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Comment by gambiting | Hacker News Reader

Because if it provided the resources that were requested from the start Russian offensive would have been pushed out of the country 2 years ago. America(and most European countries too, to be fair) sat on their hands for ages before approving actual military aid. Famous thing about Germany sending helmets while other countries were sending tanks etc.

But also because if JD Vance wasn't such insufferable prick without an ounce of tact there's a good chance the agreement yesterday would have been signed. That is not Ukrainian fault, it's 100% the fault of current American administration.

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"Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation's highest office."

   - J. D. Vance

"Trump's biggest failure as a political leader is that he sees the worst in people, and he encourages the worst in people. "

  - J. D. Vance

Letting your interests always go last, and letting people who depend on you and have worked against you(remember Zelenski campaigned against Trump), demand things and reproach you in public, is not tact. The one who lacked tact was Zelenski, not Vance. As Trump said, "You're in no position to dictate what we're gonna feel."

As for aid, the arrogance in assuming the aid was mandatory and failing to give what you want the way you want is wrong and evil, does not endear people to aid you. And besides, any delays in aid had a much lesser effect than the EU countries buying russian gas at exorbitant prices. The sanctions imposed were immediately sabotaged by buying russian gas.

>>The one who lacked tact was Zelenski, not Vance

Hard disagree. The way he treated Zelenskyy who was their guest is unacceptable and completely tactless. He acted as if he was scolding Zelenskyy. The entire comment from Trump "look he dressed up!" was juvenile, showing zero respect. But then he called him a dictator not long ago so I don't know what I expected.

>>The sanctions imposed were immediately sabotaged by buying russian gas.

Because it wasn't possible for EU to stop buying it on a dime, not without letting its citizens freeze and go without electricity. You can argue that well, they should have gone cold if they care about it so much - I'd argue that the EU countries have stopped buying Russian gas and resources as soon as they possibly could.

>As for aid, the arrogance in assuming the aid was mandatory

That's not what I said - I said if the aid was provided when it was requested the war would have ended already.

> "look he dressed up!" was juvenile

It's worse than that.

Zelenskyy famously stopped wearing civilian suits, and is always wearing military-style clothes in public appearances to symbolise how he's defending his nation in a time of war. It's a reminder to other leaders that it's not just another trade deal, that this is a real shooting war and people are dying.

Trump hates this, and thinks it's disrespectful that Zelenskyy doesn't wear a suit when he comes to the US on official visits.

Trump generally can't stomach a real fight, and Zelenskyy can... visibly.

Hence the reaction from Trump. Zelenskyy made him feel shame through his mere dress, his shirt, so he had to do something or say something to feel in control again, to feel powerful.

>Zelenskyy famously stopped wearing civilian suits, and is always wearing military-style clothes in public appearances to symbolise how he's defending his nation in a time of war. It's a reminder to other leaders that it's not just another trade deal, that this is a real shooting war and people are dying.

>Trump hates this, and thinks it's disrespectful that Zelenskyy doesn't wear a suit when he comes to the US on official visits.

That's why they invited dress uniforms...the ones with the jackets and ties.

This is like… inviting a Mandalorian and then insisting he take his helmet off.

“You have to follow the dress code, I don’t care about your sacred oath” — said by someone who doesn’t believe in oaths.

That's tame, suits are almost global dress code in management and business circles with a few exceptions, and violation of dress code is indecent.

Say that to Churchill... :D

No, there's definitely no "dress code" in those circles.

A dress code is specifically something you impose to lower-ranking ones. That's why Trump did not like it, and why this journalist seemed upset: they couldn't bear that Zelenski was not submitting to their, very closed-minded WASP dress code for underlings.

When you're the head of state, or in power circles, there's something else, that's called a _dress standing_, which is different and opens a much wider area of possibilities.

And by that standard, boy, did Zelensky outfit outranked everyone else's in the office!

What about Churchill? His style looks like a slightly dated imperial dress code, because he was a fan of the British Empire.

When he came to the White House during WWII? Was in soldier outfit.

Oh wow, Churchill really was wearing a uniform when he visited the white house.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205140998

Yeah, no. Nothing in that discussion was tactful on America's side. This is oligarch's trying to gaslight, lie, and extort a country while getting cozy with an enemy they fought for decades. And their remarks were absolutely juvenile. THat's not how we treat allies (or at worst, ,enemy of an enemy).

As for aid, the arrogance in assuming the aid was mandatory and failing to give what you want the way you want is wrong and evil,

This is insane. He's been constantly begging and thanking the US for support for years. At no point has he even come close to "assuming the aid was mandatory".

To claim that Zelenski lacked tact while Vance did not is similarly nuts. Anyone who watched the video would understand that.

Some of the spending actually is mandatory, because it was passed and apportioned by Congress (but may not have been dispersed yet), and I think Zelensky can be forgiven for having some level of expectations on more aid given the bilateral security pact Biden signed last July and the overall glowing reception he gets in the press.

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