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Ukraine ping

[Yanukovych won a very close election in 2010 and the Ukrainians were furious about it. They thought the Orange Revolution would last forever, but it only lasted five years. After the Yanukovych election, the Ukrainians knew they would eventually have to disenfranchise the Russian half of their country. ]

To my knowledge, the Russian half of the country still gets a vote. In fact, Zelensky is the Russian half of the country. He was elected to mend relations with Russia. Putin invaded because he thought Zelensky would fold, being Russian-speaking and all. In fact, Ukrainian speakers thought he was a Russian mole. And Putin doubtless offered him generous sums of money to save himself the bother of even a special military operation. But Zelensky revealed his true inclinations when he said “I don’t need a ride; I need ammunition”. That was when Ukrainians-speakers who had previous doubts began to warm to Zelensky. At that point, they realized that whatever language he grew up with, he was one of them - a Ukrainian at heart.

To my knowledge, the Russian half of the country still gets a vote.

The states of Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk have not participated in elections since Luhansk and Donetsk declared independence in 2014. This is like Republicans trying to win a presidential election without Texas, Florida, and Missouri.

Here's Ukraine's problem in one graphic. The blue states will be annexed to Russia and the yellow states will be the new Ukraine. Unfortunately for Ukraine, this means goodbye Black Sea.