It's better to be lucky than good... (contd)
Updates July 30th 2022 V010 WORK IN PROGRESS - Please submit edits and suggestions at any time
This is NOT a Russian bot or propganda post, but an effort to wind back this misinformation and presumpotion and balance the reporting of Putin's psychotic folly in Ukraine ... and the reality of Zelensky's brilliant PR and imagery. Nothing is ever quite what it seems.
This analysis is from "our own correspondant" - a Czech expat with extensive connections with
and experience of "cold war" Europe. Everything is based on verifiable
facts; some dots are joined with extrapolation triggered by numerous
flashing red controls of inbuilt BS detectors, finely tuned by years of
practical experience living under a wide range of political regimes.
There is uneasiness about the situation in Ukraine - it has never seemed quite as clear cut as many wanted to make it seem - which was based on the demonisation of Putin and Russia and barely questioned beatification of Zelensky & Co. So then...
Zelensky was elected based on his promise of:
1 fixing up the Ukrainian economy by getting rid of corruption;
2 sorting out the disputes with Russians;
3 popularity as a TV comedian and a star of a show where he plays a good guy, a brave reformist president.
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His
approval rating when elected was over 70%. This soon dropped to over
20% as disillusion set in, when it became obvious that none of the
promises were kept. The nation started to realize that instead of one
corrupt oligarch, it now had an inept corrupt would-be oligarch in
place, especially when Zelensky’s name appeared in the Pandora Papers.
It became public knowledge that Zelensky owns (via offshore trusts)
three significant luxury properties in London, which he absolutely would
not be able to afford given his income as a comedian and a president.
But
the clock was ticking for Zelensky. The opposition party was starting
to give him a hard time. From the other side, the hardline nationalists
did not take him seriously when he travelled to Mariupol to try to
persuade them to stop shelling Donbas. In fact, they laughed at him as
being “gay”, referring to some of his earlier comedic shows where he was
dressed up in leather garb and high-heel shoes.
At the same time, the
Russians grew increasingly upset about Ukraine not adhering to the Minsk
Accords, a set of agreements brokered by France and Germany, designed
to sort out the unrest between the ethnic Russian minority in the east
and south and ethnic Ukrainians in the west and north. He might in fact
have earnestly tried to ease the tensions, but the nationalist leaders
consisted mostly of hardcore football fans with swastikas tattooed on
their arms who had no time for a Jewish boy in high heels.
As if
this was not enough, he had the CIA on his hands, those nice lads who
organized the Orange Revolution in 2014 when a democratically elected
government (but, sadly, pro-Russian) was deposed with a little help from
snipers provocateurs from nationalist militias. The president of Ukraine at that time was Viktor Yanukovich, who was a successor to Victor Yushchenko, famous for having had an attempt at his life by poisoning with the same chemical that was used in Agent Orange.
Interesting, he was also a governor of the Donbass region. He was
replaced by an oligarch by the name of Poroshenko (Zelensky’s
predecessor) who was in bed with the nationalists. One of his noble
deeds was to proclaim a guy by the name of Stefan Bandera a national
hero of Ukraine. Bandera was leader of a terrorist organization who
fought on the German side in WW2 and even after the war terrorized the
local population of Poland, eastern Czechoslovakia and the western parts
of the Soviet Union, killing about 50,000 civilians for no other
purpose but to cause civil unrest in order to destabilize the postwar
order. BTW, my late father, who was drafted to the Czechoslovak military
in the early 50s told me some stories from the times they were sweeping
the forests in search for the Banderilleros. They were renown for their
cruelty. But I digress…
CIA continued operations in Ukraine
after the coup, training the nationalists under various banners, most
famously the Azov Batallion, whose insignia contain unmistakable German
Nazi symbols (which, btw, were removed only recently, approx 3 weeks
ago).
The existing bio labs from the Soviet era have been repurposed
for military purpose of NATO. Under CIA oversight, NATO became openly
involved in supplying the Ukrainian army with weapons and training, with
an openly stated aim of eastward expansion.
The so-called Azov
Batallion is the largest of nationalist militias and used to operate
independently, although openly armed and trained in the west, most famously by Canada, where Ukrainian operatives with Nazi symbols of the Azov Batallion on their camo uniforms have been photographed alongside
regular Canadian special forces. It was absorbed into a regular
Ukrainian army prior to Russian invasion. Interestingly, there was a
“retired” Canadian general who was amongst the captured fighters from
the Azov steel factory in Mariupol. He is now in jail in Russia,
probably awaiting a Putin’s show trial after his victory.
Azov made little effort to play nice ... a video from 2018 that cannot be embedded:- https://youtu.be/meWM4lChqy4
And the youth camps...
Against
this backdrop, Zelensky started to feel rather cornered. With Nazis at
his throat at home, Russians getting increasingly frantic (over 15,000
Donbass Russians killed by Azov Batallion’s shelling) and CIA’s
arm-twisting, he was facing a growing unrest by his own population, the
very people who voted him in.
But Ukraine still had some good
assets: plenty of gas, some oil, solid industrial base from Soviet times
(including a factory making the world’s largest transport aircraft -
originally designed to transport the Soviet space shuttle, a project
abruptly discontinued after the collapse of the Soviet Union), and of
course enormous, sprawling, fertile fields capable of feeding the world
with quality grain.
A perfect base for prosperity of the largest
country in Europe, populated by mere 40 mil people. But, sadly, also a
perfect base for high-flying international scoundrels. In the absence
of solid governance, made possible by the population’s zero historical
experience with democracy and lack of quality leaders, the country has
become a haven for all that is wrong and evil of contemporary western
elite. The news that all the country riches are up to grabs have spread
like a wildfire.
The vultures started circling in, high-flying
thieves taking working holidays in Kiev, departing with lucrative
“deals” involving selling favours. Sex tourists taking advantage of
impoverished, unhappy population and beautiful Slavic girls. For
example, Hunter Biden who had no prior experience in running companies,
nor any education in the energy field, nor any knowledge or association
with Ukraine, was appointed a director of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian
gas producing company, with a salary of $1mil a year. The sole reason
was the fact that his father was then vice-president in the Obama
administration. The reason for his employment was obviously in order for
this company to have access to the US policy making. It is difficult to
determine what kind of effect this access could have been and how it
might have affected US energy self-sufficiency - that’s beside the main
point.
In addition to becoming an Eldorado for white-collar
shady deals, Ukraine has also become Europe’s largest black market for
weapons, many of which ending up in the world’s hotspots and arming
terrorists everywhere with modern weapons courtesy old Soviet stockpiles
in combination with modern NATO armaments.
The pressure on Zelensky was enormous.
With
time running out before being deposed and possibly tried for
corruption, Zelensky had to act to save himself. As an interim measure,
he had the leader of the opposition party arrested, and the last
independent media closed down, including two television stations.
This
did not stop the widening divisions in the nation, exacerbated by a law
discriminating against the use of Russian language, the vast majority
language of Donbass and Crimea, and spoken by 30% of Ukrainians,
including Zelensky himself. The law was enacted by parliament still
controlled by adherents of Zelensky’s predecessor, Poroshenko. Zelensky
was against this, but did not have enough power to overturn it. (He’d
probably get killed if he tried, anyway; the Ukrainian neo-Nazis don’t
muck around.)
Zalensky found himself alone, cornered, likely to
be either deposed by force or in the next election. If that happened, he
would be facing jail, and he could kiss goodbye his luxury real estate
in London and all the trappings of high-class living, including shopping
at Harrods, having suits made at Saville Row and rubbing shoulders with
the rich and famous. He knew he was about to lose all that if he did
not act soon.
Meanwhile, the prime minister of the United
Kingdom, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson has been having different
kinds of problems, a result of numerous personal scandals and
substandard governance, alienating him from the UK population, worn out
by the covid epidemics and its aftermath. He, too, was looking for a
miracle solution to save his political career and moral standing as a
person. That would be unacceptable for Boris and any other
self-respecting narcissist. Having written a book about the life of
Winston Churchill, Boris dreamt about being just like his personal hero:
the celebrated saviour of the free world! But instead, he was facing
ignominy. Time was running out and the Partygate affair brought this to
light.
So what did he do? What did *they* do? I am sure you know where this is heading.
The ultimate mutual admiration society
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| Marking each other's homework? |
1 Zelensky’s role
(after all, he was a skilled and experienced actor famous for his
impersonation of a heroic president) was to provide a war that would
provide sufficient distraction from domestic problems, for both
partners.
2 Johnson’s role was to provide quality PR and
material support for the operation, as well as British passports for
Zelensky and his family so he could go to London to enjoy the lifestyle
of a war hero and champion of democracy, Churchill style.
The war
was triggered by pushing the Russians over a tolerance limit. They were
almost there by a fine margin, watching the domestic situation in
Ukraine evolving beyond control. Zelensky knew exactly where the red
line was. He started to grow a beard in preparation, amassed a large
army at Donbass border and spoke loudly about the need of Ukraine
joining NATO, including placement of nuclear weapons in Ukraine
territory, a sacred right of an independent country.
This was a
major red flag for the Russians. Remember what Kennedy did when the
Russians wanted to place missiles in Cuba. Would the US tolerate their
adversary having nukes in Mexico?
Predictably, Russians invaded
Ukraine. Overnight, Zelensky changed into sexy camouflage outfit and
showed the world his new persona of a heroic wartime president, his best
lifetime role, this time on the world stage.
Having gullible
western politicians, the useful idiots du jour, giving him standing
ovations in all western parliaments must have been an exhilarating
experience by for Zelensky. But how about the pesky opposition at home?
The opposition party, the second largest in parliament, demanded
negotiations with the Russians. This, by the way, was the same party
that demanded that the Minsk peace accords that Ukraine signed under the
patronage of the Germans and the French be honoured - obviously this
must have been a treasonous act by Ukrainian standards.) The leader of
the party was already arrested, now the party itself was banned and all
their assets confiscated.
(Interestingly, in her recent speech,
Ursula van Leyen waxed lyrical about the Ukrainian heroic fight for
democracy and the need to support it. That really should come as no
surprise, given that Ursula herself was not democratically elected by
the people of EU. Obviously, that’s not how democracy is supposed to
work).
The plan worked perfectly. There is no chance of an enquiry to
Zelensky’s financial affairs. His popularity at home is surging. They
might yet erect some statues for him and name some streets or towns
after him.
Johnson has survived his Partygate scandal and shaped
himself into a Churchill-style wartime prime minister, saviour of the
free world. (Somewhat less persuasively than Zelensky, but not a bad act
for a budding actor.) And never mind that the free world was never
really threatened. The gullible population of the UK and EU, looking for
an outlet for their pent-up anger for Covid and economic mismanagement,
got their whipping boy: Putin and the Russkies. And immediately started
to experience the uplifting warm glow of belonging to the masses,
suddenly re-united by a shared hatred. This will be especially useful to
prevent or deflect social unrest in winter when the energy crisis
properly kicks in.
Meanwhile, Putin was paying attention, and has managed to manipulate the sanction-spanking, to wage economic war on Europe
and the whole world. The West's own goal? As a result, the price of energy has skyrocketed
and Russian exporters are facing a windfall in revenue. He had cut off
Russia from western banking system, so that the west is now facing
unprecedented inflation while the rouble is surging to an all-time high,
backed by gold holdings that he has so patiently amassed over the years
and that he now can’t export even if he wanted to, because of recent
western ban on gold imports from Russia. The sanctions must be really
hard on Russia, considering that Argentina and Iran now want to join
Russia, China and India dominated BRICS, and India is laughing all the
way to the bank, basking in the warm glow of burning cheap Russian oil
and gas, as well as reselling it to the stupid EU at a great margin.
And meanwhile, Ukrainians (and Russians) are being killed in a useless, unnecessary war, and the country is being destroyed. The
country shall be eventually rebuilt, with much fanfare, with your
taxes. Numerous monuments and memorials shall be built to the many
thousands of people who had to die to save the careers of two politicians with hugely questionable motives and morality.
PS and oh, I forgot to mention the windfall profits of the mostly US defence
industry, which had been looking for a good war to fix up their
dwindling profits, a hangover of Trump’s irritating peace-making era. With half of
the US congress owning stocks in defence companies, waging a nice proxy
war in a distant land, is a win-win situation.
So where does this go from here..?
But the stupidity of everyone that piled in without doing even the most basic background checks will become legendary in history books. In the early days when Zelensky paraded a thunderflash "attack" on a nuclear plant as an artillery bombardment and thereby an urgent reason for NATO's immediate involvement, the Pentagon (watching from satellites) discreetly warned us not to beleive everything we were being told in the fog of war.
As of July 8th, the immediate consequences of the departure of Boris Johnson as PM are not apparent. But Germany is having an outbreak of pragmatism as various green taboos are being revisited. The attacks on ammunition and fual dumps on Russian border territiory are intensifying and very accurate - and with Boris gone, as Zelensky's most vocal and determiend supporter, the way is clearing for a compromise that ends up with Russian oil and gas again keeping the EU economy afloat. Maybe Macron will resume his cosy phone chats with Putin?
July 30th and Sky News update
Sky News host Cory Bernardi says “everything we are told” about the Russia-Ukraine conflict should be taken “with a huge dose of salt”. Bernardi sticks his neck out and risks trial by media and various forms of "cancellation" (- as do I!)
But the West has been compromised by its own foolish reliance on Russian energy, and there is no rapid way out of the economic crisis other than giving Ukraine the weapons and suppoort to defeat Russia an humiliate Putin out of office = and pray that we don't get nuked - and that Putin's successor has pleanty of property and financial interests in London, and the blast zone.
...work in progress
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