Belying reality, a cabinet member’s take on indefinitely suspended elections in Ukraine had the public reacting, “Sounds like a dictatorship. Walks like a dictatorship…”
(Video: U.S. Department of State)
According to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, democracy is alive and well in the war-torn nation of Ukraine, except, of course, for all the ways that it isn’t. However, the realities that would stand in the way of a rosy depiction of the United States eastern European welfare state and its rampant corruption were not only ignored — they were outright denied during recent remarks.
Speaking from the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute as he became the latest American politician to photo-op glad-handing once more with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Blinken offered some bold takes as he supported the nation’s decision to hold off elections until the sitting government deemed it appropriate.
“Ukraine’s defenses against corruption have to be just as strong as its military defenses,” expressed the secretary after admitting, “Eight in 10 Ukrainians still believe that there’s one set of law for the elites and another for everyone else.”
“And we know what those defenses are: an independent judiciary; a free press; a vibrant, inclusive civil society; free and fair elections; independent, empowered anti-corruption investigators, prosecutors, and judges,” he continued.
“For decades, the United States and Europe have been helping you build these democratic pillars, from the bottom up. And we’ll keep supporting you as you accelerate these reforms,” assured Blinken. “That’s why we’re working with the government and civil society groups to shore up Ukraine’s election infrastructure. That way, as soon as Ukrainians agree, the conditions allow, all Ukrainians — all Ukrainians, including those displaced by Russia’s aggression — can exercise their right to vote. People in Ukraine and around the world can have confidence that the voting process is free, fair, secure.”
Hearing the State Department official tell it, you wouldn’t suspect that Zelenskyy’s government had locked up members of the opposition party in addition to journalists, including an American whose commentary on the conflict with Russia allegedly violated the nation’s “wartime propaganda laws.”
American journalist rots in Ukraine prison as Biden calls for billions more for Zelenskyy https://t.co/Fq0d44LDcR pic.twitter.com/sko46HQOYt
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) September 23, 2023
Likewise, as billions of dollars were continually authorized by Congress without oversight as to whose pockets American taxpayer money was lining, Blinken seemed wholly unaware of President Joe Biden, then-former vice president, recounting in his own words how during President Barack Obama’s administration he had issued a threat to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees unless Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin was shown the door.
“Well son of a b*tch, he got fired,” Biden infamously said.
Of note, the Ukrainian constitution would require the suspension of the current state of martial law, surely a, ahem, common state for flourishing democracies to be under, in order to hold an election. To that end, Zelenskyy himself had gone on record saying, “Now, in wartime, when there are so many challenges, it is absolutely irresponsible to throw the topic of elections into society in a lighthearted and playful way.”
“We must realize that now is the time of defense, the time of the battle that determines the fate of the state and people, not the time of manipulations, which only Russia expects from Ukraine,” he had stated in a video message. “I believe that now is not the right time for elections.”
However, there was time for Blinken to show up at a bar in Kyiv to play guitar.
Antony Blinken’s guitar jam session at a bar in Kyiv to brag about US aid is weapons-grade cringe https://t.co/ybKaJ0RyTa
— American Wire News (@americanwire_) May 15, 2024
To say social media users weren’t buying what the secretary was selling on the state of Ukraine’s democracy, would be an understatement.
Sounds like a dictatorship.
Walks like a dictatorship…— Tyler Popp (@ThatTylerPopp) May 14, 2024
Yeah Ukraine is the forever experimental training grounds for all the wests tyrannical ideas
— Zagonel (@Zagonel85) May 14, 2024
I thought free elections were a crucial prerequisite for democracy.
— Tsotne Bakuria (@TBSNNNL) May 14, 2024
They can party in Ukrainian night clubs but they can’t vote.
— Salty Cracker (@SaltyCracker9) May 14, 2024
Suspending elections to “protect democracy”.
The world forever lives in a state of paradox.
— ZNO (@therealZNO) May 14, 2024
A real diplomat would be negotiating peace, not making excuses for autocracy.
— Jack Spitz (@JackSpitz5) May 14, 2024
It’s totally not a dictatorship.
Source: Trust me bro.— Bishop (@fbeeyeguy1) May 15, 2024
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Author: Kevin Haggerty
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