The empire drops its mask

One does not need to try too hard to imagine the sheer glee Russian President Vladimir Putin must have felt when watching what unfolded in the Oval Office of the US White House on Friday. He would have had the distinct pleasure of watching his primary geopolitical foe, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, ambushed and dressed-down in front of a stunned global audience by the two most powerful people in US politics: US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Zelensky came, on paper, to seek a minerals deal. What he really seemed to have wanted was firmer security guarantees in his country’s war against Russia, which invaded Ukraine back in February 2022. Sadly, for him, with the war now entering its fourth year, Washington DC’s appetite for sustaining Ukraine in the conflict is running low. Many will pin this on Trump’s return to the White House but the signs were evident even when Biden was in charge. Now, Trump clearly wants an end to the whole thing and for a deal between Zelensky and Putin. The Oval Office meeting was also an opportunity to nudge Zelensky in this direction. However, after 30 minutes of tense but cordial exchanges, when Vice President Vance suggested that the "path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy", the meeting unraveled.

Zelensky retorted that any diplomacy would end in the destruction of his country, citing Putin’s aggression towards Ukraine since 2014. That was not what Trump and Vance wanted to hear. Vance then accused Zelensky of being disrespectful and litigating the issue in front of American media. The exchanges went further downhill from there. Trump accused Zelensky of “gambling with millions of lives", told him that he is not winning the war and only has a shot at ‘coming out OK’ because of the US, said that Zelensky is in no position to dictate and that he would not be such a “tough guy” without the US. In the end, Zelensky got neither a minerals deal or assurances of US backing, with a Trump social media post saying “Come back when you're ready for peace” bookending the whole episode.

Never has a US ally been humiliated in such a public manner. Nor has there ever been a US administration so open about how it will bully those weaker than them into doing what it wants. Crucially, this is not the first time America has done either of these things. The list of those left hanging and embarrassed by the US is long -- and includes Pakistan too. However, with Trump’s return to power, the last of the fig leaves are gone. This is what the US has always been about: raw power in the pursuit of yet even more power. There is no real concern for human rights, international law and who is or is not a democrat or a dictator. Yes, appeals to these ‘values’ were always a feature, the silk glove over the iron hand -- the hand all but the naivest refused to see. But Trump has taken that glove off. There can be no hiding from what the US empire really is now. Amidst all this, one cannot help but feel sorry for Zelensky and Ukraine. Here they are, caught in a war triggered by the US’ headlong, impetuous rush to expand Nato, counting on those who got them in this mess to get them out, only to be shouted down by the two most powerful men on the planet. That being said, there are those who never even got the US blessing in the first place. Those who must suffer ‘jokes’ about their land being turned into some kind of crude resort after enduring over a year of genocide. Europeans had likely never imagined themselves being in the same boat as ‘those folks’, but here we are. If there are any lessons from the world for all this, it is that empire is totally incompatible with justice and humanitarianism. We are all better off recognising the US for what it is and stop counting on it to be some kind of saviour. It never has been.