January 2018: Trump has made controversial comments about different black countries: Africa continent, Haiti, El Salvador. His violent comments: “shithole countries”.
Very few people in western countries were shocked. But the majority of them remain silent, “aligning” de facto their view to the White House Boss one.
On January 26th, 2018, President Paul Kagame met with President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This was their first meeting between an African leader and the US president after the incident.
The meeting was significant because it came shortly after Trump’s reported “shithole countries” remark about African nations, which had sparked outrage across the continent. Kagame, who was the African Union chairman at the time, did not publicly comment on that controversy. Despite tensions between the U.S. and the African Union at the time, Kagame maintained a diplomatic approach. We call it the African respect and resilience.
28th February 2025: The heated exchange in the Oval office at the White house between Donald Trump and Zelensky is clear enough to tell what the US administration thinks about Ukraine. Not in a very high esteem.
The rhetoric was dismissive of Ukraine’s leadership and its role in global affairs: “very few cards left in Zelensky hands. Make a deal or we’re out”.
Was Zelensky respectful towards his hosts? We don’t think so. For instance, he kept calling the US vice president “JD” while in a very high diplomatic forum. It doesn’t work like that, Mr Zelensky.
He forgot that when you are in a weak position, you don’t argue with your “bosses”. Without the USA’s support, Ukraine would have been part of Russia today.
Is the “shithole countries” list as seen by the USA leaders getting longer ? In our opinion, most probably yes. Despite the EU leaders immediate response to support Zelensky and Ukraine.
Africa survived those insults seven years ago. But for Ukraine, it may be the swan song for Zelensky. No other head of state before him has ever been requested to leave the White House almost “manu militari”.
He has a lot to learn from African leaders’ resilience and put aside his arrogance if he cares about the future of his country and his continent.
RADIOTV10
