"The tragedy is that you could have two states who are content with the status quo and have no interest in fighting or competing for power. Nevertheless, because they cannot know each other’s intentions, and because they operate in an anarchic system, they have to assume the worst about each other and have to compete for power."
https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2023/09/tragedy-john-mearsheimer
Typical IR realist cant. Basically the RAND Corporation "prisoner's dilemma" paranoia that Adam Curtis explores in The Trap.