As host of RT’s political debate program “CrossTalk”, I have explored and covered the divergent narratives and rhetoric when it comes to the artificially generated Ukraine crisis. It is difficult to conjure up a topic that is so polarizing, antagonistic, and even dangerous.

The west’s failed policy in Ukraine has only emboldened the low-octane policymakers in Washington and Brussels. This is the worst of all possible worlds — a game of chicken where both sides lose.

If you are an avid reader of Russia Insider, you will know the situation in Ukraine worsens by the day. The country faces financial default in a matter of weeks with overall economic meltdown to follow. The IMF — the evil lender of last resort — openly admits it will continue to assist Kiev even after it defaults (which breaks all the lender’s own internal rules). Alas! In this case, geopolitics trumps common sense.

The IMF’s misguided approach mirrors the rhetoric coming out of the State Department and its NATO counterparts. Break all the rules and simply tell half-truths and lies. Why? Well, because repeating “just because” platitudes has replaced failed policy; there is no Plan B for Ukraine in the wake of the western-backed February, 2014 coup.

Victoria Nuland — Washington’s Darth Vader of regime change pseudo-science — now has only one option: poison the public sphere to obfuscate and cover-up her adventurist policies that have all but destroyed Ukraine. (Just to remind: Russia lived in peaceful co-existence with Ukraine for centuries before Nuland and her thugs wrote themselves into the historical script.)

The regime in Kiev is her making, with the spineless Europeans going along. Western media (or as I call them “the State Department’s Stenography Union”) without question follow suit. Nuland as a policy maker is on par with most journalists and media pundits when it comes to Ukraine and Russia — her ignorance and arrogance is only out done by her incompetence.

The State Department and the west’s mainstream media are a toxic team that declares those who adhere to facts and logic as Putin apologists and propagandists. One needs to ask who is the propagandist? We surely must worry that irresponsible “rhetoric-baiting” does influence policy.

I have come to this sad conclusion: When Washington/NATO accuses Russia of doing something, it’s an admission that Washington/NATO are indeed the actual culprits. This is not only about Ukraine and Russia.

The west can only see evil and malfeasance in others. For decades, the west is accustomed to getting its way in the world using intimidation and overwhelming brute force.

When a country resists, Biblical media plagues are unleashed until the sinner is destroyed or makes amends. Today, Russia is the new bogeyman, and with negative returns. This infuriates the west and thus makes the west, not Russia, the more dangerous actor as the Ukraine tragedy plays out.

Worsening rhetoric is not a replacement for bad-to-worse policy. Sadly, western policymakers and media are blind to cold reality.

Peter Lavelle is host of RT’s political debate program “CrossTalk.” His expressed opinions may or may not reflect those of his employer.