One of the key tenets of diplomacy is that differences between countries and leaders should be dealt with in private and agreements signed in public. This is necessary to ensure and protect room for manoeuvre for all players. On Friday, at the Oval Office in the White House, however, the opposite was on display: The differences — political, geopolitical, personal — between US President Donald Trump and Vice President J D Vance, on one side and Ukraine’s embattled leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the other, were aired in full global view. The agreement on providing the US access to rare earth minerals is now on the back burner. The meeting, which saw Vance and Trump attack the Ukrainian president for “not saying thank you” and all but bullied for “not having the cards”, is important........

© Indian Express