Propriety, Politeness, Knowing One's Place, And Other Lessons From Our So-Called "Elites"

Ukraine's megalomaniacal President Volodymyr Zelenskyy roared into town on Friday, fully expecting to be treated as a scrappy hero, valiantly fighting the mean old Russian bear. And why not? That is how he is being treated across the world, particularly in Western Europe. Of course Western Europe hasn't seen a real hero since 1945, and their ideas of strength and heroism are suspect, since they seem to embrace dictators and terrorists rather than freedom and liberty.

But he has also been welcomed as a freedom fighter by the former powers-that-be in America. Feted by titans like Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi (and countless internet warriors with the Ukrainian flag on their X profile), who treated Ukraine as a military equal that just needs a bit of help, and propped up on the world stage as the tip of the spear against the monstrous evil of Putin and Russia... why wouldn't he feel as if he is amongst his peers?

But he and Ukraine aren't. Ukraine is a piss-ant corruptocracy that has a GDP of $178 billion. That's halfway between Kansas and Arkansas. Seriously. As for the "freedom" part? Sure... all free nations have presidents who suspend elections and whose wives go on shopping sprees with foreign aid money while their youth is churned up and spat out by a nasty border war with their much larger neighbor. And all free nations have a well-oiled graft and grift system that systematically steals large chunks of foreign aid and pumps it into their own corrupt systems, while returning 10% for the big guy!

But Zelenskyy must understand the reality of the situation. And that is at odds with the cheerleading from the neo-cons, who want forever wars to pump up their stock portfolios and satisfy their masturbatory fantasies about a Pax Americana. And the left, with its fanatical hatred of Putin wants him to be destroyed by the quagmire of his Ukraine war.

That reality is that no matter the histrionic nonsense pouring out of Western Europe, Russia is not preparing an assault on Berlin and Paris. Russia is consolidating its border with Ukraine, and that is at least partly in response to the unbelievable lies from the Western alliance about how they weren't going to expand NATO. Yup...starting in 1990 with Gorbachev, who was assured by James Baker that NATO would not expand if the USSR allowed the reunification of Germany.

Whoops!

1999: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland
2004: Bulgaria, The Baltic States, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia
2009: Albania, Croatia
2023: Finland
2024: Sweden

Putin is a thug and a dictator and a murderer. He is also able to read a map, and has observed over the last 25 years the expansion of the alliance of the USSR's adversaries gradually to encircle Russia's western border.

Is it acceptable behavior among nations to use military means to consolidate one's borders? No. But it is typical and expected, and it has happened far more frequently than the other option of polite discussion and diplomatic maneuvering.

But back to the track-suited Ukrainian midget with the Napoleonic complex. Zelenskyy made the rash, arrogant, ignorant and dangerous assumption that his press was reality. Maybe in Western Europe, but not in America, where the majority would prefer that we disengage from the Russia-Ukraine border war and pay just a bit more attention to Americans in need.

He made another assumption; that President Trump would accept his bombastic behavior, because everyone else has! But Donald Trump is not everyone else, which is why the American people made him president.

Any casual observer of Donald Trump will immediately recognize that he enjoys pomp and circumstance. He appreciates the show, and enjoys when others respect that. Zelenskyy made a conscious (or ignorant and stupid) decision to try to control Donald Trump's show, in the White House, in front of the media. And not only that; he also displayed a breathtaking sense of entitlement to OUR MONEY!

He chose badly.

Does anyone know how to say in Ukrainian, "When you are in somebody else's house; don't piss on the carpet?"

It is entirely possible that a Zelenskyy in control of himself, and who understood his and his country's proper place, could have emerged from his meeting with President Trump with some assurances that the United States would support Ukrainian territorial integrity and push for a reasonable end to the awful border war.

But we will never know, and it is now incumbent upon the people of Ukraine to find an alternative to their track-suited dictator... someone who will be more realistic, and appreciate the vast change that has occurred in America.

posted by CBD at 12:00 PM

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