Blame Obama's weak policy on Ukraine and Syria, not Putin

I disagree with Professor Makau Mutua over Putin’s motives in Russia’s former states. Russia is simply protecting its Geo strategic interests in the region which is what any leader of Russia is expected to do.

 For too long since the demise of the USSR, NATO and its allies have ignored Russia’s legitimate security and national interests and expanded NATO eastward. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the idea of allowing Ukraine to join NATO! This would be the equivalent of the US allowing Mexico or Canada to join an anti-American coalition such as the former Warsaw Pact.