Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists, bent on getting the old USSR band back together, shot down a Malaysian airliner. Rivaled only by Obama, Putin is adept at blaming others. He did so in this case, but since he shot down a plane full of Europeans, he might have angered more than Americans.
The reason the United States does not need to get involved in conflicts around the world like Syria, Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya and now Ukraine is that we do not have a direct security interest in them. But mostly they are harder to understand than a Joseph A. Bank sale. You go in, get confused, spend a lot of money and then realize you got nothing of value.
One could argue that Putin’s aggression in Crimea and now Ukraine was provoked by Obama’s perceived weakness. Obama is not a military president. All he knows is how to run attack ads in Iowa, instruct his mainstream media to engage in politics of personal destruction, and have the IRS audit his enemies or sic Attorney General Holder on them.
None of these tactics will deter the cold-blooded Putin in the Ukraine. The only time Putin pulls back is when his mom or daughters try to hug him.
Obama is haplessly doing the right thing here for our war-weary country. He admires Putin’s disregard for the rule of law, his use of executive orders, and his totalitarianism, but if it does not involve race, gay marriage, contraception, unions, golf, fundraising or dishing out entitlements, it bores Obama. He offered $1 billion to Ukraine. Nothing is more magnanimous than us borrowing more from China to lend to Ukraine.