This essay, in defining the two systems, seems to assume an either/or binary and that a state must either be benign or toxic, failing to account for the possibility of a state being internally benign while outwardly toxic. The United States (so far, but one does not know for how long more) has been internally benign and democratic. But at the same time it has been outwardly toxic. It has long history of interfering in Latin America to enforce regime change, and the US led invasion of Iraq is not so far removed from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, being done on false justifications and without international sanction. Given this, Russia is bound to fear the eastward expansion of NATO, especially since Russia is a large plain on her Western front, with no natural features, such as a mountain range or ocean, to offer a line of defence. This does not justify the Ukraine invasion, but offers some legitimacy to Mearsheimer's argument.