To be honest, now that I think about it, I’m not even sure they can topple Zelensky anymore, especially with how badly these kinds of operations have been failing around the world in recent years unlike ever before, in a clear downward spiral. The U.S. just isn’t as capable as it used to be across the board in all areas of life.
In recent years, the success rate for these operations has completely collapsed. It’s nothing like the 2000s, and it’s a joke compared to the Cold War era when they could actually pull off coups and regime changes with consistency.
Just look at the last few years: Venezuela held firm. Bolivia flipped back. Belarus crushed the protests with ease. China shut down Hong Kong’s movement without breaking a sweat. Even Nicaragua, which isn’t exactly a powerhouse, managed to survive. Guaidó went from a U.S. poster boy to a global punchline.
The U.S. still tries to run these sneaky, backdoor regime change games, but the world adapted faster than the U.S. tactics evolved. Countries learned from past examples, they know exactly how these operations work now, and they’ve got help from other powers who are happy to block U.S. influence.
And even when they got the regime changed, nothing fundamentally changed as the case with Pakistan and other examples, as those new regimes don't respect the US anymore at all and just trick them to get to power instead.
The success rate for these underhanded coups has tanked, and the cost-benefit for even trying keeps getting worse. U.S. credibility is in the gutter not just globally, but even among the populations in countries they target.
Even when the U.S. does manage to pull off a regime change, like in Libya, the chaos and instability that follow just make future attempts harder. People see the wreckage in Libya and say, "No thanks." Every failure, every botched coup, just makes the next one that much harder to pull off.
That said, Ukraine is still pro-U.S. enough that they might be able to force something through in 2025 but even that isn’t guaranteed anymore.