ukraine@war

Share this post

An Epidemic of Stupidity

abdymok.substack.com

An Epidemic of Stupidity

Zelensky to be remembered for grisly deaths he failed to prevent

pgb
Apr 15, 2020
Share this post

An Epidemic of Stupidity

abdymok.substack.com

I disagree with Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Adrian Karatnycky about lots of things. When it comes to Ukraine, he reminds me of Rinat Akhmetov’s spieler, the Anders Aslund equivalent of a ticket salesman for heavily booked Yalta Economic Strategy talkathons.

But sometimes he makes good lists. Take, for example, the following paragraph in his 1,000-world op-ed, titled “Zelensky puts Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution on trial,” appearing in the Atlantic Council’s Ukraine Alert on April 14.

Kowtowing to Putin, rearranging the Cabinet and prosecuting former President Petro Poroshenko - and now Tetyana Chornovol - have indeed tarnished Zelensky’s credentials among Ukraine’s partners. But future generations of Ukrainians will likely most revile Zelensky for botching the country’s response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic.

It’s difficult to establish exactly the moment during Zelensky’s ten months as president when function lost is lustre, when churning out hopeful-sounding memes became secondary to their presentation on YouTube, when the cult of haughty ego took hold.

Perhaps it was on March 4 in the Verkhovna Rada after members of parliament approved Illia Yemets, a Yanukovych-era hack, to be the country’s new Health Minister.

The result isn't unlike a horrible accident, except it’s been caused by an unemployed actor desperate for attention and applause. You want to laugh and be entertained, but you also want to avoid becoming a COVID-19 victim and paying too much attention to the horribleness of the grisly deaths Zelensky failed to prevent.


Recall what Zelensky said on January 31 about the pandemic.

Share this post

An Epidemic of Stupidity

abdymok.substack.com
Previous
Next
Comments
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 abdymok
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing