Russian Invasion of Ukraine

[ponchi101]

And not surprising in any way.

[Jeff from TX]

And not surprising in any way.

Unfortunately

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[ponchi101]

I said it before. Even if Vlad keeps Ukraine, the price may prove to be too much.

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

That would amount to a declaration of "Totalitarian States" Vs "Free World Democracies". It would draw a very clear line in geopolitics.

[dryrunguy]

This morning's NY Times e-newsletter published an interesting profile on Zelensky. I know some of this about him, but I didn't know much of this (e.g., steps he took shortly after taking office).

Good morning. We look at how Volodymyr Zelensky became an unlikely global hero.

A comedian who listens
National heroes sometimes have humble political origins.

Abraham Lincoln was arguably the country’s least-qualified president — a former one-term member of Congress — at the time that he took office. Winston Churchill looked like a washed-up politician when Germany invaded Poland in 1939. And Volodymyr Zelensky did not seem like an international symbol of courage when Russia began threatening to invade Ukraine in recent months.

In today’s newsletter, I want to give you a brief profile of Zelensky, one that goes beyond the one or two sentences many people have heard about him in recent weeks. I’ll also link to some of the best profiles of him and podcasts about him, for anybody who wants more.

Below, you’ll also find the latest news from the war.

Benny Hill humor
By now, the basics of Zelensky’s background are well known: Before becoming Ukraine’s president, he had been a comedic actor whose best-known role was as a teacher who rose to Ukraine’s presidency thanks to a viral video.

That show, “Servant of the People,” was a cross between “The West Wing” and Monty Python. Zelensky himself has credited Benny Hill, the crude British comedian, as an influence. (You can watch a short excerpt from the show, with English voice overs.)

“As a film actor and sitcom star, Zelensky thrived in the role of the Everyman, often playing the average guy who wins over the beautiful woman seemingly beyond his reach,” Franklin Foer has written in The Atlantic.

Zelensky grew up in a fading and polluted industrial city, the son of an engineer and computer-science professor. He is Jewish, in a country with a brutal history of antisemitism, and his first language was Russian, as is the case for many Ukrainians.

He ran for president in 2019, with a charmingly populist campaign that evoked his character on “Servant of the People.” It helped that the billionaire owner of the network that broadcast the show promoted Zelensky’s candidacy, including with a documentary that aired on the eve of the election, comparing him to Ronald Reagan.

Elsewhere in Europe, many officials initially viewed Zelensky as unserious, as The New Yorker’s Joshua Yaffa has reported. “The impression was terrible,” one European diplomat said, referring to one early meeting.

The impression today is very different, of course. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Zelensky has become a Churchillian figure, the personal embodiment of his country’s refusal to yield to a murderous authoritarian.

Seeing through Putin
That image does have a lot in common with the optimistic and patriotic vision of Ukraine that Zelensky has presented since he began running for office.

His two central campaign promises were to crack down on corruption and to end the military conflict with Russia in the country’s eastern provinces. After taking office, he stripped members of Parliament of their legal immunity. He shrunk his own motorcade to two cars, without sirens. He told government officials to remove presidential portraits from their offices and replace them with pictures of their children, to remind them of the stakes of their work.

He also earnestly took to the job of president, acknowledging how little he knew. “He’s a very intent listener,” John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told Foer.

One early question that many Ukrainians had was what approach Zelensky would take to Russia. Some even worried that he might be too accommodating to Vladimir Putin, Anton Troianovski, The Times’s Moscow bureau chief, has noted. Zelensky not only grew up speaking Russian, but had become a star in Russia, thanks to his television shows.

“Zelensky came in as a candidate who promised to make a deal with Russia to end the war,” Anton said. Over time, though, Zelensky came to believe that Putin was not negotiating in good faith and wanted to dominate Ukraine. That belief pushed Zelensky closer to the West, angering Putin.

“In retrospect, now that we see what Putin really wants, total control over Ukraine, it is hard to see what Zelensky could’ve done,” Anton said.

Personal bravery
Since Russia invaded, Zelensky has remained in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, rallying the country through videotaped speeches. (Yesterday, Zelensky’s government posted photos of him visiting wounded soldiers at a hospital and awarding them medals.) He has done so even though Russian troops and spies are likely trying to kill him.

Anne Applebaum, a journalist and Ukraine expert, recently said on NPR that she thought Zelensky might never flee the country. “He’s an actor, and he understands that he has a role to play, and he will play the role,” Applebaum said. He knows that he represents his country, she added, and even if he wishes he had never run for president, he understands that he now symbolizes something larger than himself.

“Once you enter the role, you play it to the end,” she said. “You have a larger responsibility to the citizens and to your country’s image in the world.”

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After the article about President Zelensky it's almost sacrilege to put this there but...

[ponchi101]

In older times, Tucker could not walk to his front yard. Basically, treason incarnate.

[ti-amie]

I'm still amazed this was allowed to happen but then again Londongrad needs representation too no?

/s

Lord Speaker urges tougher vetting amid concerns over Evgeny Lebedev
Lord McFall’s comment follows calls for parliamentary pass of Russia-born peer to be revoked

Peter Walker Political correspondent
@peterwalker99
Tue 15 Mar 2022 17.13 GMT

The Speaker of the House of Lords has urged ministers to toughen up the vetting and appointment system for new peers after concerns about the suitability of recent nominees such as the Evening Standard proprietor, Evgeny Lebedev.

While the Speaker, Lord McFall, has no powers to limit peers’ access to parliament, his strongly-worded comment came in response to a request from the SNP for the Russia-born peer’s parliamentary pass to be revoked.

Ministers have defended his appointment by his close friend Boris Johnson in 2020 after the Sunday Times reported that security services originally had concerns about Lebedev, whose father was a KGB agent, as far back as 2013.

In a letter to McFall, the SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said the reported concerns of security services meant Lebedev’s pass should be rescinded.

McFall does not have this power. But in a statement in response to the letter, he called for ministers to consider stronger powers for the House of Lords appointments commission (Holac), which vets candidates. Johnson is understood to have pushed forward the nomination despite Holac’s concerns about Lebedev.

There was, McFall said, “a case for examination of the appointments process, including a more robust vetting system and potentially stronger powers for Holac, ensuring that new appointees are able to make a worthwhile contribution to the important work of the house.

“I would urge the government to look at this, drawing upon the work of those who have already taken extensive evidence on this and proposed sensible reforms. I am always open to engagement with the government on these matters.

“An examination of the appointments system is, however, just one element of what needs to be a bigger package of reform of the House of Lords, including reducing the size of the house and increasing the diversity of its members allowing us to reach out to all parts of the United Kingdom.”

Since his appointment, Lebedev has spoken only once in the Lords. After a report noted this last month, he submitted two parliamentary questions.

Johnson has been accused of brushing off security concerns about Lebedev, which whom he has a close relationship, attending parties at his Italian castle, including when he was foreign secretary.

In his letter to McFall, Blackford said that given the reported security concerns: “Lord Lebedev is clearly not a fit and proper person to act as a legislator nor a lobbyist in this democracy. He should not therefore be in a position to maintain privileged access to the parliamentary estate”.

Asked about Lebedev on Sunday, Michael Gove, the communities secretary, appeared to suggest that reopening the question of the peerage would play into the hands of Vladimir Putin.

“I think one of the things that Vladimir Putin would like us to do, is to have an approach in the UK that said that everyone of Russian ancestry was somehow persona non grata,” he said.

Lebedev has insisted that he is not a security risk, and that he condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While the Lord Speaker has limited powers over peers, those in the role can and do express concerns about the wider running of the upper house.

In 2019 McFall’s predecessor as Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, said the Lords should reduce the number of “passengers” who contributed little to its business. He also wanted to slim down the chamber to a planned ceiling of 600. There are currently about 800 members.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... 1647364675

[ti-amie]

Aviation twitter is always full of interesting information. The threading is sometimes interesting too.

[mmmm8]

In older times, Tucker could not walk to his front yard. Basically, treason incarnate.

Ironically and sadly, two Fox News journalists were killed in Ukraine yesterday.

[ponchi101]

I always admire these people that go into a war zone to report on it. Guts personified.
I will not joke about them being Fox News "Journalists" due to the gravity of the news.

[mmmm8]

I always admire these people that go into a war zone to report on it. Guts personified.
I will not joke about them being Fox News "Journalists" due to the gravity of the news.

Unfortunately, I think freelance journalists these days - and so many are freelance because they can't get permanent contracts - have to take whatever work will come. These particular journalists, Pierre Zakrzewski and Oleksandra Kuvshynova, were Irish and Ukrainian.

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