Zelinsky Threatens the West

By Rick Boettger

The New York Times has finally dared to discuss Ukraine’s war. It is of course one sided, but that is a wonderful advance from refusing to deign to defend its merits at all, like the rest of the mainstream media. In its Sunday opinion section on September 17, it offered a general editorial discussing long-term support. They of course affirm we all should be “firmly backing Ukraine.” But it then goes on to deliver a watershed “however.” Our “firm support….should not preclude an open debate on the scale and extent of of America’s support, or how the war might end.”

This is a watershed because no Western media has allowed such a discussion, outside of Konk Life. I am glad to use this forum to do what the NYT does not allow, someone actually disagreeing with any of their declarations supporting this war. My thanks to the NYT for giving me a target, and again to Konk Life for allowing fair and honest debate, cf. our First Amendment.

The NYT asserts in passing the main purpose of the war is to prevent Russia’s “future land grabs.” This is the infamous Domino Theory, disproved in Vietnam, but beloved by NATO. Ukraine is extremely special to Russia, as anyone who knows of their mutual history at all easily understands. It’s Eastern Ukraine and done for Russia. No drive to Poland, much less the gates of Paris.

Which leads to the NYT’s second canard, blasting “Russia’s unprovoked invasion.” As I previously explained in these pages, Ukraine hosted an extensive multinational war game on Ukrainian territory. “Rapid Trident” involved 6,000 troops from from the U.S, Ukraine, and 15 NATO countries, running for two weeks in September of 2021. Russia wanted to meet to discuss its objections to building up a Western military coordination with Ukraine that December, and the U.S. refused to do so. And this after 30 years of NATO expansionism.

Thomas Friedman in a separate column chimes in on NATO by confessing that 30 years ago he was against NATO expansion, but he apologizes, absurdly saying “NATO expansion is Putin’s friend.” As though Russia seeing a block of 15 nations plus the U.S. helping their 1,400-mile bordering neighbor practice its war games with them, in their sight, is GOOD for Russia. This would be similar to seeing Russia, China, Iran, and a dozen other countries that hate us massing in Mexico, holding war games along our 1,900 mile border with them. So we would call them “Biden’s friend”?

The baldest lie, always asserted and never justified, is that Ukraine has a “commitment to democracy and … a fight against corruption.” Even more wrong, the editorial asserts “Ukrainian anti-corruption groups and journalists and other civil society groups have done brave and essential work in holding their own leaders to account.” This is the exact opposite of the truth. Ukraine has not only outlawed opposition political parties, half of the Orthodox Church, and all opposition media, it has criminalized anyone for

“insulting military personnel and their families,or the justification or denial of Russian military aggression, the occupation of Ukrainian territories, and the glorification of those involved in the aggression or occupation. Penalties for these offenses range from arrest for up to 6 months to imprisonment for up to 8 years.” [Helsinki Times] A vivid example is the year-long detention of Gonzalo Lira, a U.S./Chilean citizen living in Kharkov with his Ukrainian bride, initially imprisoned and released for criticizing Zelinsky, then thrown into a labor camp for trying to seek asylum in Hungary. He simply wrote what I have been writing here in Konk Life.

Perhaps the most American values Zelinsky has shown is his penchant for shaking us down for more billions to pay not only for bombs to kill Russains but also for his pensioners and bureaucrats with the unaudited trainloads of cash we are sending them. In a September 10th interview with the Economist, he stated that there is no way of predicting how the millions of Ukrainian refugees in European countries would react to their country being abandoned. Ukrainians have generally “behaved well” and are “very grateful” to those who sheltered them. They will not forget that generosity. But it would not be a “good story” for Europe if it were to “drive these people into a corner”.

Yes, Saint Zelinsky is threatening us, hinting that the millions of Ukrainians we have lovingly welcomed, ahead of deserving Afghans who risked their lives for us, could rise up and do who knows what, out of outrage that our financial support plateaued at around $200 billion plus cluster bombs and F-16s, and we didn’t send our own troops to die with theirs in the minefields and trenches. Dear NYT, is that your idea of a “commitment to democracy”?

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