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@Real_Politik101 - Mearsheimer Jr (Fan)
Pat Buchanan during the 2000 election laments the reality of our soldiers out all across the world appearing on the news. They should be defending our shores! https://t.co/4uovTZsn8o
Video Transcript AI Summary
The speaker recounts hearing Senator McCain denounce immigration reform advocates, quoting McCain as saying "walls are for cowards." The speaker then tells the story of Theresa Murray, an 82-year-old Arizona woman with arthritis who lives in Douglas, near the border. Her home is surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with razor wire, and every window and door has bars.
The speaker claims Murray's dogs were killed by thugs, and she sleeps with a gun due to being burglarized 30 times. The speaker challenges McCain to tell Murray that fences are for cowards, arguing she lives in a "maximum security prison" due to politicians' cowardice in defending the border. The speaker contrasts defending borders of Kosovo, Kuwait, and Korea with the situation in the United States. As president, the speaker would bring troops home from those countries and place them on the borders of Arizona, Texas, and California, "putting America first."
Full Transcript
Speaker 0: You know, up at Philadelphia, I was at the beach listening to the convention with my wife, Shelley, and I heard senator McCain. And he got up and he began to denounce those who want to reform our immigration laws. And he said, and I quote, walls are for cowards. Let me tell the senator a story about a woman who lives in his own home state of Arizona. Her name is Theresa Murray.
Senator, she's 82 years old. She has arthritis, and she lives in Douglas, right on that border. When Shelley and I went up to her ranch last winter, she was confined to her tiny home. And around her home is a chain link fence. And on top of the chain link fence are rolls of coiled razor wire as you see on prisons around the country.
Every door and window of that little home had bars on it, and missus Murray's two pet dogs were killed by thugs who threw meat over the fence with cut glass in it. This lady sleeps with a gun on her bed table at eighty two because she's been burglarized 30 times. Senator McCain, go down to Douglas and tell Theresa Murray that fences are for cowards. This is an American woman. Theresa Murray is an American woman living out her life in a maximum security prison in her own home, in her own country because of the real cowardice.
The cowardice of politicians who refuse to do their duty and defend the borders of The United States. Now, you know, I read a lot of newspapers. Every day, I read about American soldiers defending Kosovo and the borders of Kuwait and the borders of Korea. But, you know, I don't live in Kosovo, Korea Korea or Kuwait, and neither does Theresa Murray. We live in The United States.
And when I become president, we will bring home all of those troops from Kosovo, Kuwait, and Korea, and I will put them on the border of Arizona, Texas, and California, and we will start putting America first. What? What?
@Real_Politik101 - Mearsheimer Jr (Fan)
The U.S. is in good shape to defend Taiwan. The main reason is that the U.S. doesn’t have to “beat” China. They just need to make sure neither side can win a war or even if China does, make it a Pyrrhic victory. This establishes great deterrence.Also…1/2 https://t.co/qXhyBJDGB2
Video Transcript AI Summary
The speaker believes Taiwan is of great strategic importance and is in favor of making sure Taiwan can defend itself. While China may become a more formidable threat over time, the speaker thinks the U.S. is currently in excellent shape in terms of defending Taiwan.
The speaker states that there would be no winners if China were to try to take Taiwan, which provides deterrence. The United States needs to make it clear to China that they can't win, but any victory for China would be a pyrrhic victory. The speaker notes that both the U.S. and China are nuclear armed great powers. The speaker believes the U.S. should be able to head off war with China over Taiwan, both in the short and long term.
Full Transcript
Speaker 0: Pfizer, would it be foolish for us to, resist Mainland China militarily if they began some military effort, to, take over the government of Taiwan?
Speaker 1: Well, I'm in favor of making sure that Taiwan can defend itself so that that scenario is never realized. But I'm one of a number of people who would defend Taiwan if the Chinese attacked it because I think Taiwan is of great strategic importance. I know that you and many others, including many of my realist friends, disagree with me on that. Right. Right.
The Taiwan is not worth defending.
Speaker 0: Didn't you say just a few minutes ago that even with our allies, were we to attempt to resist China militarily, they would present the more formidable force?
Speaker 1: Well, there's no question that over time, China becomes a more formidable threat when it comes to conquering Taiwan. I think at the moment we are actually in excellent shape in terms of defending Taiwan. You want to remember, you don't want to think about this in terms of winning a war against China over Taiwan. If the Chinese were to try to take Taiwan, there would be no winners, in my opinion. And that provides lots of deterrence.
So I think that really all that is necessary here is for The United States to make it clear to China that they can't win. We can't win as well, but they can't win a war over Taiwan either. And then if we get to the point where they can win, if you make it clear that any victory would be a pyrrhic victory, that would go a long way towards providing deterrence. And then finally, I would note, you wanna remember, that we're talking about two nuclear armed great powers here. China their weapons, and The United States has nuclear weapons.
So I think in terms of sort of, heading off war between Taiwan between the United States and China over Taiwan, it should be possible for the United States to achieve that goal, certainly in the short term, but even over the long term.
@Real_Politik101 - Mearsheimer Jr (Fan)
Mearsheimer met with then President Ma Ying-Jeou in 2014 and warned his policies of rapprochement with the CCP would jeopardize the ROC’s national security. It’s no coincidence Taiwan locked the KMT out of the presidency since his term ended.
@Real_Politik101 - Mearsheimer Fan
@zei_squirrel Mearsheimer recently said Israel justifies this by generalizing all Palestinians as terrorists. In other words, they can treat all 7 million however they like. I genuinely can’t understand from the outside how they can develop such a demented mindset.
@Real_Politik101 - Mearsheimer Fan
Professor Mearsheimer makes his case why Julian Assange should not be extradited to the U.S and be pardoned. Something worth seeing before his final appeal on July 9. Incredibly rare for him to discuss a public statement on non-geopolitical issue https://t.co/QgNEF7hzNh
Video Transcript AI Summary
My name is John Meersheimer, a University of Chicago professor of international relations. I urge the British high court not to extradite Julian Assange to the US. Assange, a journalist, published leaked classified documents from Chelsea Manning. Journalists often publish such information to hold governments accountable. Punishing Assange would hinder press freedom. His actions did not harm anyone, and he has already suffered greatly. Extraditing him would be excessive. I believe keeping him free is the right choice. Thank you.
Full Transcript
Speaker 0: My name is John Meersheimer, and I teach at the University of Chicago. My area of expertise is international relations. I'd like to say a few words today about the Julian Assange case. A determination will soon be made by the British high court on whether to extradite Assange to the United States where he has been indicted by the American government and will be put on trial. I am asking the court not to extradite him and instead to set him free.
I believe this is a straightforward case. Let me explain. For starters, the case involves a wide variety of classified documents that Chelsea Manning, who was a government employee, leaked to Julian Assange, a journalist who ran WikiLeaks, a famous website that publishes classified and private documents that were not supposed to see the light of day. Manning was caught and punished because she was a government employee, and she broke the law by leaking material that was classified to Assange. But Assange is a journalist, and he did not break the law, as it is commonplace for journalists to publish classified information that is passed on to them by government insiders.
If journalists in the United States were sent to jail for publishing classified material, the jails would be filled with many of America's most famous reporters from newspapers like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. But of course, that hardly ever happens. Simply put, newspapers publish classified material and hardly anybody ever goes to jail. Why is this the case? What is the reason for this situation?
Governments of every type, and this includes liberal democracies like the United States and Britain, sometimes go to great lengths to hide their actions or their policies from public view, which makes it almost impossible for the public to evaluate and criticize their behavior. Given that governments sometimes act foolishly, even recklessly, this is not a good situation. Thus, a rich tradition has developed over time in the United States where insiders leak information about classified policies to journalists who publicize the information so that the public can evaluate it and push back hard against misguided policies. The most famous case that illustrates this phenomenon involves the famous Pentagon Papers, which were a multi volume study of the American decision to enter the war in Vietnam in the 1964, 65 period, and then escalate it in subsequent years. Daniel Ellsberg, who was an insider and had access to classified material, leaked the papers in 1971 to the New York Times, which subsequently published them.
The story in those documents was starkly at odds with what the Johnson administration had been telling the American people about US policy in Vietnam. By most accounts at the time and certainly since then, both Ellsberg and the New York Times performed an important public service. They exposed a bankrupt policy that underpinned a war that the US could not win. Ellsberg did not go to jail despite leaking classified information, although it did appear at the time that he might be sent to jail. Certainly, nobody at the New York Times went to jail because, again, journalists don't go to jail for publishing classified information in the United States.
It is very important to remember that in the case of Julian Assange, he is not the equivalent of Ellsberg because he was not an insider who leaked the information. Chelsea Manning was the insider. Assange was the equivalent of the New York Times, and thus he should not be extradited so he can be put on trial in the United States. Unsurprisingly, government leaders do not like leaks unless they do the leaking, which they frequently do. Thus, they are powerfully inclined to punish those who do leak, and they even try on occasion to publish the to punish the journalists who publish the leaked material as is the case with Assange.
It is fair game for governments to go after leakers, but it is not acceptable for governments to go after journalists. Indeed, it would directly undermine freedom of the press, which is essential for monitoring governments and holding them accountable when they pursue misguided policies. In fact, one of the main reasons that the US government is so determined to put Assange behind bars is that he is exposed malfeasance by US policy makers. In my opinion, that is all for the good and essential for making a liberal democracy like the United States work as efficiently and wisely as possible. Two final points, First, it is important to emphasize that nobody was hurt because of the documents that Assange published.
Nobody's life was put in danger because of what he posted on WikiLeaks, and certainly, nobody was killed. For sure, the misguided actions of many US policy makers were exposed because of what Assange did. But that, in my opinion, is all for the good. 2nd, Assange has already paid a huge price for his actions. He has effectively been in prison for years.
Sending him to the United States where he is likely to be convicted and sentenced to a long jail term would be a case of cruel and unusual punishment. For all these reasons, I respectfully ask the British high court not to extradite Assange to the United States. In my opinion, that would clearly be the right decision. Thank you.