-Analysis-
PARIS – Six people gathered in a White House office on Monday to decide to freeze U.S. military aid to Ukraine. It was one of the most significant decisions since Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, and it’s worth looking at those six people — including Trump — who now make up the inner circle deciding American foreign policy.
Alongside the president, there was Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
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Their backgrounds speak volumes about the direction of this administration, both in terms of content and form, and do not bode well for Ukraine and Europe, even if dialogue eventually resumes with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has said he is ready to do so.
Vance’s values
The most significant figure is JD Vance. He was the one who launched the attack against Zelensky in the Oval Office — an unusual role for a vice president, especially when addressing a head of state.
Trump’s entourage resembles an imperial court. The important thing is to be in the boss’s good graces, to be his enforcer. But Vance also has his own agenda. This 40-year-old ultra-conservative has close ties to the clan of tech “oligarchs,” and in particular to Peter Thiel, an ideologue and leading figure in libertarianism, a philosopher who advocates as little state intervention as possible.
Vance quickly made his mark, with his speech at the Munich Security Conference where he stunned Europeans by praising the far right. He has gained influence in Trump’s entourage, where Elon Musk seemed to be taking all the limelight. Vance has nothing but contempt for Ukraine, whose fate he said, a few months before the election, was of little importance to him.
A warning
Next to him, Marco Rubio is an expert on international issues, but has little influence. He remained silent, as if embarrassed, during the clash with Zelensky. He appears more reasonable to the Europeans, but that doesn’t change the outcome.
At Monday’s meeting, the most outrageous figure was Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, a position created after 9/11. Gabbard has often relayed Russian propaganda, including fake news about Ukraine; she has cozied up to the regime of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, denying the use of chemical weapons; she seems the last person qualified for this ultra-sensitive post. “The worst appointment in history,” commented John Bolton, a traditional Republican who served as Trump’s National Security Advisor in his first term.
It’s time to stop deluding ourselves about the possibility of influencing this administration.
Pete Hegseth, the head of the Pentagon, and Steve Witkoff, a real estate billionaire close to Trump, don’t seem likely to change the prevailing complacency toward Russia on the issue of Ukraine issue, to use a euphemism.
It’s time to draw the conclusions and stop deluding ourselves about the possibility of influencing this administration, whose agenda is to change the world order by force.
The six participants in the White House meeting made the cold decision to deprive military support to a country that’s been invaded — the founding act of a diplomacy that no longer knows allies nor friends. Europe has been warned.
