Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. Has the world watching his every move, hanging on his every word. Has taken center stage, likes it there, plans for the time being to stay right where he is.
Joseph Biden, President of the United States. Has been forced not to act but to react. Has no choice but to put the crisis in Europe at the top of his agenda. Plans for his domestic agenda largely on hold. Biden’s one consolation? So far at least, on this single issue, on Ukraine, he has had bipartisan backing.
Volodymr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine. Erstwhile actor and, yes, comedian, has done his level best to stay the course, keep his constituents calm, and shore up his alliances – all the while playing what is, inarguably, a wretchedly weak hand.
Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Publicly greatly distraught by the greatest threat to peace on the European continent since the end of World War II. Privately greatly relieved that “Party-Gate” has been relegated to the back burner.
Emmanuel Macron, President of France. Been chatting more often with Putin than any other European leader. The upside is it keeps Macron, who is facing an early election, in the middle of the action. The downside is his chats with Putin have gone nowhere.
Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany. He could have done without this crisis; after all, he just succeeded his singularly esteemed predecessor, Angela Merkel. Germany is, moreover alarmingly weakly positioned, given its overreliance on energy from Russia. Still, there he is – stuck. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Xi Jinping, President of China. The Olympics have been a bit of a distraction. But only a bit. Xi is reveling in the stress on the European continent. Xi is watching what Putin’s doing with the cold, hard eye of a seasoned strongman. Xi is thinking Taiwan and licking his chops.
