The lion’s indomitable spirit, defiance and grace

There is a world leader who could fill a plane with money and escape the turmoil in his country. But he hasn’t. Who could hide in a bunker and stay safe from threats on his life. But he hasn’t. He could stand back and let his country be taken by the opposition. But he hasn’t.

He’s been on the frontlines with his soldiers, traveled the world seeking help for his people and done so with humility and grace. This is what bravery, strength and honor look like. This is who Vladimir Zelensky is. He didn’t provoke this war with Russia. The world thought it would be over in days, a few weeks at the most. But Zelensky and the Ukrainian people didn’t back down. Against all odds, they fought and are still fighting four years later. Like any war, the lines of skirmish move back and forth. But Ukraine is holding its own, for the most part. They are a resilient, resourceful and unbreakable people. Zelensky is known to some as the Lion of Europe.

Last year, the White House essentially tossed the Ukrainian president out of the White House. They cut off funding for the Ukrainian fight.  A majority of NATO countries are supporting Ukraine now. Not the U.S. The Trump Administration canceled all support to the brutalized country (USAID dollars helping lift struggling countries out of hunger and disease was also revoked) when the President took his chair at the Resolute desk last year.

Now the U.S. has partnered with Israel’s Netanyahu and is attacking Iran in a full out war.  The U.S. is shooting down $20,000 drones with $1-9 million missile systems. To preserve those high dollar munitions, the U.S. went to the expert on drone warfare to ask for assistance. That’s Zelensky. His people have been building these interceptor drones and deploying them on the battlefield since Russia invaded. Ukraine offered its technology to the U.S. months ago and was ghosted.

 Days after the Iranian war began, the U.S. asked Zelensky for help. He graciously agreed, despite the inhospitable treatment he’s received at their hands. And then Trump said they didn’t need Zelensky. But several other countries have accepted, and  Zelenskyy sent 201 anti-drone military experts to the Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There are 34 more drone experts ready to deploy to other Mid-East countries needing help.  According to Trump, the U.S. doesn’t need any other countries’ help.

In a rare rebuke, Pope Leo is speaking out against Trump’s war with Iran and is asking for a ceasefire as well as disarmament and peace for the world. That’s a tall order with the situation in the Middle East engulfing several countries, with Iran having 40 years to build up munitions and plan strategies for redundancies. Add to that the several Venezuelan boats the U.S. blew up and Venezuela’s president and his wife the U.S. kidnapped. Trump insists Venezuela is now a U.S. protectorate (and he’s keeping their oil), with Delcy Rodríguez (same regime as Maduro) serving as its leader at the will of the U.S. president. Buried in the news, the U.S. has sent our military into Ecuador to help their forces take down a cartel.

Now there are noises about the U.S. taking over Cuba. I don’t really understand the reason for that, other than maybe Trump wants Cuba’s resorts and casinos for himself. That’s a lot of conflicts the U.S. is generating, a big ask assigned to resolution through prayers alone. I hope God has some aces up his sleeve.

After extracting ourselves from Afghanistan, much of the U.S. populace, I’m sure, was hoping the U.S. could avoid a major military engagement for a while. Not quite five years later, we’re back at it. And the U.S. started it! Maybe for oil or maybe to divert attention from the Epstein files and the economy, which this war is forcing further down the toilet. One wonders.

A quote from Winston Churchill: “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice will attack it. Ignorance will ridicule it. But in the end, there it is.”