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Written by Pietro Pinter, a Doctor in International Relations, author of italian-language geopolitics blog inimicizie.com
When propaganda becomes hopelessly irreconcilable with reality, a reckoning has to come sooner or later. Someone’s head – be it the real culprit or a scapegoat – has to roll in front of public opinion, to allow for a ‘fresh start’ with a cleaned-up image.
Punishing key people, however, also means undermining the political balance, which is particularly dangerous in a country at war.
This is happening now in Ukraine.
The epic of a Ukraine that was destined to win in a short time after absorbing the initial shock of the invasion – in a triumphant march towards the Sea of Azov and the 1991 borders – has finally been shattered with the recently concluded summer offensive. The Ukrainian armed forces consumed months of (hardly replaceable) NATO supplies to advance 10 kilometres into the Zhaporozhye fields, barely reaching the Russian first line of defence and without capturing any strategic objectives. The Ukrainian leadership had made clear promises to the country and the allies. At the beginning of November – despite limited Ukrainian successes in a separate front, the Dnepr- the Ukrainian armed forces found themselves with the Avdeevka stronghold partially surrounded, and the reconquered villages south of Bakhmut (Klischeevka, Andreevka) once again contested by the Russians.
Questions begin to be asked.
In Ukraine – in addition to finding a scapegoat for the summer offensive – the establishment must also concretely decide how (or whether) to continue the war. Heterodox proposals in this regard are beginning to emerge, such as that of presidential candidate Oleksey Arestovich, a former military advisor to Zelensky who resigned after coming under heavy criticism for his controversial reading of the bombing of an apartment building in Dnipropetrovsk. Arestovich, who also enjoys contacts in Europe – in these very days he is a guest at the Limes festival in Genoa, Italy – proposes to give up the military reconquest of the lost territories and to freeze the conflict thanks to (supposed) NATO guarantees on the remaining territory.
Even among those who support the continuation of the war in one way or another, differences emerge: the most important one between Zelensky and the Chief of Staff, Valery Zaluzhny. The latter speaks of a ‘stalemate’ in an interview with the Economist, only to be immediately and publicly contradicted by Zelensky. A few days later, a parcel bomb delivered to Zaluzhny’s office kills one of his subordinates. The head of the special forces, Viktor Korenko, according to some sources a man loyal to Zaluzhny, is fired.
Roman Chervinsky
But the biggest torpedo against the chief of staff comes from the USA: an investigation by the Washington Post – together with the Germans of the Bild – “exposes” the name and surname of an alleged planner of the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline: Roman Chervinsky, an obvious “fall guy” of all the operations gone wrong of the Ukrainian secret services (therefore, according to praxis, “unauthorised”) such as the failed attempt to recruit a Russian bomber pilot, or to kidnap Wagner men in Belarus, now on trial in Ukraine. According to the investigation, Chervinsky acted on direct orders from Zaluzhny, unbeknownst to Zelensky (but not to the intelligence of the US and half of Europe, apparently) in planning the destruction of the pipeline.
In general, the Zelensky administration is characterised by an increasing centralisation of power. Past and potential rivals of the president generally do not fare well.
Igor Kolomoisky, Petro Poroshenko, Viktor Medvedchuk, Wladimir Klitschko
The oligarch who launched Zelensky mediatically and financially – Igor Kolomoisky – is behind bars and on trial, deprived of his Ukrainian citizenship. Predecessor Petro Poroshenko – who was raided by the SBU in 2019, and is on trial for ‘high treason’ – was banned from leaving Ukraine to confer with NATO leaders at the Vilnius summit. The leader of the second party in the 2020 local elections – Viktor Medvedchuk, linked to Russia and Putin personally – was arrested in 2022 and deported to Russia in a prisoner exchange. Pro-German rival Wladimir Klitschko was publicly humiliated by Zelensky, who accused him of negligence in maintaining the air-raid shelters in the Kiev of which he is mayor, and almost forced to resign.
The same applies to those who have been able to accumulate power since the beginning of the war given their apex positions in sectors of the state linked to the war effort: Defence Minister Reznikov was sacked and replaced with ‘Mr Nobody’ Umerov, Interior Minister Monastirsky died in a suspect crash of his helicopter near the capital.
If and when elections are held in Ukraine, all of Zelensky’s rivals will start at a heavy disadvantage, with a media (single state channel) and police/judicial apparatus that seems to be siding wholly with the president.
There is no shortage of those advocating more radical solutions, such as Major General Dmitry Marchenko who – breaking the military’s vow of political ‘neutrality’ – argues the need for Zaluzhny (who by the way has never publicly shown political ambitions) to become president, ‘like Charles de Gaulle’, to fight corruption. Does anyone remember how Charles de Gaulle came to power?
A lengthy Time Magazine investigation – according to some Ukrainian sources, informed by Arestovich himself – portrays Zelensky as a lonely president, disconnected from reality, incensed and angry with his subordinates.
More interesting than the veracity of the report (however plausible) is that it was published by Time. A relentless wave of negative pieces on Ukraine by major Anglo-Saxon media organizations – in a tone unthinkable even as recently as last spring – makes us notice, along with the turmoil in Europe and the US (where contacts with Russia are being attempted) over funding for Ukraine, that also abroad questions are being asked about Ukraine’s future. Questions with very serious consequences.
ci a se acoperă… n aveau nici scafandri si nici explozibilul pt acea adâncime.. n au fost ei.. articole de acoperire a unitatilor de peste ocean
many dead ukies interned in zelensky coffin factory
a very russian version.
but time reflextion is correct.
he has been a from eu, nato and other big one ukraine has to their new house better. too much still look as ussr leftover – oligars, crime, corruption – whatever it the name is.
and has help them. there defence is they are underfire. even so all look in mirror. much can better.
roumers says prigorsin in washinghon and try to make putin as potus in usa. thats only the way russia can win.
the campagne is named : im no arnold and i lost hair because of biden too.
he pay with rubels, some look alike money
not me gagarin mock my senility–vely cruel
the only way? lol you moron. around end of next year ucros will completely run out of man, ammo and all heavy armament. than its total game over for ukros finally and hopefully till than the russian flag will fly also over odessa and the transnistrian border. what would be a fully victory for russia and a total defeat for ucropistan.
“around end of next year ucros will completely run out of man”
who cares? we got lots of womans left.
haven’t improved any have you..
not me it funny medisin nurse throw in table somehow give to calm nervusness
not me my gibber more coherent
dump senile dane version—35% population need mental health treatment—my senility incurable
jens – is it true the danes past a law to paint a beard on the copenhagen mermaid?
i can tell – you’re the real jens because no one can duplicate such gobbledegook without being caught.
zelensky is being hung out dry. he must have known it would end this way…. on the other hand…. maybe he hasn’t got the imagination to have seen it coming
let’s remember; the eu was already planning this war since 2014 (public three seas model document). ukraine was promised everything possible. if they had known how things would turn out, kyiv would not have been defended, but zelenskyi and the us henchmen in the city would have been arrested.
what i mean by this is that i believe that zelenskyi really believed that ukraine would win with american weapons and german leopards. when each leopardi was opened like a can, zelenskyi freaked out and began circulating desperate pleas from the world.
never fear. disneyworld is working on filling zaluzhny’s wish for soldier robots that look like goofy to save the day.
please donate glue cannot afford prozac
no heads roll in denmark cuz we amerikan colony
amerikans give free colonoscopy to every colony citizen. me like that.
the rats always leave thew sinking ship, and the sinking ship ucropistan is sinking all the time, apart from the still ongoing laughable western endsieg propaganda, but beeing more and more silend day by day.
zelensky’s head looks ready to roll.
biletsky and budanov have a himars rocket ready to roll zelensky’s cabeza, they call it the rock & roll election.
how the “three days until victory” special operation going? 🇷🇺=🤡 😆😆😆
lol still spreading this fake bullshit all day long you moron? no matter, russians can fight this war many years longer if needed, but ukros cant, running low on man, arms, ammo and materials all the time, so an all over russian victory is not a question of if, but only of when. ukros could totally bleed out in the next 1-1,5 years. and only total braindead morons believe in the ukro endsieg phantasys.
still repeating that 3 day fake nonsense, okay necon israeli loving russian hating shitstain. please answer me this why hasn’t the ukraine reached the sea of azov. they said at the begging of june that zelenski and company would be fishing in crimea in week from the start of this offensive. answer that if you american idiots who haven’t won war since panama in 89.
they said they only needed five days to reach sea of azov with miracle nato weapons.
no one told them that the miracle was how fast they disappeared after they crossed the border.
stupid weapons are going to be destroyed anyway, why shouldn’t we sell them off first?
i’m glad i’m not ukrainian or i’d have allies laughing that my enemy is not killing me soon enough.
how 20 years 3 $trillion humiliated by goat herders in afghanistan?
how’s the 500,000 ukie suckers pushing up daisies going so far?
zelinsky is a dead man walking. how many days before his demise is uncertain at this time but day by day it is getting closer. he is no longer wanted by those in the west that hired him to do their bidding. even bidens son is no longer sending him coke.
wikipedia is my bible, senile brandon my god
rolling heads…isn’t that the name for a new ukie rock band out of lwow?
first the banderites wanted to roll polish heads, then russian heads and very soon it’ll be zelensky regime heads and finally, their own heads. it’s already started.
yum yum, munch munch. the last one standing gets to surrender.