A White House drama worthy of Oscars

US President Donald Trump recently characterised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a modestly successful comedian, but he himself choreographed a drama in the White House with himself as the star.

If the stakes were not high in terms of loss of lives and property and its influence in shaping a new world order, Trump could have walked away with an Oscar. Millions around the world viewed no other high-level diplomatic conversation as it happened this time. Due to Trump's policies, the world is bewildered by the tectonic changes in Europe.

The unprecedented spectacle of the US President and his vice-president bullying a head of state to surrender to his aggressor without even a guarantee of survival was a comedy of the absurd. Trump himself observed that it was good television, thinking of his own ‘Apprentice’, which did not have such a wide viewership.

It is not for nothing that diplomatic discussions are held in camera so as not to expose the follies of leaders, who may otherwise appear like supermen who engage in serious conversations to find impeccable solutions to intractable problems.

The viewers of the White House show could not determine the purpose of the exercise because even without indicating any proposal to end the war, Zelenskyy was accused of not being grateful to the US and for using the Western military and other resources to fight a futile war. Zelenskyy’s effort to explain the genesis of the war and his effort to save his country by his people fighting a war for three years were ignored and Trump and Vance demanded a ceasefire, leaving a final settlement to an uncertain future.

The fact that Ukraine had agreed to sign a Minerals Pact did not come up in the conversation. Zelenskyy’s plea for security guarantees was ignored and he was summarily asked to leave the White House with the conclusion that Zelenskyy was not interested in peace and that he could come back when he was ready for peace. The minerals pact, which was supposed to be signed by both sides, did not figure in the conversation.

Zelenskyy naturally resisted the demand for an immediate ceasefire without any fear because he had been living dangerously for at least three years, if not longer. 

Even more pointless was the demand that Zelenskyy be thankful to the United States for all the support he had received, when the reality was that he had received support under a NATO framework, and the other NATO members were not making any demands.

The  UK, France and Germany had assured him that they would continue to support the war if necessary. That assurance gave Zelenskyy the courage to stand up to the US and refuse to budge. The American pressure also appeared pointless because Russia had only weakened over the years because of the sophisticated long-range missiles Ukraine was deploying.

Russia had lost more than 7 lakh soldiers and was depending on North Koreans and Indian fortune seekers. If more pressure had been exerted on Russia, Putin would have been more inclined to negotiate a peace deal. The most important outcome of the current exercise was that the US clearly switched sides to support Russia, discarding its traditional allies in Europe.

In three weeks, the US-Russia relations changed from animosity to mutual support. If the US had taken measures like permitting long-range bombing and expanding sanctions, Russia may have agreed to a fairer deal that what Trump is trying to strike. The purpose of the public confrontation of Trump with Zelenskyy appeared to be merely for demoralising Lezinsky into submission to agree to a ceasefire without any concomitant benefits or even hope of ending a devastating war.