From PJMedia.com
On Friday, during a tense exchange on MSNBC, John Kerry lost his composure when a reporter confronted him with a question about the Obama administration’s failure to stop Russia’s annexation of Crimea. In 2014, Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in clear violation of international law, and the Obama administration let it happen without lifting a meaningful finger.
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Chris Jansing of MSNBC, speaking with Kerry at the Vatican ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral, began, “You were secretary of state when Russia annexed Crimea, and I want to ask you—” but Kerry quickly cut her off.
“But when they stated they were—” Kerry interrupted.
Jansing tried to clarify, “When they, when they stated, yeah,” before Kerry jumped in again, insisting, “We did not allow them to annex it.”
They did. As Russia carved up a sovereign country, the Obama administration’s response was weak and ineffectual. Barack Obama huffed and puffed but ultimately did nothing of substance. He threw a handful of sanctions at Russia that were so soft that they probably made Putin laugh out loud. Worse, Obama brushed off Russia as a mere “regional power,” a dangerously naïve comment that revealed just how little he understood the threat staring him in the face.
Jansing pressed further, pointing out, “Right. But they said that it was theirs.”
Visibly agitated, Kerry snapped back, “And we stood up against it and called it against international law. Yeah, they said it, but that doesn’t—”
As Jansing attempted to ask a follow-up, Kerry continued, “Under international law, that does not make it theirs.”
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Look how triggered John Kerry gets when MSNBC’s Chris Jansing reminds him that he was Secretary of State when Russia annexed Crimea. pic.twitter.com/eCbbu5lgdH
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) April 25, 2025
Acting like refusing to “recognize” Russia’s annexation of Crimea somehow changed reality was pure fantasy. Russia seized Crimea, and eleven years later, they’re still there. Instead of leading, Obama and Kerry handed the problem off to Europe — the same Europe that’s always quick with a strongly worded statement but hopeless when it comes to real action.
Just like Obama, for that matter.
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Of course, President Donald Trump has been highly critical of the roles Obama and Joe Biden played in setting the stage for the Russia-Ukraine war.
“When you say Crimea — that was handed over during a president named Barack Hussein Obama,” Trump said at a press conference earlier this week. “That had nothing to do with me. Crimea — that was 11 years ago, under Obama, and they made a decision. There wasn’t a bullet fired. There was no fighting. There was no anything. They just handed it over.”
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REPORTER: Do you still agree that Ukraine has to give some territory away to win peace?@POTUS: “Well, it depends what territory… we’ll do the best we can, working with Ukraine… but they lost a lot of territory. When you say Crimea, that was handed over during a president… pic.twitter.com/xjI1cvLZmQ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 24, 2025
Obama’s legacy here is a catastrophic failure of leadership that empowered America’s adversaries and left our allies wondering if they could ever count on us again. Kerry, who served as his secretary of state during this disaster, owns a piece of that legacy, too — whether he likes it or not. And judging by how defensive he got when it came up, he knows it.
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All articles possibly rephrased by InfoArmed.com