Which superpower brand is winning?
The EU has the political will and courage to build something bigger and better
News arrives that the EU votes to put Ukraine on the state-accession track, but only because Hungary’s Orban abstains. He thereupon scores one for Putin by blocking the next chunk of financial aid teed up for Ukraine from the Union.
As the NYT notes:
Although accession to the E.U. would take years, the announcement on Thursday was a symbolic win that was likely to anger Mr. Putin, who has decried Ukraine’s European ambitions as a form of aggression.
When Putin can’t get what he wants in a bilateral relationship with someone close, he resorts to violence — simple as that.
Already there is a workaround in place:
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