When the US and the EU provide Ukraine with massive aid while Iran— and potentially China— back Russia, the question arises: Is this the Cold War 2.0?
But even so, the one-year anniversary of the war’s outbreak is worth dwelling on. A year ago, Western public opinion would have rated Ukraine’s chances poorly, giving it no more than a few days or weeks at the most. No one would have predicted that a year later, Ukraine would not only be hanging in against the Russian giant but even landing some punches.
Biden took a gamble with massive supply airlifts that enabled the Ukrainians to stabilize the situation and ultimately repel the Russian advance. This week, Biden landed in Kyiv in what was seen as a major humiliation for Vladimir Putin.
Volodymyr Zelensky managed to take the world by surprise, morphing overnight from an inexperienced politician best known as a comic actor to a leader coordinating military aid with Ukraine’s allies across the world, especially the US, and succeeding in upgrading his army’s capabilities on the move. The Ukrainian army is much more sophisticated than it was a year ago.
By contrast, we’re seeing massive Iranian support for Russia in the form of combat drones, reportedly in exchange for Russian warplanes. Speculation has also arisen regarding possible aid from China, although on the eve of the war’s first anniversary, Beijing was launching a peace initiative to try to bring the fighting to an end.
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