Right now Ukraine is the in thing to support. Millions of people all over social media have announced that they stand with Ukraine, even if they have no idea where Ukraine is on a map or why Ukraine is so important to Western leaders.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has become a darling of Western media, who have played him up as a tough guy standing firm against Vladimir Putin. But Zelensky could very well end up like many politicians before him who ended up believing their good press.
The track record of the foreign leaders America supports hasn’t been that great. Just look at South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, who was assassinated in a CIA-supported coup. Or look at Saddam Hussein, once the United States’ ally against Iran, who was eventually hunted down and captured. Zelensky probably doesn’t understand that he’s replaceable, which is why one of his latest moves is so puzzling.
Zelensky has been relentless in fighting a propaganda war through Western press and social media. From some of the things you read online, you would think that Ukraine has Russia by the neck and is ready to administer the coup de grace. But the reality is that the war is a long, hard slog, with neither side anywhere close to victory.
And Zelensky has doubled down not by taking on Russia, but by taking on Westerners who he deems are complicit in helping assist Russia’s war effort. Zelensky’s top economic aide has stated that he wants the CEOs of banks who have financed Russia to be prosecuted for war crimes. This could include the CEOs of JPMorgan, HSBC, and Citi, among others.
No one wants to see war criminals succeed. But when it’s American businessmen who are accused of aiding and abetting war crimes, at the same time the US is handing out billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, that just seems not only selfish on Ukraine’s part but also dangerous.
If Zelensky fails to realize that the West could replace him at any moment, he could end up pushing too far and getting himself pushed aside or assassinated. And there’s probably no quicker way to do that than by biting the hand that’s feeding him, targeting Western businessmen. We always knew that the fight between Ukraine and Russia wasn’t a black and white conflict between good and evil, but this latest proposal underscores that perfectly.
