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International News Title: Zelensky's Record on Democracy is Looking Very Dubious Zelensky's Record on Democracy is Looking Very Dubious By Rajan Laad If you have been following the global mainstream media or listening to the utterances of the powerful in Washington, you will be convinced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is the sole hope for mankind. Zelensky recently received standing ovations for his rousing speeches delivered via satellite to the British Parliament in London, the E.U. parliament in Brussels, and Congress in Washington. European politicians were so overwhelmed that they nominated him for a Nobel prize. The likes of David Frum are claiming, "Ukraine may be the first example in human history of a country that under the pressure of war is becoming *more* tolerant and *more* liberal[.]" Most of Washington, across party lines and the media organizations, has a consensus on Ukraine. These people want to send millions of dollars worth of weaponry to Ukraine. Some even want boots on the ground in Ukraine. The recent bipartisan 1.5-trillion-dollar spending bill dedicated $14 billion in emergency funding for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and $3.5 billion for sending new military equipment and $3 billion for deploying U.S. troops to Ukraine. They reiterate that the U.S. is duty-bound to defend Ukraine because Ukraine is a democracy, while Russia is a totalitarian state. So what has been Zelensky's and the Ukrainian regime's record on democratic values? Whenever a democratic nation is at war owing to an attack, the leader attempts to unite the country. This includes citizens and equally important opposition leaders, and the media. The media and the opposition are free to say what they please, but the leader urges them all to unite for the country. Over the weekend, Zelensky invoked his emergency powers under martial law to suppress several opposition political parties and implement a "unified information policy." In a national address, Zelensky announced a temporary ban on "any activity" by 11 political parties. This ban applies to Ukraine's largest opposition party, "The Opposition Platform — For Life," which has 44 seats in Ukraine's national parliament — i.e., the Ukrainian people elected them to parliament. According to Ukrainian news outlet LB, the leader of the For Life party, Yuriy Boyko, had demanded that Russia "stop the aggression against Ukraine," but the party has been accused of being pro-Kremlin. Much before the Russian intervention, in May 2021, Viktor Medvedchuk, another the leader of For Life party, was accused of treason against Ukraine. Russian president Vladimir Putin is godfather to Medvedchuk's daughter. Ukraine's National Bureau of Investigation has accused the former president, Petro Poroshenko, of corruption, treason, supporting "terrorist organizations" and being pro-Kremlin. Critics have said that anti-corruption laws were used to restrict the activities and punish anti-Zelensky oligarchs. One has to remember that Ukraine was once part of the Soviet Union; there are myriad Ukrainians who still have relatives in and other ties with Russia. Yet this was used to suppress political opposition. The media weren't spared, either. Zelensky's news information policy involves "combining all national TV channels, the program content of which consists mainly of information and/or information-analytical programs, [into] a single information platform of strategic communication" to be called "United News." Zelensky cited the measure as essential to fight Russian disinformation and "tell the truth about the war." This muzzling of the press isn't a recent ploy. Last year, Zelensky was accused of using draconian measures to restrain the press. In February 2021, the National Security and Defense Council at Zelensky's initiative banned three TV channels — NewsOne, Channel 112, and ZIK, owned by Ukrainian lawmaker Taras Kozak — for being pro- Kremlin. Kozak was also charged with treason for Kremlin ties. Last year, the Kyiv Independent reported that Zelensky demanded that news outlets have pro-Ukraine (read: pro-Zelensky) coverage. There were also attempts to cancel the screening of a documentary film critical of the Ukraine government. Beyond media muzzling When war broke, Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 were banned from leaving after Zelensky enforced martial law. There was also conscription of reservists of the same age group. In a democratic nation, the leader may urge his citizens to take up arms, but force can never ever be applied. To understand this better, consider a hypothetical scenario in the U.S. What if the Biden administration or its allies accused a critical media figure such as Tucker Carson or a political rival such as President Donald Trump of treason? What if Democrat-supported government agencies began investigating President Trump by accusing him of financial impropriety or colluding with a foreign power without any valid evidence? Imagine that Democrat allies begin cheering for the arrest of both Trump and Carlson. Well, you don't have to imagine that... But imagine if Biden actually went one step farther and arrested Republicans and shut down Fox News. Zelensky seems to be doing exactly what liberals have always intended to do. Perhaps that is why they are fond of him. Zelensky recently berated the Israeli Knesset for enabling a second Holocaust ("Final Solution") by not providing the Ukrainians with advanced weaponry. Israeli officials and Israel's national Holocaust Memorial condemned Zelensky's statements as a trivialization and distortion of the historical facts of the Holocaust. Zelensky also blasted Swiss banks and Nestlé for business with Russia. Perhaps the war has driven him to desperation, but Zelensky is increasingly sounding like a tyrant, the very force he claims to be standing up to. What about the Ukraine regime's human rights record? Indian students and African and Asian individuals have described the racist behavior meted out to them by Ukrainian authorities as they attempted to escape. The Azov battalion, a unit of the Ukrainian army that uses the Nazi Wolfsangel symbol as its emblem, has been accused of having neo-Nazi links. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights accused members of the Azov battalion of war crimes in the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine. Following Russia's invasion, there have been reports of the Ukrainian government using citizens as human shields. War-torn Ukraine is now a hotbed for mercenaries, defense contractors, and prison inmates who were released by the Ukrainian authorities to fight Russian forces. What happens when these individuals get their hands on advanced weaponry sent by the U.S.? What are the odds that they may seize this weaponry and resell it to terrorists or criminal elements? What cannot be denied is the plight of millions of Ukrainian people, who are suffering because of this war. Words cannot describe their pain of being displaced, abandoned, orphaned, and wounded. But there has to be a distinction between the people and their governments. Given Ukraine's record on corruption, global powers must ensure that aid and support reach the Ukrainian people and are not siphoned off by Ukrainian officials. The media are attempting to make the case for war, painting Zelensky and the Ukrainian regime as spotless white and Putin and Russia as pure black. The truth, as always, is the grays. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 5.
#1. To: 3-Dee (#0)
(Edited)
Zelensky's regime, like any other political regime anywhere in the world, no doubt had its issues and shady side. It's the Ukraine, some far Eastern European hell-hole. Nobody cared, really. But yes, Russia is pure black: they invaded another sovereign country where they have zero right to be, and have massacred tens of thousands of innocent civilians. The political sins of the Ukrainian regime are irrelevant: the Russians are utter barbarians. Fortunately, they are weak, incompetent and bumbling barbarians. They kill a lot of civilians, but the Ukrainian army is killing them, in droves. Really, Russia is caught in the perfect death trap: Russians are too belligerent, arrogant and primitive to be able to accept defeat. No, they are "great power" in their own minds, so they "can't" lose. Even though they are losing, horrendously. The Russian ego drives them to lose more, and more, to charge forward and to die in the Ukraine. They cannot help it. They are stupid beasts. And so they march forward to die, by the tens of thousands, to have their equipment chewed up by superior Western technology, which is coming into the Ukraine in ever greater numbers. Russia had an economy the size of Italy's. Now, it's on the size of the Netherlands, and will continue to shrink as their oil and gas sales dry up. Because of the stupidity of the Russian character itself, they cannot admit they have been defeated, so they have to keep charging into the death trap, losing more and more and more equipment and people. Really, they are taking on the 1.5 billion people and $45 trillion Western economy, which will continue to arm 40 million eager Ukrainians. Russia cannot raise a 40 million man army. They cannot win. And they cannot let themselves quit the game: too arrogant, too blind, too primitive, too stupid. Blundering bellowing beasts - a joke to everyone but themselves now. The war will go on, and Russia will be destroyed further, and further and further. Sooner or later, the Russians will resort to using a nuclear weapon, and that will invite a response from the West from which Russia will never recover. Russia as it has been known for the past several hundred years will not survive this war. They are goddamned idiots, who think themselves to be tough geniuses. They are tough, but idiots, so they die. And die, and die some more. Their choice. "Never interfere with your enemy when he is making a mistake." - Napoleon.
Napoleon lost.
#6. To: 3-Dee (#5)
In the end, yes. After he won more victories than any other man in history. In the end, everybody managed to pull him down, when he made fatal mistakes and overextended himself - as Putin just has with Russia. Napoleon is long dead. Putin is alive...at present. I don't think he survives this colossal fuck-up.
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