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
We had a Civil War here in this country, but we never cancelled an election during it. Zelenskyy cancelled Ukraine elections until the war ends, whenever that will be. Maybe if we send him billions of dollars more, and not require that he be held responsible for where any of it ends up, he’ll get around to making that decision.