So far, the best part of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s (Z) five and a half hour press conference is what journalist Yuriy Butusov said after it ended.
“I should have stood up and punched him in the face.”
Butusov added that only respect for the state and the office of the president held him back.
The coup (переворот), part of the sub-genre of political hip hop, is once again in vogue in Ukraine, thanks to Z, who kicked off the proceedings with a lame attempt to regain a degree of authority against the background of constant criticism regarding the Wagnergate fuck-up and other serious allegations of impropriety and stupidity, like using the State Emergency Service as a helicopter taxi service.
As expected, foreign English-language media lapped it up.
Ukraine today is not unlike the Mohist equivalent of the trolley problem. Z has told us, “We must pull the lever,” but for the last two and a half years he has driven the country into a double-tracked curve in such a way that the rear wheel bogey jumped the rails and flattened the economy while simultaneously failing to prevent the grisly deaths of innocent civilians.
Looking on the bright side, this means that if you’re a good journalist in Ukraine, you don't have an Achilles' heel. Because you're just a piece of shit in the middle of the track that eventually is going to get run over. And if the trolley's going to be Z, then you're going to try and derail it.
Zelensky: Triumph of Inadequacy