Garland Nixon @GarlandNixon -- Radio Talkshow Host & Political Analyst in Washington DC
Zelensky has 1.4 Billion dollars. More than Will Smith, Chris Rock, and Dave Chapelle combined. We are to believe that he made that as a comedian in the poorest nation in Europe?
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DO YOU KNOW WHO IS VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY INDEED?
Millions of people in the west have crowned Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, as their new underdog hero. But who is Zelenskyy? And how did a celebrity with no political experience go from star of a hit TV series to the President of Ukraine?
Amidst Zelenskyy’s call for a No-Fly Zone (which would immediately escalate conflict with Russia to the brink of Nuclear War), Netflix recently announced the 'return' of Zelenskyy's hit show, Servant of the People, to their US streaming platform.
What many people outside Ukraine don't know about Zelenskyy is that he successfully ran on a new party called "Servant of the People" - riding the wave of his successful TV show of the same on a centrist "anti-corruption" party into Ukraine's highest office.
This article by Ukraine-based election watchdog Chesno goes deep into the origins of the Servant of the People Party and how Zelenskyy's presidential campaign was largely funded through private donors using Servant of the People as a pass-through:
-- page removed; see below
How the Servant of the People was born and where it took more than 200 million to the elections
Zelenskyy's first move in the lead-up to his presidential run was to plaster Ukraine with ambiguous billboards.
From the Chesno article:
"The move was very simple: it is an advertisement for the FILM 'Servant of the People' - which can work for the election campaign."
More from Chesno: "According to Zelensky, the idea of billboards saved a lot of money, as the showman registered the eponymous (titular) party".
He was essentially able to campaign without officially campaigning, and without disclosing who provided the funds for the billboard campaign.
This is, needless to say, the kind of deeply cynical political savvy -- combined with a staggeringly unethical exploitation of brand identity that would make Donald Trump blush -- which Zelenskyy deployed to help secure executive office.
The Chesno investigative piece reports that "Volodymyr Zelensky's campaign in the second round was 100% funded by the Servant of the People party."
The Servant of the People party actually "has fewer donors than deputies in the parliamentary faction (248 people)."
Zelenskyy banked on far more than just his celebrity status to bring him into office:
he also banked on the support of BILLIONAIRE UKRAINIAN OLIGARCH IGOR KOLOMOISKY.
The comedian and the oligarch – POLITICO
Igor Kolomoisky's has an ownership stake in 1+1 Media Group, whose TV station carried "Servant of the People", the political satire comedy created by and starring Voloydymyr Zelensky who plays the role of - wait for it - the President of Ukraine.
From Politico: "Kolomoisky’s media outlet also provides security and logistical backup for the comedian’s campaign, and it has recently emerged that Zelenskiy’s legal counsel, Andrii Bohdan, was the oligarch’s personal lawyer."
During his presidential campaign, Zelenskyy TRAVELED 14 TIMES TO GENEVA AND TEL AVIV, where Kolomoisky is currently based.
Zelenskyy's and Kolomoisky's financial entanglements and offshore networks were also recently revealed in the PANDORA PAPERS.
Pandora Papers Reveal Offshore Holdings of Ukrainian President and his Inner Circle - OCCRP
In addition to being accused of embezzling billions of dollars from his own company PrivatBank, Kolomoisky has also been under fire for using his own personal militia to raid UkrTransNafta in order to protect his financial interests in the oil company.
We just got a glimpse of how oligarch-funded militias could bring chaos to Ukraine - Vox
If that wasn't enough, KOLOMOISKY FUNDED neo-Nazi-led Azov and Aidar battalions (among many others), which have been accused of heinous war crimes in the Donbas region over the past eight years, including kidnapping, torture, and beheadings.
Ukrainian Nationalist Volunteers Committing 'ISIS-Style' War Crimes
FASCISM IN UKRAINE IS A SYSTEMIC PROBLEM that mainstream western media outlets have covered extensively. Ukraine is THE ONLY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD to officially incorporate open neo-Nazis into leadership positions, including the NATIONAL GUARD.
Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine | The Nation
Ukraine was also one of ONLY TWO COUNTRIES to vote against a UN resolution decrying Nazism. No points for correctly guessing who the other country was.
US, Ukraine vote against UN resolution against Nazism : Peoples Dispatch
It's important to view the conflict between Russia and Ukraine NOT AS SOMETHING THAT BEGAN THIS FEBRUARY BUT AN EIGHT YEARS. Many Ukrainian fascists funded, armed and trained by US and NATO, continue to commit war crimes in the Donbas region to this day.
Profile: Who are Ukraine’s far-right Azov regiment? | Military News | Al Jazeera
Many liberals are so invested in the struggle they've only just learned about this year that they're already echoing the fascist WWII-era slogan "Slava Ukraini/Heroiam Slava!" that both Zelenskyy and Nancy Pelosi shouted before all of US Congress.
Who Was Stepan Bandera?
"Heroiam Slava!" (means "Glory to the Heroes!") the response Zelenskyy gave to Pelosi was popularized by the OUN-B led by Stepan Bandera, genocidal Nazi collaborator in WWII responsible for the mass extermination of over 100,000 Polish, Jewish, and Romani people.
In a video interview, Zelenskyy referred to any Ukrainian who celebrates Nazi-collaborator Stepan Bandera as a national hero is "normal and cool".
Zelensky on Bandera: Ukrainians should also praise modern day heroes | UNIAN
Despite Zelenskyy's shady financial ties and alarming statements on Ukrainian fascists, the Biden admin is sending more arms to escalate tensions in the region.
All this to say that it's vitally important to know the origins behind Zelenskyy's rise to power, his political alignments and allegiances in the wake of HIS DECISION TO BAN not just all opposition news networks, but ALL opposition political parties.
Zelensky nationalizes TV news and restricts opposition parties
There are over 300 political parties in Ukraine, but most are inactive. That said, the 11 opposition parties banned by Zelensky are the biggest ones in Ukraine, so Zelensky did effectively ban “all” of the opposition.
