It looks like we have plunged so deeply into the theater of the absurd that we now have a case of "Albania don't want the ball!".

Our reference, of course, is to the apocryphal football story about a coach repeatedly signaling a play from the sidelines, only to have the quarterback keep breaking huddle while frantically waving his arms and shouting,

"But Leroy don't want the ball!"

That is to say, Ukrainian president Zelensky, a former television comic, apparently knew all about the 60- year old American story, at least according to the geniuses at CNN who reported it below. That the White House quickly disavowed the "Ukraine" story is undoubtedly your authentication:

A call between US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday "did not go well," a senior Ukrainian official told CNN…… Biden warned Zelensky an imminent invasion is a "distinct possibility"

On the "long and frank call, Biden warned his Ukrainian counterpart……that an invasion was now virtually certain, once the ground had frozen later in February…..

Zelensky, however, restated his position that the threat from Russia remains "dangerous but ambiguous," and it is not certain that an attack will take place, the official said.

Zelensky urged his American counterpart to "calm down the messaging," warning of the economic impact of panic, according to to the official.