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ZorbaTHut  2yr ago (text post)   31616 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 17, 2022

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I don't think that answers the question at all.

Let's accept all your assumptions, I'm still left asking how Victoria Fucking Nuland was sitting in an office in Foggy Bottom and saw the Jewish comedian doing gay Cossack bits on tv and said "That's our guy, he won't let us down. Under pressure he's gonna blossom into a wartime leader." With that talent spotting ability, I hope the Eagles bring her in for the combine!

Saying he's a ride-or-die corrupt criminal is just changing the phrasing of the question.

Both are far too valorizing of Zelensky. He just kept making the choice that was best for him personally. If I do a date-limited search about him you get results like this:

Right Before the Invasion: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/opinion/ukraine-russia-zelensky-putin.html

The tenor of all the articles I found is this: Zelensky is inherently an actor, he plays what role he thinks suits him.

Now lets go right after: https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/25/europe/volodymyr-zelensky-profile-cmd-intl

Tenor is: He's picked his role, and that role is hardass.

Now a few months after the invasion: https://www.wsj.com/articles/who-is-volodymyr-zelensky-ukrainian-president-11646161781

Grizzled face of the Ukrainian resistance.

But what changed about his posture? Nothing ever. He just kept doing what was best for his image, and the press slowly came around to embracing the image that gave him the most prestige and power. The posture has allowed him to crack down on domestic opposition parties, Russian-connected and not. Its gotten his country a military slush fund. What would fleeing have brought him? An end to his political power, an end to his future financial prospects, and embarrassment as Ukrainian militias kept up the fight as he hides in Warsaw.

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