War for attention
How Russia plays with Western public for its own cause
The latest TIME Magazine cover is bitter to say the least…
This cover is as bitter as the story itself. That’s what Times writes about ZELENSKI’s mood:
“Now he walks in, gets the updates, gives the orders, and walks out,” says one longtime member of his team. Another tells me that, most of all, Zelensky feels betrayed by his Western allies. They have left him without the means to win the war, only the means to survive)
This article shows something more than just the feeling in the Zelenski’s camp. We are in the fifth month of the long awaited counteroffensive, that cannot be called anyhow a success. The cities of Tokmak, Melitopol were not reached, and as we report on a daily basis no breakthrough to the Sea of Azov could be reached in the foreseeable future.
The TIMES reports how the September visit of Zelenski in Washington DC looked like. And it was different from the previous one when those things happened:
This time the mood was different:
Congressional leaders declined to let Zelensky deliver a public address on Capitol Hill. His aides tried to arrange an in-person appearance for him on Fox News and an interview with Oprah Winfrey. Neither one came through. Instead, on the morning of Sept. 21, Zelensky met in private with then House Speaker Kevin McCarthy before making his way to the Old Senate Chamber, where lawmakers grilled him behind closed doors. Most of Zelensky’s usual critics stayed silent in the session; Senator Ted Cruz strolled in more than 20 minutes late. The Democrats, for their part, wanted to understand where the war was headed, and how badly Ukraine needed U.S. support. “They asked me straight up: If we don’t give you the aid, what happens?” Zelensky recalls. “What happens is we will lose.”)
As -Simon Shuster, an author of this article writes, The political problem that Zelenski faces is related to the momentum and attention shift on the world political scene.
“From the earliest days of the Russian invasion, Zelensky’s top priority and perhaps his main contribution to the nation’s defense had been to keep attention on Ukraine and to rally the democratic world to its cause. Both tasks would become a lot harder with the outbreak of war in Israel. The focus of Ukraine’s allies in the U.S. and Europe, and of the global media, quickly shifted to the Gaza Strip.”
What has changed for sure is that now US policymakers are forced to speak of two conflicts the US is engaged in. And it doesn’t sound like two are getting the same priority in Washington. Here’s AP report on those two war theaters:
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make the case Tuesday that the United States should immediately send aid to Israel and Ukraine, testifying at a Senate hearing as the administration’s massive $105 billion emergency aid request for conflicts in those countries and others has already hit roadblocks in the divided Congress.
President Joe Biden’s Cabinet secretaries will be advocating for the foreign aid to a mostly friendly audience in the Senate, where majority Democrats and many Republicans support tying aid for the two countries together. But it faces much deeper problems in the Republican-led House, where new Speaker Mike Johnson has proposed cutting out the Ukraine aid and focusing on Israel alone, and cutting money for the Internal Revenue Service to pay for it.)
Despite the political tremors in his party over helping Ukraine, Graham was confident that support for Kyiv remains solid: "Public opinion's important, but there's no way pulling the plug on Ukraine helps us long term."
Senator Ben CARDIN, a man who was behind the first big anti Russian sanction bill known as Magnitsky ACT, a democrat claims that:
“I think showing that this is beyond just Ukraine and Russia, that this affects other countries in Europe, that this affects all of us, it's helpful for that to be reinforced by leaders from other countries," said Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.)
Senator Mitch McConnell sees the thing in the broader perspective, claiming the following:
This is not solely about helping Ukraine. It’s also about getting us ready for the bigger challenges we have ahead. (...) This is not just a test for Ukraine. Its a test for the United States and for the free world. (...) And the path toward greater security for all of us is simple. Help Ukraine win the war.
And the House Speaker MIKE JOHNSON, despite his critical views on the financial support of Ukraine sees the geopolitical aspect of letting PUTIN get away with his imperial war:
We cannot allow Vladimir Putin to prevail in Ukraine because i dont believe it would stop there and it would probably encourage and empower China to perhaps make a move on taiwan. We have these concern. We’re not going to abandon them but we have a responsibility a stewardship over the precious treasure of the American people and we have to make sure that the White House is providing the people with some accountability for the dollars.
Politico.EU quotes also European political leaders of states in my part of the world which is Central Europe who plan to organize what POLITICO calls “a charm offensive”. Gabrlieus LANDSBERGIS Lithuanian foreign minister is quoted in this context:
“We need to find ways to reach out to [the public] on both sides of the Atlantic — not to forget that there are actual electorates that see their problems in a certain way," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told POLITICO. “We have a plan to travel … to separate states, meeting — for example — the companies that sell equipment that actually create jobs in the U.S. Most of the money that has been spent on Ukraine was actually spent in the U.S.” A roadshow where Baltic nations and others with close ties to Ukraine speak out in favor of providing continuing support, Landsbergis went on, “might work quite well if they are laid out not just by American politicians, but those who depend on that assistance and on that foreign policy track.”)
Along with Kaja Kallas
While Landsbergis didn't say which other countries might come along on such a road trip, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told POLITICO her country was already reaching out to ordinary Americans. “My foreign minister was in Arkansas, talking to people and giving his views, so this is something that we are doing all the time,” she said. There is growing alarm in Washington that aid to Ukraine might fall victim to the deep political divisions in the U.S.)
But all of this is being discussed right when Israel begins the land operation in Gaza, after all it is the Middle East, where geopolitical players from around the world meet regularly on the battlefield.