The men standing next
This week was marked by a big scandal in the wartorn Ukraine, especially interesting in the light of recent Seymour Hersh’s revelations — because of a simple fact that the so-called “cardboard revolution” emerged as the first episode of significant protests against Zelensky’s regime, since the Russian invasion began and the martial law was put into action.
On Monday and Tuesday, in a not-so-cold open of the week, Zelensky enacted a lightning-fast purge of Ukraine’s supposedly anti-corruption agencies (in fact, these were but a parallel branch of special services, installed there by Biden to protect investments in Ukrainian banana republic, but I digress).
I have had small doubts that the EU will continue to hand-feed bloodlust mad jester; after all, they went all-in for the “containment of unprovoked Russian aggression”, hence providing him with a blank check for as long as he sends cheap Ukrainians to die in the trenches.
But this mini-coup, stoically tolerated by the EU faceless clerks, war hawks and bean counters, looked hilariously funny, if we take into account the declared reasons of ousting Yanukovich; Zelensky has already overperformed him by pretty wide margin. Of course, we are being repeatedly pushed to trust the so-called “opinion polls” from Ukraine, systematically showing Zelensky’s rating of support above 65–70%.
It’s not especially hard to smell smoke and mirrors; press gangers, as well as male citizens of conscription age, are noticeably absent on pics, unlike the few protest rallies against forced draft last year, which were promptly quenched.
Cardboard revolution? A witty name, because such protests are essentially the cheap dormitorial surrogate of a revolution proper, despite Ukraine having a great heap of reasons to mount an insurrection against the ruling clique; these are like Google Cardboard VR viewer next to more capable headsets.
But nonetheless, where could we see those 70 % of Ukrainian populace who are said to support Sprechstallmeister-at-Arms? Why did all of Zelensky’s zealous supporters suddenly disappear?
As the protests persist, Russian army is slowly but surely encircling Pokrovsk, the next great UAF redoubt of interest in Donetsk region, and some small tactical units are already seeping into the doomed city, or, rather, what remains of it.
There’s absolutely no need to push the horses, though, as the course of war may well be decided in September, when Putin, Xi Jinping, and Trump will have the chance of trilateral meeting in Beijing.
Out of a sudden, something resembling the Watergate has been teased on us, lest Zelensky and his cronies reverse the law codifying the “anti-corruption” purge.
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That said, Ukrainska Pravda’s senior editor, one Sevgil Musayeva, as of recently has been maintaining pretty close connections with the family of Daria Zarivnaya, Yermak & Zelensky’s PR manager; Zarivnaya was quietly fired amid the onset of the carefully regulated street protests.
Another Ukrainska Pravda’s prominent columnist, Mykhailo Tkach, who is credited as the main author under the editorial piece bashing the purge, is openly called by some Ukrainian political emigrees in the EU and across the pond as an agent of Kiev domestic special service agency, SBU (roughly equivalent to NSA in the US).
Meanwhile, the EU envoy in Ukraine, one Katarína Mathernová, shows remarkable GoreTex-style resilience to Zelensky’s tropical champagne showers.
So dense this ball of snakes appears that I recalled similar intensity of palace intrigues, from the times of another US/NATO-warded overseas project, South Korean Gen. Park’s dictatorship.
The Man Standing Next deserves your attention as, per my taste, one of the best historical thrillers of the century, on par with well-known classics like Three Days of the Condor.
Park Chung Hee should be credited for, at least, some honest attempts of modernizing SK, albeit at a heavy cost of militarizarion and political oppressions; nothing remotely like it could be seen in the modern Ukraine, as Zelensky’s regime much more closely follows the disgusting trail of Syngman Rhee.
After South Korea and Germany, examples of successful West-backed restructuring of countries devastated by fierce wars sharply dwindle, to never recover.
Nowadays, the most likely outcome for territories caught in the tug of war, where the EU/NATO/Israel participate in a proxy or direct manner, looks as sunny as Gaza beach in July.
