2 HN users recommended this interview1 month2022–2023score 1
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
Cited during the 2022 invasion threads as the realist expert position on the Ukraine crisis, though some commenters see it as Russian apologism.
A King's Politics interview with University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer, recorded days before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. He lays out the realist argument about NATO expansion and Russia's view of Ukraine.
“you’ll probably find it in this very straightforward talk by John Mearsheimer on this very conflict.” (HN, 2022)
2 recommendations · 5 citations · 1 critical · Interviews · news from the time
For Putin having Ukraine part of NATO is as dangerous as it was for the US to have Russian missiles in Cuba. It's something he is not willing to risk. So almost any price is worth it for him. I've found the first 25mins of this conference by professor John Mearshimer [this video]
Mearsheimer explains Russia's view of Ukraine in NATO
I’m not sure what you want explained, but you’ll probably find it in this very straightforward talk by John Mearsheimer on this very conflict. [this video]
A straightforward talk by Mearsheimer on the conflict
If I understand it correctly this is as well the position of Professor John Mearsheimer [1] - he thinks that what Russia is going to do is "wreck" Ukraine and make it a buffer nation. I am sad, that we came to this situation and that our politicians were not able to find a diplomatic way to deal with each other and instead now only sanctions, arms and isolation seems to be considered. Trust is broken, both sides West and Russia consider themselves to be in the right and being handled unfairly by the others. Nationalism is rising and people start to consider each other as enemies. I am afraid that history is repeating itself and I am afraid of whatever leader Russia might get after Putin. [1]: [this video]
Mearsheimer's position that Russia will wreck Ukraine as a buffer
These are all PhDs or experts in some fashion that I just cited. You could just read their books too. [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] Does this being on YouTube make it any less meaningful?: [this video] Are these all lies?: [link] What about this?: [link] And, here: [link] Is this unreasonable?: [link]
Here's a video of a talk John Mearsheime did for some students at Cambridge just a few days before SHTF [this video] including his views on the sudden escalation in recent months.
Mearsheimer's Cambridge talk days before the invasion
True. Many intl relations professors have deeply nuanced and interesting perspectives from msm. Chomsky has a lot to say too: [link] Princeton: [link] UChicago: [this video]
UChicago professor with nuanced international relations perspective
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.
Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed
8 Hacker News comments
From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.
Citations, criticism and jokes
Read more