MISTER BIDEN COMES TO EUROPE

The American president came, saw, and didn't win.

The Europeans remain a family, divided by necessity and opportunism. The German/French duumvirat shows metal fatigue and the East/West urgency in the EU is not synchronized.

Biden performed well, in a Harry Truman mode, more convinced than convincing. His rage versus Putin is both genuine and warranted. Nevertheless one should beware of rhetorical overblow if there might be still a glimmer of diplomatic solution, despite the indiscriminate horror that befalls Ukraine. There remains that the war crimes dimension will survive the outcome. If the Serbians made it to Rambouillet and Dayton, the so-called peace arrangement did not shield them from having to pay for their sins.

The Ukrainian president is lragically frustrated in not getting the no-fly zone and the planes he needs. The dilemma for NATO is one of a Greek tragedy, "ignoring" for the sake of "survival". Putin is not a Bluff personality, neither does he belong to the "quality oriented". While Stalin, or even Hitler and Mao, could occasionally charm,  the Russian Federation president can only bite. He has his Ivan the Terrible's frustration rooted  in the downfall of the Soviet Union, but remains unable to find it in himself to turn the page, the tone, the purpose. He has the same hate as Hiler had towards the Versailles treaty.

Biden will find little appreciation at home after having been confronted with tepid sympathy in Europe. His unscripted gaffes are his worse enemy.

History is often written by the victors. President Zelensky is the moral victor and might end up surprising unsuspecting others.  Anyway he is  the only leader who doesn't need fact checks.