Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly [UNGA] yesterday, 43-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the U.N. of acting like a “retired superhero,” a slap at the U.N. for not intervening to return the Crimean Peninsula back to Ukraine from the March 1, 2014 Russian annexation. Zelensky wants the U.N. to order Russia to return Ukraine’s territory or face military consequences. It’s unclear whether Zelensky actually thinks the U.N. has a military capable of going to war with the Russian Federation. Zelensky ripped the U.N. for its slow vaccine rollout especially in the third world but, more importantly, to doing little to force the Russian to return Crimea to Ukraine. Zelensky said the U.N. should hold its meetings in global hot spots like Ukraine where an ongoing war with Russian separatists, backed by the Russian Federation, has cost 14,000 Ukrainian lives.
Zelensky delivered a dark speech about the state of world affairs but clearly referenced everything back to the March 1, 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea. “I’m not being ironic. I’m not trolling anyone,” Zelensky said. “It’s time to wake up,” asking the U.N. to do more to deal with state-sponsored crimes plaguing the planet. Zelensky found himself embroiled in a U.S. political scandal, where Democrats accused former President Donald Trump of trying to influence Ukraine to investigate 78-year-old President Joe Biden and his 50-year old son Hunter. Trump was impeached Dec. 18, 2019 by a vindictive House Speaker Nancy (D-Calif.), doing everything possible to destroy Trump’s chances of reelection. Trump was acquitted of Feb. 5, 2015 in the U.S. Senate, foiling Democrats’ efforts to remove Trump from office. Zelensky was caught in the middle of a U.S. political scandal.
Zelensky, like other members of the U.N., hoped to return “to effective multilateralism and effective international solidarity,” something he missed when he asked the U.N. to intervene with the Russian invasion of Crimea. Zelensky blasted the international community for “playing unity—where one this is to share objectives and quite another is to share vaccines,” meaning the U.N. talks a good game but does little to back it up with action. When it comes to vaccines and Crimea, Zelensky finds the U.N. saying all the right things but doing very little. “We are all in one boat, but access to lifeboats is given first-class passengers,” Zelensky said, complaining about Ukraine’s 12% vaccination rate. After blasting the U.N. for unfair distribution of vaccines, he was even more critical the world body has done almost nothing to pressure Moscow to return the Crimean Peninsula back to Ukraine.
Zelensky’s tried but failed to convince the EU to adopt Ukraine into the 28-nation economic bloc, largely because Ukraine has a weak Gross Domestic Product, adding nothing to the EU’s prosperity. More than pushing for EU membership, Zelensky pressed NATO’s Secretary- General Jens Stoltenberg for NATO membership, hoping that NATO could fight its battles with the Kremlin. Stoltensberg served notice to Zelensky that it’s against the NATO charter to accept countries for membership that are currently involved in active conflict. Zelensky has asked for NATO membership to allow NATO to battle the Russian Federation. Not one NATO member wants any part of Zelensky’s absurd proposition, to fight Ukraine’s battles. If Zelensky wants to return Crimea to Ukraine, he needs develop closer ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, not push NATO into a confrontation.
Zelensky wants to push the U.S. into pressuring NATO to accept Ukraine for membership. “Maybe somewhere in Central Partk or Madison Square Garden, those gunshots are not heard as loudly,” referring to ongoing hostilities in Russian-speaking territories in Southeaster Ukraine. “No one feels secure anymore in the world,” Zelensky said, expressing frustration with the U.N.’s ability to resolve disputes between countries, like the one between Russia and Ukraine. Zelensky admonished the U.N. for global pollution, climate change, poverty, disease and hunger. “It’s as if we were voting to award some sort of ‘Global Misfortune of the Year’ prize,” “The U.N. is alike a retired superhero who’s long forgotten how great they once were,” Zelensky said. With all Zelensky’s negativity, what does he expect the U.N. to do to resolve his dispute with Russia over Crimea or Southeastern Ukraine?
Zelensky has a ton of criticism for the U.N. or NATO but he has none for himself or his country. When pro-Western forces decided to topple the Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych Feb. 22, 2014, what was Putin supposed to do? Zelensky thinks it’s OK for Kiev to coordinate with the CIA to seize control of Ukraine’s government. Putin retaliated to protect his Sevastopol navy base, seizing Crimea. Had Ukraine not toppled Yanukovych, it’s conceivable that Ukaraine would still be in possession of Crimea. Zelensky mentions nothing about what happened before Putin moved in the Red Army to annex Crimea. “The world simply is throwing all those misfortunes into a big bag, and it’s now already ripping at the seems,” Zelensky told the General Assembly, pressing the world body to take actions in places like Crimea, knowing its first priority is world peace.
