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?
seems that the war in Ukraine has exhausted its news value. One could even say that a certain indifference has developed across the world toward a conflict that has already claimed 300,000 lives and continues to rage in the heart of Eastern Europe, well into 2023.
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.
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