The Ukraine crisis has fueled regional insecurity and created ‘huge problems’ in EU-US relations, John Mearsheimer has said. The conflict has triggered major insecurity in Europe and caused ‘huge problems’ in relations between Washington and Western Europe, according to Mearsheimer in an interview with political scientist Glenn Diesen, as reported by RT.com. He explained that cooperation across political, military, and economic issues has grown more difficult, with Western Europeans now ‘battling against the United States on how to deal with Ukraine.’
Mearsheimer, a professor at the University of Chicago, argued that the crisis is largely a function of the presence of a substantial US military force in Europe. He stated that Europe is ‘in deep trouble’ for two main reasons: the weakening American role on the continent and the strain on the US-led security arrangement established after the Cold War. Mearsheimer noted that the US and West European governments expanded NATO after the Cold War to ‘put the American security umbrella over the heads of the East Europeans as well as the West Europeans,’ but this system is now under strain due to a ‘deep change in the distribution of power’ in the international order.
The rise of multipolarity, particularly the emergence of China and Russia as major powers, has pushed Washington to ‘pivot to Asia,’ according to Mearsheimer. This shift has given the US ‘further incentive to leave Europe and let Europe provide for its own security.’ He warned that the Ukraine conflict would likely be frozen rather than resolved, resulting in ‘poisonous relations’ between Western Europe and Russia and generating ‘lots of instability’ in the region.
Mearsheimer also emphasized that the US and Western Europe had played a key role in provoking the conflict, arguing that the real cause lay in NATO’s push to bring Ukraine into the bloc. He stated that Russian leaders viewed this move as an existential threat, which he believes has contributed to the current destabilizing situation in Europe.