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Tag: Volodymyr Zelensky

  • And big Don downs “em all

    And big Don downs “em all

    Perhaps the title of this piece should have been, Unquiet Flows the Don. Readers might have heard of the captivating novel, And Quiet Flows the Don, a stirring epic about life and love in early Soviet Russia. The Don is a mighty river in Russia which almost centrally lacerates the region. This time around, another Don seems to have erupted in North America, flowing unquietly and uneasily through the precincts of the American White House sweeping and uprooting everything along its path. The Don is not a river but the big Chief, the Capo di tutti capi of all America, the new Taoiseach of the United Tribes of North America and law giver plenipotentiary to all habitants of the land therein. The Don is a great hulk of a person who reminds one of a massive anaconda lurking in the deep Amazon River basin. It is not a creature to be toyed with at all. Thrice within a spate of two months, one has seen it take down and gobble up three presidential games from Africa, Middle East and Europe and perhaps the most famous educational institution on earth. How any digestive system could take in such a menu of disparate metabolic imperatives remains a miracle.

      Last month as Volodymyr Zelensky, the feisty Ukrainian president, strolled jauntily through the lawn of the White House for a scheduled briefing, one had a premonition that one was about to witness a high-tech presidential lynching followed by ritual burial. First, Zelensky committed the sartorial error of appearing in military fatigues. This was like triggering the alarm bell of psychological insecurity. Zelensky was hoisting the twin flag of courage and native nationalism and no one wants to be reminded of what they are not. Who does the uppity little fellow think he is, one could almost hear the Don grumbling like an upset child? The demolition commenced without any formality. It was more like grilling a prisoner of war. Surrounded by a crowd of hostile interlocutors and with the Don himself hen-pecking and hemming him in, Zelenskyy had no hell of chance. By the time he was thrown out, he appeared disoriented and thoroughly ruffled. The Arab king, a trained fighter pilot and tested soldier, whose mother was also British like the Don’s, got a massive slap-down before back-heeling.

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    Next to fall was Cyril Ramaphosa, the urbane, cultured and amiable South African president. Eager to please, Ramaphosa was soberly suited and bore the depressed mien of a bankrupt banker. It was to no avail. South Africa has been punching above its weight at the ICC. Suspicion should have been roused when a few minutes earlier some high-tech honchos were seen wheeling television sets into the Oval war-room. The mugging and muzzling began immediately with the anaconda moistening over the cranium of the poor fellow with manic relish. Ramaphosa winced and grimaced like an African wildebeest about to be swallowed. By the time he was spat out, the old trade unionist could barely walk upright and could be seen heaving and sighing with relief.

      Here is a travel advisory for feckless and heedless African leaders trying out their luck with the Big Don. Do not approach his dreaded vicinity without your Isanusi or principal juju man and with the full complement of traditional African charms such as Gbetu-gbetu, Okugbe, Onde, Kanako, Afeeri, Ayeta, Ikunpa, Igbadi, Eedi, Balu- balu and Egbe, the king of all amulets which will transport you back to your bedroom once the anaconda topples you over with its harpoon tail. It is all shaping up to something not very nice. But then even the first nation founded in a set of ideals needs this kind of massive disruption to shake it out of complacent lethargy. 

  • They say Zelensky won’t walk alone

    They say Zelensky won’t walk alone

    Incensed by what seemed to be the continuing defiance of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, President Donald Trump has, apart from his vacillations, ordered a pause in military aid to and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. It became clear early last week that Mr Trump and his aides merely needed a pretext to coerce Ukraine to do the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s bidding. There was little Mr Zelensky could have done or said to obviate the cessation of help or placate the fury of the boastful and antagonistic US president who has so far refused to put any kind of pressure on the Russian leader. There had been tons of analyses and suggestions indicating that had the Ukrainian president stooped to conquer, and had he flattered the obviously insecure Mr Trump, the fate that befell Mr Zelensky would have been avoided. This is balderdash.

    Once Mr Trump won reelection, his aides and relations had warned Ukraine that they were toast, and should either capitulate to Russia or look elsewhere for help. The US president has an unfathomable and unbreakable bond with Mr Putin, and perhaps too an unearthly fascination with Russia, that has made it impossible for any Ukrainian leader or the country itself to mollify him. While the Republican Party is now ambivalent towards Ukraine, and its lawmakers have seemed to moderate their opposition to Russia or Mr Putin, the US president has been unambiguous in his detestation of both Ukraine and Mr Zelensky. He cites political, 2024 campaigns, and personal reasons. Indeed, the famous but bitter television exchange between the cornered Ukrainian president and the governing US troika of President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and cabinet member and wealthy Elon Musk showed the implacability of the new US administration.

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    During the controversial shouting match two Fridays ago between the US president and vice president on the one hand and Mr Zelensky on the other hand, a condescending reporter ridiculed the Ukrainian president’s wardrobe. At least he was only rude, not tendentious. The Ukrainian was surprisingly calm and adroit in handling that insult about his wardrobe. But then the pugnacious Mr Vance weighed in and heartily insulted Mr Zelensky and lied against him, insisting that he had never once said thank you to both the US and Mr Trump. It turned out Mr Zelensky had actually done that many times. But the vice president would not be incommoded by a few untruths, nor fazed by the appalling breaches of diplomatic protocols as US officials openly and remorselessly harried the Ukrainian president.

    In the heated and foul-tempered exchange in the White House, not once did the president or his deputy remonstrate with Russia, either obliquely or openly, nor attack Mr Putin for the invasion. Instead, Mr Trump kept up a relentless barrage of abuses and threats against Mr Zelensky, denouncing him as a nobody who was posturing as a wartime leader only because of American military assistance. He misinterpreted the Ukrainian president’s boldness and confidence as defiance, fuming that without American help, Ukraine would be wiped out. There was nothing noble about Mr Trump’s beliefs and language; his mind was in fact a kitchen midden of worn out and stale ideas of international relations and strategic power equations. He boasted about US power, abused his predecessors, notably Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and concluded that because the Ukrainian president disagreed with some of his conclusions, his guest was not interested in a ceasefire or a peace deal. He even added later that Russia would be more generous in a peace deal than ‘difficult’ Ukraine. It was not just the callousness of the American president that rankled; even his logic and summations, not to talk of his very soul, were darkened and ignoble.

    Two Fridays ago, Mr Trump’s lynch mob hoisted the Ukrainian president and drew and quartered him. They will not be placated by anybody, not Europe, which is divided and hesitant, nor Southeast Asia, which is also in the throes of its own existential crisis as they stare down China’s irredentist gun barrels. Complacent Europe has suddenly found itself in a position they never imagined in a thousand years: the prospect of losing their Nato security shield; anticipating the fearful consequences of the imminent denudation of American power and influence and the concomitant vacuum which that would create; and assembling a coalition to halt what may turn out to be the rampage of Russia in Europe, starting with the Baltic States. No one envies Europe. Despite their public asseverations, they know that there is no convincing Mr Trump and his mob. The new US administration is impervious to the lessons of history, especially its own history, and commonsensical logic. Perhaps Europe can, after all, forge some kind of tentative unity among its fractious members as well as calm the centrifugal forces among their countries. They may yet discover that they are much stronger than they think they are, and can as a matter of fact foster new economic relations with other countries to lessen their dependence on the increasingly unreliable US.

    Key European countries like Britain, France and Germany, and some Eastern European countries like Poland which fear they might be next if buffer Ukraine is vanquished, will galvanise themselves into action and additional spending. They have promised that Ukraine would not walk alone. They seem determined to walk their talk, but they must hope that their flesh, when it begins to feel the Russian pinch, is as willing as their spirit. Slowly, they will begin to acknowledge that nearly a century of close relationship with the US and dependency on the Transatlantic accord to guarantee global order and security have become anachronistic. They are being called upon to change, and Mr Trump, as his hallucinatory speech to the joint session of Congress last Tuesday demonstrated, is the unlikely and inelegant sentinel. It galls them to have to change so abruptly; but it is either they rally together or they perish separately, as America sinks into isolationism, mercenary foreign policy, and precipitate decline under the leadership of a boastful, inept, frenetic, and divisive president so wholly unsuited for the American presidency. No wonder, in the apocalyptic books of the Bible, there is no unambiguous mention of America’s role at the end of time.

  • Zelensky: no U.S. security guarantees yet in Ukraine mineral deal

    Zelensky: no U.S. security guarantees yet in Ukraine mineral deal

    Security guarantees that Ukraine considers vital remain unresolved in its negotiations with the U.S., Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday.

    While a framework economic deal involving U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals is ready, finalising a full agreement may depend on discussions in Washington, D.C., as early as today.

    Speaking at a news conference in Kyiv, Zelensky emphasised that the framework deal is only the first step toward a broader agreement, which will require approval by Ukraine’s parliament.

    However, he stressed that Ukraine needs clarity on the future of U.S. military support.

    During his upcoming visit to Washington, Zelensky expects to have a substantive discussion with U.S. President Donald Trump.

    “I want to coordinate with the U.S.,” he said, highlighting key topics for the talks. Chief among them are whether the U.S. plans to halt military aid and, if so, whether Ukraine would be allowed to purchase weapons directly.

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    He also seeks answers on whether Ukraine can use frozen Russian assets for military investments and whether Washington intends to lift sanctions on Russia.

    Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal confirmed that Ukraine and the U.S. have reached a preliminary agreement on a broad economic deal, which includes U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals amid its ongoing war with Russia. However, despite days of negotiations, key details—especially U.S. security guarantees—remain unresolved.

    Since returning to office last month, Trump has signaled that he expects something in return for the tens of billions of dollars in U.S. aid provided to Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began on February 24, 2022.

    His administration has also taken a dramatically different approach to foreign policy, abandoning efforts to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin and casting doubt on U.S. support for its European allies.

  • Zelensky hails Ukraine’s ‘heroism’ on third anniversary of war

    Zelensky hails Ukraine’s ‘heroism’ on third anniversary of war

    •Trump: battle may end within weeks

    Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed his country’s “resistance” and “heroism” on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion as European leaders arrived in Kyiv in a show of solidarity.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch what he called a “special military operation” set off the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II.

    But, U.S. President Donald Trump said yesterday that Russia’s war against Ukraine could end “within weeks” and claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin would allow European peacekeepers to be stationed in Ukraine as part of a potential agreement.

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    “I think we could end it within weeks. If we’re smart. If we’re not smart, it’ll keep going, and we’ll keep losing young, beautiful people that shouldn’t be dying,” he said, speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House.

    Trump claimed the U.S. supported sending European troops to monitor a ceasefire and that he had discussed the proposal with Putin, who “would accept it.”

    Tens of thousands of soldiers – from both sides – and Ukrainian civilians have been killed, cities across the country’s south and east have been flattened and millions forced to flee their homes.