{"id":57631,"date":"2026-02-17T15:52:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T23:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=57631"},"modified":"2026-02-17T15:52:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T23:52:34","slug":"john-mearsheimer-asks-america-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/17\/john-mearsheimer-asks-america-first\/","title":{"rendered":"John Mearsheimer asks: America First?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from John’s Substack<\/a>:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On 17 February 2026, I was on \u201cJudging Freedom\u201d talking with the Judge about the negotiations to end the Ukraine war and produce a peace agreement \u2014 kabuki theater in my view \u2014 and the negotiations to end the Iran crisis short of war \u2014 more kabuki theater. There is no bargaining space in either one of these negotiations. The goals of the opposing sides are miles apart and no side is in the mood to compromise.<\/p>\n

Not to mention that on the US side both<\/em> sets of negotiations are in the hands of two ultra-Zionist real estate moguls who don\u2019t even have official government positions. I guess this is what \u201cAmerican exceptionalism\u201d means today, because no other great power that I know of has gone down that road. Just look at Russia\u2019s and China\u2019s high-level diplomats; they are first rate. As are Iran\u2019s and Israel\u2019s lead negotiators. It is hard to imagine those countries relying on amateurs with a passionate attachment to a foreign country. In fact, a foreign country that is at the center of one set of negotiations.<\/p>\n

I regret that I won\u2019t be around when future historians write about these two conflicts and more generally about US foreign policy under Biden and Trump. The level of ineptitude is stunning, although in the Iran case we have to take into account the pernicious influence of the Israel lobby. Think about it: Iran is not a serious threat to the US and Trump is not itching to bomb Iran; China and Russia are strongly opposed to the US attacking Iran; and almost every country in the Middle East is begging Trump not to strike Iran. There is only one country \u2014 Israel \u2014 that wants the US to go to war against Iran. It is Israel alone \u2014 with the help of the Israel lobby of course \u2014 that is pushing the US to at least the brink of war and maybe over that brink.<\/p>\n