vanusa

The authoritarian nature of the governing system in Russia makes it nearly impossible to gather such data.

Is she suggesting that there is no conflict in Donbas for the last 8 years?

That is very clearly is not what she's saying.

She didn't accept that academics can have opinions.

Opinions are one thing. Her concern seems to be with the fact that otherwise intelligent and articulate colleagues can be so naïve -- and to some extent, willingly self-deluded -- about the utter insanity their government is currently perpetrating on a neighboring country.

Right, but then situations emerge when it is no longer possible to be neutral.

You may be below average at interviewing, but that doesn't say anything about your value as an engineer (or whatever your profession is).

The two skill sets (interviewing, real work) have precious little overlap, practically speaking.

There's no need to "invent" what Putin has very clearly told us in his public speeches. Recreating "historical Russia in the form of the Soviet Union" is the stated goal of what Mearsheimer apparently considers to be Putin's bold act of non-aggression this past week.

What a mindfuck. Only an intellectual can come up with argumentation like this.