The Fox and the Goat
Zelenskyy & Trump vs JD Vance
My goal was to write about the US-Ukraine “mineral deal” and release it last Friday. Something told me to wait until after the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting, and boy, was I right to do so. For now, we can forget about detailed deal analysis, we have more important things to talk about.
CLXXII Never contend with a Man who has nothing to Lose;
for thereby you enter into an unequal conflict. The other enters without anxiety; having lost everything, including shame, he has no further loss to fear. He therefore resorts to all kinds of insolence. One should never expose a valuable reputation to so terrible a risk, lest what has cost years to gain may be lost in a moment, since a single slight may wipe out much sweat. A man of honor and responsibility has a reputation, because he has much to lose. He balances his own and the other’s reputation: he only enters into the contest with the greatest caution, and then goes to work with such circumspection that he gives time to prudence to retire in time and bring his reputation under cover. For even by victory he cannot gain what he has lost by exposing himself to the chances of loss.”
—Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom
The Fox and the Goat
At this point, I think the whole world knows about the debacle at the White House between Zelenskyy, JD Vance, and Trump. On one hand, it was a disgraceful display of leadership; on the other, it was a moment that will be studied for centuries. Let’s do an in-depth analysis of what happened.