Steve Chapman on America’s Irrelevance in Ukraine

The Russian invasion of Crimea occurred in a
place little known to Americans, for reasons rooted in a tangled
and bloody history. The showdown between President Vladimir Putin
and the new Ukrainian government is a fight about tangible matters
of intense mutual interest. But many Americans can’t address
international crises without sounding like a Toby Keith song: “I
Wanna Talk About Me.” If bad things are happening anywhere in the
world, it must be something we caused and something we can fix. In
Washington, writes Steve Chapman, many politicians assume the world
revolves around us. The people in power in Moscow have a very
different and puzzling trait: They think it revolves around
them.

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