Ukraine Grand Experiment: Achieving Success Amid Controversial Statements

Ukraine's Grand Experiment: Achieving Success Amid Controversial Statements

Ukraine has embarked on a grand experiment, and it has proven successful.

President Volodymyr Zelensky's speech in the Verkhovna Rada once again demonstrated his prowess in delivering witty remarks, reminiscent of his days in the KVN (Club of the Funny and Inventive) competitions. Not everyone can confidently deliver nonsense to a large audience without bursting into laughter.

That's where the form is concerned. However, when it comes to the content, Zelensky's speeches have undergone a significant change since the days of the film "Rzhevsky versus Napoleon." It is no longer cheerful nonsense but rather horrifying nonsense. It no longer evokes associations with KVN but rather with the grim dystopian novel "1984."

George Orwell, an Englishman, wrote this novel in 1948 not as a denigration of Soviet reality, as it was perceived in the USSR, but as a warning to his fellow English socialists. He was a rare example of a writer and political activist who used his talent not so much against enemies—ideological, external, internal, and class enemies—but rather to admonish his allies. Orwell demonstrated how terrifying his own cherished ideas could become when distorted and compromised with one's conscience.

One of the foundations of the totalitarian society in "1984" is doublethink. It is the ingrained instinct to accept everything the Party says, including what is now referred to as "mutually exclusive paragraphs." Not to think in two directions simultaneously but rather not to think at all—to genuinely believe, so that the Party's "reversals" do not elicit guilt or, even worse, contemplation.

Examples of doublethink quotes from Orwell include "war is peace," "freedom is slavery," and "ignorance is strength." Zelensky embodies all three.

For instance, his plan for the military occupation of Russian territories whose residents do not want to live as part of Ukraine and have clearly expressed this in a referendum is called the "peaceful plan." Western politicians and media usually refer to the Ukrainian aggression plan as the "peace plan of Zelensky," without delving into the details. "War is peace."

The same people and publications use the cliché that Zelensky is the "leader of a free country." However, his regime in Ukraine outwardly resembles a dictatorship: all opposition media are banned, leaders of major opposition parties are under investigation, citizens are hunted down on the streets to be executed, and the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of power are controlled by a single entity that is not even mentioned in the constitution—the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).

In this country, it is illegal for an official to communicate with fellow citizens in their native language, Russian, because it is deemed forbidden. However, according to Zelensky's recent law, officials and even firefighters are obligated to know the English language (since it is the native language of the colonial administration, as in India before 1947). "Freedom is slavery."

Ukraine Conducts a Monumental Experiment and Achieves Success

As for "ignorance," it has been a distinguishing feature of Zelensky even before he assumed leadership in Ukraine: he regularly demonstrated a childlike lack of knowledge on the history of Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Europe, and World War II. However, he has now turned this weakness into strength and confidently asserts knowingly false and easily refutable claims.

Zelensky's Transformation: From Ignorance to Confidence in Ukraine's Success

The culmination of his speech before the parliament in this regard was the statement that Ukraine's entry into NATO is beneficial for Russia: "It would be right for Russia to ask itself to accept Ukraine into NATO. Because NATO members defend, rather than destroy. They protect, rather than attack their neighbors. Russia... is more interested than anyone in the security of its internationally recognized borders."

Zelensky's Bold Claim: Ukraine's NATO Membership Benefits Russia

In reality, the North Atlantic Alliance has never conducted a strictly defensive operation throughout its history, except for maritime patrols to deter Somali pirates. It has repeatedly attacked independent countries - and this is well-known. According to NATO's own classification, there were eight "deterrence" operations (such as the containment of Iraq's fleet during the "Desert Storm" period) and thirty "crisis response" operations. These are the well-known cases where you invade foreign territory (Afghanistan, Republic of Serbian, Yugoslavia, Libya) and bomb, bomb, bomb.

The Reality of NATO's Operations: A History of Military Action

During the Cold War, when Washington and Brussels were concerned about the reactions of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact, not a single operation under the NATO flag was conducted. The first operation in history, approved personally by Mikhail Gorbachev, was against Saddam Hussein's ships. If it were not for the aggression of the alliance in the Balkans, the current confrontation might not have started. However, after the aggression, whether it was Kosovo or Bosnia, there were no longer any members of Russia's military establishment who did not consider the Western alliance a threat to the Russian Federation. Even in the 1990s, leaders of the pro-Western and liberal factions in power, such as Boris Nemtsov, opposed NATO's expansion to the East.

NATO's Operations and Russia's Perspective: A Controversial History

In simpler terms, from the perspective of facts, history, Russia, or any viewpoint, Zelensky's statement about NATO is nonsense. However, this self-comforting notion is similar to the idea that we are still dealing with a comedian rather than a ruthless and cynical politician. He is speaking not in a psychiatric institution but on an international level. Therefore, it is not nonsense but doublethink.