Overloaded at home, White House visitors from Old Europe traded dignity and honor for elusive security guarantees. A suicidal mission. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36, KJV) Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s White House bow on 18 August 2025 was a masterclass in tragicomedy . Not entirely surprising. Under the crushing weight of expectation, the actor-turned-war-hero merely reverted to form, falling back on his greatest