My local liberal blog has a story up about ‘joining the Zelensky fan club’ and yet that’s NOT the Zelensky I think needs to be remembered.
Yes, he has stayed and fought for his country, but is that all that counts? What about the MILLIONS of Ukrainians that weren’t prepared for war based on his assessments?
Before Russia attacked Ukraine I remember the multiple articles about Zelensky chastising the US for overreacting;
From the NYT’s;
“Ukrainian officials sharply criticized the Biden administration Friday for its ominous warnings of an imminent Russian attack, saying they had needlessly spread alarm, even as a new Pentagon assessment said Russia was now positioned to go beyond a limited incursion and invade all of Ukraine. ….
In his remarks, Mr. Zelensky echoed this sentiment.
“If you look only at the satellites you will see the increase in troops and you can’t assess whether this is just a threat of attack or just a simple rotation,” he said. “Our professional people look deep into it.”
Ukrainian officials have also been sharply critical of the decision by the United States, Britain and others to withdraw nonessential staff from embassies in Kyiv, calling it premature. Mr. Zelensky noted that Greece had not even removed diplomats from a consulate near the front lines in the east, “where you can hear the cannons firing.”
Diplomats, he added, “are the last who should be leaving the ship and I don’t think we have a Titanic here.””
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/world/europe/biden-ukraine-russia-diplomacy.html
From the WAPO;
““I don’t say there can’t be an escalation,” Zelensky told journalists at a news conference in Kyiv on Friday. “We’ve been talking about this openly for eight years.”
The buildup, he added, didn’t significantly differ from a similar one at the beginning of last year. The threat of war was a form of “psychological pressure,” he said.
“I don’t think that the situation is more tense than at the peak at that time,” he said. He added that his knowledge stemmed from the fact that he, being familiar with the reality on the ground, knew “deeper details than any [other] president.”
www.washingtonpost.com/...
Again, what about the lead up to the war and the millions of Ukrainians that weren’t ready for war BECAUSE of Zelensky downplaying the threat from Russia?
Please, tell me what I am missing in the lionization of Zelensky.