# Multimedia 

Multimedia 

---

- [Podcasts](/podcasts)
- [Cato Video](/multimedia/cato-video)
- [Video Series](/search/category/video-series)
- [Events](/multimedia/events)

[ 

Download Episode 

](https://feeds.acast.com/public/streams/5e3db1b9659d595770f8b9b0/episodes/67d866e32dc3c43482d24b89.mp3)Subscribe:

[ 

Apple Podcasts 

](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/power-problems/id1282100393) [ 

Spotify 

](https://open.spotify.com/show/7LrC4meqQkPvzFqP9PMwkS) 

Power Problems • March 18, 2025 

# Strategic Empathy & the Roots of the Ukraine War 

Barry Posen, professor of political science at MIT, argues that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 qualifies as a preventive war and was motivated in part to thwart U.S.-led efforts to expand NATO in Europe. He responds to detractors from this view and also discusses the partial political responsibility of U.S. leaders, the difference between explaining the war and justifying it, the lack of strategic empathy in U.S. foreign policy, how best to negotiate the end of the war, and whether the U.S. is making a similar mistake in incentivizing preventive war logic in Beijing with respect to Taiwan.

**Show Notes**

- Barry R. Posen, “[Putin’s Preventive War: The 2022 Invasion of Ukraine](https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article/49/3/7/128033/Putin-s-Preventive-War-The-2022-Invasion-of),” *International Security* 2025; 49 (3): 7–49.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

![Barry Posen headshot](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-06/barry-posen.jpeg?itok=yulZrNAS) 

##### Barry R. Posen 

Ford International Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

![John Glaser](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/John%20Glaser.jpg?itok=-uvxR8zG) 

##### John Glaser 

Host, Power Problems Podcast

[ 

](https://twitter.com/jwcglaser)