EU leaders look set to focus on Iran — where there is little they can achieve — while still failing to flex real muscle against Putin in Ukraine.

Two conflicts will compete for the attention of EU leaders meeting for a summit this week. There is one — Ukraine — where they can make a difference, and another — Iran-Israel — where they can’t.

It seems paradoxical, then, that the Middle East — a theater of war where the U.S. is infinitely more influential than Europe — will probably consume more attention than Ukraine — an EU candidate country that is desperately pleading for more European assistance as the tide turns against it, and Russian forces pummel Kharkiv, its second city.

Still, the EU seems determined to go through the diplomatic motions of appearing to be a global power that might be able to sway notoriously stubborn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.