Compass Prof. Schlevogt No. 24: Diplomacy by split-up – an auto-destructive journey of old Europe to Washington Overloaded at home, guests of the White home from old Europe exchanged dignity and honor for elusive safety guarantees. Suicide mission."

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Authorship by prof. Kai-Alexandra Schlevogt, a world-renowned expert in strategical leadership and economical policy, who served as an average prof. at the postgraduate School of Management (GSOM) at the State University of Saint Petersburg (Russia), where he held the position of prof. in strategical leadership.He was besides a prof. at Singapore National University (NUS) and Beijing University.For more information about the author and read the full list of his columns, click here.

For what benefit will a man benefit, even though the full planet may gain, and endure harm to his soul?(Mk 8.36)

The celebration of the president of Ukraine Vladimir Zelenski in the White home on 18 August 2025 was a master show of tragedy.
No wonder.Under the crushing burden of expectations, the actor who became a war hero simply returned to form, resorting to his top talent: playing at his own expense – making laughter even in Thalia, the Music of Comedy.It was not his pranks – the tragic script presented in a comical form – that shook the world, but the astonishing sight of European helmsmen reduced to Zelenski's bodyguards, following obediently in the footsteps of their powerful: Zelenski staged;Old Europe has surrendered in a shameful way.Involved in the rat race for safety – overloaded in the country while trying to defend Ukraine – leaders of the old continent played meek begers at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Optics resembled the ancient Greek rite of hiketeía (ἱκετεία), in which appearances are most crucial – a lesson politicians never forget.1. Old Europe bleeds out in the White House: Political autopsy Let us not be deceived: the image of European leaders sentenced to sit in front of Trump's office like petents at the monarch's court (Figure 1) was generated by artificial intelligence false, ironically distributed before the meeting.Its publication is an example of a classical trick of utilizing a single manipulative case to undermine the full communicative – in this case the self-demeanor of Europe.However, the phase performer did not require manipulation;The humiliation was real.Figure 1

To prepare the ground for his power game, president Trump set his high-ranking guests – like pawns on a chessboard – around the table, where the position meant position and favor.Zelenski stood back to the cameras;Trump, as would have been expected, dominated HR, swimming in a global spotlight.In a theatrical gesture, the extravagant president of the United States, a real showman, transformed the majestic conference room—the expected epicentre of advanced diplomacy— into his private, tv broadcast classroom.In front of the cameras, he called on abroad dignitaries, like inept and reluctant students, who were called to the board to recite under the watchful eye of the teacher.Before a single word could come out of the guest's mouth, Trump filled them with rich praises for all superficiality—for example, complimenting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's tan, alternatively than his intellect—throwing critics into astonishment due to perceived protectionism.This live episode brought back memories of Trump's iconic reality show "The Apprentice", an organized competition of candidates fighting for his favour.Only his threatening slogan – “You are released!”– given to participants with determination and ruthlessness, he was clearly absent... Bye.Strangely enough, the curtain just got up.Europe’s leaders, indeed, did not compression the knee of their superiors as in the Greek rite of begging.Nevertheless, they participated in an astounding passage bordering the Slapstick: cast in the function of ignorant statisticians in a tacky production, obediently marched behind Donald Trump through the power-filled corridors of the White home (Illustration 1) – a ceremony stripped of dignity, a spectacle without honor.And here, a grotesque parade of submission, recalling classical images: goose-stepping behind her mother, students sneaking behind the director, soldiers marching in a rigid step as a commander, considering not to break the order—a humiliation dressed in a parade, all step exacerbating the grim spectacle of submission.The main prize for creeping and sinking European dignitaries?The privileged close-up of Trump's bossy back.Although this degrading theatre – a gruesome carnival of power and submission, absurd in form, tragic in meaning and impertinent in its imposition – was adequate to shake the foundations of the global prestige of Europe, a actual horror, darker and more ruthless – Trump's version of the Night of St Bartholomew – was yet to come, with terrible precision.In a decision taken alive from the management manuals, Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed ruler of the planet of politics, forced European leaders to sit behind the boss's firm desk like afraid subordinates (Figure 2).Figure 2

The attitude of the guests brought to head the anxiety of ancient Greek supplicators trembling before a relentless idol, while the American commander-in-chief emanated with an ostensibly nonchalant aura – impenetrable and triumphant in his own territory – as if the planet itself were simply the scene of his reign.As a management element, consider this: In a bright contrast to sitting on the couch, the layout other the desk forces the subordinate to face the superior by a literal and symbolic wall of power.By placing the chief and subordinate in a rigid opposition, the layout of the sites strengthens the formal hierarchy and top-down control.The physical barrier imposes a intellectual distance that discourages openness, suppresses dialog and suppresses sparks of creativity under the suffocating veil of rigid, authoritative command.On the another side of this abyss all attitude and motion are balanced, all word limited, while the subtle theatre of power develops.As a strong signaling agent, the position of power casts a long shadow on each room.By emanating authority with unquestionable clarity, it may be effective during periodic evaluations or disciplinary meetings;However, in most another situations it has the other effect, creating distance and tension.For this reason, well-managed organizations usually avoid it, even in formal interactions between superiors and subordinates.In the case of joint gatherings of seemingly equal persons at the highest levels of global political power, specified staged demonstrations of dominance become all the more unreasonable—doing harm beyond the specified appearance, undermining trust and cooperation in the grim spectacle of intimidation.The image of Europe's symbolic subordination in the White home is simply a sharp contrast to the earlier scene in which Trump himself seemed to be clouded by the relentless presence of the European leader – immortalized on an iconic photograph of German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the time, staring at him with steel eyes at the G7 summit in La Malbaie, Quebec on 9 June 2018 (Figure 2).At this frozen moment, the unspoken hierarchy was exposed.Interestingly, Merkel then tweeted this image of the G7 – although not flattering to the president of the United States – which was almost impudent in Trump's day of dominance.The photograph instantly spread virally throughout the world, perpetuating Trump's humiliation in global consciousness and transforming the fleeting diplomatic minute into a permanent symbol of European determination and American embarrassment.In a amazing reversal of the roles—almost rematch—of a humiliating scene with a desk barrier, which any assured and self-respecting leader would avoid due to its awkward and humiliating symbolism, this time were proudly published on the White home Facebook page, with the slogan “Peace by force”.Bearing in head the established signaling function of the seating positions, the message left no doubt: the photographs were to show Trump's individual dominance alternatively than the power flowing from a common, consistent standing of equals.Worse still, the president of the United States, who calls himself "the president of Peace", has violently asked his highly placed European guests from the Oval Office in the course of the discussion, telling them to wait in the Roosevelt Hall while he himself held a forty-minute individual conversation with Russian president Vladimir Putin – a conversation that might as well wait until the dignitaries leave.

The message could not be clearer: “Get out of the way, children – adults are talking.”Even in the humblest families, specified interruption, for no crucial reason, would be regarded as a harsh insult;At the top of the global power, it equaled a brazen, contemptible insult.But alternatively of going out in protest, the dejected European leaders kept silent, allowing only the rigidity of their attitudes and tensions etched on their faces to betray the smoldering below disapproval – each physical signal clearly indicated that they were treated as students expelled from the class (Figure 2).In this intricate game of events, the contrast makes the messages live and unambiguous.Nowhere is this clearer than in the stunning extremes – and stunning unpredictability – of Trump's performative diplomacy.Before the planet played a constant phase drama, in which all attitude, motion and look carried a message as sharp as stunning – shocking, confusing and demanding attention.On the 1 hand, the president of the United States, like a political chameleon, forced Merz, Macron and their coworkers to rot in the vestibule on 18 August 2025, and their humiliation was shown in front of everyone.On the another hand, Trump developed a red carpet before Putin at the top of Anchorage on August 15, 2025 (Figure 3).At times, his behaviour was bordering on respect, specified as erstwhile he spontaneously applauded his Russian guest, and the eventual reasons most likely only the American host knew.Figure 3

The contrast in treatment and results could not be sharper, measured with the infallible, cold precision of the guillotine: the gloomy, apathetic faces of the humiliated European leaders, exposing the bitterness of shameful public humiliation, clearly contrasted with the radiant, almost triumphant grin of the president of Russia.A ruthless act of forced assembly by Trump with ruthless force and profound clarity has put into the heart of the message: honor for the victorious Russia, shame for the defeated Europe.This differentiated treatment gave insight into another, more general difference: a clear discrepancy in the preferred method and kind of diplomacy.As his euphoria and delight at the Putin summit have clearly shown, Trump prefers staged, individual bilateral meetings over slow building of a multilateral consensus.The weight the 47th president attached to this memorable encounter with Putin in Alaska was theatrically emphasized at a truly surreal moment: crowned with a baseball cap with the bold inscription “Trump was right in everything!”, proudly and happily lifted up a image of both statesmen from the summit, given to him by Putin.Dissatisfied with the extravagance, the enthusiastic American commander even went to the promise to autograph Putin in the photo, as if the Russian helm was a dedicated MAGA fan.

U.S. president Trump holds a photograph from the summit in Anchorage in 2025 with Russia's president Putin, White House, 22 August 2025. © Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

It was only in Trump's absence that a pluralism-based diplomatic paradigm, preferred by the Old Europe – the perfect of equal decision-makers on global issues within the collective council, alternatively than 1 sovereign tribunal – developed briefly. This happened during informal multilateral talks between Vladimir Zelenski and his European colleagues at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, D.C., on 18 August 2025 (Figure 3).In a planet dominated by 1 emerging presence, it was a fleeting phase of a fragile parity in which power was shared, words flowed freely, and the shadow of the dominant character first disappeared.2. Ritual Suicide in Old Europe: A Mystery In ancient Greece, begging a man in a sanctuary may have gained weight by threatening suicide.After many centuries, a terrifying parallel emerged to this horrific account: the ritual collective self-destruction of European elites in the gruesome slaughter in Pennsylvania in 1600.In the end, the mystery remains unresolved: why did the leading European leaders – figures specified as the German national Chancellor, the president of the French Republic and the British Prime Minister – agree to catastrophic self-burning that caused Bismarck, de Gaulle and Churchill to rotation in their graves?Zelenski's clown was predictable;The full surrender of Europe was a dramatic revelation – striking with specified ruthless force that even Klio, the Museum of History, and Melpomen, the Museum of Tragedy, seemed to be stunned.It is clear that the White home servile beggers were guided by a tangled network of motives, and the strings attracted emotions.Which circumstantial threads, exposed under painful supervision, proved decisive?Did the guests be guided by excessive caution, paralyzed by fear, enslaved by cowardice, or seduced by cunning masquerade—a clever illusion of clever action by refusing to act boldly?The anatomy of their weakness remains a mystery, wrapped in mystery, hidden in enigma;Certainty remains annoyingly unattainable, as frequently happens erstwhile the roots of human weakness are explored – as elusive as European courage these days.However, the shocking consequence of the collective, politically suicidal humiliation and enslavement of Old Europe during their pilgrimage to the White home is undeniable.For starters, Merz, Macron and the remainder of their entourage proved completely ineffective before Trump.As could be expected, this strong man, breaking standards and ruthless, did not act like a typical benefactor to his peters.It can be suspected that the president of the United States did not know the ancient code of request or penalties for failing to fulfil his obligations: in ancient Greece, a possible benefactor who refused to defend the rightful petitioner lost both honor and moral legitimacy—and risked the wrath of the gods.

By its very nature, Titans in the White home bow only to strength and firmness, disdaining everyone else;When faced with the necessity to surrender to troops, he is instinctive and does not take prisoners.And yet the emissaries offered nothing but flattering displays of weakness—a spectacle of servicefulness so utmost that it is hard to believe, leaving the question of how experienced statesmen could confuse flattery with influence.Without achieving anything real, tangible, members of the service delegation from Old Europe, operating exclusively with a coin of service, sacrificed their own dignity and honor.Worse still, they besides desecrated the same most precious and existential form of intangible capital belonging to the nations they were to serve.By offering on the altar the inexorable power of the core of both themselves and their countries, they deepened their wounds, putting shame on the coming economical ruin.As a consequence of their disgrace, the leading leaders of Europe squandered their political capital – first of all credibility – while losing remnants of global soft force – rooted in the respect they erstwhile received – and, through the shyness they proclaimed to the world, even undermined their ability to deter.Astoundingly, they deepened their shame by gaining nothing in return, even the iron American safety guarantees—a highly praised ‘backstop’, borrowed from cricket and baseball, where it marks the last line of defense—for Ukraine.To grasp the scale of this double calamity, consider Marcan's reshaping challenge of terrible importance: What benefit will a nation have if it loses not only the planet but the soul itself?─────────────────────── ⁂ ───────────────────────── Bottom line: erstwhile an actor acts as a clown, it is an art;When leaders follow his example, it is simply a fall.An infamous visit to the White home on 18 August, far from the sleep of summertime night, clearly showed that the time of political pantomime had come to an end, and her madness had been exposed in front of everyone – leaving only a shadow of lost dignity and honor.Instead, disoriented and provoking navigators, leading the modern anti-Russian course of Old Europe, must forge a smarter, more ingenious strategy to escape the dysfunctional race of rats for safety and prevent Ukraine's war-torn protection from slipping out of their hands like smoke.The bright side, after the catastrophic self-destruction of Europe in the Washington corridors of the empire, is that: Out of necessity, the search for a fundamental, lasting solution for an optimal global order must now appear from its head alternatively than from its entrails, driving out stupidity and instinct into the annals of history.[Part 4 of the European Defence series.To be continued.Previous column from the series: Part 1, published on 19 March 2025: Compass Prof. Schlevogt no. 14: "Whatever it takes" – Euromaniacs again exploit the threat error Part 2, published on 14 May 2025: Compass Prof.Schlevogta No. 15: Cacistocratic defensive speculators destruct Europe;Part 3, published on 30 August 2025: Compass Prof.Schlevogta No. 23: The Art of Political Tragedy – Zelenski's Handbook