Bangladesh, Nov. 18 -- French President Emmanuel Macrons grand announcement of a “letter of intention” to supply up to 100 Rafale fighter jets to Ukraine should have sounded like a historic milestone in European defense cooperation. Instead, it comes across as a bizarre blend of political theatre, strategic one-upmanship, and willful blindness to Ukraines sprawling corruption scandals. And hovering above it all is an unmistakable subtext: Europes arms bazaar is open, and Volodymyr Zelensky is finally being treated like a premium client-even if neither party can actually pay the bill.

On November 17, Zelensky arrived in Paris to great fanfare, just as the Champs-Élysées lit up its Christmas decorations. Macron played...