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Volodymyr Zelensky: Not Exactly A Champion Of Democracy
19fortyfive ^ | 02/06/2023 | Ted Carpenter

Posted on 02/08/2023 10:35:04 AM PST by thegagline

American supporters of Washington’s Ukraine policy often portray Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky as a noble champion of democracy who deserves even more U.S. military assistance than he has already received. The political and media love-fest accompanying Zelensky’s address to a joint session of Congress in late December 2022 was a recent example of such hero worship.

Voice of America published an article comparing Zelensky’s appearance to Winston’s Churchill’s address to Congress in December 1941. David Frum, writing in the Atlantic, asserted that Zelensky recalled us to ourselves and our democratic values. Frum added that the Ukrainian president “came to the United States to thank us for supporting Ukraine. It is Americans who should thank him.” An earlier New York Times column by Bret Stephens contended that Americans “admire Zelensky because he has restored the idea of the free world to its proper place.”

Such fawning ignores the mounting evidence of Zelensky’s flagrant abridgment of civil liberties and democratic norms ***

Likewise, the Ukraine government’s repression is becoming increasingly flagrant and alarming. Since the Russian invasion, Zelensky has used the war as a justification for outlawing 11 opposition parties. He also invoked martial law to issue a presidential decree that combined all national television stations into one platform. On Dec. 29, 2022, Zelensky signed a new law that his party had pushed through parliament — a measure that further curbed an independent press. Other presidential actions sought to ban the Russian Orthodox Church and imposed severe sanctions on its top clerics. A growing number of people are being jailed without due process.

Zelensky and his closest colleagues have no tolerance for even the most peaceful opponents, domestic or foreign. In the summer of 2022, the Ukraine government’s Center for Countering Disinformation published a blacklist of critics that included numerous prominent Americans. The implicitly threatening nature of that list became even more evident in late September, when the CCD issued a revised roster (including addresses) of the top 35 targets and smeared those individuals as “disinformation terrorists” and “war criminals.”

*** Unfortunately, the portrayal of Zelensky as a champion of democracy and freedom is depressingly bipartisan. His American admirers simply refuse to acknowledge their client’s alarming ideological and behavioral warts. ***


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: authoritarianism; bidensbuddy; ukraine
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Zelensky is shutting down churches. Imagine the uproar if he was Christian and shut down synagogues.
1 posted on 02/08/2023 10:35:04 AM PST by thegagline
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To: thegagline

I knew it from the beginning of this whole RU/UKR dustup. It is like 2 crime families going at it. Both exist on corruption and klpetocracy.

But as usual the idiots in charge of EU and now USA see anything against Russia as “good.”

Sadly some of those idiots post here as well.


2 posted on 02/08/2023 10:38:10 AM PST by freedumb2003 (Difference between a cow and the US Capitol 1/6 "riot:" you can only milk a cow 3 times a day)
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To: thegagline
Volodymyr Zelensky: Not Exactly A Champion Of Democracy

That's okay, neither are his fans the fascist leftists and Democrats...

3 posted on 02/08/2023 10:39:12 AM PST by Magnatron
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To: thegagline

the man is a weasel and a crum


4 posted on 02/08/2023 10:39:43 AM PST by mylife (And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids...)
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To: thegagline

In before the usual suspects bring in Roosevelt and Lincoln comparisons....


5 posted on 02/08/2023 10:40:19 AM PST by Tench_Coxe
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To: thegagline

US unquestioning support of Zelensky is similar to MSM unquestioning support of George Floyd, or Trayvon Martin.


6 posted on 02/08/2023 10:41:04 AM PST by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: thegagline

Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus during the Civil War. Sometimes leaders have to make tough decisions.


7 posted on 02/08/2023 10:42:34 AM PST by rexthecat
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To: freedumb2003
Sadly some of those idiots post here as well.

I noticed at least two of them have distinctly unique posting patterns. They will post an article and follow it up with numerous posts to themselves. They will also misspell Russia and have numerous fully capitalized words in their diatribes.

They may be actually one person posting under several accounts.

8 posted on 02/08/2023 10:45:27 AM PST by thegagline (Sic semper tyrannis! Goldwater 2024)
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To: mylife
the man is a weasel and a crum

Yes, you and the ever-dwindling FR base thinks so. But what you guys think really doesn't matter anymore. Btw, what is a "crum?"

9 posted on 02/08/2023 10:46:33 AM PST by rexthecat
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To: thegagline
Zelensky has used the war as a justification for outlawing 11 opposition parties.

Zelensky outlawed 11 pro-Russian parties out of more than 300 in Ukraine only after Ukraine was invaded.

Zelensky is shutting down churches.

No churches are "shut down", they simply cannot be under the Moscow Patriarch.

10 posted on 02/08/2023 10:47:13 AM PST by tlozo (Better to Die on Your Feet than Live on Your Knees )
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To: thegagline

You’ll get called an “anti-Semite” for even noticing that he’s not Christian.

“Anti-Semite” is a very versatile word and can be used as either a sword to attack with or a shield to hide behind, and as a way to stop discussion of any topics some don’t want to discuss.

In the end, Zylensky will flee with bulging suitcases full of taxpayer cash.


11 posted on 02/08/2023 10:48:19 AM PST by euram (allALL)
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To: rexthecat
Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus during the Civil War. Sometimes leaders have to make tough decisions.

And FDR rounded up and interned Japanese Americans. Using a President’s unconstitutional actions from over 150 years ago to justify Zelensky shutting down churches is insipid.

Again, imagine if Zelensky was a Christian and shuttered synagogues.

12 posted on 02/08/2023 10:52:37 AM PST by thegagline (Sic semper tyrannis! Goldwater 2024)
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To: rexthecat

Actually it does matter, more people are waking up. Support for Ukraine has been steadily eroding. And the opinions expressed here against Ukraine/Zelensky are no different than the opinions expressed on other conservative forums. If anything there are more pro-Ukie posters here than elsewhere.


13 posted on 02/08/2023 10:55:49 AM PST by jimwatx
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To: thegagline
In the immortal words of one Freeper …

I wouldn’t waste a moment of my time dealing with some guy who plays the piano with his d!ck.

All I know is that when Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Lindsey Graham are all on the same side of any issue, the interests of this country and its taxpayers are being undermined.

14 posted on 02/08/2023 10:57:38 AM PST by Alberta's Child
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To: euram

President puppet Zelenskyy is no supporter of freedom. In time, the good people of Ukraine will dispose of him. There will be no statues of this man in Kiev but their might be in Washington and London. He will not be remembered well in history.


15 posted on 02/08/2023 10:59:09 AM PST by Forward the Light Brigade ( Ride to the sound of the Guns!)
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To: thegagline

But lying that Zelensky is the new Churchill makes us feel good...sarc


16 posted on 02/08/2023 10:59:33 AM PST by Nextrush (FREEDOM IS EVERBODY'S BUSINESS-REMEMBER PASTOR NIEMOLLER)
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To: thegagline
Zelensky shutting down churches is insipid.

No churches are closed, they simply cannot be affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church, since the leader Patriarch Kirill, has told his followers that "sacrifice in the course of carrying out your military duty washes away all sins."

Kirill’s crusade against Ukraine is more jihadi than Christian

Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, has again preached to the faithful of the Russian world. He told them that if they heed their president’s call to arms, they shall be absolved of their sins and avoid any possibility of Hades.

Kirill’s call to violence with the promise of salvation might sound familiar to some western ears. It has something in common with Islamic clerics who encourage their fellow Muslims to become suicide bombers and slaughter the Kuffar – the non-believer – with the promise of martyrdom that will wash away all their sins for the glory of the Ummah (the Muslim world).

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/kirill-s-crusade-against-ukraine-is-more-jihadi-than-christian/

17 posted on 02/08/2023 11:03:23 AM PST by tlozo (Better to Die on Your Feet than Live on Your Knees )
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To: Forward the Light Brigade

I don’t know. He has his fans on Free Republic.com.


18 posted on 02/08/2023 11:03:44 AM PST by sport
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To: jimwatx
"If anything there are more pro-Ukie posters here than elsewhere."

I don't know about you, but a few of them leave the impression that the "pro-Ukie" sentiment doesn't extend to average person living in Ukraine.

19 posted on 02/08/2023 11:08:39 AM PST by Tench_Coxe
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To: thegagline

Freedom in Ukraine equals...

• Banned all opposition political parties
• Arrested political opposition leadership
• Controls all news and media
• Confiscated and shut down churches
• Arrested priests
• Arrests those that show or post any dissent
• Originally installed in a violent coup in 2014 supported by the obama administration
• Has a draft for all men 18-60. Literally pulling 50 year olds out of pools, grocery stores and restaurants
• Bans travel of all males

But...but...Russia does it too!


20 posted on 02/08/2023 11:19:34 AM PST by 2banana (Common ground with islamic terrorists-they want to die for allah and we want to arrange the meeting)
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