1 March, 2025. On 28 February, the televised ambush of President Zelenskyy in the White House by President Trump and his attack dog, J. D. Vance, vividly illustrates three fundamental lessons of diplomacy. First, as a rule, leave negotiations to the professionals. Second, conduct these negotiations in private in order to minimise the risk of sabotage by interested outside parties. Third, if sufficiently important, employ heads of state and government to announce any agreement reached.
Whether the ambush of the brave and widely admired Ukrainian leader was pre-planned, or an instinctive reaction of the ruling MAGA twins when it became clear that Zelenskyy was not prepared to grovel before the throne with sufficient ardour, is not yet clear, although it is beginning to look as if it were the former. What is, obvious, however, is that neither party got the deal that was being confidently predicted only hours before Trump’s theatre of the diplomatically absurd plumbed new depths.
PS 28 March 2025. Since writing this, the fate of the Trump-Witcoff double act in private talks with Putin and his foreign ministry puppets later in March advertises another action to avoid in conducting diplomacy that even a 10-year old would probably understand. Don’t announce publicly – and repeatedly – that you will get a quick deal, for this is an open invitation to the other party to require unmatched concessions if this one is to be granted.