Ostensible v real:

European leaders may have rushed to Washington ostensibly to throw a protective arm around President Zelensky and head off any repeat of February’s Oval Office bust-up.

But their real aim is to stop US President Donald Trump threatening long-term European security after his abrupt change of course over how best to end the war in Ukraine.

They’re much the same thing though. They don’t want to link arms with Zelensky because he’s their poppet, they want to do it because Putin is a massive threat. It’s not personal, it’s geopolitical.

Not only did Trump drop calls for a ceasefire as a prerequisite for talks about long-term peace, he also – diplomats say – made clear he had no intention of imposing further economic sanctions on Russia.

In short, the travelling European heads of government – plus EU and Nato leaders – want to avoid not just confrontation, but also capitulation.

Exactly, so maybe don’t frame it as a matter of cuddling Zelensky.

Meanwhile – hey it’s August. Everybody is at the beach. When they all abandon the beach to go spend time with His Majesty The Baby you know it’s serious.

The French leader was enjoying water sports on the Riviera. The Italian leader, Georgia Meloni, had been in Greece.

But such was the scale of President Trump’s change of strategy after meeting President Putin – and the consequent potential threat to Europe – that the European leaders changed their plans fast.

Trump of course is hugging himself like Tweedledum because of how important he must be to get all these people to quit the beach.

The risk for the Europeans today is that they push Trump too hard, that he thinks he is being bullied, and that the meetings go badly.

Or to put it less tactfully, the risk is that Trump pitches a fit and then makes even more generous offers to Volodya.