President John F Kennedy, when once asked how he had become a war hero, is alleged to have replied “They sank my boat.” I am no fan of JFK but at least he displayed that self-effacing sense of humour which marked many of the great men of his age. The same cannot be said of Volodymyr Zelensky who has just been named as Time magazine’s 2022 Person of the Year. The only thing he has in common with JFK is that he has become a ‘hero’ by default; someone invaded his country. But if he is true to form, he will lap up the adulation inherent in the Time magazine award and entertain a further convoy of celebrities who seem, remarkably, to be able to visit war torn Ukraine with impunity. Frankly, I was astonished that they did not bring him on at half-time with the number 9 shirt against Wales at the World Cup in Qatar.
Volodymyr Zelensky is a one man publicity magnet. He played not an inconsiderable part, along with his western paymasters, in creating the situation that now prevails in Ukraine. They are fighting an expensive war, largely at the expense of other countries including ours, and a costly one in terms of the lives of their own military and—although nobody seems to care—the lives of the Russian military. These are their neighbours and at some point soon they are going to have to make peace on some terms and get back to living in peace with them. Every day the war is extended and every life that is lost on either side makes that peace more difficult to obtain.
Nobody in their right mind supports the invasion of Ukraine by Russia but also, nobody in their right mind can fail to see why it happened. The enemy bloc—NATO, which wilfully refused to let Russia join it—extended its borders almost to theirs. They were on the verge of assimilating Ukraine thus making the furthest border of NATO contiguous with the Russian border. This was something up with which Putin would not put and, having made little secret of the fact that he would, he invaded Ukraine. We had been preparing Ukraine for war since the middle of the last decade and we continue to supply money and arms to them. While there is a certain logic in helping an invaded country to repel boarders, nobody in the international community with any of the clout needed to stop this ridiculous war will admit that every dollar sent and each weapon that the Ukrainians receive extends the war and leads to more deaths and misery, the brunt of the latter being borne almost entirely by the Ukrainian people. Nobody is trying to stop the war.
We are now less enthusiastic (I see fewer Ukraine flags around my city) about this war as the real cost is beginning to hit home, literally. The war has contributed, among other things such as the money wasted on Covid measures and our concomitant economic decline which are all fuelling inflation, to crippling energy bills. We are now printing (or whatever the digital equivalent is) more money to help people pay for that energy. One the one hand each household will see their bills reduced by £400 and I have just received £500 as an old age pensioner to help pay for my bills. In my case, I need neither the discount nor the additional payment so that is, essentially £900 wasted and, multiplied millions of times over, another driver of inflation.
But back to the great man himself, Time magazine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. My advice to him would be to make the best of the current adulation. Once the war is over, it won’t last. You have been a good puppet to spearhead a war fought on behalf of the global elite. Once the war is over you will be swept aside to make way for whoever it is they have in mind to really run Ukraine. I hope you did not give up your day job.
Opinions from the Unity News Network (UNN) editorial team & various contributors. | UNN always clearly distinguishes between news and opinion pieces and as an open minded outlet we publish views from a variety of people and organisation that do not necessarily reflect the views of UNN or its writers. Articles published under UNN Opinions are always opinion pieces and if published on behalf of a contributor will contain that authors name at the start of the piece.
