A Watershed Moment? | John Mearsheimer and Sir Max Hastings

Apr 24 2026 | Historians reserve the term “watershed” for those rare moments when events do not merely shock the established order but upend it. Think of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which hastened the end of the Cold War and ushered in an era of American unipolarity. Or the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US, which ignited the global war on terror and culminated in the long, costly entanglements of the so-called forever wars.

In each case, those living through the moment could sense they were witnessing events whose consequences would extend far beyond the immediate crisis. The question now is whether the Iran war belongs in that category. On the world stage, many allies and partners increasingly worry that the United States as a friend is shrinking with extraordinary rapidity. If this is true, what does this mean for international affairs after the Iran war?

Guests are Sir Max Hastings, the British military historian, columnist and former newspaper editor, and John Mearsheimer, professor of political science from the University of Chicago.


To put it succinctly, Trump is a chump who is also off his chump! — © Mark Alexander