Putin vs The West: At War review – How a poet’s gift for rhetoric – and Boris – helped Zelensky defy Putin, writes CHRISTOPHER STEVENS
Putin versus the West: at war
Dr. Xand’s Con of Cure
Wars are not won by sound bites, more shame for Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president has a poetic talent for rhetoric.
“If you don’t help Ukraine today,” he warned the West when Russia attacked in 2022, “the war will knock on your door tomorrow.” It seems increasingly likely that this grim prediction will come true.
Of the many ministers and diplomats analyzing the invasion in Putin vs The West: At War (BBC2), Zelensky has by far the greatest flair for the dramatic.
Addressing the European Council via video link from his capital Kiev, he warned: “I don’t know if this is the last time we will see each other.
Boris showed his disdain for the Russian fuss by walking through Kiev with Zelensky, although he admitted he continued to scan the rooftops for snipers
What the West has sent has not been enough to secure victory, just an endless, exhausting stalemate
I don’t know if I’ll be alive for the next few hours.’
He is still alive, but the physical toll this war has taken on him is undeniable. Clips showed that he has aged twenty years in as many months.
Zelensky was an actor before he became a politician, and he knows how to twist emotions, as British Ambassador to the United Nations Barbara Woodward revealed.
During a speech at a UN conference, he announced that he wanted to show a video illustrating the inhumanity of Russian troops.
“This video was probably no longer than a minute,” Woodward said, “but you can summarize a lot of atrocities in one minute.”
Viewers of this two-part documentary were spared the worst, but Zelensky’s point was made powerfully.
So did his plea for help: “You have at least 20,000 tanks,” he told NATO leaders, before asking for “one percent of your main battle tanks, one percent of your planes, one percent of your artillery.” Give it to us or sell it to us.”
What the West has sent has not been enough to secure victory, just an endless, exhausting stalemate.
This episode offered little criticism of NATO’s cautious response, although Boris Johnson did express frustration at our failure to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
This might have saved thousands of civilian lives, but the risk of provoking Russia into all-out war against Europe was considered too great. “Regardless of who tries to stop us,” Vladimir Putin threatened, “Russia’s response will be brutal and will lead you to consequences unlike anything you have ever experienced in your history.”
Boris showed his disdain for the Russian fuss by walking around Kiev with Zelensky, although he admitted he continued to scan the rooftops for snipers.
It was not clear whether this was actually the Kremlin leader speaking, or just a Putin lookalike.
Dr. Xand van Tulleken investigated rumors and exploding fake news as medical morning show Con Or Cure (BBC1) returned
Mind you, anyone stupid enough to rip their head off over something they saw on TikTok is unlikely to listen to a doctor’s advice
Of all the conspiracy theories and disinformation stirred up by this war, the rumor I enjoy most is that Western intelligence services believe the real dictator has a pet goat, which is his constant companion. If the goat isn’t around, it’s not Putin.
Dr. Xand van Tulleken investigated rumors and exploding fake news when the medical morning show Con Or Cure (BBC1) returned.
“Today,” he announced, “we’re asking the question: Does cheese give you bad dreams at night?” Scientific evidence disproves this old wives’ tale, he said, ignoring the more obvious question of whether it gives you bad breath.
No one wants to share a pillow with a partner who just scoffed at a piece of Stilton.
He and co-host Ashley John-Baptiste also warned us about the Internet craze of “neck cracking,” or turning your head until your vertebrae pop.
To explain why this could cause a fatal stroke, he brandished the skull of a skeleton named Skinny Pete.
Mind you, anyone stupid enough to rip their head off over something they saw on TikTok is unlikely to listen to a doctor’s advice.