When all else fails, blame the U.S. - Special to CNN

By Frida Ghitis, Special to CNN

Editor's note: Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review. A former CNN producer/correspondent, she is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television."
(CNN) -- The first refuge of tyrants and buffoons is to blame someone else for the messes they make. On the world stage, that usually means blaming America when things do not go their way.
It's an old trick. It's easy to spot. But it doesn't work as well as it used to.
Russia's Vladimir Putin is using it to bolster his standing ahead of Sunday's presidential election. The Iranian regime just dusted off the old trick in advance of Friday's election, the first national vote since the disputed, probably stolen, 2009 election. So have Egypt and Syria, blaming "foreign conspirators" for their people's demands for democratic change. Even Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, with elections approaching, has blamed his cancer on the CIA...Continue reading...