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Welcome to The Logoff. Immediately I’m specializing in a disastrous assembly between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The hostile dialog had rapid penalties for Ukraine’s battle effort and revealed a lot about how Trump sees the US’s new international position.
What occurred as an alternative? What started as a well mannered assembly devolved right into a de facto ambush after Zelenskyy questioned what would occur if Russia’s Vladimir Putin had been to interrupt a ceasefire. With cameras rolling, Trump and Vance berated Zelenskyy within the Oval Workplace, accusing him of ingratitude for US help. After the assembly, Zelenskyy left the White Home with the minerals deal unsigned, and Trump launched a press release saying the Ukrainian may “come again when he’s prepared for Peace.”
What now? Trump says he’s nonetheless pursuing a peace deal, however after Friday, Ukraine appears prone to have even much less leverage. Ukraine’s key ask is a safety assure from the US — a request Putin opposes and Trump has resisted. Zelenskyy’s prospects are absolutely worse now than when he wakened this morning.
What’s the large image? The assembly was a stunning show of Trump’s posture towards the world — and the novel break he represents from the US’s earlier position within the international order. In a matter of some extremely charged minutes, he flouted the delicate US-Ukraine alliance, publicly humiliated a international chief, sure himself much more tightly to Putin, and summed all of it up with: “That is gonna be nice tv — I’ll say that.”
And with that, it’s time to sign off …
Watching that Trump-Vance-Zelenskyy video introduced me perilously near an anxiety-driven YouTube scroll session. I used to be rescued by Vox’s Immediately, Defined podcast, which has an enchanting episode in regards to the Oscars’ international movies class. Particularly, it’s a few “German” movie that was truly (and secretly) filmed in Iran with Iranian actors and an Iranian director. I hope you get an opportunity to take pleasure in it.
Lastly, due to everybody who signed up for our new Saturday “Good Information” e-newsletter. For those who missed it yesterday, it’s a weekly dose of hope for these troubled occasions. You can enroll right here. Have a very good weekend, and I’ll see you again right here on Monday.
