How JD Vance emerged as the chief saboteur of the transatlantic alliance

[glockman]

How JD Vance emerged as the chief saboteur of the transatlantic alliance​

Andrew Roth in Washington


Vance snaked his way in first to the row between Trump and Zelenskyy, his second intrusion this month after Munich

Sat 1 Mar 2025 18.00 AEDT

JD Vance was supposed to be the inconsequential vice-president.

But his starring role in Friday’s blowup between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy – where he played a cross between Trump’s bulldog and a tech bro Iago – may mark the moment that the postwar alliance between Europe and the US finally collapsed.

Trump and Vance teamed up to goad Zelenskyy into a feud in the Oval Office. But it was Vance that snaked his way in first, riling up the Ukrainian president by telling him that he was leading “propaganda tours” of the destruction wrought by Russia’s invasion.

“I think it’s disrespectful to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance said, his voice rising. “You bring people on a propaganda tour, Mr President … Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?”

“During the war, everyone has problems,” Zelenskyy replied. “But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future.”

“You don’t know that,” Trump interjected angrily. “You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”

The rest, as Trump would later call it, was “great television”. By design, it was disastrous for Ukraine.

This was Vance’s second great intervention this month. His Eurosceptic worldview came into focus in Munich, where he accused shocked European leaders of stifling free speech telling them that “if you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you”.

At the time, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said: “Listening to that speech … they try to pick a fight with us and we don’t want to pick a fight with our friends.”

But on Friday, Vance finally got his fight. The US vice-president is quietly assembling a foreign policy team with a deeply skeptical view of Kyiv’s value as a future ally. And European officials have lined up to back Zelenskyy, saying that the Trump team’s performance in the Oval Office indicated that the US was truly siding with Vladimir Putin in the war.

“Now is the moment to stay calm, but not carry on,” wrote Camille Grand, a distinguished policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and former assistant secretary general for defense investment at Nato. “The US ally has now officially decided to take a stance inconsistent with our traditionally shared interests and values. This might be temporary or lasting but this will have profound and enduring consequences.”

There is a thing in Washington that many people understand but that few will say: that the Trump administration was looking for a pretext to ruin its relationship with Ukraine, and that the canned messaging that followed the Oval Office feels oddly coordinated and premeditated.

“That was a train wreck by design,” said Sam Greene, a professor of Russian politics at King’s College London. “The quiet conversation since Munich has been about setting Ukraine up for a fall. If a real deal was going to be unattainable, right, that somebody would need to take the blame for it, and it would likely be the Ukrainians, right?”

By Friday afternoon, the Trump administration was briefing reporters that it was so offended by Zelenskyy’s conduct that it would consider cutting all military aid to Ukraine, including ammunition, vehicles and missiles awaiting shipment. The official told the Washington Post that the conflict with Zelenskyy had not been premeditated.

Reagan-era Republicans aghast as Trump turns Russia policy on its head

But the commentary from party allies was oddly formulaic and repetitive. Lindsey Graham, who had posed for a photo with Zelenskyy just hours earlier, tweeted: “America was disrespected and the deal is off. I have never been more proud of President @realDonaldTrump and Vice President @JDVance for standing up for America First.”

Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, who has been one of Ukraine’s strongest backers up until his confirmation, tweeted: “Thank you @POTUS for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before. Thank you for putting America First. America is with you!”

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, tweeted: “Was honored to be with @POTUS, @VP, and [Rubio] in the Oval today during the bi-lateral with President Zelensky. As the President has ALWAYS done – he stood for America … America First.”

It is difficult to know who is more contemptible: those who wanted this or those who merely went along with it. There is a picture in the Oval Office of Rubio and Vance sitting side by side as Trump rips into Zelenskyy. Rubio looks deeply uncomfortable, his hands clasped and his face downcast. Vance looks ecstatic. He finally got the fight he wanted to pick.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/jd-vance-volodymyr-zelenskyy

 

[Leongsam]

The Guardian???

You actually quoted the Guardian???

 

[syed putra]

Sweden and Finland were both neutral and having borders with Russia were never disturbed by Russia.
But now as NATO members and both arming with offensive weapons, who knows what the future will be.

 

[A Singaporean]

Where are all the ACS retards who want to fight for Ukraine?

 

[syed putra]

Where are all the ACS retards who want to fight for Ukraine?

I think they couldn't get the flight ticket.

 

[glockman]

The Guardian???

You actually quoted the Guardian???

View attachment 215605

Opinions can change lah, as a result of observing actions, events and also by personal agendas. Flip flopping is important for survival and to ensure relevancy. I flip flop all the time! Used to hate the pap, now I love the pap because of CDC vouchers

 

[glockman]

Sweden and Finland were both neutral and having borders with Russia were never disturbed by Russia.
But now as NATO members and both arming with offensive weapons, who knows what the future will be.

So it's safe to say Putin and his regime caused the expansion of nato. If the russkies were peace loving neighbours, there is no need for nato. My neighbours and I get along fabulously well, so there's only a very low fence dividing our respective properties. Can literally just jump across, which I used to do. Now I can't because I am old liao.

 

[KingFook Sr]

How JD Vance emerged as the chief saboteur of the transatlantic alliance​

Andrew Roth in Washington


Vance snaked his way in first to the row between Trump and Zelenskyy, his second intrusion this month after Munich

Sat 1 Mar 2025 18.00 AEDT

JD Vance was supposed to be the inconsequential vice-president.

But his starring role in Friday’s blowup between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy – where he played a cross between Trump’s bulldog and a tech bro Iago – may mark the moment that the postwar alliance between Europe and the US finally collapsed.

Trump and Vance teamed up to goad Zelenskyy into a feud in the Oval Office. But it was Vance that snaked his way in first, riling up the Ukrainian president by telling him that he was leading “propaganda tours” of the destruction wrought by Russia’s invasion.

“I think it’s disrespectful to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance said, his voice rising. “You bring people on a propaganda tour, Mr President … Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?”

“During the war, everyone has problems,” Zelenskyy replied. “But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future.”

“You don’t know that,” Trump interjected angrily. “You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”

The rest, as Trump would later call it, was “great television”. By design, it was disastrous for Ukraine.

This was Vance’s second great intervention this month. His Eurosceptic worldview came into focus in Munich, where he accused shocked European leaders of stifling free speech telling them that “if you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you”.

At the time, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said: “Listening to that speech … they try to pick a fight with us and we don’t want to pick a fight with our friends.”

But on Friday, Vance finally got his fight. The US vice-president is quietly assembling a foreign policy team with a deeply skeptical view of Kyiv’s value as a future ally. And European officials have lined up to back Zelenskyy, saying that the Trump team’s performance in the Oval Office indicated that the US was truly siding with Vladimir Putin in the war.

“Now is the moment to stay calm, but not carry on,” wrote Camille Grand, a distinguished policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and former assistant secretary general for defense investment at Nato. “The US ally has now officially decided to take a stance inconsistent with our traditionally shared interests and values. This might be temporary or lasting but this will have profound and enduring consequences.”

There is a thing in Washington that many people understand but that few will say: that the Trump administration was looking for a pretext to ruin its relationship with Ukraine, and that the canned messaging that followed the Oval Office feels oddly coordinated and premeditated.

“That was a train wreck by design,” said Sam Greene, a professor of Russian politics at King’s College London. “The quiet conversation since Munich has been about setting Ukraine up for a fall. If a real deal was going to be unattainable, right, that somebody would need to take the blame for it, and it would likely be the Ukrainians, right?”

By Friday afternoon, the Trump administration was briefing reporters that it was so offended by Zelenskyy’s conduct that it would consider cutting all military aid to Ukraine, including ammunition, vehicles and missiles awaiting shipment. The official told the Washington Post that the conflict with Zelenskyy had not been premeditated.

Reagan-era Republicans aghast as Trump turns Russia policy on its head

But the commentary from party allies was oddly formulaic and repetitive. Lindsey Graham, who had posed for a photo with Zelenskyy just hours earlier, tweeted: “America was disrespected and the deal is off. I have never been more proud of President @realDonaldTrump and Vice President @JDVance for standing up for America First.”

Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, who has been one of Ukraine’s strongest backers up until his confirmation, tweeted: “Thank you @POTUS for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before. Thank you for putting America First. America is with you!”

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, tweeted: “Was honored to be with @POTUS, @VP, and [Rubio] in the Oval today during the bi-lateral with President Zelensky. As the President has ALWAYS done – he stood for America … America First.”

It is difficult to know who is more contemptible: those who wanted this or those who merely went along with it. There is a picture in the Oval Office of Rubio and Vance sitting side by side as Trump rips into Zelenskyy. Rubio looks deeply uncomfortable, his hands clasped and his face downcast. Vance looks ecstatic. He finally got the fight he wanted to pick.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/jd-vance-volodymyr-zelenskyy

JD Vance, the next POTUS.

 

[KingFook Sr]

Opinions can change lah, as a result of observing actions, events and also by personal agendas. Flip flopping is important for survival and to ensure relevancy. I flip flop all the time! Used to hate the pap, now I love the pap because of CDC vouchers

Sad.
You are low cost.

 

[Eisenhut]

JD Vance statement about Diplomacy is very neutral.


Zelensky refuse to sign in Munich 1 week before, 1 week later he will sign? Even Trump also think its too good to be true. Because once signed USA has access to mineral, he can move in troops to protect ( Trump will not declare openly), and he can talk to Putin.and Peace talk is like formality.

BtW the mineral deal was proposed by Zelensky himself initially.

But you look at Zelensky body language, he obviously plan NOT to sign, he just want to pick his moment for media. Zelensky already show his agenda attacking Putin for 5min, Trump &JD Vance think thats when something fishy is happening , how do you have peace talk when you attack Putin like that.

Zelensky decide to attack JD Vance instead of Trump. Trump let it play for few minutes, to let world see what kind of low class character Zelensky is. Then Trump step in when Zelensky say JD Vance " talk too loudly ..." For me its unacceptable, Zelensky go to Whitehouse and accuse an American leader in front of camera of talking too loudly! Zelensky is on drugs.

Zelensky has personal agenda but he sacrificing his whole country.

 

[syed putra]

 

[k1976]

 

[k1976]

 

[syed putra]

So it's safe to say Putin and his regime caused the expansion of nato. If the russkies were peace loving neighbours, there is no need for nato. My neighbours and I get along fabulously well, so there's only a very low fence dividing our respective properties. Can literally just jump across, which I used to do. Now I can't because I am old liao.

Your neighbour did not armed themselves with the intention of firing at you one fine day.

 

[shock888]

How JD Vance emerged as the chief saboteur of the transatlantic alliance​

Andrew Roth in Washington


Vance snaked his way in first to the row between Trump and Zelenskyy, his second intrusion this month after Munich

Sat 1 Mar 2025 18.00 AEDT

JD Vance was supposed to be the inconsequential vice-president.

But his starring role in Friday’s blowup between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy – where he played a cross between Trump’s bulldog and a tech bro Iago – may mark the moment that the postwar alliance between Europe and the US finally collapsed.

Trump and Vance teamed up to goad Zelenskyy into a feud in the Oval Office. But it was Vance that snaked his way in first, riling up the Ukrainian president by telling him that he was leading “propaganda tours” of the destruction wrought by Russia’s invasion.

“I think it’s disrespectful to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance said, his voice rising. “You bring people on a propaganda tour, Mr President … Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?”

“During the war, everyone has problems,” Zelenskyy replied. “But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future.”

“You don’t know that,” Trump interjected angrily. “You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”

The rest, as Trump would later call it, was “great television”. By design, it was disastrous for Ukraine.

This was Vance’s second great intervention this month. His Eurosceptic worldview came into focus in Munich, where he accused shocked European leaders of stifling free speech telling them that “if you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you”.

At the time, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said: “Listening to that speech … they try to pick a fight with us and we don’t want to pick a fight with our friends.”

But on Friday, Vance finally got his fight. The US vice-president is quietly assembling a foreign policy team with a deeply skeptical view of Kyiv’s value as a future ally. And European officials have lined up to back Zelenskyy, saying that the Trump team’s performance in the Oval Office indicated that the US was truly siding with Vladimir Putin in the war.

“Now is the moment to stay calm, but not carry on,” wrote Camille Grand, a distinguished policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and former assistant secretary general for defense investment at Nato. “The US ally has now officially decided to take a stance inconsistent with our traditionally shared interests and values. This might be temporary or lasting but this will have profound and enduring consequences.”

There is a thing in Washington that many people understand but that few will say: that the Trump administration was looking for a pretext to ruin its relationship with Ukraine, and that the canned messaging that followed the Oval Office feels oddly coordinated and premeditated.

“That was a train wreck by design,” said Sam Greene, a professor of Russian politics at King’s College London. “The quiet conversation since Munich has been about setting Ukraine up for a fall. If a real deal was going to be unattainable, right, that somebody would need to take the blame for it, and it would likely be the Ukrainians, right?”

By Friday afternoon, the Trump administration was briefing reporters that it was so offended by Zelenskyy’s conduct that it would consider cutting all military aid to Ukraine, including ammunition, vehicles and missiles awaiting shipment. The official told the Washington Post that the conflict with Zelenskyy had not been premeditated.

Reagan-era Republicans aghast as Trump turns Russia policy on its head

But the commentary from party allies was oddly formulaic and repetitive. Lindsey Graham, who had posed for a photo with Zelenskyy just hours earlier, tweeted: “America was disrespected and the deal is off. I have never been more proud of President @realDonaldTrump and Vice President @JDVance for standing up for America First.”

Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, who has been one of Ukraine’s strongest backers up until his confirmation, tweeted: “Thank you @POTUS for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before. Thank you for putting America First. America is with you!”

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, tweeted: “Was honored to be with @POTUS, @VP, and [Rubio] in the Oval today during the bi-lateral with President Zelensky. As the President has ALWAYS done – he stood for America … America First.”

It is difficult to know who is more contemptible: those who wanted this or those who merely went along with it. There is a picture in the Oval Office of Rubio and Vance sitting side by side as Trump rips into Zelenskyy. Rubio looks deeply uncomfortable, his hands clasped and his face downcast. Vance looks ecstatic. He finally got the fight he wanted to pick.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/jd-vance-volodymyr-zelenskyy

Another divisive hit piece by the Libtards…

 

[nightsafari]

The Guardian???

You actually quoted the Guardian???

View attachment 215605

While I am not a fan of the guardian, you posting these sound bites sans context is deeply misleading.

For example, less hyperbolically, Ukraine before the invasion was corrupt. It had a Putin puppet in charge. The reason for the invasion was for Putin to regain control over Ukraine after his chosen lackey was democratically booted out. All other simple-minded reasonings be damned.

People with the power to vote should do so intelligently, and not based on easy sound bites. I would hope that our readership would choose to exercise their brain cells rather than rely on a simple coloured table with quotes from different points in history.

 

[mojito]

The Guardian???

You actually quoted the Guardian???

View attachment 215605

Probably where some of that good usaid moneys went to...

 

[Leongsam]

While I am not a fan of the guardian, you posting these sound bites sans context is deeply misleading.

For example, less hyperbolically, Ukraine before the invasion was corrupt. It had a Putin puppet in charge. The reason for the invasion was for Putin to regain control over Ukraine after his chosen lackey was democratically booted out. All other simple-minded reasonings be damned.

People with the power to vote should do so intelligently, and not based on easy sound bites. I would hope that our readership would choose to exercise their brain cells rather than rely on a simple coloured table with quotes from different points in history.

Putin's puppet was in charge and the CIA instigated and facilitated a coup which put a puppet of the USA/NATO in charge.

There's no such thing as a "good puppet" vs a "bad puppet". That only exists in fairy tales. Reality is a lot more mundane.

So people vote according to which puppet they prefer for their own selfish reasons. That's how politics works.

 

[Eisenhut]

Putin's puppet was in charge and the CIA instigated and facilitated a coup which put a puppet of the USA/NATO in charge.

There's no such thing as a "good puppet" vs a "bad puppet". That only exists in fairy tales. Reality is a lot more mundane.

So people vote according to which puppet they prefer for their own selfish reasons. That's how politics works.

Moi prefer sam leong puppet

 

[Leongsam]

There's always a flip side to any coin.



For three years, Volodymyr Zelensky has been America’s darling, a khaki clad symbol of defiance, pleading for billions in aid and NATO’s embrace amid Ukraine’s self inflicted war.

To many well-meaning Americans, he’s a hero battling overwhelming odds. But behind the curated image lies a far uglier truth, a stooge comedian turned president, propped up by a criminal oligarch, surrounded by cronies, and presiding over a regime of corruption, repression, and broken promises.

This is the real Zelensky, an actor playing a role he’s woefully unfit for, that was proven yesterday in the oval office.

As Ukraine spirals deeper into chaos and its brutally harvested conscript army collapses in retreat, it's important that decent Americans understand who and what this man really represents.

Let's start with Kvartal 95, The Oligarch’s Launchpad, Zelensky’s story starts not in politics but comedy. Born in 1978 in Kryvyi Rih, he co-founded Studio Kvartal 95 in the 1990s with a group of friends that had hit it big by the 2000s, ironically their big breaks were made in Russia, performing in Russian and focusing on Russian and Ukrainian political and cultural life. The key to all this success? Ihor Kolomoisky, a billionaire ukrainian oligarch with a laundry list of crimes, including fraud, money laundering, and brutal violence. Kolomoisky then owned 1+1, the TV network that handed Zelenskys Kvartal 95 a national platform starting in 2012. He didn’t just offer airtime. He bankrolled Zelensky with cash, security, and legal and criminal muscle. This wasn’t mentorship. It was a transaction. Kolomoisky, later sanctioned by the U.S. for “significant corruption,” saw Zelensky as a pawn in his game. By 2019, when Zelensky ran for president, Kolomoisky’s DNA was all over the campaign providing vehicles, lawyers, bodyguards, and a media blitz. Zelensky was never an outsider; he was a "made man"

This is where it gets almost unbelievably bizzare. In 2015, Zelensky starred in "Servant of the People," a hit satire aired on Kolomoisky’s 1+1 channel, where he played a teacher turned president railing against corruption.

Ukrainians, tired of the endemic corruption in the post Soviet state, lapped it up. Then, in 2018, his Kvartal 95 crew decided to turn fiction into reality, registering a political party called, you guessed it, "Servant of the People." It had absolutely no manifesto, no policies, and no plan of action, just a TV title and Zelensky’s face.

Running in 2019, Zelensky promised to end corruption and the Donbas civil war, which had erupted after the CIA backed Maidan Coup, winning in a landslide thanks to Kolomoisky’s media machine. An actor who played a president on TV was now remarkably in the real job.

Zelensky didn’t waste any time handing power to his showbiz pals. Ivan Bakanov, a Kvartal 95 co-founder, became head of the SBU security service with no experience. Serhiy Shefir, another comedy crony, took a top aide role, no experience. And then there’s Andriy Yermak, a film producer turned Zelensky’s right-hand man, now head of the Presidential Office, dubbed Ukraine’s “shadow president.” Yermak, physically and intellectualy towering over Zelensky, controls policy and access, a fixer running the show while the president flounders. These weren’t appointments based on merit. They were loyalty hires, a Kvartal 95 clique utterly unfit for a grossly dysfunctional war-torn nation.

Zelensky’s laughable anti-corruption pledge met reality in 2021 with the Pandora Papers. The leak revealed he and his inner circle,including Bakanov, were funnelling cash to Kolomoisky with Zelensky stashing millions offshore.

Zelensky swore to end corruption and the Donbas war. Instead, he’s delivered more of both, a million lie Dead, the free Media crushed, billions stolen, languages and religion banned. This criminal is no hero. No Churchill. And no friend of America. He should be treated accordingly.