Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Trump – not Zelensky – is Ukraine’s only hope
The Spectator ^ | 2-25-25 | Oleksiy Kosach

Posted on 02/25/2025 7:17:15 PM PST by bimboeruption

I have known Volodymyr Zelensky very well for years. As a senior official personally appointed by Zelensky, I spoke to him many times a day and observed him closely both in public and privately. We parted on good terms and without rancour. I have no personal axe to grind. But today I cannot remain silent about how Zelensky is weakening Ukraine under the guise of war. As a result of this new climate of fear I must write these words under the veil of anonymity – a necessary precaution against retaliation from the very regime I once served.

It pains me to admit that at least some of what Donald Trump has said about Zelensky is true. While western politicians have rushed to condemn Trump and his vice president’s remarks, a quiet ripple of approval ran through large parts of Ukrainian society.

Ukraine has become a paradox: a nation fighting for its sovereignty while dismantling its own democratic foundations. For years, the West has indulged in the illusion of Zelensky as the ‘face of democracy’. In reality, he has undermined our democracy, institutions and economy, making Ukraine much weaker in the face of an existential threat – and in the process destroying our nation’s motivation to fight the Russian aggressor.

His first presidential term ended in May 2024, but with the war ongoing, no elections were held. Zelensky, who prolongs martial law every three months and has never thought about easing it, as European politicians are suggesting, claims that ‘the people don’t want elections’. The recent Ukrainian survey confirms this, with 65 per cent of Ukrainians not wanting to have elections throughout the war. But over half of Ukrainians wanted to see the end of the conflict as soon as possible, according to Gallup polling last year. That percentage might...

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: dictator; trump; ukraine; zelensky
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last
From the article: "Zelensky’s authoritarian instincts were already becoming clear even before Putin’s invasion. As early as 2019, I listened as he demanded propaganda from his subordinates to flood the media with praise when his policies failed. Today, he has achieved that: a vast army of voices branding him the face of democracy and the very embodiment of Ukraine itself."

Zeepers?

1 posted on 02/25/2025 7:17:15 PM PST by bimboeruption
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: All
Help me, Obi-Wan Trump, you're our only hope.
2 posted on 02/25/2025 7:20:33 PM PST by BipolarBob (My goal is to lose 10 pounds this year. So far, only thirteen more to go.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BipolarBob

>>>>Help me, Obi-Wan Trump, you’re our only hope.<<<<

President Trump is more concerned about the people of Ukraine than Zelensky.

Trump IS their only hope.


3 posted on 02/25/2025 7:24:45 PM PST by bimboeruption ((“Less propaganda would be appreciated.” JimRob 12-2-2023) )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: bimboeruption

‘ President Trump is more concerned about the people of Ukraine than Zelensky.’

Surrendering the country to Russia after being invaded is helping your country?


4 posted on 02/25/2025 7:29:04 PM PST by Fuzz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Fuzz

Ending the war and restoring democracy can preserve Ukraine.

Zelensky has thrown up every obstacle he can to derail peace talks.

Every day he shoves more of his fellow Ukrainians into the meat grinder. Their lives mean nothing to him. If they did, he’d work toward peace.


5 posted on 02/25/2025 7:42:35 PM PST by bimboeruption ((“Less propaganda would be appreciated.” JimRob 12-2-2023) )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Fuzz; bimboeruption
Surrendering the country to Russia after being invaded is helping your country?

Continuing the war until it becomes a nuclear conflagration is helping your country?
6 posted on 02/25/2025 7:50:21 PM PST by SoConPubbie (Trump has all the right enemies, DeSantis has all the wrong friends.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

How would surrendering to Russia restore democracy?


7 posted on 02/25/2025 7:51:06 PM PST by Fuzz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: bimboeruption
Every day he shoves more of his fellow Ukrainians into the meat grinder. Their lives mean nothing to him. If they did, he’d work toward peace.

That, right there. 👆👆👆

8 posted on 02/25/2025 7:57:48 PM PST by Allegra (It’s MAGA time! )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: bimboeruption
Thousands of Ukrainian men have paid bribes – tens of thousands of dollars – to flee the only European country with sealed borders for men of conscription age. Those who remain live in fear, wary of stepping outside lest they be seized off the streets, in cafés, or in shops – dragged into vans and sent to the front lines. Some of the latest draftees are disabled or chronically ill. Many receive little or no training before deployment. Increasingly, their fates are sealed in recruitment offices as officers wait to be bribed. Wives, girlfriends, daughters, and mothers now take on traditionally male jobs, scraping together whatever earnings they can to bribe officials, desperate to secure exemptions for their loved ones and for young men before they reach conscription age. Yet those with the right government connections are free from conscription and enjoy unrestricted freedom of movement.

Damn.

9 posted on 02/25/2025 7:59:25 PM PST by montag813
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bimboeruption
Well stated.

Ukraine has become a paradox: a nation fighting for its sovereignty while dismantling its own democratic foundations. For years, the West has indulged in the illusion of Zelensky as the ‘face of democracy’. In reality, he has undermined our democracy, institutions and economy, making Ukraine much weaker in the face of an existential threat – and in the process destroying our nation’s motivation to fight the Russian aggressor.

10 posted on 02/25/2025 8:03:50 PM PST by Biblebelter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fuzz
How would surrendering to Russia restore democracy?

You have to have a country left in order to "restore democracy".

Furthermore, you can't have a democracy without elections, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech.
11 posted on 02/25/2025 8:05:24 PM PST by SoConPubbie (Trump has all the right enemies, DeSantis has all the wrong friends.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: bimboeruption

I wonder how many U.S. taxpayer dollars Oleksiy Kosach put in his pocket these past four years.


12 posted on 02/25/2025 8:11:15 PM PST by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bimboeruption

Ukes want no elections according to a, lol, gallop poll from Last Year, lol,-)


13 posted on 02/25/2025 8:13:54 PM PST by Harpotoo (Being a socialist is a lot easier than saving to WORK like the rest of !US:-))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fuzz

>>>>How would surrendering to Russia restore democracy?<<<<

Who’s talking “surrender”?

Not President Trump. He’s talking “cease fire” and “peace talks”, but the smuf nazi doesn’t want to hear it.


14 posted on 02/25/2025 8:20:32 PM PST by bimboeruption ((“Less propaganda would be appreciated.” JimRob 12-2-2023) )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Harpotoo

>>>>Ukes want no elections according to a, lol, gallop poll from Last Year, lol,-)<<<<

Is there a poll anywhere in the world that isn’t skewed?


15 posted on 02/25/2025 8:26:29 PM PST by bimboeruption ((“Less propaganda would be appreciated.” JimRob 12-2-2023) )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: bimboeruption

The reality of war.

Young men and women take up arms on both sides, mostly men. Both sides at an infantry level are innocent and mere pawns. They die on each side. They see their brothers and sisters in arms die and become transformed into killing machines capable of extremism, great extremism and cruelty in war. My Lai was not and accident, it was the insanity of war. We killed with abandon and many innocents though it was a Viet Cong village. That village had killed us. We killed them and many innocents. It no longer becomes God, Nation and duty. It becomes kill they enemy that killed my brother in war.

That is the ugly reality of war. A good man or woman can be transformed into a total killing machine with out morality nor conscious when they have their comrades in war fall in battle. They do have a family back home. In war their only family is the person next to them with a rifle.


16 posted on 02/25/2025 10:44:53 PM PST by cpdiii (cane cutter, deckhand, oilfield roughneck, drilling fluid tech, geologist, pilot, pharmacist ,MAGA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bimboeruption

The homoerotic dancer is a tyrant? Color me shocked /s


17 posted on 02/26/2025 4:23:16 AM PST by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bimboeruption

I am a life long republican, but……

Long live anonymous sources 😎


18 posted on 02/26/2025 4:37:32 AM PST by blitz128
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BipolarBob

I think his wanting mineral rights is a smart move - if we have Americans working to get these resources, any attacks on them will be attacks on us - and I doubt Russia wants to open that can of worms...


19 posted on 02/26/2025 5:35:36 AM PST by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: bimboeruption
Ukraine has become a paradox: a nation fighting for its sovereignty while dismantling its own democratic foundations.

So, no different than the EU. Ukraine, in its reduced size, will be a perfect addition to it. Still not America's circus.

20 posted on 02/26/2025 5:39:13 AM PST by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson