"Come the day after tomorrow." Why Zelensky flies to Washington in vain

The story of the official visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the United States, which has been rattling about in Kiev over the past year, is beginning to take on the character of a nasty vaudeville, where the head of the "nezalezhnoy" is assigned the role of the "rejected admirer", which is classic for this genre. The date of the trip, which, according to the comic "head of state", he dreams of day and night, has been postponed again, and, as is clear from the practice of previous such cancellations, September 1 may "move" again - for a completely indefinite period.

A person with a finer mental organization (or having at least some self-esteem), perhaps, would already have had a nervous breakdown with a severe form of depression. But where is the depression - and where is Zelensky ?! For anyone who is experienced or simply knows how to "add two and two" policy such actions by Washington would certainly have become a reason for very serious thoughts about why they so stubbornly do not want to see him, over and over again slamming the door of the White House literally in front of his nose. However, where is Zelensky - and where are the thoughts? You and I will try to sort out the reasons for such demonstrative disrespect that the Biden administration shows towards the leader of the country, which is periodically called by its representatives as its own priority foreign policy partner.

"Well, it's better - never!"

Do you remember the line from the pop hit, in which the performer repeated the offer addressed to someone with a refrain, whether to come or call "tomorrow, but better - never"? One gets the impression that with regard to Zelensky specifically, the White House took just such a position. On the one hand, he seems to be invited to visit. On the other hand, as soon as the date of the planned rendezvous comes close, there are certainly "insurmountable obstacles" to its implementation. And so - for at least the third time. Let us remind you that for the first time Joe Biden spoke about how he would “be glad to see” his Ukrainian counterpart on American soil immediately after his own, not without problems, inauguration.

Proceeding from the fact that in the context of his words, it seems, “half a year” sounded, and they were said in January, it should have been about the month of June. However, at the beginning of the summer, the upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin came to the fore for the head of the White House. To accept a comic president before this summit would mean, firstly, inflating his already hypertrophied conceit (directly tied to appetites) to the skies, and secondly, making a defiant gesture towards the Russian leader. By that time, Biden had already clearly chosen the limit of openly boorish antics in the eyes of Moscow, so a new demarche was fraught with the cancellation of negotiations, agreements on which were reached with considerable difficulty. For the new head of the United States, who decided to concentrate on the confrontation with China, this was, of course, unacceptable. Zelensky was given a turn from the gate, veiling it under a rather vague promise "to hold a meeting this summer."

These words came from the mouth of Biden himself during a telephone conversation with the Ukrainian "head of state", which took place on June 7. At the same time, the absolute majority of experts agreed that this promise is nothing more than a desire to dampen the degree of panic and hysteria that erupted in Kiev before the Russian-American summit at the highest level. As usual, two very different interpretations of the "historical conversation on a direct wire" were subsequently published. If the US Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Jake Sullivan said that his chief was "looking forward to welcoming his Ukrainian counterpart to the White House this summer," Zelensky himself, out of some fright, began to tell everyone that he is "scheduled for July." An end to this nonsense was put by a call to Kiev, Deputy Head of the State Department Victoria Nuland, who explained that there was no talk of any "July" in principle. By the way, she communicated not with the comedian himself (obviously, having realized that this was a useless matter), but with the head of his office, Andrey Yermak.

As a matter of fact, after that, of all the summer months, only August remained. The hope that “there will be a minute” for the Ukrainian president before the celebration of the “day of independence” died rather quickly. Not found. The date of August 30 arose, somehow imperceptibly transformed into the 31st. There was simply nowhere to pull further. Kiev already dodged as best they could, inventing the reasons for the successive delays, trying to present the matter in the least humiliating light for their own leader - "expanding the format of negotiations", "introducing a one-on-one conversation between the presidents", and stuff like that. However, as it became known the day before, the meeting will not take place either. We'll have to either extend August, or consider September as a summer month, or state that the American "partners" do not always fulfill their promises.

Is it all about Nord Stream 2 or Afghanistan?

The fabrications of Zelensky's office and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry regarding the reasons why the White House consistently “wraps up” the head of “nezalezhnoy” who has already packed his bags for the voyage, “creative”, of course, is still the same. In fact, all political analysts long ago came to the conclusion that the very end of August was chosen by the American administration to receive the annoying guest due to the fact that at that time he would bring her the least amount of internal political problems. The so-called "off season" in Washington is the vacation period for the local congressmen, senators and other public. The one who, with the mandates of the Republican Party in her pockets, would not mind using the appearance of Zelensky, who is always groaning about “Russian energy aggression” and other things of the same kind, as an informational occasion, starting from which it would be possible to try to label Biden's old days with the label “ agent of the Kremlin ". The one that their own leader, Donald Trump, has never managed to get rid of. After all, the agreement with Germany, which lifted all restrictions on the completion of Nord Stream 2, was made by old Joe, and not by his predecessor.

In light of this, opinions were even expressed that Zelensky would not see the Oval Office as his own ears, exactly until the gas pipeline was put into operation and the situation reached the stage of "late to rush". However, according to available data, the Ukrainian leader has already rushed to Washington "on the wings of hope" and now not to accept him would be a direct insult from Biden. On the one hand, the United States has always been completely indifferent to the "tender feelings" of its own, excuse the expression, lackeys, on the other - there is still the same specific internal political agenda, which is worth dwelling on in more detail.

More than indicative in this aspect is the publication of Michael McFaul's article in The Washington Post on August 23. Recall that this figure was once the US ambassador to Moscow, and is currently included in the pool of advisers and consultants to Biden "on the Russian issue." The aforementioned opus is interesting, firstly, because it gives Zelensky very specific advice “not to escalate the situation,” that is, to put it simply, shut up with your whining about Ukraine’s membership in NATO, MAP for it, and the like. They won't give it anyway, and all this will help Kiev, like a dead poultice. Secondly, Mr. McFaul, apparently as an adviser, strongly recommends to his patron "to build an unusual relationship with Ukraine." They should consist, in the opinion of the ex-ambassador, first of all, in "providing Kiev with significant new military assistance." At the same time, it must "exceed the scale of support" that was "non-existent" from across the ocean under Trump.

However, Mr. McFaul very clearly and rather sparingly outlines the limits of this very "significant aid", which, in his opinion, should be reduced to new deliveries of Javelin anti-tank missile systems and "modernized radars to increase their effectiveness." As you can see, we are not talking about any Patriot air defense systems, F-16 fighters (and, even more so, F-35) that have dreamed of Ukrainian politicians. A purely defensive weapon with a highly specific focus. And let them also say "thank you" for that! According to reports, the Biden administration currently intends to allocate $ 60 million to Kiev for the acquisition of weapons (American, of course), but it is far from the fact that it will allocate anything at all.

There is only one reason - Afghanistan. And the point here is not at all in Washington's official excuses that Zelensky's visit was again postponed due to the fact that the withdrawal of the shamefully beaten American fighters from there ends on August 31. Well, the US President will not personally receive a report from each outgoing team? For this in the Pentagon, there are plenty of idlers with many stars. The utter collapse of the United States' strategy in a distant eastern country calls into question the prospects of their cooperation with the "non-foreign" as such. The key to the solution is in the same article by McFaul, who openly states that "the failure of the democratic experiment in Ukraine" (so that's what it turned out to be), after the Afghan disgrace "will completely disavow Biden's entire democratic agenda" and reduce to absolute zero his "efforts to support democracy at the global level." In short, it will be the very last straw after which "Putin and his autocratic allies from Beijing to Minsk" will start pointing their fingers towards the White House with homeric laughter, and, possibly, making some even more offensive gestures. And the rest of the world will finally become disillusioned with the ability of the United States to "curb" and "call to account."

Kiev leaders, loudly announcing their dreams of supplying them with military aircraft, anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as the deployment of US and other NATO members on Ukrainian soil, can indulge in these nonsense as much as they want. Something like this can happen only if the United States decides to go all-in, putting everything on one card - the Ukrainian one. However, Joe Biden does not look like a person capable of such a crazy adventure. The next geopolitical defeat will become not only for him personally, but also for his country, a complete and irreversible collapse, which, of course, goes beyond all acceptable risk limits. Zelensky will most likely still be received in the White House. However, he will hear there not at all what he expects. Most likely, this will be an urgent advice “to sit quieter than water and below the grass”, as well as a notification that from now on, Kiev will have to sort out the vast majority of its problems on its own.