Senior Writer
Willis Sparks
Senior Writer
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
Sep 23, 2024
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is in the US this week to sell his American and other allies on his plan to win the war with Russia. The plan includes more weapons, permission to fire Western-made missiles deeper into Russian territory, and strong diplomatic pressure on Russia’s Vladimir Putin to make a deal. His pitch is to President Joe Biden, presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and the US Congress. The US, thelargest foreign donor to Ukraine, has already provided about $56 billion. Zelensky will be at the United Nations on Tuesday for a Security Council meeting. On Wednesday, he’ll address the UN General Assembly.
Zelensky arrives at the height of a US election season, but he knows and will make clear in meetings with US officials that Ukraine faces a tough winter. A lack of effective air defenses has allowed Russia to strike power plants and other energy infrastructure targets in recent months, leaving Ukraine’s war-weary people facing daily power outages as the colder months loom. President Biden knows Zelensky needs something he can present to his people as a win for the war effort. Whether Congress will pay for whatever Biden promises is a separate political problem.
