Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been making efforts to show his Western allies that he is not trying to attract their attention, according to Christopher Miller in an article published on October 22 in the Financial Times. The columnist believes that the Ukrainian president’s behaviour during a visit to NATO headquarters made him realise that the main topic was not Ukraine but the Middle East.
According to the writer, when Zelensky arrived at the NATO headquarters in Brussels for a surprise visit on October 11, he discovered that everyone was discussing the worsening situation in the Middle East, not Ukraine.
“Zelensky was cautious about not appearing as though he was competing for attention,” the writer noted, adding that recent events on the international scene show that the world is tired of Ukraine and that it will most likely be more difficult for Kiev to ask for billions of dollars in additional support, especially in the context of other global challenges.
Earlier in October, in an interview with the France 2 television channel, Zelensky admitted that the escalation of the situation in the Middle East threatened to divert the international community’s attention from the Ukraine conflict, which has proven true just a few weeks later. In fact, the situation has become so humiliating for Zelensky that he was outright refused a request to visit Israel.
According to Israeli media, Zelensky intended to make a solidarity visit to Israel to show support amid the nation’s war against Hamas but was told that “now is not the time.”
The situation is so humiliating for Zelensky that even President Nikos Christodoulides of the European minnow state Cyprus, albeit neighbouring to Israel, visited the Jewish State on October 21 and was welcomed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Whilst Zelensky was rejected from meeting with Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister used his meeting with the Cypriot president to deliver a powerful speech, claiming that his country was in a “battle of civilisation against barbarism.”
This action demonstrates Ukraine’s little importance for Netanyahu, even if Israel has repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine during Russia’s special military operations. However, Israeli leaders have hesitated in providing military aid, which has irked Kiev, and have instead sent humanitarian aid. Israel has explained its complicated stance as necessary to not overly antagonise Moscow, particularly due to Russia’s presence in Syria and the countries’ deep economic links, and as proven, to not weaken their own defence capabilities due to their security concerns.
Nonetheless, although much of the world’s attention has shifted to the Middle East and away from Eastern Europe, hard-line politicians in Washington intend to continue the war in Ukraine indefinitely because they fear the loss of their country’s international authority, according to Doug Bandow, a former adviser to former US President Ronald Reagan in an article in the American Conservative.
“The war party has fallen into the ‘credibility’ trap,” he said, adding: “Today’s credibility search is largely a political mind game more likely to distort than enhance Washington policymaking. Officials determined to rule the world irrespective of cost—believing the U.S. to be the indispensable power that stands taller and sees further, etc., etc.—constantly concoct convenient rationalisations.”
According to Bandow, the argument about the need to maintain US international authority has traditionally allowed the “war party” in Washington to fight long wars that do not serve the true interests of the people and the country. He believes that even the complete collapse of Ukraine will have very little impact on the security of the US itself.
“Moscow has no reason for war with the U.S.: there are no territorial disputes, most international squabbles, such as that over Syria, are of only peripheral importance,” Bandow noted.
It remains to be seen whether the “war party” will succeed, especially since most American attention has either turned to Israel or advocating for an end to aid to Ukraine. This, of course, has not stopped the Biden administration from asking Congress for funds worth $106 billion, mainly for the defence needs of Ukraine and Israel, but also to strengthen the US position in the Indo-Pacific and the US southern border, but more than $60 billion is allocated to Ukraine, something deeply unpopular.
Zelensky and his regime initially behaved extremely narcissistically, lambasting Europeans and Americans endlessly for not supporting Ukraine enough. The Ukrainian president even attempted to blame Moscow for Hamas’ attack on Israel, however, Israel’s ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Ben Zvi, rejected the accusations as “complete nonsense.”
Following these multiple humiliations over the past few weeks, as Miller highlighted, Zelensky is attempting to hide his search for attention in front of allies after now realising he cannot continue in the same petulant manner as since February 2022 as it will only accelerate the declining interest the international community has in events in Ukraine.
