ZELENSKIY: SERVANT OF THE TELEVISION
A month or two ago, while the media in Australia was at a peak
level of obsession with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, SBS put on a
documentary about him. Sorry, I don't remember the name (looking
around online, it was probably "Zelenskyy: The Story"), but it
absolutely reeked of propaganda and naturally never had a bad word
to say about the man.
As I've already vaguely mentioned here (a fact that I remember
because I wouldn't dare do so publicly at the moment if I weren't
writing anonymously), I think that Zelenskiy's actions quite
pointlessly triggered the war in Ukraine to the distinct
disadvantage of his country. Ideally I'll agree that a country
should be allowed to join whatever allegiances it decides, be they
Ukraine with NATO or, gulp, the Solomon Islands with China [1].
However the actions of Zelenskiy pursuing NATO membership even
after it was clear that NATO forces wouldn't jump directly to his
country's defence in the likely event of an immediate Russian
invasion, were ridiculous. They are nevertheless in keeping with
his deeply popularist tendencies.
So the documentary was, as expected, very frustrating to watch. Yet
reading between the lines there were some interesting facts there
to be picked up. Only today have I got around to digging into some
of them.
What I did know was that he was famous for starring in some
comedy/drama type show called "Servant of the People" (which I now
see is _also_ the name of Zelenskiy's political party), where he
played a school teacher who becomes president. What I didn't
realise was that he kept on making new episodes of this, playing
himself as the president in the show's fictional world where Putin
eventually gets kicked out of power in Russia, at the _same_ _time_
as he was campaigning for the real presidential election. So people
are watching this fantasy of a successful president on a prime TV
channel while at the same time they're being asked to vote for the
guy playing him. And guess what, the same guy who put him on the TV
was also Zelenskiy's main political backer, billionaire Ukrainian
media magnate, Ihor Kolomoyskyi. Kolomoyskyi had at this point
himself spent years riding off hostile actions by the billionare
former president, and rival TV channel owner, Petro Poroshenko.
Basically what Kolomoyskyi has done here is show what Rupert
Murdoch could do if he really had balls. The power that Murdoch has
in pushing figures like Donald Trump through his media empire
including Fox News is commonly pointed out in wider media. Yet in
Ukraine, the real story of Zelenskiy's rise shows it taken to the
next level.
If you think that people in general are smart enough to know the
difference between a fictional TV show and a real presidential
candidate even when they're both being shown on the same TV, then I
don't think you've paid much attention to the sort of fickle stuff
that swings political campaigns everywhere. The most scary part of
all this is that I really think it could happen in any democracy.
Certainly including here in Australia.
After getting into power, Zelenskiy introduced new laws limiting
the licencing of media companies in order to eliminate sources of
alleged disinformation. This of course is a perfect basis by which
Kolomoyskyi could ensure dominence of his own media empire, and
sure enough it forced Petro Poroshenko to sell both of his TV
networks. [2]
Also once Zelenskiy was in office, the leader of the most popular
opposition party in Ukraine, Viktor Medvedchuk, was sanctioned and
then charged with terrorism offences and put under house arrest, on
the basis of the pro-Russian politician's dealings in
Russian-annexed Crimea. Then, once the war started, his party was
among eleven allegedly Russian-allied Ukrainian political parties
that were banned altogether. This, following an earlier ban on
communist parties years before, eliminates the left from Ukrainian
politics entirely. [3]
The Pandora Papers leak also revealed that Zelenskiy along with
friends and associates from his production company, Kvartal 95,
were linked in 2021 to a network of offshore business in tax
havens. Shortly before the elections, Zelenskiy gave away a stake
in the company Maltex, based in the British Virgin Islands, but
future dividends from Maltex were still to be paid to another
company owned by his wife. An ally of Poroshenko had earlier
alleged large transfers totalling $41 million into these companies,
from entities owned by Kolomoyskyi, between 2012 and 2016. [4]
Vlod Vs Vlad
At this point it's interesting to look at the similarities between
leaders both sides of the Russia-Ukraine border. Volodymyr
Zelenskiy in fact seems to have a lot in common with Vladimir Putin:
* Both first get into power only thanks to the backing of oligarchs
with big media stakes.
* Both claim to combat corruption rampant prior to their coming to
power, even at the expense of their oligarch backers, but seem to
maintain a secret private wealth for themselves and their friends.
* Both arrest the leader of the main opposition party in their
country.
* Both introduce laws that restrict the ownership and content of
popular media.
* Both push a nationalist and assertive foreign political adjenda,
leading indeed to the present war between their countries.
In spite of these similarities, one man is portreyed to us as an
angel and the other as the devil. In fact Zelenskiy has been
trusted by the US with many tens of billions of dollars worth of
'security-assistance' since the war began. More military funding
than the US ever sent to Afghanistan, Iraq or Israel in a single
year. [5]
Without having any personal experience in Ukraine, or even a deep
interest in the country's politics prior to the war, I certainly
wouldn't claim to have a full understanding of Ukrainian politics
now. However I frankly doubt that many foreign leaders who've
thrown their backing behind Zelenskiy, especially the Australian
ones, have a much clearer picture. Ukraine has been fit within a
traditional East Vs West narrative which Zelenskiy plays to
perfectly, starring now on teleconferenced TV before the world's
Western leaders. But at the same time the old Cold War mistake of
forgetting to check whether our friend is really any nicer than our
enemy, seems it might be in the making once again.
- The Free Thinker
[1] The latter of course being Australia's current 'Ukraine
moment'. Somehow the media here didn't have the courage to point
out the incredible irony of our former PM talking about Australia's
"red line" with a Chinese presence in the Solomon Islands while
at the same time being outraged at Russia's reaction to Ukraine
attempting to join NATO.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-24/scott-morrison-china-naval-base-solomon-islands-red-line/101011710
[2]
https://www.voanews.com/a/press-freedom_journalists-see-specter-censorship-ukraines-proposed-media-laws/6183766.html
https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/ukrainian-court-freezes-property-ex-president-poroshenko-2022-01-06/
[3]
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/3/21/why-did-ukraine-suspend-11-pro-russia-parties
[4]
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/03/revealed-anti-oligarch-ukrainian-president-offshore-connections-volodymyr-zelenskiy
[5]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/05/14/ukraine-weapons-trafficking/
