Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address Congress virtually Wednesday, during which he is expected to ask for the U.S. to step-up its assistance to Ukraine. In recent addresses to U.S. allies, including the parliaments of Canada and Britain, he has framed Russia’s invasion as an existential struggle not just for his country, but for democracy writ large.
Perhaps an incentive for Russia would be an announcement that for every month they are present in Ukrainian territory would result in a year of continued sanctions at the current level.
Sadly, nearly half of congress is not pro-democracy. Most of the pro-putin caucus will likely keep silent about their leanings for 24 hours or so given the american public’s pro-Ukraine stance.
Side-note to the content of the speech (which is great, btw) - the person doing the live translation is… not great?
Can’t hear Z’s voice so you lose all the non-verbal tonalities that convey so much. Translator is struggling to keep up, ends up sounding very monotone and any poetry or rhetorical power in the speech feels lost
Russia sanctions our poorest senator Joe Biden. I’m not sure Putin understands how this works. Please, Vladimir Vladimirovich, seize Joe Manchin’s yacht.
I would’ve preferred he delivered the entire speech, his English is perfectly understandable and much more effective. Nice on the fly pivot if that wasn’t planned
From what I saw, the Democrats at the end were giviing heartfelt applause…while the Repubs were giving perfunctory claps. Moscow Mitch didn’t look very encouraging.