An oligarch-free London and Côte d’Azur, a more militarised Germany, a Finnish public with eyes for Nato: these are the novelties that have been set in motion over the past week. The ethical rigour of Fifa, which has barred Russia from a World Cup four years after it hosted one, nearly tops the list of surprises.
But not quite. For real exotica, consider the spectacle of a united Washington. No world event since the attacks of September 11 has rallied the west’s most divided capital more than the invasion of Ukraine. Where President Joe Biden is attacked by Republicans, it is for not sanctioning Russia early or harshly enough. Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham are among the GOP senators who have pushed the tough, if pun-marred, Never Yielding Europe’s Territory Act (“Nyet”). There are takers of the Kremlin line in the wider conservative movement, no doubt, but few where it matters — on Capitol Hill.
A DC-to-Berlin show of unity and resolve is not the same thing as ultimate victory. There is no guarantee it will even last. But it does expose the central glitch in so much anti-western thought.