Blinken’s Kyiv song choice raises eyebrows as Ukraine fights fierce Russian attacks

By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, an amateur musician, may have thought he had the perfect upbeat song to perform with a Kyiv bar band. Fresh from a day of delivering optimistic prognoses about the war with Russia despite gloomy news from the front lines, he played “Rockin’ in the Free World” in a packed club, ostensibly to encourage Ukrainians to keep up the fight. The 1989 song sounds like it should be an homage to the glory of living in the West uncompromised by communism or authoritarianism. In fact, it’s a lament about despair caused by homelessness, drug addiction and poverty.