Opinions #15/24

Washington and Brussels seem to have exhausted their confidence. Ukraine is no longer destined to win the war, but must come to terms with the anticipation of defeat on the battlefield or a substantially crippled “victory.” That is, without territories controlled by Moscow. It is an innovation that political leaders in the US, EU, and NATO have struggled to come to grips with by joining – a year too late – the positions of their military leaders. But the twelve months did not pass without a trace. Kiev’s counteroffensive had failed, and now the Russians are advancing. And at the negotiating table, when it is set, Moscow will lay out its goals, not necessarily identical to those of a year ago. The hypothesis of a wider “safety zone” seems to be gaining momentum, and the point of arrival could be Odessa. Meanwhile, China is strengthening its power vertical following the annual People’s Congress, which increasingly reports directly to Xi Jinping. In his analysis, Ambassador Alberto Bradanini also addresses the economic trends of the Asian superpower and the increasingly close strategic relationship with Russia. An agreement designed to increasingly worry Washington, struggling with an election campaign, where the challenge between Biden and Trump must now center on independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr., whose popularity among Democratic voters, as Andrew Spannaus notes, is throwing the outgoing president’s party into a state of panic.

Alessandro Cassieri

Editor in chief