I was impressed with the Ukrainian President yesterday because he managed to get himself on several public interviews and did well in all of them. He is articulate and a good spokesman for his country. He did mention a couple of things of note. First, the number of Russian regular army forces in his country is down by about half. Since the Russians deny having any there, that number should not be too encouraging. They might just be getting better at hiding the ones they have. No more Facebook pictures probably would be one thing they might do better. But he said they were down from 8,000 or so, to 3,000 so that would be an improvement.
Second, he seems genuinely friendly with President Trump, and that may be reciprocated. He was also meeting with the heads of Defense and State afterwards, so the US has devoted considerable time to him. Like all good business managers, these are people who know you don't have to do as much as the public thinks. You just have to pay attention and focus resources. That strategy will pay off in the long run.
The press, what there was of it, linked the imposition of Russian sanctions with this visit. The two have nothing to do with one another, but that was not surprising. No good deed goes unpunished in this press world. I noticed the Guardian article was written by correspondents in Moscow. How is that for a slant?
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