[Zelensky] said he was contemplating the move to ensure the country remains led by individuals who are “convinced of victory” against Russia.
is so fucked
[Zelensky] said he was contemplating the move to ensure the country remains led by individuals who are “convinced of victory” against Russia.
is so fucked
He's the goofball half pint underling that does what he's told with a smile. Killing him would be about as meaningful as blowing up a big "Slava Ukraine" billboard.
It wouldn't do much domestically beyond give peacemakers a chance to assert their power, but internationally Zelensky is the only charismatic Ukrainian liberals have attached to and I don't think they can replace him with someone similar. Ukraine's next leader isn't going to have the same ability to convince foreign voters to keep giving them money. If it causes a spiral of instability, that also forces Ukraine to the negotiating table all the same. It's an inevitability that I don't think has drawbacks if the goal is to end the war.
Because he's been the one getting all the attention and praise. Modi gets the same treatment in India. Macron gets the same treatment in France. Milei has been getting big glow-ups in Argentina since he began running for office. NPR/CNN/et-al are still trying to make Navalny a thing in Russia.
They could bring in new media darlings if they wanted to. It would just take a bunch of work, running this person through the media machine a few dozen times until Americans were comfortable with them again. But then... why? What's the point? When you already have Zelensky and he's already doing literally everything you ask of him, what else do you actually need?
Zaluzhny isn't a peace maker. He's very much aligned with the psychotic far right in ukraine. He doesn't want to make peace, he wants to stop hurling away people on political objectives that have no military value (bakhmut, idiotic counteroffensives, hold the line at all costs type thinking that dominates the zelensky gang)