For a second week in a row, Washington is the most important theater in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Billions in military and economic aid for Kyiv hang in the balance. As does, with only a bit of exaggeration, Ukraine’s fate as a nation, stability in Europe and America’s credibility as a world power. It’s a big moment. So why do the players on this stage all look so small?
You have Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose heroic aura has diminished with every visit here (Tuesday’s stop will be his third). The Ukrainian president’s host in the White House is a shrunken figure with poor polls and reelection prospects. Fresh off their latest bout of dysfunctional bloodletting, Republicans on the Hill are their own species of Lilliputians. Missing in this group picture but would fit right in: The Europeans, who act is if the worst armed conflict since World War II isn’t playing out in the heart of their continent.
There are a couple players in this drama who’ve avoided the shrinkage of the rest. You may have seen Vladimir Putin and his shit-eating grin finally venture out of the Kremlin bunker to tour the Middle East last week. Same goes for China’s Xi Jinping, who by any objective economic or strategic measure has no reason to feel big — except that his adversaries in the West are so good at self-diminutization. These two think they’re winning.
What a strange geopolitical moment this is. Russia didn’t deploy a Rick Moranis with a secret weapon. Everyone on Ukraine’s side — starting with the leadership in Kyiv and their allies in Europe and Washington — has in the last half year shrunk themselves. Mostly in terms of the ambition, vision and confidence they project about this conflict. Contrast that to the largeness of spirit and commitment everyone showed last year. This shift is divorced from the realities of the war on the ground. It shapes a dark and defeatist mood and for the Ukrainians represents the most perilous moment since Russia came within miles of Kyiv in the early days of the war.
Some of this is just how democracies work. Russians and Chinese can’t vent about the costs and fatigue of war. Putin muzzles his people, Zelenskyy won’t and can’t; it’s what this war is ultimately about. But free political systems should be able to allow and reward big thinking and brave action.
The question for Kyiv, Brussels and Washington is: How do you unshrink yourself?
Start with the Ukrainians. Zelenskyy was a prominent actor who played a president on television before winning an election. His most powerful adviser, Andriy Yermak, was a television producer. Screenwriters are in this circle as well. Last year was a........