Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Voldymyr Zelensky gaslighted ABC Martha Raddatz, telling her there’s nothing former President Donald Trump could do to end the Ukraine War, warning about the possibility of Russia blowing up the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant. Zelensky likes to play the U.S. press like fiddle, playing into Russian hysteria on Capitol Hill. Trump knows all about Russian hysteria, accused by Democrats and the U.S. press of colluding with the Kremlin to win the 2016 presidential election. Even after 78-year-old Special Counsel Robert Mueller acquitted Trump March 23, 2019 of any wrongdoing with Russia, Democrats, led by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and former House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) insisted Trump had nefarious ties to Russia. So, when listening to Zelensky, he knows how to play the anti-Russian card.
Generations of U.S. presidents did everything possible to cultivate pragmatic and cooperative relations with the former Soviet Union and now Russian Federation. President Joe Biden, 80, is the first president in U.S. history to go to war against the Kremlin, citing the highly dubious theory that 70-year-old Russian President wants to take over all of Europe, or at least former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe. Yet Zelensky and Biden continue to repeat the same rubbish as a standard talking point to justify the Ukraine War. Raddatz asked Zelensky nothing about his plans to end the 17-month-old conflict, instead letting Zelensky dictate the interview. Raddatz interview was actually no interview at all but an informercial to sell the American public on the necessity of the Ukraine War. Zelensky walked a tightrope disputing Trump’s claim that he’d end the war in 24 hours.
Zelensky doesn’t want the war to end because his Kiev government is bankrupt, receiving U.S. government largess to finance his government and war with the Kremlin. Does Raddatz really think that if Trump, as president, pulled the funding on Zelensky’s war, the war would continue? How would Zelensky battle the Russian Federation without U.S. cash-and-weapons? “Can we, while analyzing this, think that Russia is planning a local explosion in order to stop Ukrainian operations on the battlefield,” Zelensky asked, playing into American fears. No one knows whether or not Ukraine has undermined the Zaporizhizia nuclear plant, despite Zelensky blaming in the Kremlin. Zelensky hopes his fear-mongering will push NATO at the Vilnius, Lithania summit to fast-track Ukraine into membership. Zelensky said he won’t show up in Vilnius unless NATO offers Kiev membership.
Warning about Russia blowing up Zaporizhzia, Zelensky hopes to sell the ongoing war to the American public. When he hears Trump talk about ending the war, it’s Zelensky’s worst nightmare, potentially losing his U.S. funding. Whatever wealth Zelensky accrued as Ukrainian president, it all comes from U.S. taxpayer money. No one knows how much Zelensky and his inner circle have siphoned off from U.S. funds for the Kiev government and war with the Kremlin. Zelensky conjectured to Raddatz that Wagner mecentary chief Yevgenny Prigozhing has become an opposition political figure, like jailed dissident Alexi Navalny, spewing utter rubbish. Prigozhin has no support in Russia since he’s been a rich oligarch because of Putin making millions from the Kremlin. All that changed with Prigozhin went he mad June 24 threatening to topple Putin’s government in Moscow. Now he’s watching his oligarch empire dismantled while facing house arrest in Belarus and Russia.
Zelensky told Raddatz that Ukraine will not yield any territory in negotiations with the Russian Federation, stating he would keep the war going until every Russian soldier was out of Ukraine. Zelensky knows that would mean keeping the war going indefinitely, relying on billions more in U.S. taxpayer funding. “No territory,” Zelensky told Raddatz, without any response from the 70-year-old journalist. Zelensky rejected the idea that Trump, if elected president, could end the war in 24 hours. “It seems to me that the sole desire to bring the war to an end is beautiful,” Zelensky told Raddatz. “But this desire should be based on real-life experience. Well, it looks as if Donald Trump had these 24 hours once in his time. We were at war. Not a full-scale war, but we were at war. And as I assume, he had that time at his disponsal. But he must have some other priorities,” Zelensky said, playing into Raddatz anti-Trump bias.
Zelensky has been under the gun for the slow pace of his counteroffensive in which he promised to remove all Russian troops from Ukraine in 2023. Military experts think the war is essentially “frozen” or “stalemated,” forcing Zelensky to ask for cluster-bombs because he’s run out of other munitions defending Bakhmut and other battlefields. Zelensky pushed for F-16 fighter jets, something Biden has approved but without a current timetable for delivery. Whatever Zelensky gets it new weapons, he always says it’s not enough, he needs more. When Trump talks about ending the Ukraine War, he’s talking on pulling the plug on Ukraine’s funding that pushes Zelensky into ceasefire and peace talks with the Russian Federation. U.S. taxpayers won’t tolerate more hardships in the U.S. economy to continue supporting the bankrupt Ukraine government and a proxy war that’s going nowhere.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
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