Harvard University professor Stephen Walt managed to find a way blame the United States just hours after someone — it’s not yet clear who — shot down a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 carrying 295 people over a war-torn region of Ukraine near the Russian border.
Walt, a legendary blame-America-firster on the faculty of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, bizarrely tweeted his belief that American policy caused the catastrophe. (He also blamed the foreign policy of the European Union — to the extent it has a foreign policy — for good measure.)
Airliner tragedy in #Ukraine shows US & EU erred by not pushing to keep Ukr. as neutral buffer state, not potential EU/NATO member.
— Stephen Walt (@stephenWalt) July 17, 2014
After Walt’s tweet entered the world early on Thursday afternoon, pushback from other Twitter users was fast and furious. For example:
And here we have the absolutely dumbest thing anyone will say about the Ukraine incident. @stephenWalt @cindynorth1
— Ethan Peretz (@RexPeretz) July 17, 2014
And @stephenWalt goes in early for the “epic douche crisis entrepreneur” award https://t.co/7uCdOPxQ0Y
— joshuafoust (@joshuafoust) July 17, 2014
Perhaps humiliated by his own despicably crass tweet, Walt tweeted a couple more times in attempts to explain himself.
My point, folks, was it would have been better for US AND Ukr. to damp crisis down b4 more tragedies happened, not to excuse perpetrators.
— Stephen Walt (@stephenWalt) July 17, 2014
Russia and/or Ukr rebels may be responsible for heinous & tragic act, but US & EU policy has been foolish & feckless. http://t.co/s4CpaJDx5F
— Stephen Walt (@stephenWalt) July 17, 2014
This incident isn’t the first time Walt has caused controversy. In 2007, he co-wrote an anti-Israel screed, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, along with fellow Israel-bashing professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago.
The book goes into great detail about the allegedly vast influence Israel and, therefore, Jewish people have on American politics. Walt and Mearsheimer argue that nefarious pro-Israel forces are so powerful (and wealthy!) that they can twist American foreign policy against American interests. (SATIRE: The Perils Of Exposing The Israel Lobby)
The doomed plane, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 280 passengers and 15 crew members when the airline lost contact with it in Ukrainian air space. (RELATED: Malaysia Airlines Plane Reportedly Shot Down In Ukraine Near Russian Border)
The jet was flying at 33,000 feet when it was reportedly struck by a missile fired from a Buk launcher — a truck-mounted, anti-aircraft, surface-to-air missile system. The plane crashed roughly 20 miles outside of Russian airspace near Shakhtyorsk, where pro-Russian rebels have been fighting the Ukrainian government. (RELATED: Raw: Fireball From Malaysia Plane Impact)
President Barack Obama spent about 40 seconds lamenting the tragedy in a scheduled speech appearance on Thursday. He then glided into about 16 minutes of lighthearted, preplanned remarks about the need to improve transportation infrastructure across America, according to the Daily Mail.
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