Wit the outlawing of a major Church coupled with the almost certainty that the 2024 Presidential election will be cancelled, slowly people are realizing that we are no longer fighting for “freedom”, but instead that Ukraine is a corrupt dictatorship, that is being propped up by western dollars.
Back in early 2022 it seemed so simple, Russia with its “Special Military Operation” was in the wrong as the “unprovoked aggressor” and it needed to be stopped.
In the early days Anti-Russia sentiment even started to become fashionable, people put Ukraine flags on their Facebook profiles, Call of Duty playing man-children signed up to fight in an almost Spanish Civil War like fury and it was “all going to be over by Christmas”. Russia, who remember we were told were awful at fighting would implode and Ukraine would win.
As of now not only is said victory now considered all, but impossible, but we are left with a war of attrition that has perhaps claimed 800,000, or more souls on both sides.
Most scarily, or perhaps most embarrassingly though for those western hawks is that not only have people like us been proved right on the corruption front, but the 21st Century’s Churchill, comedian Zelensky has now all but turned Ukraine into a dictatorship, and a Fascistic one at that.
You can read our story on corruption in Ukraine – dated August 17th 2022 here.
Was Ukraine a democracy?
Before the war the Ukraine had briefly at least been a form of democracy. Yes there had been the 2014 Coup and the War in Donetsk, but over the next 8 years the political system functioned to a degree.
Yes some parties, such as the communists had been banned, but governments and indeed Presidents of Ukraine changed. Zelensky, of course a comedian make famous for pretending to be president was part of this. In 2019 he was elected President of Ukraine, one should remember on a pro-peace (Minsk Accords) platform, with opponents at the time, ironically perhaps insetting he would be “Good for Russia”.
As it would turn out he would prove himself impotent when Russia was at Ukraine’s border, with his one chance of glory being to agree to the early peace terms offered by Russia. Alas he instead was talked out of it by Boris Johnson who not only told him he would win, but crated Zelensky 2.0. This new version was clad in khaki, spoke to the people and would turn up to the opening of an envelope if invited….
With a new spring in his step and NATO by his side Zelensky duly threw out his pace credentials and moved onto the other front, stifling opposition voices.
Pre-War Ukrainian “Free press”
The silencing of the media actually started way before the war, with Zelensky shutting down three television networks over claims of “spreading pro-Russia propaganda”
This move was “condemned” by the European Union, with the nation also largely split on the ban of what were Ukrainian, not Russian TV channels. With many feeling the ban was simply politically motivated. To quote Victor Andrusiv, a political and civic activist;
“This was a political decision which [doesn’t correlate well] with the law and constitution because he adopted sanctions against Ukrainian citizens who are in Ukraine. Previously, we already had situations where sanctions were adopted against Ukrainians, but these Ukrainians were not inside the state. For example, if you blame Mr. Medvedchuk or his formal owner of the channels, Taras Kozak, for cooperation with terrorists, you should use the legal instruments like prosecution, secret service, police; they should be detained or interrogated. When you go with these steps, it’s not the proper instrument to deal with them because they’re inside Ukraine, and this could cause a lot of problems for [Zelensky] because months have already passed, the channels were blocked for financing terrorists, but Mr. Kozak and Medvedchuk did not visit our law enforcement agencies, which actually should happen. I am afraid that in a few months, they will have some court decisions on their side that this violated their rights.”
In 2020 Ukraine ranked 96th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. It has now been removed from here due to war, but one winders just how close to the bottom it would be now.
The final descent into a corrupt dictatorship
Whilst most all would agree that war is terrible, particularly for civilians, or those forced to fight, for some at least it is seen more as an opportunity and Zelensky has wasted no time taking his chance to take control of everything.
The press has now been consolidated into a few outlets controlled by the regime that do nothing, but spew out pro-war propaganda in an almost 1984 like scenario. One cannot even get on a bus, or train in Ukraine without being bombarded with pro-war rhetoric.
And this is now scaring the man on the street, with people who speak up increasingly finding themselves in trouble, Free speech has all but disappeared from Ukraine.
But, it is in civil and political affairs where the pivot to being a dictatorship has been most profound. In 2022 Zelensky banned 11 political parties for “ties with Russia”, a term almost devoid in meaning for a country that not only borders Russia, but has many citizens that not only speak the language, but are ethnically Russian.
And he has not stopped there, since stating that unless NATO paid, he would not hold presidential elections next year. The reasons given are safety and the “war”. And while 18 percent of the country is under Russian control, the vast majority of the country would be safe to hold an election.
The sad reality though and one which you see when you talk to people on the streets of Kiev is that while Zelensky might be darling of the west, he would likely lose a free and fair election in Ukraine.
Couple this with his recent banning of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and you have all the trappings of a fascist state, not just a country at war.
And then of course there is the corruption. The list of people sacked for graft is far too long to list here, but even aid workers and NGO’s have reported financial irregularities. One that we spoke to stated some of their funds had been “misappropriated” and used for a Ponzi scheme, with literally millions going missing. They also told us the people had been arrested and would “face jail”, but in a country where money can get you out of serving and the prisons have largely been emptied you really cannot have much confidence in this.
And of course as always it is the poor of the US, EU and indeed the Ukraine who suffer, whilst their elites get rich. People though are no longer passively accepting the narrative of Zelensky the hero and of writing blank cheques, as the new “Zelensky asking for credit meme” has shown.
Time though for the war mongers and saber rattlers is running out though as more and more people realize that Ukraine is a corrupt dictatorship.