Headline RoundupFebruary 23rd, 2022

Who’s to Blame for Russia’s Aggression Towards Ukraine?

Summary from the AllSides News Team

Politicians and commentators in the U.S. and abroad were quick to point fingers after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into separatist-contested regions of eastern Ukraine.

Who’s to blame for this crisis? Answers varied widely but generally aligned with each accuser’s prior biases. Conservative commentator Candace Owens blamed NATO for expanding eastward, saying, “WE are at fault.” The governments of China and Iran seemed to agree, calling out NATO’s purportedly “provocative actions.” However, former U.N. ambassador Madeleine Albright wrote in The New York Times (Opinion rated Left) that “If Mr. Putin feels backed into a corner, he has only himself to blame.” The New York Times Editorial Board seemed to agree, framing Russia’s claims of NATO aggression as a fabricated pretext for invasion

Generally, the political right was more likely to place blame on President Joe Biden and NATO; the political left was more likely to blame Putin. The line wasn’t absolute, however; in Slate (Left), author Fred Kaplan partly blamed former President George W. Bush for trying to expand NATO, and The Dispatch (Lean Right) editor Jonah Goldberg called Putin “the primary driver of the Ukraine crisis.” 

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