Animal-Farm wrote:

i know you're "new" here, please peruse the anti-war thread
and you'll see that i've had a principled take on the initiation of force, violence and coercion since forever

regards

The Rise of Zelensky from Comedian to President of Ukraine – Buckle Up

BY RHODA WILSON ON MARCH 4, 2022 • ( 18 COMMENTS )Listen Now

How did Volodymyr Zelensky rise from a comedian acting as President in a TV show to becoming the President of Ukraine? Who is behind his rise? These are legitimate questions particularly when Zelensky became a household name in the US for the key role he played in the first impeachment of President Trump, which was also attached to the Trump-Russia hoax and the discredited Steele Dossier.

Aristophanes Tragedy, a self-declared former heavily armed parking lot attendant, did a little digging on this rise of Volodymyr Zelensky and wrote his findings in a twitter thread.

————

He couldn’t maintain popular support after this move, and like any good billionaire, just said “F**k it, I’ll build my own nationwide Jewish organisation and fill it with people who won’t dissent”

Let’s talk about what an absolute crook this dude is.

Kolomoyskyi stole billions of dollars from Ukrainian banks and transferred it to the US under the pretence of funding a steel company, only for the money to go underground and another rust belt industry to shutter its doors.

————

This man is pretty obviously just a grifter and a mobster, who rips off eastern European oligarchs with contract fraud, and hides behind the Western dislike for those same oligarchs to prevent his prosecution. But we did mention he was on Poroshenko’s s**t list, right?

He was dismissed as governor of the Dnipro area oblast in 2014, and immediately turned around and helped ensure that “Servant of the People“, the show where Zelensky acted as president, was aired on his 1+1 network in Ukraine, of which he owns 70 percent.

———-

Pandora Papers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rode to power on pledges to clean up the Eastern European country, but the Pandora Papers reveal he and his close circle were the beneficiaries of a network of offshore companies, including some that owned expensive London property, The Pandora Papers website states.

“In the heat of the campaign, a political ally of President Poroshenko published a chart purporting that Zelensky and his television production partners were beneficiaries of a web of offshore firms that allegedly received $41 million in funds from Kolomoisky’s Privatbank.”

———

World Economic Forum

While there are no obvious ties between Kolomoisky and the World Economic Forum (“WEF”), there are obvious ties with Zelensky. For starters, he has a profile on WEF’s website.

It is no surprise then that the World Economic Forum (WEF) have thrown their support behind Ukraine, vowing to do “whatever is possible to help” the country. As RT reported: on Sunday, Schwab and WEF President Borge Brende said they “deeply condemn the aggression by Russia against Ukraine” and “the attacks and atrocities.”

But could there be more to WEF’s intervention than simply networking with one of its members? Could their Ukraine stance be because WEF, or rather the select financial institutions, corporations and individuals it represents, has vested interests in Ukraine?

During a February 2020 speech to the World Economic Forum, which took place just a few months before the WEF’s controversial “Great Reset” meeting, the newly “elected” Ukrainian President Zelensky said:

“I would like to note the projects of the Forum for Ukraine, and namely: Scenarios of the Future for Ukraine; Geneva initiative for Ukraine; the new economic vision for Ukraine. And I thank you for what has already been done and I count on the further fruitful cooperation.

Looking at the projects Zelensky thanked WEF for, it makes one wonder who is actually running Ukraine and who is actually to blame for Ukrainian people now finding themselves at the center of what Boris Johnson calls “the biggest war in Europe since 1945.”

Scenarios for Ukraine is where 300 decision-makers, government, business and civil society leaders as well as leading experts sketched out different pathways for Ukraine’s future economic development. These WEF “decision-makers” published their report on 11 April 2014.

Geneva Ukraine Initiative is where business leaders from Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Europe and the United States gathered in Geneva, on 14 September 2014, and worked out 10 proposals, to help resolve the conflict. “The group calls for a summit of top political leaders as soon as possible,” the WEF announced.

It’s worth noting, at this time, while business leaders mapped out the future for Ukraine, Zelensky was prancing his way to fame.**

 miamizsun wrote:

Although USA does identical in many countries, such as Yemen, Syria... 
Palestine. 

 Red_Dragon wrote:
really nasty videos online
it's f'n awful
putin is a monster...

Putin calls sanctions a declaration of war as Zelenskyy pleads for more aid

Good thing invading another country isn't a declaration of war but if he thinks this is war, probably fair for the west to impose a no-fly zone

From NATO-think-tank-land (via WSJ Op-ed):
The Strategic Case for Risking War in Ukraine *
Dec. 22, 2021

Redemption.

U.S. Working to Fulfill Zelensky Request, Transfer Jets from Poland

Fact and Mythmaking Blend in Ukraine’s Information War
Experts say stories like the Ghost of Kyiv and Snake Island, both of questionable veracity, are propaganda or morale boosters, or perhaps both.

Just days into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a pilot with a mysterious nickname was quickly becoming the conflict’s first wartime hero. Named the Ghost of Kyiv, the ace fighter had apparently single-handedly shot down several Russian fighter jets.

The story was shared by the official Ukraine Twitter account on Sunday in a thrilling montage video set to thumping music, showing the fighter swooping through the Ukrainian skies as enemy planes exploded around him. The Security Service of Ukraine, the country’s main security agency, also relayed the tale on its official Telegram channel, which has over 700,000 subscribers.

The story of a single pilot’s beating the superior Russian air force found wide appeal online, thanks to the official Ukraine accounts and many others. Videos of the so-called Ghost of Kyiv had more than 9.3 million views on Twitter, and the flier was mentioned in thousands of Facebook groups reaching up to 717 million followers. On YouTube, videos promoting the Ukrainian fighter collected 6.5 million views, while TikTok videos with the hashtag #ghostofkyiv reached 200 million views. (...)

Under rules for the treatment of prisoners of war in the Geneva
Conventions — which also proscribe a host of other activities that have
arisen in this conflict, including targeting civilians — militaries are
not to “parade” prisoners, a concept that is sometimes interpreted as
not presenting them in any public setting.

even if this tyrant should somehow stop the slaughter and destruction today, the damage he has done will take a decade or two to repair

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:

100% agree. Thanks for typing my thoughts for me. You don't see Putin attacking any NATO countries. Maybe they should have expanded more when they had a chance.

I am German myself, 1st born in the US of my family. Both my parents escaped Russian communism (met on the boat immigrating to Canada after war. My father came from a German enclave in what was part of Romania at the time (Bessarabia) and had been part of Ukraine and Russia in the past. Now part of Moldovia, I think. He escaped with his family when the Russians announced they were taking over. Mother escaped East Germany when she was 15. So, yeah, no love of Russia in our family.

Who is to say if Russia would have been lead by someone different from Putin. Maybe they could have joined the EU. Things would have and could have been different for them. Blaming US and NATO is pure BS. It's all on Putin's head.

Maybe it is time for another Russian revolution. Been listening to the Revolutions Podcast, which is at episode 88 of the Russian revolution. Currently the Blacks, whites and reds are skirmishing in the Ukraine. Still waiting to see how it works out for the Bolshevik rabble. Point is, it's been done before, it can happen again, however painful it is. You just need to piss of the right number of people, which they seem to be on their way to doing.

 Ivanhoe wrote:

 steeler wrote: 
Agree with pretty much all of that, sadly.

 Ivanhoe wrote: 
Oh, Ohmsen, to be clear, I am not calling you a fascist. I am calling you out for posting an incessant row of arguments all of which support the perspective of a man (Putin) who meets just about every definition of fascist that I can think of. Whether you want to associate yourself with his cause is your free right.
Absolutely. 

 Ivanhoe wrote: 
Why TF should it? NATO is a defensive pact. It wasn't threatening Russia. It had no plans to attack Russia. All NATO nations would have welcomed open relations with Russia and were happy to do business with it. And I bet most Russians were very happy with this arrangement. Not a single NATO nation has made any hostile attack on Russia since 1989, and why should they?

No, the only person threatened by Ukraine was Putin, not Russia the country, and not because of NATO but because Ukraine dared to have free elections. This narrative that it is all the US's fault for extending its hegemony under the guise of NATO is pure bullshit, a handy way to whitewash Putin's true motives, which is simply to silence any opposition and stamp out free democracy.

But good to see you are not on the side of democracy, peace and free speech by still willing to tout all the arguments put forward by your fascist paymaster despite almost unanimous international consensus to the contrary.  Glad we have you on board to put us right and correct the narrative.

And you, as a German, with the heavy weight of German history behind you, how do you manage to sleep at night, supporting this murderous regime, that is doing exactly the same thing the Nazis did in 1939?

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:

I think it will be mostly scenario 3, with a bit of scenario one. Putin will not stop until he achieves his ‘decapitation” of Ukraine government, installing — for the moment — a pro-Russia puppet government. He also will have secured much of eastern Ukraine, roughly on a line drawn from Odessa to Kharkiv. This will be annexed, effectively if not officially. This gives Russia control of access to the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Ukraine becomes a landlocked country with a badly damaged economy, possibly making dependence on Russia more difficult to avoid.

I do not see how Putin can continue on to capture Lviv and western Ukraine. Seems Russia’s forces are overextended already, with supply line and other logistical troubles. It would not be necessary for this advancement under this scenario unless Zelensky decamps to Lviv. (I think at some point very soon Zelensky and his top aides should do so. His presence in Kyiv has been inspiring for his people and his country’s defense, but that also is why it is imperative that he remain alive and free — even if that means leaving the country.)

I think Putin believes the focus of the allies will lessen over time, as will the unity over the sanctions. There probably will be some break in the ranks, but I think Putin is overestimating that. It is not only the economics, though. For much of the world, Russia has become a pariah country, along the lines of North Korea. That stain may endure longer than Putin believes.

 Ivanhoe wrote: 
Russian apologist.  Fits.