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Welcome to The Logoff. As we speak I’m specializing in a disastrous assembly between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The hostile dialog had instant penalties for Ukraine’s warfare effort and revealed a lot about how Trump sees the US’s new international position.
What occurred as a substitute? 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 assist. After the assembly, Zelenskyy left the White Home with the minerals deal unsigned, and Trump launched a press release saying the Ukrainian might “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 certainly worse now than when he wakened this morning.
What’s the large image? The assembly was a surprising 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 overseas chief, certain 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 As we speak, Defined podcast, which has a captivating episode concerning the Oscars’ overseas movies class. Particularly, it’s a few “German” movie that was really (and secretly) filmed in Iran with Iranian actors and an Iranian director. I hope you get an opportunity to get pleasure from it.
Lastly, because of everybody who signed up for our new Saturday “Good Information” publication. For those who missed it yesterday, it’s a weekly dose of hope for these troubled instances. You can enroll right here. Have a superb weekend, and I’ll see you again right here on Monday.
