Dear Antiwar.com Reader,
There are two problems in the United States these days and they are closely related.
The first problem is that the Biden Administration is in deep trouble on the foreign policy front and the trouble is almost certainly going to get worse. The Ukraine war is going badly for both Ukraine and the West, but U.S. leaders show no signs of wanting to negotiate a settlement and, instead, seem committed to making this a forever conflict. Gaza is another horror show. It simply has no solution since Israel has no intention of allowing the Palestinians to have a sovereign state of their own. To make matters worse, the United States is complicit in Israel’s murderous policies in Gaza. This conflict is now causing huge trouble on campuses around the country, which is making America’s poisonous politics even worse. Moreover, there are real dangers in East Asia, where there is an ever-present possibility that China and the United States could get into a shooting match. And there are further armed conflicts taking place in Africa and other regions of the world. Something is badly wrong with U.S. foreign policy.
The second problem is that there is significant agreement inside the American foreign policy establishment on most foreign policy issues, and those consensus views are reflected in the discourse in the mainstream media. It is very difficult for the many individuals who challenge the establishment’s prevailing wisdoms to make their case in elite media outlets. This disturbing situation explains in good part why America’s political leaders will not change course and adopt smarter policies.
What we need in the United States is an open discourse about the ongoing wars as well as potential wars. Why? Because unfettered debate maximizes the chance of coming up with smart strategies for either ending wars or preventing them. The key to success in this regard is to have well-informed individuals with different perspectives engaging with each other in the marketplace of ideas. We need free-wheeling debates that include unpopular views.
Sadly, there is little chance of reforming the mainstream media anytime soon. But thankfully, alternative media outlets have proliferated in recent years, making it possible for critics of U.S. foreign policy to make their voices heard.
Antiwar.com is one of our most important alternative platforms on the planet. It is an ideal place to find first-rate analysis that challenges today’s foreign policy orthodoxies. I visit Antiwar.com every day and am invariably rewarded for doing so. Surely, many of you who are reading this appeal also benefit in all sorts of ways from reading pieces published on this vital platform.
All this means that we readers have a responsibility to help maintain a flourishing Antiwar.com. In that spirit, I urge you to join me in making a generous contribution so that we can collectively increase the chances that the United States will begin acting in much smarter ways on the world stage.
John Mearsheimer is the Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and one of the leading foreign policy scholars in America.
