More on that Alaska Trump-Putin meeting

Thanks to the Russo-Ukraine War and now the war and genocide in Gaza, I’m addicted to John Mearsheimer’s commentary, which he provides now several times a week on various podcasts.

Here are Ryan Grim and Saagar Enjeti with him assessing the Alaska fiasco last Friday after it was over: (1)

Although his “realist” theory of international relations can sound in the abstract as though it’s saying that countries are driven by cold geopolitical calculation. later in the video, he makes an emphatic point about the moral imperatives decisionmakers have when confronted with something like the ongoing Gaza genocide.

Amy Goodman interviews Mearsheimer and Bernie Sanders’ one-time foreign policy adviser Matt Duss in this August 15 interview on Trump Russia-Ukraine diplomacy. The two of them obviously respect each other a great deal, though Matt does make it a point to argue with him about interpreting what Putin was trying to signal in a 20201 speech on Russia history, i.e., whether it was a threat to take over all of Ukraine. But they are in agreement about what a mess Trump’s diplomacy is. (2)

The Austrian Russia expert Gerhard Mangott recently posted on X/Twitter about Trump faceplant diplomacy. The last line: “Is evevyone happy now?”

Notes:

(1) John Mearsheimer BREAKS DOWN Trump Putin Summit. Breaking Points YouTube channel 08/16/2025. <https://youtu.be/q31nwnbNMmo?si=FhmHa0Od6rHSDYtu> (Accessed: 2025-16-08).

(2) John Mearsheimer vs. Matt Duss: A Debate on Trump-Putin Summit, Ukraine, Russia & Paths to Peace. Democracy Now! YouTube channel 08/15/2025. <https://youtu.be/VyWTNuXCcmk?si=Sm8cGXrvpeC7aPgy> (Accessed: 2025-16-08).