USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Is this a disaster for Zelensky?

More or less in alignment with these views: 

Shola Adenekan

18h  · 

"The rest of the world has always considered anyone who trusts promises made by the US and UK governments to be foolish.

Zelensky is finished. He'll resign in the next few days or weeks. A mock election will be held—one that Russia and the US can influence to produce their desired outcome.

Russia will even stop bombing to facilitate the election. Then, immediately afterward, the new regime will "negotiate" peace terms with the US and Russia. Russia will be allowed to keep parts of Ukraine, while the US will gain access to its minerals.

The EU will be left out in the cold.

Trump is not going to oppose Russia's expansionist programme when he has publicly spoken about taking over other sovereign territories to further his own ambitions. He's envious of Putin and wants to be like him. Putin doesn't just talk—he acts.

In all this drama, the UK finds itself in a difficult situation." - Michael Mumisa

On Saturday, 1 March 2025 at 15:09:14 UTC+1 Emeagwali, Gloria (History) wrote:

Zelenskyy should resign and

handover the negotiation to a 

trusted official. He is too emotionally

involved in the transaction.

UK Johnson prevented

him from arranging a deal with

Putin in 2022, and Biden gave him

false hopes.They all underestimated 

the military might of Russia, and

thought they could do a repeat 

of World War I and II, and throw 

Black soldiers into the cauldron 

to fight the war on behalf of

Ukraine.

It is possible  that Ukraine does

not have the rare earth minerals 

promised. It could be another

"Brooklyn Bridge" fantasy sale -

an empty promise.Nobody knows

 for sure - so signing

the contract could be problematic.

I am not a fan of Trump but I

think he handled himself well

enough.It was Vance who threw

the banana peel in front of Z

and it was downhill from there

for Zelenskyy.

Dr. Gloria Emeagwali
Professor of History/African Studies, CCSU
Chief Editor- "Africa Update"
https://sites.ccsu.edu/afstudy/archive.html
Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries
www.vimeo.com/gloriaemeagwali
www.africahistory.net
Founding Coordinator, African Studies, CCSU

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Sent: Friday, February 28, 2025 5:58 PM
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Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Is this a disaster for Zelensky?

 

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https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/02/28/a-disaster-in-the-white-house-for-volodymyr-zelensky-and-for-ukraine

 

A disaster in the White House for Volodymyr Zelensky—and for Ukraine 

J.D. Vance set a trap for the Ukrainian president, who declined to flatter Donald Trump

photograph: getty images

Feb 28th 2025|washington, dc and kyiv

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When volodymyr zelensky arrived at the White House on February 28th the America-Ukrainian relationship was fragile and uncertain. By the time the Ukrainian president left, it was shattered. After a full-blown shouting match in front of the television cameras—with Donald Trump and his vice-president, J.D. Vance, furiously accusing the Ukrainian leader of being ungrateful and of risking a third world war—Mr Zelensky will return home more embattled than ever. Hopes for a peace deal seem more distant than ever.

The breakdown in relations, and Mr Trump's contention that Ukraine was not ready for peace, raises the risk that his administration will now cut off military and financial aid to Ukraine at a time when Russia retains the initiative on the battlefield. It is hard to think of a diplomatic moment that has gone so totally awry in recent history.

"I'm not aligned with anybody. I'm aligned with the United States of America," Mr Trump explained, sitting in the Oval Office alongside Mr Zelensky, Mr Vance and several aides. The American president offered to take another question, and Mr Vance interjected. He suggested that "what makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That's what President Trump is doing."

At this point Mr Zelensky might perhaps have flattered and cajoled Mr Trump, a course of action favoured by other recent visitors to Mr Trump's White House including Emmanuel Macron of France and Sir Keir Starmer of Britain. Instead he recited a history of the conflict stretching back to 2014 and noted that Vladimir Putin had broken past deals. "What kind of diplomacy, J.D., are you speaking about?" Mr Zelensky asked in imperfect but clearly sardonic English. This played straight into the hands of Mr Vance, who had doubtless intended all along to attack and humiliate Mr Zelensky.

Mr Zelensky had gone to Washington with two principal tasks: to protect Ukraine's war effort with a continued flow of weapons, and to lay the basis for a peace deal that will last. Ukraine rightly believes that a ceasefire without credible Western-backed security guarantees is a trap that would allow Russia to rearm, and destabilise Ukraine internally. Mr Zelensky said as much: "We will never accept just a ceasefire." But it was the wrong time to have that discussion with America's leaders.

"I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media right now," the vice-president shot back. He then attacked Ukraine for "forcing conscripts to the frontlines" and, when asked by Mr Zelensky whether he had visited Ukraine, dismissed visits by other international leaders to the country as nothing more than "propaganda tour[s]".

Going into the meeting, hopes had been raised that frosty relations between the two leaders had somewhat thawed. At his press conference with Sir Keir Starmer a day earlier, Mr Trump denied having referred to Mr Zelensky as a dictator. The Ukrainian leader was, on the contrary, "very brave", someone he had "a lot of respect for". There was a deal almost to be signed for joint mineral exploitation. Before the talks began, a European official in Kyiv dared to hope: "We want them to leave smiling," he said.

During the Vance-Zelensky scuffle, Mr Trump initially appeared almost passive, the good cop to Mr Vance's bad cop. Then Mr Zelensky went too far. "During the war, everybody has problems," he asserted. With a "nice ocean" America was insulated for now "but you will feel it in the future."

Mr Trump plainly did not like that. "Don't tell us what we're gonna feel," he snarled, as the summit meeting tipped into catastrophe. He then added that Ukraine was in a bad place and was "gambling with world war three". He warned that "what you're doing is very disrespectful to this country." Mr Vance jumped in to helpfully remind the president that Mr Zelensky had appeared with Democrats in Pennsylvania during last year's campaign, and told the visitor to show more appreciation to his benefactors. Mr Trump's anger deepened.

It wasn't long before Mr Trump was rambling about Hunter Biden, the son of the former president, and pointing out that he had provided Ukraine with Javelins when Barack Obama had refused to provide lethal aid. The president lamented, "it's going to be a very hard thing to do business like this," and continued to belittle Mr Zelensky and his country.

Mr Macron, France's president, had visited Washington on February 24th; Sir Keir did so on the 27th. Both trips were viewed in Europe as successes: each leader pressed Mr Trump on the issue of security guarantees, and both meetings ended on encouragingly upbeat terms. But the blow-up on February 28th has already caused deep alarm in European capitals. Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, promptly issued a message of solidarity with Ukraine: "Dear [Zelensky], dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone". Almost every significant European leader followed suit.

Europe's leaders are due to meet in London on March 2nd to co-ordinate their positions on a potential military deployment to Ukraine after any ceasefire, and how to pay for higher defence spending—talks that now have far greater urgency. But there is no question that America remains central to Ukraine's war effort. Although Europe provides the majority of aid, 60% to America's 40% on one estimate, Ukraine relies on American air-defence interceptors, as well as a flow of intelligence and spare parts for American weaponry.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, there was unalloyed glee. "The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office," enthused Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's security council. "The Kiev regime is 'gambling with WWIII'."

"It's amazing what comes out through emotion," Mr Trump posted on social media shortly after the fight. He added that Mr Zelensky was "not ready for Peace" and chided the Ukrainian for disrespecting America: "He can come back when he is ready for Peace." A scheduled press conference was cancelled, and Mr Zelensky left the White House early, without having signed the mineral-rights deal that had ostensibly brought him to Washington in the first place.

 

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