The president of Ukraine and Russia are both dictators. I don’t care who wins or loses anymore.
Same here. I never gave a crap about either of them from the beginning. Both countries are corrupt (as is this one), and both have helped make politicians on both sides of the aisle, their family members, friends, and big donors, very wealthy off the back of American taxpayers.
how exactly do you see Zelensky as a dictator? He was elected only in 2019 - after winning against Poroshenko (who was elected in 2014). And in the next election he’s going to face off against both Poroshenko and Klitschko (mayor of Kyiv).
He has no dictatorial powers.
In contrast Putin has been a dictator for 23 years.
Now to your second point “I don’t care who wins or loses” - if it was just these two duking it out, that would be fine, but look at the stakes here - it gives legitimacy to expansion of territory by military conquest. When was the last time that happened before 2014? It was before 1945. Do we really want a world where military conquests are options? That invasion by Putin has emboldened Azerbaijan and will embolden a number of other countries unless this is shown as a definitive “no-no”.
Why does this impact the USA? Because if military conquests become acceptable then this is going to affect US interests sooner - much sooner - rather than later.
I do not think the US should directly get involved in Ukraine i.e. no US troops. But by giving the Ukrainians the ability to fight back, this sends a clear message to any would-be aggressors that military conquests of territory will not be tolerated.
Now to the “dictator” tag for the former TV comedian Zelensky - here’s why it is a false tag:
1. it is often cited about “banning opposition parties” - let’s look at this, 11 opposition parties were suspended by the Ukrainian parliament.
Yes, not Zelensky directly - The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine decided to ban the activity of Opposition Party — For Life, Shariy Party, Nashi, Opposition Bloc, Left Opposition, Union of Left Forces, State, Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, Socialist Party of Ukraine, Socialists Party and Volodymyr Saldo Bloc. These are all parties that have political ties with the aggressor that is currently invading.
Why? Because these were funded by Putin’s government. how many seats did they have in parliament? TWO. If you openly or secretly support an entity (in this case Russia) that invaded your country, has killed thousands of people in your country, destroyed half of the country and mercilessly bombing your countrymen, then your party will be suspended. As of January 1, 2020, there are 349 officially registered political parties in Ukraine.
11 were suspended.
2. then about news media. Ukrainian TV channels ZIK, NewsOne, and 112 were forced off the air late on February 2 after the official channel owner and opposition MP Taras Kozak was hit with sanctions. All three channels are widely believed to belong to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Ukraine, Viktor Medvedchuk, and have long been seen as platforms for Kremlin messaging in Ukraine’s information space. It is never a good idea to allow the enemy to lie to your citizens.
Now Zelensky isn’t the great hero that some puff him up to be, but he is no dictator. We may not like his constant whining and complaining, but he’s succeeded in keeping attention on Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which is against what Putin needed. By doing so, he’s given Ukraine a fighting chance against Putin and helped it build a new national narrative