“Daring”?

Zelensky’s Weapons Wish List Goes Mostly Unfulfilled on Trip to Washington – New York Times – Dec 22, 2022

After his daring 10-hour dash to the nation’s capital on Wednesday, Mr. Zelensky left with nearly $2 billion in new arms and equipment — as well as a likely commitment from Congress for nearly $50 billion in additional aid next year.

What please is “daring” in taking an armored car ride from Kiev to Poland to jump onto a U.S. military plane for a non-stop flight to Washington DC?

Likewise “bold”:

Zelensky’s role on the Washington stage is Ukrainian fighter – Washington Post – Dec 21, 2022

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s bold Wednesday visit to Washington is an epic piece of theater designed to motivate multiple audiences — in the United States, Europe, Russia and Ukraine itself. The message is simple: With its own bravery in battle and the world’s help, Ukraine will prevail.

Baloney.

Larry reminds us of a similar visit 65 years ago that looked great (vid) but had an unhappy ending:

By the time of the coup, there were 12,000 advisers in Vietnam, but those who knew Diem best feel that neither he nor Nhu would ever have invited or allowed 550,000 American soldiers to fight in their country, and to permit the devastation caused by air attacks, including bombing and defoliation. There is evidence that shortly before the coup took place—and for several months afterward—the first tentative efforts were initiated both by the Saigon Government and the National Liberation Front to come to some sort of accommodation.

The coup against Diem had of course been arranged by the U.S. government:

The Pentagon’s, secret study of the Vietnam war discloses that President Kennedy knew and approved of plans for the military coup d’état that over threw President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963.“Our complicity in his overthrow heightened our responsibilities and our commitment” in Vietnam, the study finds.

Back in April, when Boris Johnson made it clear to Zelenski that the U.S. would not support any peace agreement with Russia, he may well have thought of Diem’s fate. He decided to ditch the ongoing negotiations and to commit his country to the suicidal quest of beating the Russian army.

Accordingly Zelenski’s “epic piece of theater” was “designed” to keep him alive and to fill his bank account plus those of the owners of the U.S. war industry.

Everything else be damned.

Reprinted with permission from Moon of Alabama.