Dragons from Biden: the nodes of the mission and Putin’s signals (tie included)

Who knows if that touch of Italianness was not accidental. Vladimir Putin was wearing a Marinella tie yesterday morning on Red Square. A tribute from Berlusconi, who has a stock of those ties. And he gives them. Will he make history in this dramatic moment? The Russian president knows that Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi will be in Washington today. He knows that his alignment with Ukraine is “perfect” (Draghi) in the European framework, not so much in a transatlantic one. He knows that there is a strong front in the Italian parliament that is reluctant to add fuel to the fire, that is to say to give Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “other weapons capable of striking Russian territory” (Luigi Di Maio). Finally, he knows that in Italy (and in Europe) beyond the condemnation of aggression and human, social and political solidarity, no one would want to die for Kiev, as 83 years ago no one would have wanted to die for Gdansk. Instead, 63 million died in Europe. Putin knows all this. He exploits the coincidence of the calendar: the anniversary of the great “patriotic war”, and Draghi’s interview (today) with American President Joe Biden. And he sends some signals. Not for what he said, but for what he didn’t say. Draghi will discuss it with Biden this afternoon (evening in Italy). And it’s likely to draw his attention to the lack of verbal escalation. Putin did not repeat the threats to NATO for the daily supplies of sophisticated armaments to the Ukrainian resistance. Intended omission? Putin didn’t need to talk about it. Thomas Friedman had done it for him the day before in the New York Times. And Draghi certainly noticed this, also in consideration of the fact that the newspaper is pro-democratic and two years ago supported the election of Joe Biden. This is the title of Friedman’s comment: “War is becoming more …