Did you hear the one about...
the comedian and the solstice?
Today marks the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere (I suppose it does in the southern, too, but they call it the summer solstice for some cruel reason) where, mercifully from my perspective, the earth stops tilting away from our location. This enables longer days and a growing season to nurture us, and allows us to reflect on warmer times while looking back ahead with aspiration. It’s not surprising that Yuletide, Christmas, New Year’s, and Chanukah are all festivals during this time of the year. The longer nights, with their often brutal cold, allow us to hibernate and recharge. In short, this is the period of hope.
It strikes me, therefore, as fitting to mark today’s solstice with an additional note of hope. Ukrainian president Voldomir Zelenskyy spent today in Washington, D.C. Foreign visitors coming to the nation’s capital are, frankly, pretty humdrum events, although an occasional state visit does liven up the social pages. Leaders come to discuss national interests with the President of the United States and Congressional leadership. U.S. leaders similarly go to foreign countries to do the same thing, although the individual form of government dictates where the emphases of any visits appears. Not all countries have strong legislative branches but many have overly strong individual rulers. No one has a national security community like the one here.
For any other time in his presidency, the trip by Zelenskyy would not be insignificant but a source of national pride. Today’s visit is actually startlingly powerful if one harkens back to the last week in February. Indeed, this Saturday marks the ten month anniversary of Russia’s attack on its neighbour. Truth be told, many of us—including me—held much confidence Ukraine could hold out against the Russian onslaught for several reasons. Vladimir Putin made clear he spent billions to upgrade aging Soviet-turned-Russian military forces which were expected to crush the smaller Ukrainian military. Russia’s population is bigger, allowing Russia to reach back for assumed reinforcements who could augment the initial invasion force. The likelihood, based on decades of evidence, that Europe, Canada, Japan, the United States and ‘like-minded peoples’, could retain a shared anger with Russia that would present a common front on sanctions seemed remote. The list went on. And, Zelenskyy was not your average politician facing this scenario, either.
Yet Vlodomir Zelenskyy, a Jewish comedian elected to the highest position in his country less than four years ago, has proven the single most charismatic world leader in 2022. His savvy strategy of remaining in Kyiv as the invasion progressed, supported by on-line communication to his citizens and those of countries around the world, turned an erstwhile professional jokester into an unlikely figure of hope representing to many a David standing up to Putin’s Goliath. He has been masterful in his actions.
The Ukraine conflict is far from over. Russia could still have the fortitude and self-aggrandizement for Putin to beat Ukrainian forces into submission by repeated pounding as we have seen through attacks from the air. Additionally, winter is only beginning on the solstice so governments in Europe could still bend to Putin’s demands in order to secure the natural gas he turns off as a political tool. Those governments currently standing with Kyiv have their own constituencies to satisfy; bitter cold could change hearts away from Ukraine’s cause.
And we should not kid ourselves about the youth of Ukraine’s democracy. One of the former Soviet republics, Ukraine has suffered from many of the initial challenges that all states face as they move to transparent, competitive, and sustained rule by and for the people. Zelenskyy will confront his greatest test, in fact, when a time arises for him to give up power rather than assume he alone is the answer for his country. That has proven a trap for far too many politicians around the globe for us to ignore the possibility it snares him. But we are not there now.
Zelenskyy is not here merely on a ‘victory lap’ of sorts: he needs weapons and wants the Biden administration to commit to selling them. The Democratic Party in two weeks relinquishes full political power when it must share with House Republicans unswayed by Zelenskyy’s cause. Zelenskyy knows he needs these commitments on support quickly to continue the momentum he believes is his. Time can be a threat hard to overcome. Discussing the current situation with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and General Mark Milley will also be useful.
It is fascinating, however, that today’s solstice and the visit by this Russian-speaking Ukrainian president coincide. For many, the hope is that Zelenskyy and his fierce, fighting nationalists can continue thwarting the dangers represented by Putin and his wounded Russian Orthodox revisionist fantasy. It will be a protracted struggle for Zelenskyy during a long winter. However, spring is only 90 days from now and the warmth and succor of summer lay not far beyond that. Zelenskyy believes he can remind all of us in the west of why the coincidence of hope and Ukraine’s future is so powerful and appropriate for those who believe in a better world. Humans live with recurring seasons generation after generation which build resilience and hope because we know brighter days follow the darker ones. The Ukrainian is counting on this understanding and patience for his nation to survive as the light lengthens day by day.FIN