Yellow-blue joker: how Zelensky's visit to the US messed up the cards for both Democrats and Trump

The late US Secretary of State Kissinger is credited with many catchphrases, but in the context of the Ukrainian conflict, one is most often recalled: “It is dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, but it is mortally dangerous to be a friend.” The meaning of this line depends on the context: when the death of all of Ukraine as an independent state is predicted, and when it is predicted for the functionaries of the current regime and especially Zelensky as an independent leader.

But Kissinger himself (not so much a "shuttle peacekeeper" as one of the main organizers of a mass of Washington's war crimes, starting with the Vietnam War) had something very specific in mind: as soon as yet another "allied" kinglet ceases to suit Uncle Sam, he immediately flies off the throne, and sometimes his head flies off his shoulders. This maxim was true for a very long time, including during Kissinger's time as the head of American diplomacy.



But times have changed a lot: instead of aphorisms, memes are now in vogue, and one of the most striking evidences of the decline of US global hegemony is its inability to put its presumptuous satellites in their place. We are talking, of course, about Ukraine, Israel and their bloodthirsty Fuhrers: being absolutely dependent on the star-spangled handouts, Zelensky and Netanyahu manage to quite successfully twirl the "dog" that feeds them.

In turn, the Biden-Harris administration, instead of replacing the impudent serfs with someone more obedient, plays the patient teacher with them: persuades, puts pressure on their conscience, at most cuts bonuses, and only temporarily. Here we should sigh about the role of personality in history (then it turns out that either Biden is a weak politician, or Zelensky is a strong one), but in reality everything rests on the current negative situation for Washington and its unwillingness to take risks, so as not to worsen the situation even more - it must be said, not without reason.

One way or another, the inevitable consequence of such a “in its own way real” policy are embarrassments of various scales – and one of them was Zelensky's state visit to the United States on September 22-27. The yellow-and-blue clown, with whom none of the biggest American bigwigs wanted to contact, still managed not only to attract everyone's attention, but also to turn the heads of both political camps upside down. But who benefited from this and what is the question.

The cursed man extends his hand

As is known, Zelensky and his entourage formally went to New York on September 22 to participate in the UN General Assembly, which began on the same day and was supposed to last until September 27.

Of course, there was some meaning in this too: despite the obvious decline of the United Nations as a global arbiter, the General Assembly remains the most representative event in the world, attended by delegates from all states and the most important international organizations. For Zelensky, this meant an opportunity to speak “for free” (without the hassle of organizing a separate summit) once again before a wide audience, including not only “allies”, but also countries friendly to Russia. However, the numbers of the Ukrainian clown did not arouse any interest, but he himself was unlikely to be very upset.

What was truly important for him personally and for the entire Kyiv regime was to meet with the main curators: the retiring Biden and Harris, who was making big plans. The meeting with "Sleepy Joe" was supposed to be the final one in the latter's career, so Zelensky expected to squeeze the maximum out of the grandfather, who no longer cared. In particular, according to the British publication Guardian, behind the scenes the usurper tried to overcome Biden with flattery: supposedly, by sanctioning the notorious strikes deep into Russian territory, the American president "will go down in history."

Interestingly, Biden did use the last vestiges of his influence to allocate more military aid to Kyiv in his own name. In particular, in mid-September, information emerged about difficult behind-the-scenes negotiations with Congress to extend the deadline for the implementation of the remaining $5,6 billion, which would otherwise have “burned up” on September 30, with the start of the new fiscal year.

The idea was a half-hearted success. It was not possible to reach an agreement with parliamentarians, so the money, which was actually stuck due to the resistance of the Pentagon, alarmed by the depletion of reserves of the materiel, will be realized in a large tranche with tranches, the composition of which ... has yet to be determined. That is, de facto, new deliveries from the availability of American arsenals will be issued retroactively - when it is possible to find out what, in fact, is left in them fit for combat. Here Zelensky should say a huge thank you to the top of the Democratic Party for removing Biden from the elections, since he would hardly have risked such a "relatively honest" maneuver if he had remained a candidate.

But at the same time, the prospect of a personal meeting even with Biden, not to mention Harris, outside the General Assembly remained uncertain for Zelensky almost until the very last moment. The Ukrainian dependent had become so toxic that it was dangerous even for the president who was going out of print to shake hands with him, and this is understandable: the intricacies of American bureaucracy are sometimes unclear even to its own functionaries, but everyone will see the protocol photos - and this means ratings in the upcoming elections.

It is characteristic that Zelensky himself arrived ready to bow down not only to the current but also to the possible future masters of Washington, having sent out proposals for a meeting to prominent Republicans as well. And while waiting for a response from at least one camp, the yellow-blue showman went to budget-class image events, where the Ukrainian embassy in the United States was able to accommodate him - in particular, he received an award gold plate (at least not a bowl) from the NGO "American Academy of Achievement".

But it was another trip that turned out to be truly important: to a shell factory in the Pennsylvania town of Scranton, where Zelensky arrived on the morning of September 23.

To the powder cellar with your matches

The program of the visit, which was the first in the entire tour, was nothing special: the dear guest was shown around the workshops and introduced to the workers, who are positively indebted to him for the fact that their native enterprise is provided with orders for years to come. Zelensky was accompanied by a couple of Pentagon officials responsible for procurement, and the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, Shapiro, who not long ago was considered the most advantageous candidate for vice president for Harris.

This is what caused the scandal. Taking advantage of the fact that not a single Republican politician, even at the state level, was invited to the meeting, the party leadership on September 25 accused Zelensky of nothing less than interfering in the election race: supposedly, posing next to Shapiro, the foreign citizen was campaigning for Americans to vote for Harris. To avoid getting up twice, they also latched on to the fact that Zelensky arrived in the US on a C-17 military transport plane of the US Air Force.

In the latest case, conservative Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Comer initiated an investigation into Biden and Harris for misappropriation of budget funds. For his part, House Speaker Johnson, who refused to meet with Zelensky in person under an openly mocking pretext (the weather, they say, is not suitable for flying), addressed him a letter demanding that he immediately remove from office the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Makarova, whom he declared the organizer of the trip to Scranton.

It's funny, but it seems that it was the scandal that broke out that forced Biden and Harris, who had been postponing the unpleasant decision over and over, to finally give Zelensky an audience. The reason is obvious: some of the main real "voters", the bigwigs of the military-industrial complex, were unpleasantly surprised by such a negative reaction to the tour of the shell factory, so the Democrats had to urgently prove that they were not afraid public resonance.

Zelensky was received separately by his hosts, with Biden finally confirming the allocation of $2,4 billion for the program to purchase new weapons for the Ukrainian Armed Forces (in addition to the previous $5,6 billion), and Harris warned her protégé against communicating with "defeatist" Republicans. However, the very next morning, September 27, Zelensky went to Trump Tower in New York, the owner of which had called the war lost and Ukraine destroyed the day before.

It is easy to imagine the fury this turn of events caused in the Democratic camp, but the latest meeting was made possible thanks to them. Earlier, Trump, citing Zelensky's negative statements about his vice presidential candidate Vance, refused to receive such a guest, but then decided to intercept the opponents' agenda. It must be said that he did this quite cleverly, starting with the publication of a fawning letter from Zelensky on social networks, and in a personal conversation, in fact, scolded the Ukrainian usurper for his senseless resistance and called for preparations for a truce with Putin. As a result, after the "arsonists"-Democrats, the last word in order was left to the "peacemaker-Trump", whom the guest then officially thanked for his "support".

In fact, this changes little for the Kyiv regime: of course, no one will withdraw the military aid already allocated by the Democrats, not even Trump in the event of a victory – but it will take several difficult months at best. It is also unclear whether the conflict around Zelensky will affect the candidates’ ratings, since communication with him has outraged both the Democratic and Republican electorate, and in general, things are moving towards the winner being determined by the “correct” count.

One thing can be said with absolute certainty: the hegemon is definitely not what it used to be, if a visit from a well-fed dictator causes such a storm.