It occurs to me that long gone is the idea that Ukraine is a surrogate for the United States, that losing freedom in Ukraine means that we'll lose freedom in America. Nobody thinks that.
What Ukraine does represent is very difficult to say, given its colorful history over the last thousand years, passed back and forth between empires. However, the news in these last hours is that Mr. Zelenskyy says that he enjoyed the best conversation ever with Mr. Trump over what he needs, which is their defense.
In the meantime, Mr. Putin has been launching wave after wave of very good Iskander missiles and drones, many of which are getting through because the stock for air defense in Kyiv, we're told, is very low. Some are so low that seven of eight missiles are getting through, causing havoc in Ukraine.
It comes to me that we've long since accepted the fact that Putin is managing the the tribes at the at the edge of his empire, no different than successive Roman emperors had to manage their tribes on the other side of the Rhine, the other side of the Danube.
I thought that was an acceptable metaphor. But now the idea that Mr. Trump is being charming to Mr. Zelenskyy while Mr. Putin pounds away on missile systems, suggests that there's some dialogue going on between Putin and Trump, between the American empire and the Eurasian empire that, I don't know, has a certain ending, but it does make Ukraine look like, well, the metaphor I'm using in the game of badminton hitting the shuttlecock back and forth.
How do you perceive this idea that Zelenskyy is praising Trump about a good phone call after Trump has cut off the resupply of air defense, and Putin is pouring it on?
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