Wrong Tweet To Go Viral? I Blame the EU

This morning I tweeted thusly:

Not Russia, not Ukrainians? Mt @ProSyn: "The blame for the outcome in Ukraine falls squarely on the EU’s leaders." http://t.co/R4EzPvJVAF”
— Stephen Saideman (@smsaideman) January 5, 2014

And it kind of went viral, getting a heap of retweets instantly.  Given that I also tweeted about the new book, which I would like to have sold and cited far and wide, I would have preferred that tweet to get more action.  Oh well.

So, about this Ukraine thing, the article itself is a bit better balanced than the headline, showing that it really is about Russia and about Ukraine more than about the European Union.  Still, the timing is good because the NYT has an article on the US and the Mideast with the same kind of disease: the Western actor (EU/US) is seen as unwilling to impose its will.  The reality, of course, is that Iraq, Afghanistan and numerous other policies that have not been super-wonderful demonstrate that it is not just the exertion of power and cleverness by the western outsiders that matter but the incentives and institutions in the countries that are in play that matter.

Which is why Andrew Exum ended his rant on the NYT article thusly:

My lesson from Iraq/Afghanistan? The US can do a lot, but long-term success is ultimately up to what people on the ground do or fail to do.
— Andrew Exum (@abumuqawama) January 5, 2014