President Zelensky Should Travel To United Nations General Assembly, But Not Visit Washington. Exploit Planned Absence Of President Putin Of Russia. Turkiye May Have A Role
President Zelensky Should Travel To New York For United Nations General Assembly, But Not Visit Washington. He Should Exploit Planned Absence Of President Putin Of Russia. Turkiye May Have A Role
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, should focus planning towards in-person participation in September 2022 at the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, New York.
Based upon the UNGA schedule in 2021, President Zelensky is likely to address delegates on 21 September 2022 which would be approximately 210 days (six months and twenty-nine days) since the armed forces of the Russian Federation commenced its attack into the territory of Ukraine.
The use by President Zelensky of live transmission presentations by ZOOM, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., to address assembled heads of state and heads of government will have run out its course as an influential medium to convey messages.
Using live transmission is not having the impact that it had in February 2022, March 2022, and April 2022 when it was bold, novel, disruptive, intense, often mesmerizing. His in-person experiences should not be focused upon celebrities visiting his office in Kyiv.
None visited from 24 February 2022 to 14 March 2022, but since 15 March 2022 eight presidents (one twice), nine prime ministers (one twice), and two chancellors have visited Ukraine. If they can endure roundtrip train travel of approximately thirty hours to and from Ukraine, then President Zelensky can travel to the UNGA.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkiye, who has continued to manage occupying commercial, economic, and political space between the government of Ukraine and the government of the Russian Federation, could use that space to obtain from the government of the Russian Federation security guarantees and then aircraft and escorts from Kyiv to New York and from New York to Kyiv.
At the UNGA, most importantly for President Zelensky will be for face-to-face bilateral visits with heads of state and heads of government.
President Zelensky needs again to be bold- and bold is defined by attending the UNGA. If Mrs. Zelenska wants to participate, then do so. For the media, the focus will first be upon the message and with whom he meets at the UNGA (particularly President Erdogan) and then 1) what will he wear and 2) will he shave.
For presentation purposes, imperative that President Zelensky arrive to New York City immediately prior to his address, arriving from the airport to the UNGA. This reinforces the limited time that he believes he should be away from Ukraine. He should hold as many bilateral meetings as possible in the time permitted and then return to Ukraine. One overnight if deemed necessary and then return to Kyiv.
President Zelensky should not extend the visit to include Washington DC to seek or accept an opportunity to address members of the United States Congress. Joe Biden, President of the United States, will be attending the UNGA so President Zelensky and President Biden may meet in New York City. Members of the United States Congress can easily travel to New York City.
The additional time and expense of President Zelensky traveling to Washington DC for the specific purpose of seeking additional funds from United States taxpayers- and those funds will need to be borrowed, is unwise given the increasing domestic requirements and increasing opposition to additional funding for Ukraine by members of all political parties.
The government of the Russian Federation has reported that Vladimir Putin President of the Russian Federation, has no plans to attend the UNGA or to address the UNGA by live transmission or taped presentation.
This decision is wrong as it creates a narrative of cowardness- the armed forces of the Russian Federation invades a country and then the head of state will not defend the decision to the delegates attending the UNGA particularly when the government of the Russian Federation is one of the five (5) permanent members of the United Nations Security Council- China France Russia United Kingdom United States. If the invasion of Ukraine is justified, then come to the UNGA and defend it.
President Zelensky can absolutely exploit the absence of President Putin with the message: the aggressor insults the UNGA by its absence, while the victim is here in person.
Commercial, economic, financial, military, and political interest about Ukraine and interest in providing resources to Ukraine is waning. Absent meaningful, substantial, and suggestively-irreversible retaking of territory by the armed forces of Ukraine and the meaningful, substantial, and suggestively-irreversible retreat by the armed forces of the Russian Federation to within the pre-24 February 2022 (and ideally pre-27 February 2014) territory of the Russian Federation, in place by the beginning of the UNGA, challenging will be for President Zelensky to plea- and as he too often does demand assistance, explanations, cessation from countries who are already supportive, and more significantly from those who have continued to engage, and in some instances expand commercial, economic, and political engagement with the government of the Russian Federation.
Nearing six months after the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded territory of Ukraine, there exists a landscape where the armed forces of the Russian Federation have approximately tripled under its control (some of which is more permanent than others) the percentage of territory of Ukraine- from approximately 7% prior to 24 February 2022 to approximately 20% as of 16 August 2022.
While there remains a collectively-nuanced unanimity that the armed forces of the Russian Federation should withdraw to the pre-2014 borders of Ukraine, meaning out of the Crimea Peninsula and Donbas Region (Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast), the more permanence in how the map of Ukraine is portrayed by the beginning of the UNGA, the less connectivity will be for those outside of Ukraine to believe they should sacrifice for Ukraine.
If President Zelensky can travel to the eastern conflict zones of Ukraine, travel to the southern conflict zones of Ukraine (recently Odessa to review renewed agricultural commodity export operations), have time away from managing the war to visit with celebrities, and to work with a photographer for a cover feature in Vogue Magazine, the perception exists that he may safely travel from Kyiv to New York City to address the UNGA.
During the last weeks, President Zelensky has made mistakes impacting optically the outside-of-Ukraine perspective about the inside-of-Ukraine realities. He (and his wife, Mrs. Zelenska) have focused increasingly upon the marketing, the presentation of two concurrent wars: the one between the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the armed forces of Ukraine and the one between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of Ukraine.
With his previous-life’s entertainment-focused DNA taking hold, his team in Kyiv have embraced celebrity as a means, they believe, of both influencing and maintaining commercial, economic, and political support particularly from the two countries President Zelensky believes are most important: the United States and the United Kingdom, two English-speaking countries whose respective head of state and outgoing head of government have been the lead marshals for the parade of countries who are, to varying degrees, supporting the government of Ukraine and the approximately forty-three million citizens of Ukraine.
Visits to Ukraine by Jessica Chastain, Ben Stiller, Liev Schreiber, Angelina Jolie, and Piers Morgan will not sway further the committed nor more importantly sway those opposed. Governments will not commit billions in taxpayer funds to Ukraine because a celebrity visited Ukraine. Actors, actresses, television hosts, and influencers earn their livelihoods by promoting themselves- and connect with causes-of-the-moment which further their marketability and earning power.
Instructive to remember a comment reported in June 2022 by The Observer newspaper. Oleksiy Arestovych, a military advisor to President Zelensky, was quoted “It was inevitable that the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial garnered more views and likes than the war. People are getting weary and tired, but we couldn’t care less. You don’t have to talk about us at all. Just give us the weapons.”
Instructive too to remember what President Zelensky must focus upon as he seeks support now and seeks support for what-comes-after: On 29 July 2022, The Wall Street Journal published an article about a London, United Kingdom-based VR Capital, an investment fund, whose US$123 million purchase in 2019 of distressed loans issued by Kyiv, Ukraine-based Ukrainian Railways was seized in May 2022 by the government of Ukraine. The reporter who authored the article described pre-24 February 2022 Ukraine: “Long before much of the world rallied to Ukraine’s aid, the country was a treacherous place to do business. It had an unpredictable legal system, heavy state involvement in the economy and low scores in rankings of transparency and corruption.”
Attending in person the UNGA in September 2022 will provide an immersive opportunity for President Zelensky, on behalf of the approximately forty-three million citizens of Ukraine, to deliver his message, face-to-face.
The delivery is less important for those heads of state and heads of government who are supportive. The in-person delivery is essential for those heads of state and heads of government who need convincing, are on the cusp, are neutral, or are opposed.
