Footnote to the post titled “Calculated Aggression”

As Mearsheimer argued, power considerations drive the decisions behind foreign policy and war. He also argued that there are two types of power. For one, there is potential power, which consists of the population and wealth of a country. Second, there is actual power, which translates into military power. And military power, even in an age of immense air power and nuclear power, is land power. You need land power to control territory. And land power rests with Russia and Asia. But there are three major power considerations to account for when making foreign policy decisions. One, nuclear weapons diminish the chances of war considerably. Two, America’s ability to project offensive power is hamstrung considerably by geography and by being couched between two oceans. And three, the multipolar balance or the multipolar distribution of power has essentially contained the United States. There is no longer a hegemon in the international system. There is not much of a power gap between America and the Sino-Russian alliance anymore. Which means foreign policy and war are now moot.