“Trump also seems to have aligned with many of the [Putin’s] Kremlin’s views—not just on Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, but also on Europe’s future security order. ” – Foreign Policy Magazine, Daniel Fried, Ulrich Speck, Agathe Demarais, Nathalie Tocci, Garvan Walshe, C. Raja Mohan, Jo Inge Bekkevold, Mick Ryan, Keir Giles, and Stefan Theil
Trump and Vance suck at cross-cultural communications (CCC).
Half my growing up years were spent living overseas on “the economy” – among the peoples of those nations. I was introduced to my “international” stepbrother and stepmother at eleven. I taught him English, he taught me his language.
Most of my military career was spent requiring cross-cultural communication skills overseas in Special Forces. I discovered neuro-linguistic (body language) indicators are cross cultural. It is well known that 80% of communication is non-verbal.
I frequently had to intervene in very sensitive US- Host Nation discussions because an ethnocentric American showed his ass by trying to bully our counterparts into a course- of-action they had perfectly good reasons for not accepting.
Because my Ugly American was unwilling to listen to our host nation’s viewpoint, our mission was in serious jeopardy. At the tactical level that can become very risky when you are hundreds of miles inside a foreign country. Our life-line was the Chief of Station at the embassy – if we could get to him.
Those situations are introduced into every John F. Kennedy Special Warfare class during the last phase called Robin Sage.
Failing those cross-cultural (and team) communication scenarios can result in failing the whole program and going home without the coveted green beret.
As a Master Instructor at the Army’s Military Intelligence “School of Excellence” I once asked a class of aspiring intelligence analysts how many thought people in other countries like Asia, Africa or Egypt had the same basic desires in life – Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs.
I had to explain a concept that used to be common knowledge in academia.
Once the class understood what I was asking, only two out of thirty students raised their hands.
None of them had lived overseas. Most had never been out of their home state.
Most Europeans don’t suffer from that cultural myopia.
Here are my observations of the Trump – Zelensky fiasco at the Oval Office:
I saw Zelensky approach Trump at the front door of the White House openly, honestly – even slightly deferentially by his slight body and head dip. Maybe Trump was irritated because Zelenskyy didn’t bow to the King?
I heard Trump greet Zelensky with “I see you dressed up for the occasion!” Looking past Zelensky to the media for approval for his undisguised, mocking sarcasm.
Zelensky, to his credit, understood the slur but diplomatically chose to ignore it.
Many ethnocentric Americans- like Trump and Vance– believe they can criticize and mock foreigners in their presence because they assume the foreigner doesn’t speak English.
That is not a safe assumption.
I have sat in many operational and tactical councils around conference tables and campfires and understood tone and intent without speaking a word of Arabic or Swahili.
Any soldier of any rank who has attended a jirga will tell you the same.
You can also tell if an interpreter is lying to you the same way.
I understand someone tasked with assisting Zelensky is having their security clearance revoked and losing their job.
If it is true and that person is a translator, he/she shouldn’t be punished for translating Trump and Vance’s crass comments about his attire or any other undiplomatic comments they made believing he didn’t understand them.
Zelensky tolerated Trump’s elitist, mocking demeanor for 39 minutes before retorting – probably when he saw Trump refusing to listen to why Zelensky knew Trump is operating in a web of communist disinformation.
Zelensky is correct and anyone who knows anything about communism knows he is.
Why was Vance in the room instead of Rubio?
I believe, based on Rubio’s comments to CNN later that Zelensky had been insistent on real security guarantees “for the last ten days” so Rubio knew the meeting was going to turn into a shit sandwich and opted out of the blast area. I can’t imagine Rubio not telling Trump of Zelensky’s requirements for a real “Deal” prior to the meeting. If he did and Trump insisted on the meeting occurring as advertised, it is Trump’s fault for the fiasco. Trump needed Vance (his “bitch” as Zelensky so accurately assessed) for backup to bully Zelensky.
Zelensky wasn’t threatening the U.S. when he said, “Your country will find out.” He was stating a fact he knew from an intimate knowledge of communism and Putin’s expressed agenda to restore the former Soviet Union. Vance’s ass kissing retort only exposed his deficiency in cross-cultural communications. His ignorance of reality when dealing with communists.
Why did Zelensky call Vance a bitch? Because none of the Trump mob’s ridicule and sarcasm was lost on Zelensky. He – like most people in the world – understand more English than ethnocentric Americans give them credit for – certainly more English than Americans know any other foreign language.
Zelensky called Vance a “bitch” because that’s what Vance was being – Trump’s bitch.
How unprecedented and crass for a President of the United States to greet a visiting foreign dignitary of any rank by sarcastically demeaning his clothing at the front door.
How two-faced to shake his hand then demean his appearance.
Trump’s reception of Zelensky at the front door of the White House was dripping with ill-concealed antagonism veiled by equally venomous sarcasm.
Trump set the stage for the Oval Office fiasco at the front door to the White House.
Zelensky walked into an ambush that turned into a public, political Lynching.
I’ve never seen such a lack of diplomacy by any president-including Senile Joe Biden – in my life.
I would’ve responded to Trump’s sarcasm by asking Trump if he didn’t have more than one suit. High functioning autistics get upset when patterns are changed. Guess that’s why Trump wears the same suit every day! It couldn’t be because he believes wearing red, white, and blue will convince voters he’s a patriot?
The masses are easily fooled by public, politically motivated gestures of patriotism like displaying dozens of perfectly draped American flags, hugging an American flag and slick slogans and songs – however insincere and hypocritical for a guy who never served his country.
Trump grew up believing it is the clothes that make the man.
No one in the real working world believes that.
Trump is the one wearing Emperor’s clothing.
And like the Emperor with no clothes, There are not only no clothes but no real man behind the suit. No character, no integrity, No modesty. Just an expensive, GEICO cash man empty suit. A spoiled brat, metrosexual, elitist who throws a tantrum when he doesn’t get his way.
Trump never thought to ask Zelensky IN PRIVATE why he always wore black and never wore a suit. Maybe Zelensky considers himself just one of his people – a common man who refuses to wear the superficial trappings of political office. He is sending a sincere message to his people – unlike our posturing politicians who brandish the American flag on their lapels so hypocritically.
And the fawning media-quick to adopt Trump’s crass criticism- asked if he even owned a suit. What an ass kissing mob.
A mob of media hyenas vying to please their pack leader.
What the public saw was as edited to favor Trump / Vance as the CBS’ interview with KamALLAH Harris.
Vance demanding a “thank you” may have played well for the cameras but it ignores the fact that Zelensky has publicly expressed gratitude to the US many times in the past to every visiting diplomat and before the international media. But he’s not going to grovel like Gavin Newsom before the self-styled “King” to negotiate for the freedom of his people.
Vance pointing out Ukrainian’s are grabbing men off the street and forcing them to the front lines was both juvenile and hypocritical. The United States government did the same thing during Vietnam. It was called the Draft. Our government sent “boys” to prison who refused to go to what they thought was an immoral war.
The only Statesmanship occurring in the Oval Office was by Zelensky when he replied “when the war is over I’ll wear a suit.” he wore black for the victims of Russia’s invasion and genocide of his country.
The same reason Johnny Cash wore black.
The same black garb people throughout the world wear when in mourning.
When Israel achieved Statehood in 1947, IDF’s Moshe Dyan didn’t have a uniform to wear to the U.S. for high-level meetings with the Pentagon. But they still kicked the Arabs ass even against 10:1 odds.
Judging a man’s character by his apparel is dangerous. The VC wore black pajamas and kicked Americans’ butt.
The Trump Administration’s Terminal Euphoria (TTE) is not only insulting and embarrassing on a national scale it is dangerous on an international scale.
After seeing Trump and Vance shill for him, Putin is gleefully preparing to finish his agenda in Ukraine.
FYI: Communists are virulently anti-capitalists – regardless of “negotiation” posturing. (see: DisInformation by Ion Pacepa). But they are not deterred from coopting Western technology for propaganda purposes.
Once Trump’s “U.S. (National Chamber of Commerce) interests” in rare earth minerals are established on the ground, those interests will be like catnip to Putin. He will let Trump believe it’s a deterrent – and pay for start up costs in the billions – then invade and nationalize those interests.
There is plenty of historical precedent to prove that.
Since Putin appears to already have Trump in his pocket, Putin might not even have the decency to wait until Trump is out of office to invade the rest of Ukraine. The NVA didn’t wait for all U.S. troops to get out of Vietnam before they headed south – violating the Paris Peace Accords signed eight years before.
The only thing Putin shill Trump didn’t do was to have the Russian ambassador attend the Oval Office meeting to establish a fabricated moral equivalency between Russia’s invasion and Zalynsky’s request for security guarantees.
How Trumpian.
See Also:
“A Plausibly Deniable Russian War Against Europe” and
“Look deeper: Time may be on Ukraine’s Side” by John R. Deni, Strategic Studies Institute; U.S. Army War College
“Russian Destabilization of Moldova” By Natia Seskuria, Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College
Foreign Policy Magazine Articles:
“Why Trump Is Wrong About Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine” by David J. Kramer,
“Russia Is Stepping Up Its Covert War Beyond Ukraine” by Bart Schuurman
“Why Early Elections in Ukraine Pave the Way for Putin” by Kataryna Bondar
