John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS
“Trudeau meeting Ukraine's comedian-turned-president in Toronto
“PMO says Trudeau and Zelenskiy will discuss Ukraine's reform efforts”
Zelenskiy seemed to offer a bit of hope with his election, especially when he spoke a good deal of Russian during the campaign which I took as a positive signal to the huge number of Russian-speakers in Ukraine.
But he has been a total disappointment since, just mouthing the same old stuff we heard from Poroshenko for years. He hasn't made a single initiative, especially concerning the Minsk Accords and peace for eastern Ukraine. If he keeps in this direction, he's just Poroshenko with a smile.
And Poroshenko basically tipped Ukraine's economy into a deep pit, destroyed many of the country's important international arrangements, was notoriously corrupt, and started a civil war - hard to beat a record like that.
Zelenskiy has very much come under threat from the very extreme right-wing movement in Ukraine, people who could easily be confused with Nazis, outfits like the Azov Battalion, and it is not clear he will be able safely to extricate himself. Those ugly outfits are part of what American policy covertly supported to get its desired coup.
Given the realities of Ukraine today, a half-broken, paralyzed American dependency, it is not surprising that our Ottawa Foreign Policy Braintrust would invite Zelenskiy. We do see almost complete support these days for every dark corner of American policy from Ottawa. Another way of describing it is subservience.
We see Ottawa embracing bloody Saudi Arabia, trying to overthrow democratic Venezuela, beginning to bail on Cuba, not opposing the dangerous belligerence against Iran which has broken no laws nor started any wars, creating hostility towards China, and echoing strains of Russophobia.
Added thought.
This photo-op set-up (at the top of the article) of Trudeau as international statesman with the President of Ukraine rings about as true as Ottawa’s judicial appointments in New Brunswick, its dealing behind the scenes with a corporate court case in Montreal, its dealing shabbily with honest ministers trying to speak up, its handling of our affairs with China, very much including idiotically sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait, selling weapons to the tyranny running Saudi Arabia, chairing the Lima Group, a front organization for overthrowing Latin American governments, or scurrying down to Washington to plead for help from the man who is likely the most hated in China, something of course he delivered absolutely nothing on despite Trudeau’s grovelling.
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Response to a comment saying many comments showed no respect for Ukraine:
Sorry, but respect you must earn, whether individual or state.
Enduring a walking disaster like Poroshenko and then electing a comedian do not command a lot of respect, do they?
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Response to a comment about Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland's Ukrainian heritage helping keep the country near the top of her agenda and isn't that misuse of office?
Absolutely.
Ukraine, in economic or diplomatic or any other terms, is about as important as Uruguay.
It is only its long border on Russia giving it any importance, and that fact is why America promoted an expensive and destructive coup there against the previous democratic government.
