JD Vance, the Vice President of America, has done it again. Like President Donald Trump, the VP loves making comments that cause trouble, which could have been easily avoided. In the most recent instance, JD Vance allegedly hinted at the UK while talking about the Russia-Ukraine war, referring to the UK as a random country with no warfighting experience for the last 30-40 years.
Regarding the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine that seems no sign to stop, Vance had said, “If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine. That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troop from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”
Anger over JD Vance ‘random country’ peacekeeping remark https://t.co/x1sKU0Rgdd
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 4, 2025
This inevitably led to severe backlash from different political spectrums and the UK reacted strongly against it. Nick Ferrari, a British radio host and personality, said on his LBC show, “Wow. A Vice President who is as dumb as he is aggressive, that takes some doing. Because, that ‘some random country who haven’t fought a war’ is the United Kingdom. We stood alongside your troops in Iraq, not once but twice, and in Afghanistan.”
Social media was also quick to catch up on what Vance said, and people started to ask him to clarify which countries Vance was referring to. Seeing the damage he has done, Vance was quick to make attempts to take a step back as he said, “I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond.”
However, given the fact that he did not give out names of any other country in spite of being asked several times shows he probably meant the UK, but now with the backlash, he does not have a better way to take back his words.
It should be noted here that after Trump’s recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went south, he was rather well received in the UK, where his meeting with both King Charles and PM Keir Starmer went smoothly. This stands in stark contrast to how things went in the US, though the meeting between Trump and Keir was fine.
This evening, His Majesty The King received the President of Ukraine, @ZelenskyyUa, at Sandringham House. 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/mhGr7C0BN4
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 2, 2025
With the heat rising because of Vance’s alleged attack on the UK, it remains to be seen how the dynamic between these two countries develops further. With Zelenskyy making his intentions clear with the war by saying that it is far from over and Trump’s good relationship with Russia, it would be interesting to see how the UK chooses to act now.
Moreover, Trump’s sky-high tariff rates have compelled China to make a cold hint at WW3. With the growing tension after Vance’s derogatory comments on the UK, it cannot be said with certainty who is on whose side and how things will turn out going forward.
