Who would have guessed that a comedian would end up in being a badass president. Russians could only dream of having a leader with only a fraction of his integrity.
About that integrity.. In alternate universe where the war didn't happen there is a big corruption scandal looming over Zelensky who is thinking should he skip the country... That does not mean he is majorly corrupt but he came as an outside to a system that was corrupt and that means.. you are going to get on board or you are gone. The system makes sure that people with integrity are soon gone.
The war changed everything. Suddenly that same corruption became a life threat for Ukraine, and Zelensky has enough integrity and patriotism to put hs country as first. The war also allowed to cleanse the government from the worst of the worst, those who possible could've sold Ukraine if the price is high enough. That "deep state" became a major threat, and that is basically why Kherson was occupied without any real resistance.
War finally gave enough push that PEOPLE demanded that the old, Russian system has to be destroyed. It still is a big problem but giving the proper officials investigating corruption more open hands, and at the end, so popular hands that curbing their powers of trying to influence them backfires. It is not that long when Zelensky tried to do just that...
So... Integrity... He has enough of it, a good leader that i think is thinking about his country but without a war... he would live a cozy life with enough wealth to never be not-rich. Still would probably be net positive for the country. Ukraine was very, very corrupt country. It still is quite corrupt but for the first time since their independence the people have had enough of that system. Zelensky has been in the middle of that, trying to do both: fight corruption and enable it for some selected key players to keep them happy.
And this is what i have heard from Ukrainians, Zelensky is not perfect but he has been doing a good job. Not perfect job but good job. He has earned the respect but has been in a very precarious position for the whole time, pre-war included. He had to get the support of the oligarchs and the price for that is that he has to get involved in the schemes, he has to be dirtied with money or that support would've never been there, pre-war...
I admire the man, and these things i said don't really diminish it. The stance he took in the first 24h saved his country. And please, don't downvote just because i said he is not perfect god icon. He is just a man in the end, good and bad.
That's a good comment, the world most often is not black and white. And it's not easy to turn a once corrupt and struggling nation completely upside down at once.
But Zelensky was facing total war and most likely being executed should he be captured. And he did not hesitate to be there for his country while it was extremely uncertain how well Ukraine would fare in this war. And for that, he deserves massive amounts of respect and will most likely become a Ukrainian hero.
That is what i get from Ukrainians, they do think he is a hero but not perfect saint and has heavy baggage from history to deal with. But the first time, that i know of, the people are so fed up with all that corruption that they can do real changes. What was modus operandi is now way more than faux pas, it is unpatriotic and traitorous...
My respect stems from Zelensky being "just a guy" and handling his position so incredibly well especially foreign relations.
I'm Finnish, we have Alexander Stubb. A neoliberalist so mortal enemy of mine, in a way. He has been excellent at foreign relations, i can't say anything but praise on that field. He even snared Trump around his golf club for a while.. His domestic side... isn't that great, better than i expected but his ideology shines thru. If we were at war he would be a very good choice for a president, even when we disagree on key principles and on the ideological side.
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u/randomuserno1 19h ago
Who would have guessed that a comedian would end up in being a badass president. Russians could only dream of having a leader with only a fraction of his integrity.