Debate Over Who, in U.S., Is to Blame for Ukraine

New York Times ^ | March 5, 2014 | Peter Baker

[lbryce]

In Moscow, especially in the not-so-good old days, the question almost always asked is kto vinovat: “Who is to blame?” The American capital now finds itself engaged in that very Russian exercise ever since President Vladimir V. Putin’s troops entered Ukraine.

Many on the right maintain that Moscow’s land grab is President Obama’s fault for pursuing a foreign policy of weakness. Some on the left contend that it is former President George W. Bush’s fault for invading Iraq and providing a precedent. And across the political spectrum there are accusations that it is the intelligence community’s fault for failing to anticipate that Russia would send troops to the Crimean Peninsula. Continue reading the main story Related Coverage

U.S. Effort to Broker Russia-Ukraine Diplomacy FailsMARCH 5, 2014 U.S. Hopes Boom in Natural Gas Can Curb PutinMARCH 5, 2014 The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, talk during a break in talks in Paris on Wednesday. Point by Point, State Department Rebuts Putin on UkraineMARCH 5, 2014

The who-lost-Ukraine debate eerily echoes the sorts of recriminations common during the Cold War, starting with the who-lost-China reproaches after Communists took power in Beijing in 1949, but this time fueled by 21st-century technology and flavored by 21st-century politics. On Twitter and cable television talk shows as well as in speeches, columns and congressional hearings, partisans have wasted little time trying to frame the crisis in Eastern Europe as an indictment of their political opponents.

[lbryce]

You mean, there's actually a debate over who is to blame for the Ukraine? In the US, isn't there a guy who runs things, makes decisions, military, political, economic, who to whom the buck stops at some predetermined time and place, somewhere, anywhere, some leader-type character chosen for just this very happenstance? And the New York Times doesn't have a name, or a position to whom responsibility for what goes on, goes wrong is held liable?

[yoe]

The MSM

[Uncle Chip]

Nobody —

[Starboard]

No one has yet been held responsible for Benghazi either.

[MeshugeMikey]

Barry Soetero Hussein Mohammad Obama has ben denying any culpability since the 1840s

[N. Theknow]

I am still scanning YouTube to find the “Made in USA by Tea Party rightwingers” video that enraged Putin to the point he invaded the Crimean Peninsula.

[txrefugee]

How about Billy Jeff Clinton, who signed a treaty with Ukraine in 1994 that stripped that country of its military weaponry in exchange for a promise that the USA would defend it? Putin knew that The Weakest President Ever would never keep that promise, so he invaded.

[Ken522]

Start with Clinton, either one ...

[cld51860]

Cracks me up. The invasion of Iraq set a precedent, but not Putin’s actions in Georgia.

[12th_Monkey]

Bush
Gun’s-n-religion
Christians
white males
global warming
government shutdown
Heterosexuals

[BookmanTheJanitor]

surprised they didn't blame this guy....(again)

[MrEdd]

Only took two posts for the correct answer.

[molson209]

Well the NSA is spending all it’s time tracking Tea Party/Conservatives .

Putin used the Olympics in Sochi Russia to prep for this and when the Olympics ended he made his move ,you did not have to be intelligent to see that coming

[blueunicorn6]

Give the Russians some food stamps.

[longfellowsmuse]

Iraq has had its own elections, with its own government and has not been annexed as part of the United States. Do you think Russia will give back the Ukraine and allow them their own elections?

The POTUS has made it quite clear he will do nothing about North Korea, will not defend Israel, and thinks its just dandy that Iran will have nuclear weapons. Why on earth would Putin not think that he would have carte blanch to invade the country of his choice. “Smart Power” is to blame. Really should be called Incompetent weakness.

[Sacajaweau]

http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2014/02/ukraine-lobbying-exposes-holes-in-foreign-agent-registration-2597022.html

[scooby321]

actually I watch Henry Kissenger on Charlie Rose last night.

He said the Yanukovych wanted join the EU but EU had conditions that were not met so he turned to Russia for money.

Then the protests ( The Obama Assistant Secretary of State was participating in the protest in Kiev and that was the direct cause Russia saw as the slap in their face, the history of most Russians even those who hated the USSR say that Ukraine is important to every Russian. Total missing of how to deal Internationally with Russia.

[rockrr]

“Lincoln - when it’s too big to blame Bush”

[mrsmith]

LOL!
“People who ask why are like Soviet communists!”

What propaganda! What debate squelching, Obamabutt-covering sheer drivel.

Obama lost Ukraine with Hillary’s help and that’s all their is to it.

[Don Corleone]

Nobody —

Exactly! This goes back hundreds of years. Should we have seen it coming? Certainly! Both Palin and Romney pointed it out and were laughed at. The administration had more than ample warning of the impending action. Its even possible that Obama knew well in advance but was just keeping his promise to a fellow Marxist not to interfere. However, the Crimea and many other "states" surrounding Mother Russia are deemed to be within their sphere of influence and will be targeted again. All the so called "Stans" on the southern borders are in imminent danger of being swallowed up once again. JMHO!