This is a copy of my letter to the Wellington Post in Dec 2022.
You kindly published an earlier, possibly controversial, letter about the Ukraine war; all that continues to happen merely reinforces my divergent opinion. Recently Mr Zelensky addressed the NZ Parliament via video. Following a standing ovation from all MPs, Mr Luxon acclaimed Zelensky as “Our generation’s Churchill”. Is this praise or a put down? Churchill, planner of the Gallipoli debacle (recall ANZAC, Mr Luxon?), Anglo-Saxon supremacist, ignorer of the famine in Bengal, and many other grievous failures. Later as leader in WW2 he atoned for some of these but, recall, in 1945 he effectively had to gave away half of Europe to another Russian autocrat, Stalin, rather worse than any Putin. Churchillian statesmanship is not just rousing rhetoric, which any actor can emulate, but sober judgement in the face of painful reality. Yalta was a painful realism, only a similar painful realism now can rescue Ukraine. Today, Biden tells Zelensky “we’re with Ukraine as long as it’s there” - rather less than reassuring. I feel utter sympathy for Zelensky, so inadequately equipped in his tragic role; he and all Ukrainians have been and will continue to be betrayed by the West - any Afghani, Iraqi, Libyan, Syrian or Vietnamese might well agree.
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