Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is paying a visit to the U.S. to try to “bolster” the sagging support for the Ukraine war among some conservative (and other) circles. To that end, BoJo is using the most grotesque caricature of Putin as the leader of some Mongol horde trying to reestablish the Soviet Empire.
Yesterday, he was interviewed by NPR and today he spoke to the Atlantic Council. His basic argument is that Ukraine will win—and quickly if it is given sufficient arms in a timely fashion. While his comments were received politely and with applause, there is also some concern that the bubbly ex-prime minister may be selling moonbeams. The usual cast of Atlantic Council characters were supportive of Johnson, but a question by the Atlantic Council senior adviser Harlan Ullman noted that if the Ukrainians were to restore the February 2022 borders, they would need thousands of tanks and artillery and not the few dozen that are being promised, something that Ullman rightly seemed to think was impossible to do. Gratuitously thanking him for the question, Johnson simply repeated that the Ukrainians have proven that they could do much with little and that they were convinced that they could do the job given the equipment they requested.
