pcr doesn't ask questions he doesn't know the answer to usually; 

 

Does Anyone Understand the Actual Situation?

Paul Craig Roberts

Professor John Mearsheimer, one of America’s more realistic foreign policy experts, has just returned from a few days in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In this 46 minute video he reports his discussions with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and  Russian foreign policy experts, and provides his reading of the impact of the war and sanctions on Russia:  https://www.lewrockwell.com/2026/09/no_author/the-russia-i-saw/ 

Mearsheimer reports seeing scant signs of the war’s impact except for gasoline lines at a few stations, and no sign whatsoever of any impact of sanctions on the Russian economy. He did not visit locations of Russian oil production and refining where apparently there is damage from drone attacks.  The main effect of the sanctions is to inconvenience Americans who travel to Russia.  There are no longer direct flights, so Mearsheimer had to go in via Turkey.  When he got there he found he could not use his American credit cards or American currency and was therefore without funds.  

Given the habit of Western media to confuse propaganda with facts, 46 minutes with Mearsheimer will leave you with a more balanced picture of the situation and its likely outcome.

I  have another reason for posting Mearsheimer’s report.  I am going to use it to show that even those rare American foreign policy analysts capable of thinking on their own and not merely repeating the official narratives, miss a lot.  I am not picking on Mearsheimer.  I admire him and Professor Stephen Walt as they alone among upscale American academics had the courage to expose the Israel Lobby in their book of that name in 2007.  They could have been harder on the Israel Lobby, but they knew their exposure of the lobby would result in them being branded antisemites and if they were too trenchant the book might be recalled or never published. ............more............