In the old Peanuts newspaper cartoon by Charles Schulz, there’s a classic running joke about Lucy holding a football so that Charlie Brown can attempt a field goal. Each time, Lucy promises she won’t pull the football away at the last second. Each time, Charlie Brown debates whether Lucy will keep her word, even double-checks her promise. And, each time, Lucy once more yanks the football away at the very last second, just as poor Charlie Brown puts all his energy into the kick, sending him flying in spectacular clothes-losing fashion. Yet Charlie Brown keeps coming back time and again, driven by the intense hope that he will one day connect with that football.
It’s a funny running joke. But now, imagine Russia’s Vladimir Putin as Lucy, our president as Charlie Brown and the game they’re playing is about bringing an end to the war in Ukraine. It becomes not so funny that Mr. Putin keeps yanking the football away, just as the president comes to believe that, this time, Mr. Putin will be true to his word. It’s not so funny that Mr. Putin (as the cruel Lucy), no doubt laughs with his Kremlin cronies about how, once again, he’s put one over on Charlie Brown and got Charlie to blame Snoopy for his misfortune yet again. And it’s not so funny that the people of Ukraine continue to pay the price of this unfortunate game with their lives.
JD Salt
Newark
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
