Recent Oval Office heated exchange between US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was unusual, and not in a reasonable manner, for the United States, Europe’s future, Ukraine and the US’s global credibility.
The conduct with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, by the US president, Donald Trump, during what seems to have been an orchestrated fight in the White House in front of the world’s press, keeps one of the most stunning junctures in US diplomacy in decades.
According to experts, the US, the nation that has styled itself the indispensable country, has tied itself with the opponents of peace and democracy. If “America first” denotes only a shattering point of US isolationism not witnessed since the run-up to US’s entry into the Second World War, this would be harmful enough.
The initial lesson should be a declaration of what has been evident since Trump took an oath: the America cannot be depended on as a security, intelligence or trading ally. US’s underpinning of NATO, and international security, is no elongate a given. By providing assistance to Russia, already running hostile actions against European nations beyond Ukraine, including the UK, Trump has made a shared cause with the most significant threat facing Europe today.
That was evident in the statement by Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, that the “free world needs a new leader”. In real-world situations, that must represent an end to the veneer that Trump can be inflated and played.
It is effortless to witness Trump’s efforts as the irritable, theatrical and selfish reaction of a profoundly insecure individual, the results go far beyond that. If there is a ray of hope, no matter how dark, it is that Trump’s toxic stew is underpinned by incoherence and liability that is open to being contested.
It is crucial to take stock of the facts with which the world is engaged, not the fiction some would wish to witness. US’s abdication of administration and backing for Ukraine demands a rapid and united European reaction without caveats.
The beginning of any peace in Ukraine must be to acknowledge the illegality of Putin’s behaviour, which started with the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Kyiv should have a chair at the table in all peace talks, unrestricted from threats and gouging from Trump and his supporters. The purpose of those meetings should be to witness both the full retreat of Russian forces and powerful assurances for Kyiv’s security.
