Who knew that a mere comedian would rise to that level of leadership?
Well, maybe the writers of Seinfeld:
Bravo, President Zelensky!
He, along with those 13 Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island who told a Russian navy vessel to “go fuck yourself”, will definitely be on the top of my heroes list for some time.
And don’t forget when President Zelenskyy took Putin to task for calling the Ukrainian govenrment Nazis, when Zelenskyy is Jewish.
As far as I can tell, “Nazi” and “fascist” are the go-too, all-purpose political insults in Russia, without regard to any facts or evidence. Sorta like “fake news”, “loser” etc. for a particular former political official in the US.
Another update on the President’s courage. EU leaders were meeting to consider imposing more sanctions, including the SWIFT cut-off:
There are reports that the Russians are hunting Zelensky as their number 1 target; and his family is the number 2 target.
NYTimes article, with video; don’t know if it’s paywalled.
I think it’s too late. At one time Putin could have seriously crippled Ukraine’s defense efforts by killing Zelensky, but that time was days ago. All it will do now is piss the people off even more.
Yeah, after showing off a pair of brass balls that big, Zelensky’s a guaranteed martyr if they off him. They’d never be rid of him.
They might still be stupid enough to assassinate him anyway. But no matter what they do, it won’t end well for them.
I don’t foresee any scenario where Zelensky is captured alive.
Oh, I don’t think that Zelensky will survive this war, no matter how short lived it is. I was just saying that Putin is too late to defeat Ukraine by killing him now. Zelensky is a hero and has inspired his country and the world. He probably saved Ukraine and I hope his kids live to enjoy peace.
President Zelensky isn’t the only one with personal courage. A granny gave them a chilling earful:
That sort of encounter can’t be good for morale at the individual level.
“Babushka just told me to fuck off and die. I mean, literally die after having fucked off!”
“Oh, that’s gotta hurt!”
Do not mess with Grandma on HER turf.
When Ukrainian grandmothers are telling young and fit Russian soldiers to fuck off, that says something: Ukraine’s not going to give up easily, if at all.
Did Putin expect this level of resistance?
Dick Cheney said we would be welcomed as liberators in Iraq.
When you live in a bubble, hearing only what you want to hear, you can start to believe some really strange things.
Putin seems to sincerely believe that Ukraine’s various turns toward the West have simply been due to the actions of Western covert action groups, rather than expressions of the sincere desires of Ukraine’s people.
He might have thought that if Russia just kicked in the door the whole house would fall down, but he would have been wise to see where that notion had been expressed before.
Cf. our own former President.
This is the Ukrainian equivalent of Biden, Harris, Pelosi, Blinken, and the heads of all the branches of the Armed Services standing out on the White House lawn saying, “Here we are, and I dare you to come and get us.”
What’s Ukranian for Molon Labe?
Володимир Зеленський.
Correct spelling: Володимир Зеленський
(Cite: His own tweets.)
??
Looks identical to me? Though the name would be spelled differently in Russian.
Anyway, as far as telling people to go fuck themselves, there is not such a big language barrier between Ukrainian and Russian.