Think about that. A former Soviet bloc country struggling for freedom and democracy elects a leader who promises to clean up the dreadful corruption that impoverishes the people — that kills people — corruption enabled by the oligarchy created by the fall of the Soviet Union, the kleptocratic Putin regime and vast sums of oil and gas money looking for a daddy.
Ukraine has been victim and vassal of Russia for centuries. Now, with Russia having annexed the valuable Black Sea port region of Crimea and still fighting in the East, seeking more control and more territory, Zelensky is elected to improve conditions for the people by breaking the unbridled rule of the oligarchs which they enforce via corrupt prosecutors and judges (probably the kind Mitch McConnell races to impose on us!)
Needless to say Ukraine desperately needs American help.
Then along comes Trump, friend and ally of Putin, who never saw a corrupt deal he didn’t just love. We all know what he did, trying to extort Zelensky to create the appearance of an investigation into Joe Biden.
Nevertheless Zelensky has persisted and is firing corrupt prosecutors. He is going after people like the ones who have been feeding Rudy Giuliani misinformation. He seeks to investigate the self-dealing owners of petro giants including Burisma, which incidentally put celebrities and respectable Americans on its board during the Obama Administration in an effort to signal that it’s cleaning up its act.
So, Zelensky finds himself risking Trump’s anger as well as Putin’s assault.
From Washington Post,
KYIV, Ukraine — By the end of this month, more than 500 Ukrainian prosecutors will be out of their jobs as part of sweeping professional reviews under Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Among the prosecutors heading for the exit: a key Kyiv contact for Rudolph W. Giuliani.
The prosecutor purge is just one of several corruption-busting efforts set in motion by Zelensky. But it puts into sharp relief Zelensky’s twin challenges — trying to balance his clean-government promises at home with his needs to keep President Trump from turning against him.
Zelensky’s bind is not hard to spot.
Trump’s views of Ukraine — and his demands to investigate the Biden family — were largely shaped by Giuliani, his personal lawyer. The theories and opinions that were passed to Giuliani came from some of the very officials whom Ukrainian activists claim are prime corruption culprits in their own system.
There it is in a nutshell. The very people who must be called to account in Ukraine are the ones Trump and Giuliani need for their appalling drug deal.
And the Republicans are enabling this? My goodness.
www.washingtonpost.com/...