Would you travel halfway around the world while running a country in the middle of a war for survival to yell at Donald Trump? If nothing else, Zelensky got some long overdue verbal mileage and earned even more respect for himself and his long-suffering country.
For that alone, he may well be the most envied world leader on Earth at this moment. There’ll be a queue forming to try and do as well as Zelensky did.
Nothing was signed, nothing was done.
The “deal” had nothing at all for Ukraine anyway. It can’t really be a surprise. Trump has barely managed a single coherent word on the subject of Ukraine. He blurted out that he wants minerals, and now he has no hope of getting them.
The author of the ghostwritten Art of the Deal has also permanently destroyed a deal that was supposed to be clever, if utterly obnoxious, hypocritical, and self-serving.
Manifest Destiny is turning into Manifest Dustbin rather rapidly. Trump’s total lack of talent at diplomacy is unavoidable. He’s incredibly bad at the basics.
That wasn’t the problem. Zelensky did Trump the courtesy of going to the US in good faith to talk about a deal. Even that extraordinary level of politeness apparently didn’t register.
The US’s current imbecilic strategic position is far worse and far more dangerous. Trump is supposedly trying to pry Russia away from China. That’s not going to happen. Remember BRICS? China already has an operational arrangement with Russia, and that won’t stop.
Russia is in a very bad way, and it knows it, if Trump apparently doesn’t. Trump is tying the US to a crippled nation in a horrific economic and isolated position. Russia’s global image as a hostile nation has simply got worse as the situation has deteriorated continuously.
It’s a terrible move, and the US can’t benefit from supporting Russia in any way. We’ll leave the thousands of conspiracy theories to the internet geniuses for now.
The US is backing a loser. Russia will change. It can’t stay lost in the Cold War forever.
The rest of the world isn’t intimidated. Europe in particular is highly unimpressed. France, Germany and the UK are solidly on Ukraine’s side and have been since day one. They’re not budging. The possibility of NATO going it alone is pretty obvious.
Canada may even join the EU as a result of the trade fiascos every half hour or so in the US. That does make a lot of sense. The EU has strict rules about food, taxes, and environmental protections that would effectively shut out the US from multiple sectors of trade with Canada. It would also allow Canada to enter the single market, another good move.
This all puts the Ukraine peace deal in a completely different context. Zelensky no longer has to put up with sleazy absurdities. Europe will demand and get a role in any negotiations. Ukraine MUST be able to negotiate properly in its own interests.
So it’s worked out well for Ukraine.
It hasn’t worked for Trump. Peace in Ukraine was a key part of all the big talk. That has now failed utterly. His global image has somehow got worse.
How many bad moves can the US make? We’re apparently about to find out.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
