Breaking the bond: Trans-Atlantic dispute over values

The heated debate between the United States and its trans-Atlantic allies reached a peak when U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. stake in Ukraine’s economy is “a better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that has not fought a war in 30 or 40 years.” Although Vance later stated that he did not “even mention the U.K. or France,” his earlier comments had already drawn reactions in London and Paris; particularly, veterans in the United Kingdom accused him of being disrespectful to the memories of hundreds of U.K. troops who died alongside the U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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