On a day when “(a)pproximately
4,000 building in Kyiv lacked heating . . . as temperatures plunged to -20C
amid Ukraine’s coldest winter in years, almost four years into Russia’s
full-scale invasion,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “delivered a
scathing critique of European inaction at the World Economic Forum . . . ,
declaring that the continent ‘looks lost’ and remains trapped in endless repetition
of failing to defend itself or decisively support Ukraine.”[1]
Zelensky lamented, “Repeating the same thing for weeks, months, and of course,
years. And yet that is exactly how we live now.”[2]
In particular, he was referring to the fact that just as the U.S. had been
sinking drug boats, the E.U. could have been sinking Russian oil tankers even
near Greenland. “We will solve this problem with Russian ships,” he said. “They
can sink near Greenland just like they sink near Crimea.”[3]
Why was Europe repeating the same “day” over and over again, as in the film
starring Bill Murry, Groundhog’s Day? Zelensky had the presence of mind
to identify the root problem though his wording was antiquated.
The full essay is at "Ukraine's Zelensky Nails the E.U.'s Problem."
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
