SOUND OF FURY

 

THE spectacular showdown between Ukraine President Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President of the United States Mr. Donald Trump in full glare of cameras has given the world a plethora of clues about the future trajectory of not only the RussiaUkraine war but also about the volatility likely to be involved in having bilateral relations with America. The shouting match upended all the talk of hammering out a peace deal and also the critical minerals pact that Mr. Trump was seeking in his usual transactional style of diplomacy. The road ahead for Ukraine now has become tricky as without the US help it cannot sustain the military operations for long. Sitting pretty, after the verbal joust between the heads of two States, is Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin.

 

He is now an American favourite as the breach in trust between Mr. Zelenskyy and Mr. Trump works totally in his favour. That leaves a question for the entire world about the next step to be taken without making Mr. Trump sound the villain nor making Mr. Zelenskyy as a poster boy of defiance. The fighting spirit the Ukraine President showed in face of the tense back and forth with Mr.Trump and an equally aggressive US Vice-President Mr. JD Vance is laudable. He stuck to his guns and kept asking for a security guarantee in exchange of the minerals deal from Mr. Trump. It was a truly legitimate demand by Mr Zelenskyy and he reserved every right to cut short the talk if a fair claim was not considered by the overtly aggressive American team. Though the extraordinary showdown will have consequences for Ukraine, its President looked absolutely on the coin while taking on a man who is out to disrupt every rule of diplomacy in the current geopolitics. Peace is a necessity for Ukraine given the mighty challenge it is facing from Russian forces every day for the last three years.

 

The country has lost soldiers, civilians, infra, resources, and territory to Mr. Putin’s armies. The war is going nowhere as Russian continues to change its goalposts by stretching it further on the strength of its economic and military heft. It has already made the world suffer in various forms. The USinitiated peace deal had raised hopes of an early end to the conflict but what happened in the White House on Friday has confirmed that Ukraine is now on its own against an extra-confident Russia. Things might take a further twist in the days to come, judging by the olive branch Mr. Zelenskyy offered to Mr. Trump in a television interview hours after the showdown. It looked an effort to pacify the US President who flew into a rage at the first hint of defiance by his Ukraine counterpart.

 

Mr. Zelenskyy might return to Mr. Trump after another round of consultation with his leadership team and the European countries backing Ukraine. However, the move will be fraught with many uncertainties given the aggressive behaviour of Mr. Trump in the second term . The world can learn a lot from the White House showdown in shaping its own strategies while dealing with Mr. Trump. The US President is out to prove that he has the solution for all problems in the world but to have those the world will have to give in to his demands. It is a far cry from the old school diplomacy countries still believe in. There are no closed-door talks now for the US. Mr. Trump is here to demolish all the norms of statesmanship. He means business. That too on his terms.