John Mearsheimer : The Truth About US, Israel & Iran They Are Hiding From You

[00:00:00]Iran is no threat to the United States.

[00:00:02]>> Should No, it's not. Why is it a threat to the United States?

[00:00:06]>> Well, maybe because the Ayatollah has repeatedly threatened the United States publicly. They funneled a huge amount of money into propping up terrorist organizations all around the Middle East. All of whom are wedded to the obliteration of Israel, which is America's main ally in the region, and has a lot of interest, mutual interests.

[00:00:26]Now, you may not like it, but that's the reality. And so yes, they do present they represent a threat to one of America's main allies.

[00:00:34]>> Well, as you just heard there during a debate between Pierce Morgan and uh political scholar John Mirshimer, Morgan claimed that uh Iran is a threat to the United States only to immediately correct himself, which I'm happy about, uh and state that Iran in reality only poses a threat to an ally of the United States, and that of course is Israel.

[00:00:57]Now, Mir Shimemer's response pretty much to everything in this exchange was fantastic, but why don't we listen a little more to what he had to say in this part of the conversation.

[00:01:08]>> You're making the argument that they're not a threat to the United States, they're a threat to Israel. And because we're joined at the hip with Israel, anything that's a threat to Israel is a threat to the United States. I don't buy that argument. Uh I'm an American first.

[00:01:23]I care about the US national interest and it is not in our national interest to have this conflictual relationship with Iran and if it weren't for the fact that the Israelis have so much power in the United States and insist that we keep Iran as an adversary, we would otherwise have good relations with the Iranians.

[00:01:45]>> I mean, he's absolutely right about that. And in fact, his book, which he co-wrote with another political scientist, uh, scholar Steven Walt, called the Israel lobby, really delves into the reasons why the US went into various Middle Eastern wars, but uh, Iraq in particular, right, in 2003, the preemptive war. And uh the Israel lobby which which is the title of the book obviously talks about the undue influence foreign lobbies in this case the Israel lobby has over our political system and our politicians and how we are willing to or at least our government is willing to engage in foreign entanglements not because they're beneficial to the United States or the people within the United States but because it's beneficial to the nation state of Israel. So, as we all know, we've seen the videos dating back to the like 80s. Netanyahu has been pushing for war with Iran for a very long time. He's been wanting regime change in Iran for a very long time. But Israel doesn't have the capacity or capability to do that unilaterally. So, they want to drag the United States into it. Now, Mir Shimemer's debate with Morgan covered a wide range of foreign policy issues from Venezuela to Iran to Gaza. And for the purposes of today's show, I I just want to kind of hyperfocus and stick to their discussion on the Middle East. So, Morgan conceded that the US and Israel are likely interfering with Iranian internal affairs in order to create um unrest and basically the conditions for regime change. But he still believes that the protests overall are organic. Um, and there were, look, the economy has been totally destroyed in Iran due to the brutal sanctions that the US has implemented, making it very difficult for them to export one of their big money makers, which is oil, of course.

[00:03:46]And so since their economy is in ruins, the people of Iran are suffering. And so there were organic protests that started off uh in regard to the economic conditions on the ground. But uh they didn't remain organic and I've talked about that in great detail. You can go back and watch those videos. Um, however, you know, in this case, uh, the way that you see this exchange go down, you have one guy who's pretty well read and obviously an expert on this issue, and then you have Pierce Morgan, which I can't believe it, seems to be falling for the same type of game plan and rhetoric that Americans in the West overall fell for in the leadup to the preemptive war in Iraq in 2003. Let's go to our next video. I do happen to think that the overarching uh motivating factor for this uprising is the people of Iran have had enough of the state of this country under 47 years of very autocratic religious controlled life.

[00:04:47]They've had enough of it.

[00:04:50]I don't think that's the major reason that they've had enough. The major reason they've had enough is because of the state of the Iranian economy. And what has happened here is that over time with economic sanctions, we have wrecked the Iranian economy.

[00:05:08]We are principally responsible for driving these protests. People are protesting the state of the Iranian economy which is uh in dire straits in large part because of American sanctions. Had there been no American sanctions, there would be no protest today.

[00:05:30]>> So, you know, my definition of organic protests is a little bit different from mesh, but I get the point that he's making and it's a legitimate point. The economic conditions on the ground in Iran were part like not just partly but for the most part created through these US sanctions. So are people in Iran protesting or were they protesting because they themselves were legitimately frustrated about the economic conditions? Yes. I think that they were legitimately frustrated by the economic conditions and they took to the streets. I consider that organic because they're not actors, right? They're not astrourfing. These are real people who are feeling the real brunt of these sanctions. Uh but when I think of the inorganic uh element of these so-called demonstrations, I'm more talking about the involvement of Mossad on the ground, which the United States and Israel have both bragged about at various points over the last few weeks. Um now on top of that, throughout the debate, Mirimer argued that the United States should not intervene in the affairs of other countries. And honestly, I agree with that. Like I think that we should use our military for defense, actual defense from any type of threat abroad. Um, but you know, Morgan noted that Mirshimer's standards are a little different when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So, let's take a look at that.

[00:06:54]>> I believe in sovereignty. I don't like the idea of countries coming into the United States and interfering in our politics. And I'm sure you as a Brit don't want other countries interfering in British politics. The same basic message.

[00:07:08]>> Do you feel that way about the way Vladimir Putin's interfere with Ukrainian politics and life?

[00:07:16]>> I think that Vladimir Putin went into Ukraine as you know because NATO was threatening to bring Ukering directly.

[00:07:24]is interfering directly in the politics of his neighboring country by your by your by your argument you've just expressed to me you should be against that.

[00:07:35]No, I think there are certain circumstances where you do that. I understand that full well. I understand that when we went to war against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War II, we were going to end up uh doing regime change once we won the war.

[00:07:52]>> Okay. So for Mir Shimemer there are obviously uh some situations you know the exceptions to the rule some situations in which he feels that US military intervention makes sense um for you know the good of our allies or the good for the good of world peace. Um and look I think that Mirshimer's point on Russia's fears fears or whatever I know there's big debates about that but that is a point that he's been making. he's really under this impression that Russia would not have invaded if NATO hadn't continuously uh encroached on its security. Right? That's the argument that he makes. I've heard him make it many, many times. I know a lot of people disagree with it. I don't fully buy it to be honest with you. Um but nonetheless, uh we made a promise to Ukraine after they gave up their nukes in the 1990s. The US promised uh to provide security for Ukraine. The thing is though, I do think that the US has uh prolonged what's been going on in Ukraine to the detriment of Ukrainians and I don't really see a way for them to win this war. And that's it's just a devastating story. But either way, I just I need to understand the psychology behind individuals like Pierce Morgan, like Jillian Michaels, by the way. Right? So they have no problem speaking out against the massive US fumble in doing a preemptive war against Iraq in 2003.

[00:09:24]But you see the same patterns play out when it comes to Iran. A little different, but the same patterns effectively and they fall for it all over again.

[00:09:34]It's amazing. It really is. And there's no pause. There's no breaks on the car.

[00:09:39]There's no like pattern recognition.

[00:09:42]Can we work on that in our public education system? Like, can we work on pattern recognition a little more?

[00:09:49]Because the fact that you have people co-signing to a potential hot war between the United States and Iran is insane. It's it's genuinely insane.

[00:10:00]>> Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his swings. Totally not true.

[00:10:04]But it does keep you updated on our live shows.