Zelensky, the poster boy for democracy

Mark Edele (“How the war in Ukraine will end”, March 26–April 1) explores Vladimir Putin’s cleft-stick situation and the possible ways the Ukraine war could end. Putin’s failure to achieve a quick capitulation has now become an exercise of devastation. Whichever if any of Edele’s options that materialise will be seen as a face-saving exercise for a dictator who has bitten off more than he could chew. We must, however, acknowledge the major reason for Putin’s position as the breathtaking vitality of this young democracy in a modernday David and Goliath struggle, and its belief in something worth dying for. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s appeals to other Western democracies have received standing ovations. He embodies the spirit of his nation and has given democracy a shot in the arm as something more than the “least bad” form of government. He may have given China something to think about on Taiwan. Finally, it could also have emboldened Joe Biden’s thinking and language describing Putin as a war criminal who should be deposed.

– David Wilson, Newport, Qld