The Greater Middle East: Part 1 with John Mearsheimer

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Join us in Sydney, on Wednesday May 15 for an evening featuring Professor John Mearsheimer. This event will feature a lecture by and conversation moderated by Tom Switzer. This event will be Mearsheimer’s only public appearance in Australia.

This event is the first in a 2-part series on The Greater Middle East After October 7, part 2 will feature Bret Stephens in June.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on 29 September 2023 that “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.” That all changed on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, which unsurprisingly invaded Gaza to destroy Hamas. After more than six months, it appears to many that Israel is losing its war in Gaza. At the same time, Israel is fighting Hezbollah on its northern border, relations between Jerusalem and Washington are strained, and the International Court of Justice has ruled that a plausible case can be made that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Meanwhile, there is great danger of escalation across the region, as the fighting between Israel and Iran makes clear. Indeed, there is a possibility the United States, which is already fighting the Houthis, might end up in a war with Iran, which neither country wants.

What might be the lasting consequences of these conflicts? Who will emerge weaker and who stronger? And what does this crisis mean for U.S. foreign policy in the region, Ukraine and East Asia?

John Mearsheimer is professor of political science at the University of Chicago and author of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001) and The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities (2019).

Tom Switzer is the Executive Director at the Centre for Independent Studies, and formerly hosted Between the Lines on the ABC’s Radio National. He is also a regular contributor to The Australian, the Australian Financial Review and Sky News Australia.