There’s a fine line between pugnacious individualism and stupidity, historicism and historiography, the peformance arts and reality, et cetera. It would be churlish of me to wade into that mess now because it’s slippery outside and the prongs of my Yaktrax ICEtrekkers Diamond Grip Traction cleats are worn out.
During the fall of 2021, I wrote that Ukraine was not unlike the Mohist equivalent of the trolley problem. Z had told us, “We must pull the lever,” but for the last two and a half years he had driven the country into a double-tracked curve in such a way that the rear wheel bogey jumped the rails and flattened the economy while simultaneously failing to prepare citizens for Russia’s imminent and inevitable re-invasion1.
At the time I looked on the bright side:
“This means that if you’re a good journalist in Ukraine, you don't have an Achilles' heel. Because you're just a piece of shit in the middle of the track that eventually is going to get run over.”
In Soviet times, I worked on several US government exhibits touring cities in the USSR. They were part of a Cold War public diplomacy initiative designed to showcase American culture, technology and values to Soviet citizens by providing direct, people-to-people engagement. Russian-speaking, some times Ukrainian-speaking, American guides would chat up visitors to exhibits touring the country.
These exhibits were always well attended. Lines to get in were miles long. Tens of thousands of people came every day. KGB provocateurs were often dispatched to rile the guides in free-wheeling debates about everything from blitz chess to the Colorado Potato Bug to the anihilation of native Americans to CIA support for the mujahideen in Afghanistan. I enjoyed the sparring immensely. It was not difficult to spot troublemakers and disarm them rhetorically.
Which brings me to some observations about yesterday’s train wreck at the White House.
Donald was predictable and did not say anything we haven’t heard before. Had the discussion not gone off the rails, he would have made Z an unrefusable offer — in the other room behind closed doors — after the meeting.
Towards the end of the spray, JD blurted out:
For four years, in the United States of America, we had a president who stood up in press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin, and then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country. The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy. We tried the pathway of Joe Biden, of thumping our chest and pretending that the president of the United States’ words mattered more than the president of the United States’ actions. What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That’s what President Trump is doing.
This was exactly this point in the meeting that Z behaved unpredictably for an unprepared observer, but completely predictably for an experienced exhibit guide and anyone familiar with the Ukrainian TV series Servant of the People.
Z assumed his Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko persona, deliberately, in order not to enter the other room behind closed doors.
If this game of poker was limited to one hand, Z would certainly have taken the pot, because it was truly a Hero Call. But this is a war: to fight and prevail, you need guns and ammo and much, much more.
Z does not have this. Neither do Keir and Emmanuel. But Donald does. And Vova isn’t bluffing.
Lost in translation. Imminent inevitability in Ukraine’s underpants (Februrary 4, 2022)
I could use about 4-5 more paragraphs breaking down the ‘hero moment’ after this one:
“This was exactly this point in the meeting that Z behaved unpredictably for an unprepared observer…”
Also, and it goes without saying, of course, this US presidency is a disaster and a vast embarrassment