If you’ve been on X over the past few days, and your algorithm is as politics-filled as mine, you may have seen an old video being passed around. The clip in question, which has garnered millions of views, is of now-former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin being asked by a reporter what the way out of the Russo-Ukrainian War was. Her answer – “The way out of the conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine” – was accentuated by a little giggle, as if she was proud of her foreign policy, as if her insight was self-evident.
I write this not to pick on the former prime minister, who is currently, in the midst of a book tour, lamenting to The New York Times about how difficult her life is. I do so because the clip of Marin, who governed Finland during the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was almost perfectly timed for a resurgence this past week.
That is because, after President Trump’s proposed 28-point Russo-Ukrainian War peace plan was released, the European Union released their own. And while it has more points than Marin’s single way out of the war (theirs has 24), it is spiritually identical to her pithy response. The document both underlines how badly the European Union still needs the United States and how totally fresh out of ideas Brussels really is.
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