The editors of Switzerland’s leading newspaper, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, knew they had a terrific headline when political scientist John Mearsheimer said, “I would have done the same as Putin. I would have attacked Ukraine even earlier.”

As the paper no doubt realized, the controversy-loving University of Chicago professor had made an outrageous statement even by his own standards. It’s one thing to accuse the West of provoking Russia’s illegitimate president to invade Ukraine in defense of Russia’s strategic interests. It’s a whole different ball game actually to endorse Putin’s invasion by associating oneself with it so clearly and openly.

In effect, Mearsheimer has justified and legitimized Putin’s war and genocide, thereby making himself complicit in the Russian dictator’s crimes. This is where Mearsheimer’s brand of so-called geopolitical “realism” ultimately leads: not just indifference to morality, but the wholesale rejection of morality and its replacement with immorality.

It is important to note that this statement is Mearsheimer’s personal endorsement not only of Putin’s........

© The Hill