The news in drawing: Sweden at NATO’s gates, Ukraine will wait
At the NATO summit on July 11 and 12 in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, a new member may join the Alliance’s ranks: Sweden. But Ukraine’s, – demanded by President Volodomyr Zelensky – must wait until the end of the war of which it is a victim. A contrast told in drawing.
This is not really rose water, but a stormy diplomatic soap opera has just found its way out for Sweden: After eighteen months of Turkish blockade, the country finally received approval from the unanimous members of NATO to implement its candidacy for admission to the Alliance. Even before the start of the NATO summit this week in the Lithuanian capital, Ankara finally agreed to support the Scandinavian country’s membership.
In return, Sweden promised to toughen its anti-terror laws against the PKK and to “reinforce” its support for Turkey’s integration into the European Union and the United States to supply Ankara with F16s.
This summit also focused on Ukraine and its membership of the Alliance: if President Volodymyr Zelensky, present on the ground, initially lamented the “resoluteness” and “weakness” of the Allies, he also obtained new security guarantees and the assurance of joining NATO in an accelerated manner route as soon as the war was over.
A Volodymyr Zelensky who, of course, failed, but was put on a waiting list: here is the bittersweet victory depicted by the Dutchman Jeerd Royaards’ pencil, drawing a Ukrainian president at the foot of the transatlantic citadel that is offered – for lack of anything better – a champagne flute.
The drawings of Jeerd Royaards have been published several times, notably by CNN, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, Courrier international, Ouest-France, Internazionale and Politico Europe. He is the editor-in-chief of Cartoon Movement, a global platform for comics and graphic journalism.
Cartooning for Peace is an international network of cartoonists committed to promoting, through the universality of press cartoons, freedom of expression, human rights and mutual respect between populations of different cultures or faiths.
