Volodymyr Zelenskyy, ‘The Churchill of Our Time’: Reporter’s Notebook

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants MiG-29s. He wants shoulder-mounted, surface-to-air rockets. He wants NATO to impose a no-fly zone. But Zelenskyy already has another weapon.

And he uses it.

“He understood the power of communication,” Senate External Relations Commission President Bob Menendez told DNJ. “It is an additional tool in his arsenal as he tries to fight Russia.”

Political commentators have called President Reagan “the Great Communicator.” Like Reagan, Zelenskyy has a background in the performing arts. He was a stand-up comedian before he ran for president. But Reagan never had to issue a message while a Waronger pummeled his land.

RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES

Advantage, Zelenskyy.

RUSSIA Uklo WEST OF ‘RUSSOPHOBIE’, WRITING TO “FINE”

Zelenskyy has an ability for stage work. He knows his audience. Zelenskyy talks to people in the most personal terms.

Zelenskyy began his remote address to the Canadian Parliament by referring several times to his friend “Justin” – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Zelenskyy specifically spoke about what happens if there is an attack in Vancouver or when bombs destroy the CN Tower in Toronto.

In wartime this is “stratcom”. Won the Messaging War. And while the Ukrainian military is apparently not a match for Russia, Zelenskyy dominates at least on the information front.

Zelenskyy continued his campaign on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian leader delivered one of the most passionate speeches delivered to Congress in decades. A terrible call to lawmakers, in the Congressional Auditorium by video link jacked on a massive 40-foot screen, powered by four American flags.

Zelenskyy’s message was as simple as the olive green t-shirt he was wearing.

Zelenskyy’s opponent has only improved his image as the leader of a nation under siege, which may have to strike out the door every minute to bring down a few assassination rounds.

Clothing does not matter in war. But words do.

“In the darkest time for our country, for the whole thing [of] Europe, I call on you to do more, “Zelenskyy asked.

Zelenskyy painted a picture in the language, stopped his address in American symbols such as Mount Rushmore, and summoned Martin Luther King.

“I need your help,” Zelenskyy asked, “which means exactly the same thing [way] You feel when you hear the words, “I have a dream.”

Zelenskyy may have painted his canvas with verbiage. But he also stumbled upon a short, disturbing video that showed the horrors of war. Zelenskyy showed this striking video in the middle of his speech. A “game within a game.” It would underline Zelenskyy’s message and underline the blood. Avoid Body. Doctors pump French chest compressions onto an injured body. Blood drops splashed across a hospital floor. Dead children lying on concrete, covered with coats that carry them into recession. Workers slaughtering a corpse in a cemetery as randomly as they take out a bag of garbage.

“I see no point in life when there can be no stopping deaths,” Zelenskyy said.

BIDEN’S slow response to ZELENSKYY ‘COSTS UKRAINIAN LIFE’ SEES TOP REPUBLICAN ON HOUSE INTEL PANEL

Zelenskyy’s presentation is perhaps the most significant speech delivered by Congress since a wartime, foreign leader since British Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke to Congress just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The United Kingdom declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939. So the UK was at war for more than two years before the US entered into conflict in December 1941 after the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor.

House and Senate members convene most joint meetings of Congress in the House of Commons. But Congress chose to welcome Churchill into the smaller Senate chamber. Churchill would deliver his oratorio the day after Christmas. It was thought that some lawmakers had already given up Washington for the holidays. There is nothing worse for a Joint Meeting of Congress with a foreign dignitary than empty seats. But the Senate Chamber swelled with participants. Legislators occupied all 96 Senate forests (there were only 48 states). Cabinet secretaries and Supreme Court Justices entered the room.

The Senate added flashing lights so officials could film the address. Two microphones from NBC, CBS and MBS (the Mutual Broadcasting System) jumped out of the Senate floor like sunflowers in front of the dais.

Like Zelenskyy, Churchill had a task at hand. He must explain to the United States what it was for now that it was joining World War II. Pearl Harbor pushed the US into conflict. But Churchill knew that the United Kingdom and democracy could only survive if the United States was fully committed to the cause.

The speech was classical Churchill. Strong. Saved. And, most importantly, inspiring.

“The forces that are arranged against us are enormous. They are batter. They are ruthless,” Churchill observes.

Churchill warned that the United States would need a year and a half before it could begin to see progress. Churchill was also careful. He warned those present that “many disappointments and unsympathetic surprises await us.”

But Churchill also challenged those who challenged Britain and the United States.

“What kind of people do they think we are? Is it possible that they do not realize that we will never stop resisting them until they have learned a lesson they will never forget in the world?”, Churchill asked.

WHITE HOUSE STANDS IN OPPOSITION TO NO-FLY ZONE OVER URAINE DESPITE ZELENSKYY PLAAD

He asked if “evil men” did not know “they would be horribly called off if they did not strike the people who attacked them with force of arms.”

Churchill returned for another speech at a 1943 joint meeting of Congress.

The parallels between Zelenskyy’s remarks and what unfolded eight decades ago on Capitol Hill were not lost on Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

McCaul characterizes Zelenskyy as “the Churchill of our time” during an appearance on Fox News.

And then McCaul practically repeated Churchill.

“History is judging this moment and will ask the question, ‘What did you do to stop this?’

This question is now before Congress. And, the answer Zelenskyy hopes to find lies within the walls of the House and Senate.

After considering Churchill’s speech in 1941, there is a reason why Zelenskyy called for the entry of America into World War II and other cataclysmic events.

“Think of Pearl Harbor. That horrible morning of September 11,” Zelenskyy said, drawing lawmakers’ attention to the most brutal attacks on American soil.

Zelenskyy then asked the United States and NATO to set up a flight zone.

“We are asking for an answer to this terror from around the world. Is that much to ask?” asked Zelenskyy.

NATO SAYS “WE CAN MAKE MORE MUCH MORE” AND FOR THE RUSSIAN INVASION, BUT RULES NO-FLY ZONE PLEASE

But Congress is not ready for that.

“President Zelenskyy seems to have presented an either-or scenario. He stated in his remarks that he supports the establishment of an air zone. But did not indicate an alternative,” said House Democratic Caucus President Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y. .

“Europe needs to lead in the no-fly zone,” said Senator Roger Marshall, R-Kan. “We do not want to make this a mano and mano, Russia versus US thing. I think there is much more we can do to control it without putting American planes in the air.”

Zelenskyy is not the first Ukrainian leader to appeal to Congress. Former Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko spoke at a congressional joint meeting in September 2014, just months after Russia annexed Crimea.

Poroshenko’s comments were prophetic.

“Are we on the eve of the new Cold War? Is there the possibility of a new terrible, unimaginable European war? Is what has until recently been unthinkable now becoming a reality? Unfortunately, today, the answer to all these questions is yes, “said Poroshenko.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Poroshenko tried to bring legislators into action eight years ago. Same with Zelenskyy. And to a certain extent, this was the same challenge for Churchill in 1941.

“Churchill had tried to appeal to the Americans for the previous two years. But the United States was divided between isolationists and internationalists, especially in Congress,” said former Senate historian Don Ritchie. “They could not decide and they would not go to war unless they were pushed into war.”

Pearl Harbor provided the impetus for the United States to enter World War II.

And so far Zelenskyy’s pleas are not enough to get the US involved anymore.