The overstaying Ukrainian leader has made a show of agreeing to hold a vote \u2013 but his preconditions make a mockery of it<\/p>\n
Currently, with intense diplomacy taking place to \u2013 perhaps \u2013 end the Ukraine conflict, questions surrounding Kiev\u2019s domestic politics may seem secondary. However, in reality, they are as important as the search for peace.
\nThere are two reasons: First, Ukrainians have a right to finally be released from their perverse bondage to what is, in effect, a long-ago failed Western proxy war against Russia. Those still in denial about this fact should check out a recent interview with a former Biden administration policy official. Amanda Sloat has casually admitted that much now: The war could have been avoided if the West had not insisted on NATO membership prospects for Ukraine, which never really existed anyhow.
\nObservers not blinded by Western propaganda \u2013 including this author \u2013 were warning that, for Ukraine, this fake NATO perspective was a road to catastrophe. But the Sloats of this world refused to listen. Why then did the West want the war? To diminish Russia by using Ukraine as a battering ram and Ukrainians as cannon fodder.
\nSecondly \u2013 and more practically \u2013 no peace will last without an end to Ukraine\u2019s\u00a0ultra-corrupt current authoritarian regime. Talk about defending \u201cdemocracy\u201d in Ukraine is absurd. Under Vladimir Zelensky, there is no such thing left. By now, even some Western mainstream commentators are starting to admit Zelensky\u2019s authoritarianism. Yet the former entertainment producer and vulgar comedian started systematically undermining what little democracy Ukraine used to have well before the escalation of February 2022, as Ukrainian observers and critics at the time widely discussed and deplored.
\nZelensky\u2019s regime is so corrupt and has sold out its own people so badly to the West that a lasting peace threatens it not only with losing power, which it certainly would, but also with a wave of prosecutions starting at the very top, with Zelensky himself and rolling down like an avalanche. Put differently, this is a regime that would always be tempted to re-start the war to distract from the retribution it must fear.
\nThat is why US President Donald Trump is right to call for presidential elections in Ukraine. Moreover, Zelensky has extended his mandate on flimsy grounds and thereby usurped power even formally. The often-heard claim that Ukraine cannot hold presidential elections in wartime, by the way, is badly misleading, and a thoroughly politically motivated misrepresentation of the facts: In reality, the Ukrainian constitution only prohibits parliamentary elections in time of war. Elections for the presidency are impeded by ordinary laws which can, of course, easily and legally be changed by the majority which Zelensky controls in parliament. That is merely a question of political will, not legality.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Elections impossible under Zelensky\u2019s \u2018terrorist regime\u2019 \u2013 Ukrainian MP<\/p>\n
By now, even Zelensky and Kiev\u2019s political elite admit the above. Indeed, Zelensky has charged parliament with devising procedures for such elections. So, you may ask, what about his regime and its Western propagandists claiming for over a year that this is simply illegal and can\u2019t be welcome? Simple: that was a big fat lie. Welcome to Zelensky world and its crooked reflection in the mirror cabinet of the Western mainstream media.
\nYet curb your enthusiasm. In all likelihood, Zelensky remains dishonest \u2013 really, does he even have another mode? \u2013 and is engaging not in a genuine attempt to finally allow Ukrainians their long overdue say about his horrific rule. Instead, it is \u2013 alas! \u2013 much more plausible to interpret his turn toward elections as yet another tactic of stalling and deception.
\nFor one thing, he and his team are trying to set conditions that seem designed to prevent the elections again, while blaming others, first of all Russia, of course. In essence, their demands boil down to, once again, pushing for either more Western arms or a ceasefire that they can abuse instead of the full peace agreement that is actually needed. Moscow will not agree to such a scheme, as Kiev knows very well.
\nIn addition, this would not be the Zelensky regime if it did not also ask for even more Western money. This time, the shameless idea is that the West must pay for elections in Ukraine \u2013 presumably because that is how democracy works in a sovereign country.
\nThings can get even worse: There is also the possibility, pointed out by Ukrainian observers, that Zelensky and his fixers are planning to shift the whole presidential election online. If they do, falsification in Zelensky\u2019s favor is de facto guaranteed.
\nIn sum, there is no good reason to believe Zelensky is really ready to give up power \u2013 because that is what elections would mean \u2013 to make way for a return to a more normal type of politics. His current statements and gestures seemingly indicating the opposite are meant to deceive, most of all, the West. Neither Ukrainians nor Russia is likely to believe him anyhow.
\nThere is a glimmer of hope, however: The fact alone that Trump has challenged Zelensky in this area and that the latter\u2019s European backers cannot shield him from that challenge is a good sign. As is the fact, of course, that Zelensky has felt pressured and cornered enough to not revert to the old lie that presidential elections are not possible in wartime.
\nInstead, Ukraine\u2019s past-best-by leader has implicitly admitted they \u2013 and that he was lying before \u2013 and is now forced to deploy stalling techniques. That in and of itself, like Ukraine\u2019s escalating corruption scandals, shows that Zelensky\u2019s grip is slipping. And that is good for everyone, including Ukrainians. For without an end to the Zelensky regime, it is likely that no peace can be made and certain that no peace can last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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