“Borderline” Antony Blinken
Criticism of US Secretary of State’s guitar performance in Kiev
May 15, 2024, 5:14 p.m
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During a visit to the Ukrainian capital, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken grabbed a guitar in an expensive bar and played “Rockin’ in the Free World.” That doesn’t go down well everywhere. The mood is too depressed given more than two years of war, a lack of Western help and advancing Russians.
A performance by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with a Ukrainian band in a bar caused a stir. “Your soldiers, your citizens, especially in the northeast in Kharkiv, are suffering enormously,” Blinken said at the Barman Dictat bar in Kiev before playing Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” on a guitar. “They are fighting not just for a free Ukraine, but for the free world, and the free world is with you,” Blinken said. Although there was applause on site, the performance – which can be seen on social media – caused criticism.
The head of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, Svitlana Matwienko, described the appearance on Facebook as inappropriate. “As a Ukrainian citizen whose relatives give up everything so we can resist, I was offended by this performance,” she wrote.
According to blogger Serhi Martschenko, who has more than 34,000 followers on Facebook, playing the guitar was out of place. “We are on a different wavelength. I would like to see more understanding from the allies,” he wrote. The Ukrainian journalist Denis Trubetskoy found the appearance “borderline,” as he announced on X. “
The mood in Ukraine, where the war with Russia is in its third year, is increasingly pessimistic. Last Friday, Russia began a new offensive in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, opening a third front alongside the east and south. In view of the offensive, President Volodymyr Zelensky has canceled his planned visits to Spain and Portugal this week.
In addition, Western arms support is lame in various places, which has put Ukraine in a significantly worse position. There has been too little artillery ammunition and too little anti-aircraft defense for months. Civilians die almost every day. In addition, the Ukrainian energy infrastructure is severely damaged.