Who’s Fiddling While Ukraine Burns?

Volodymyr Zelensky is a stubborn man. He refuses to stop reminding the world of Vladimir Putin’s crime: a decade-long war of subversion, aggression, invasion and annexation. Zelensky refuses to legitimise Russian control over Crimea by accepting it. That makes Donald Trump angry and the US president may have a point: “Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago?” In fact, comedian Zelensky was urging Ukraine not to ban Russian artists in 2014 while his company was donating money to the Ukrainian army. On April 24, Trump had to admit he was not happy about Russia’s overnight attack, the deadliest on Kyiv since July which killed nine and injured 77. Zelensky cut short his visit to South Africa. But pressure on Russia isn’t really coming from anywhere except a Europe that can only talk. Moscow has lapped up every rebuke hurled at the Ukrainian president by the White House—because its goal is to ensure that the talks fail and when they do, that Kyiv alone is blamed. This week’s carnage has again caught the Kremlin in the act. Is the fiddler in Moscow or Kyiv or DC?

From Russia with Hope

Vladimir Putin gave Donald Trump a gift last month, delivered to the White House by Trump’s trusted envoy Steve Witkoff. Trump was said to have been “touched by it”. But the painting was not shown to the public. Until now. The Kremlin-commissioned artist, Nikas Safronov, has given CNN an exclusive look. It is Trump’s Iwo Jima moment. His fist in the air, after surviving the assassination attempt at Butler, Pennsylvania last July. We don’t hear “Fight, Fight, Fight”, but blood trickles down his face. The backdrop has morphed into the New York City skyline. Liberty looks on from her little island. Safronov was approached by the Kremlin, as he later understood, to “paint Trump as I see him.” But his client turned out to be Putin himself. The painting, Safronov told CNN, was meant to bring Russia and the US closer. Knowing that high purpose, he didn’t charge any money. “[Trump] didn’t break down or become afraid, but raised his arm to show he is one with America and will bring back what it deserves,” said the artist. Or was that Putinspeak for flattery as diplomacy?

The Dogs of Abbas

At 89, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), has been irrelevant for a long time, presiding over an incompetent and corrupt PA on the West Bank dominated by his Fatah. After 18 months of the Gaza war, he has now exploded: “Sons of dogs, just release whoever you’re holding and be done with it.” He blames Hamas for the plight of Gazans and Israel’s continuation of the war. But Hamas hasn’t listened to him since carving Gaza out as its hunting grounds in 2007. It has now taken him to task for “derogatory language” against his own people.

CNNDonald TrumpgeopoliticsMahmoud AbbasRussia-Ukraine conflictSteve WitkoffVladimir PutinVolodymyr Zelensky