Kavita Krishnan
Please listen to historian Timothy Snyder (link in comments) remind us of verifiable FACTS that are inconvenient to narratives we want to believe:
a) The US (its military and diplomatic top brass and the Biden administration) had, like Russia, assumed Ukraine would fold in 3 days. (So no, the US did not want this war, or even expect it continue long, nor is Ukraine a “proxy” in this war.)
b) The US had assumed that Zelensky would run, and had insisted that Prof Snyder was dead wrong to predict that Zelensky would stay. (So no, Zelensky isn’t a NATO pawn, he isn’t staying to risk his life and his family’s life because the NATO told him to.)
c) Zelensky’s decision to stay reminds us that *our* individual actions as human beings, as citizens *can* confound fascist plans, and *do* matter in defending democracy and freedom.
The bits above in brackets are *mine* not Snyder’s. Let me add that it is that decision to stay that makes Zelensky an inspiring figure in today’s world.
Are you a Leftist who mocks people as fools for admiring his courageous leadership - perhaps because his governance policies are capitalist; or because he is wooing Wall Street to attract investment (FDI) in Ukraine?
(Ukraine is going to need massive investment from *somewhere* to rebuild its war-torn infrastructure and economy. Sure, US investment and aid will be predatory. But what are their options? They could take investment from China, as so many African nations do, in return giving China ownership stakes in the infrastructure projects, or taking loans from China against their natural resources and assets as collateral. How is Chinese investment less predatory?)
Most nations across the world seek to attract FDI. Most of them try to curtail or destroy labour laws. Ukraine in that regard is no different - and Ukrainian workers and unions and leftists are resisting those policies just as we do in our respective countries.
The *difference* is that Ukrainian workers and unions and leftists know that alongside fighting those battles, they MUST fight and win this war to defend their country and people from the genocidal war being waged by Putin. They KNOW it’s a lie when prominent leftists claim that “negotiations” with Putin could stop the war, if only the US were to stop “preventing” negotiations. (As I recall, no one suggested the US invasions of Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan could be stopped by “negotiations” with the US. Why then keep peddling the lie of “negotiations” with Putin who makes no secret of the fact that his main goal is to annihilate Ukrainians and ensure that “Ukraine” ceases to exist and becomes part of Russia.)
Well, anyway, if you *are* one of those leftist friends of mine who is saying “surprise surprise I told you so” in regard to Zelensky’s capitalist policies, you are really revealing your resentment that, contrary to your vehement insistence of the exact opposite, you are now having to grudgingly admit (only to yourself of course) that Putin really *is* a fascist and genocidal invader, that he *wasn’t* forced to wage war because of NATO encirclement; that Ukraine and Zelensky are *not*, in fact, NATO pawns and that they might actually win (even if you fervently wish they lose so that you can say later that they should never have fought and that after all a NATO proxy’s defeat is a good thing for multipolarity). But you see if that’s the way you feel, you are not really a revolutionary in spirit at all.
So yeah, Zelensky Zindabad, Ukraine Zindabad, and Ukraine ki janta Zindabad as far as this war is concerned. May they get the weapons they need, may they win, may they win democracy in Russia and the world a better chance by handing Putin a crushing defeat.