<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/jd-vance-volodymyr-zelenskyy>
"JD Vance was supposed to be the inconsequential vice-president.
But his starring role in Friday’s blowup between Donald Trump and Volodymyr
Zelenskyy – where he played a cross between Trump’s bulldog and a tech bro Iago
– may mark the moment that the postwar alliance between Europe and the US
finally collapsed.
Trump and Vance teamed up to goad Zelenskyy into a feud in the Oval Office. But
it was Vance that snaked his way in first, riling up the Ukrainian president by
telling him that he was leading “propaganda tours” of the destruction wrought
by Russia’s invasion.
“I think it’s disrespectful to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate
this in front of the American media,” Vance said, his voice rising. “You bring
people on a propaganda tour, Mr President … Do you think that it’s respectful
to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the
administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?”
“During the war, everyone has problems,” Zelenskyy replied. “But you have nice
ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future.”
“You don’t know that,” Trump interjected angrily. “You don’t know that. Don’t
tell us what we’re going to feel.”
The rest, as Trump would later call it, was “great television”. By design, it
was disastrous for Ukraine.
This was Vance’s second great intervention this month. His Eurosceptic
worldview came into focus in Munich, where he accused shocked European leaders
of stifling free speech telling them that “if you’re running in fear of your
own voters, there is nothing America can do for you”.
At the time, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said:
“Listening to that speech … they try to pick a fight with us and we don’t want
to pick a fight with our friends.”
But on Friday, Vance finally got his fight. The US vice-president is quietly
assembling a foreign policy team with a deeply skeptical view of Kyiv’s value
as a future ally. And European officials have lined up to back Zelenskyy,
saying that the Trump team’s performance in the Oval Office indicated that the
US was truly siding with Vladimir Putin in the war.
“Now is the moment to stay calm, but not carry on,” wrote Camille Grand, a
distinguished policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and
former assistant secretary general for defense investment at Nato. “The US ally
has now officially decided to take a stance inconsistent with our traditionally
shared interests and values. This might be temporary or lasting but this will
have profound and enduring consequences.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
