Andrew Potter: Finally, the West goes all-in on Ukraine

Last week, the Munich security conference was dominated by talk of the Russian invasion, with Zelenskyy appearing by video conference https://www.cbsnews.com/news/munich-security-conference-ukraine-military-aid-western-allies/ to plead with the allies to speed up the delivery of all promised aid.

Jets might soon be coming now. But it was last Monday, when Joe Biden suddenly showed up in Kyiv, that the fires to burn the boats were well and truly lit. The 80-year-old U.S. president made an unprecedented 10-hour train trip from Poland to Kyiv into a war zone, where he walked the streets with Zelenskyy, and in a speech https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-biden-f00af220669457d5ba07127c7e57a27b at Mariinsky Palace, he nailed America’s colours to the Ukrainian mast: “Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.”

What this means is that, incrementally but now undeniably, the West has gone all-in on Ukraine. It is not enough now that Russia “not win”, nor that Ukraine “not lose”; it is now clear that nothing less than a clear, undeniable victory of Ukraine is acceptable, on terms Ukraine itself has set.

So what took us long to clue in to what we are up against? Why, after a year of constant war, after the atrocities of Bucha and Kramatorsk and Mariupol have been repeated in town after town, has the West been so slow to open its hearts, its treasury, and its armouries?

Some, most obviously Germany but also France and others, simply didn’t want to cut off the possibility of a return to business as usual with Russia, out of self-interest, cravenness, or worse. Others, such as Canada, are just not serious countries and don’t really know what it would mean to take something like this seriously (and don’t think people haven’t noticed https://twitter.com/EHunterChristie/status/1628051865706405890). |Read more https://theline.substack.com/p/andrew-potter-finally-the-west-goes?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email|
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