I see many, understandably, comments that empathise with president Zelenski.
It is though to come to such meetings when the other party (the Trump administration) genuinely does neither care nor likes you.
That being said, I'm gonna point out Zelenski himself.
1) You can't be sitting in the oval office and tell the president of one of the most belligerent and bloodiest countries in the world "you cannot understand how it is to defend yourself, you're surrounded by oceans on both sides". If there is one thing that you should never, ever do, is question America's willingness to pick a fight. That was what triggered hugely Trump (go check the video). That was a terrible mistake, directed to the bulliest president of the bulliest country in the planet, a gigantic blunder on its part.
2) I feel for Zelenski, but after what happened today, his political career is over, that's what pundits and political analysts all over eastern Europe are saying (they are much more critical of Zelenski's naivety than Trump's behavior). Former prime minister of Poland Leszek Miller has been very critical and said Zelenski came very unprepared and leaves in a worse position.
He quits the White House in a critical situation and if Ukraine wants to get some kind of leverage it will have to necessarily consider a change of leadership. Zelenski's stance has been terrific in the first years of war, but now he's alone and unable to get most of what he can for Ukraine.
Agree. Contrary to many comments here, I believe this was a disaster meeting for Zelenski personally, and for his political future.
This was a photo op opportunity. His job there was to make Trump look good, so he could secure additional support and funds. He was there to stroke Trump's ego for the media, likely join Trump on the lets-play-the-tough-guy pushing Europe to open the wallet, and maybe, just maybe, lightly mention that ceasefire is a good first step, but it alone is not enough.
Instead the tried to pick a fight with the bulliest of bullies, in their home turf, in front of a hundred journalists recording every second. You don't try to be a smartypants and teach history to the guy who got elected in rewriting history (see them debating the who-did-what in 2015-2016).
I think this was a colossal mistake in the 3D chess of this invasion.
Now he gave all the reasons for Trump to wash their hands of any responsibility, and let Europe fix the mess.
The only thing that may still keep Trump engaged is Trump's own ego. He was seeing this as an opportunity to go in the history books as the biggest peace dealmaker, and potentially a Nobel Peace prize winner. Now.. not so much.
> If there is one thing that you should never, ever do, is question America's willingness to peak a fight.
But the choose to fight and it’s not on their home ground.
Totally different situation.
You can’t just leave if you begin to lose like in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
They never faced the win or lose everything situation since their independence.
You're taken "you're surrounded by oceans on both sides" the wrong way. Zelensky was quoting Trump from just minutes before, where he himself said something along the lines of "we're going to be fine, there's an ocean between us and europe. no matter what happens, we're going to be fine". How do you justify saying something that irresponsible to a leader of an allied nation that is currently defending itself against an autocrat invasion?
Zelenskyy: A lot of questions. Let's start from the beginning. First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you, but you have a nice ocean and but don't feel now, but you will feel it in the future.
Trump: You don't know that.
Zelenskyy: God bless, you will not have a war...
So, it is what it is, and you need to be careful of what you say when dealing with people like Trump, especially in front of the cameras.
Leszek Miller is entitled to his opinion, but it’s not representative of what’s being said in Poland. Whether Zelenski gets to keep his job is for Ukrainians to decide.
Old video, seen it, has some more or less valid takes, but at the end of the day it's been Russia that attacked Ukraine.
And pundits and scholars about this being geopolitical chess games in eastern Europe are largely, albeit not completely, mistaken. This has always been about Putin's fear of democracy in Russia and him losing the grip in his own country. It is no coincidence that Russia attacked Ukraine a month after the unrest in Kazakhstan[1], few weeks after Russian military helped crush it.
It is though to come to such meetings when the other party (the Trump administration) genuinely does neither care nor likes you.
That being said, I'm gonna point out Zelenski himself.
1) You can't be sitting in the oval office and tell the president of one of the most belligerent and bloodiest countries in the world "you cannot understand how it is to defend yourself, you're surrounded by oceans on both sides". If there is one thing that you should never, ever do, is question America's willingness to pick a fight. That was what triggered hugely Trump (go check the video). That was a terrible mistake, directed to the bulliest president of the bulliest country in the planet, a gigantic blunder on its part.
2) I feel for Zelenski, but after what happened today, his political career is over, that's what pundits and political analysts all over eastern Europe are saying (they are much more critical of Zelenski's naivety than Trump's behavior). Former prime minister of Poland Leszek Miller has been very critical and said Zelenski came very unprepared and leaves in a worse position.
He quits the White House in a critical situation and if Ukraine wants to get some kind of leverage it will have to necessarily consider a change of leadership. Zelenski's stance has been terrific in the first years of war, but now he's alone and unable to get most of what he can for Ukraine.