) noting that expanding the West's sphere of militaristic and social influence right up to Russia's borders has led to a clash between conflicting interests. Both sides are responsible for furthering their own agendas, and the agendas are incompatible when they meet. This is Mearsheimer's point; if we didn't want conflict in Europe, we should not have run toward it.

Further, I think you could do with giving Russia more credit than you do - Suggesting that they are a declining power because 'all they have is a large portion of the world's energy reserves, and one of the few nuclear arsenals that shapes the world's geopolitics' is more than a little stretched, even if I see what you're shooting for.

It's worth remembering the chaos they have successfully sown in US and European politics over the past 5 years, along with the effective interference they have run in the West's Middle East policy while assessing Russia's level of power in the world.

Nonetheless, I have been interested to see how much debate he has caused in such a short time - We need more lightning rods like this!

Snowden did not choose Russia.. he's always been stuck in transit there. He is not able to leave.

One of the signatories is a longtime amazon exec, so this doesnt strike me as an entirely altruistic move.

I'd recommend listening to his recent apprearance on the dishcast to hear his contemporary positions on this (interesting they took the 2015 comments instead of those he made in 2022!)