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The first meeting between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his American counterpart Joe Biden turned out to be a real scandal, reports The Guardian, citing information published in the book ‘The Last Politician’ by the American journalist Franklin Foer.
During the first meeting of politicians in the summer of 2021, Zelensky behaved unprofessionally and “crammed his conversations” with Biden by giving “a long list of demands.”
In particular, the Ukrainian leader called for Ukraine’s entry into NATO but simultaneously expressed his opinion that France and Germany would leave the alliance, calling the bloc “a relic”.
“Zelensky’s frustration occluded his capacity for logic. After begging to join NATO, he began to lecture that the organisation is, in fact, a historic relic, with waning significance. He told Biden that France and Germany were going to exit NATO,” Foer wrote. “It was an absurd analysis – and a blatant contradiction. And it pissed Biden off.”
Foer also claimed that Zelensky considered Biden weak over his decision in early 2021 to waive sanctions against a Russian company building a gas pipeline to Germany, Nord Stream 2, with even the Ukrainian president’s most ardent supporters in the Biden Administration agreeing that he had crossed the line.
According to the author, Biden himself also “didn’t think much” of his Ukrainian counterpart, especially because of his friendly relations with Republican Senator Ted Cruz over the Nord Stream decision. In protest, Cruz blocked the confirmation of State Department nominees.
“Whether he understood this or not. Zelensky was complicit with this stunt. It reeked of what the administration considered amateurism. To be fair, Biden didn’t think much of his Ukrainian counterpart, either,” Foer writes.
Foer also revealed that Zelensky had long sought a meeting with former US President Donald Trump. However, he failed because he refused to help the then-US president “to dig up dirt on rivals including Biden.”
In the journalist’s words, Zelensky felt a “lingering resentments from the episode” and “at least subconsciously … seemed to blame” Biden, Trump’s successor in the Oval Office, “for the humiliation he suffered, for the political awkwardness he endured.”
Yet, two years after the failed meeting between the two presidents, Biden has proved in action that the US will support Ukraine and promised to continue doing so for “as long as it takes.” If taken literally, it would mean that the Biden Administration is prepared to arm and finance Ukraine’s war effort against Russia until the total and complete military victory of Kiev, which will obviously not happen, especially as lofty aspirations are often blunted by cold, hard reality.
Following the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the White House took advantage of the situation to send billions of dollars in military assistance to Kiev. However, a growing group of US legislators, mostly Republican, questions whether Washington can maintain the current level of support in perpetuity. While the Republican congressional leadership remains in line with the Biden administration to oppose Russia, the broader membership wants to end funding or want stricter accountability for additional aid.
According to data from a July poll by CNN, 55% of Americans believe that Congress should not authorise more funding for the conflict.
At the same time, 51% said the US has already done enough for Ukraine. In addition, even though 2022 was a year in which the Ukrainian Army far exceeded expectations thanks to the constant supply of US weapons, 2023 is proving to be much tougher and more complex for Kiev’s forces, as evidenced by the counteroffensive, which after ten weeks can best be described as a failure.
It is recalled that in the first three weeks after the Russian special military operation started, Congress approved $13 billion in emergency aid for Kiev. To date, Congress has appropriated $113 billion in aid to Ukraine in four tranches — about 60%, or $67 billion, is specifically for military assistance. This is an incredible amount of money being wasted on a war that Ukraine has no hope of winning, which is why the spending issue is coming to the fore and challenging Biden’s promise to support Kiev for “as long as it takes.”
Yet, despite the incredible amount of resources spent to prop up Ukraine, Zelensky, just like in 2021, as revealed by Foer, is ungrateful for the support and behaves in a juvenile entitled manner.
In July 2023, a high-level Pentagon official told former Pentagon official, Douglas MacKinnon, “Zelensky is acting like a spoiled, petulant child who gets everything he wants and it’s still not enough. Many in the US government and many of our citizens are growing tired of his act. I can assure you he is burning bridges in Europe as well.”
For all the consistent lambasting and abuse from Zelensky, there is still little indication that Biden will withdraw his support for Ukraine. However, it is doubtful that Biden can maintain a policy of “as long as it takes,” especially when the US election campaign will likely kick off in the winter.
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Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
Featured image is from InfoBrics
