The Western consensus is that Vladimir Putin is dangerous and perhaps even crazy. But some are essentially making a similar claim about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Far from a hero, these observers aver, the ex-comedian is actually a bumbling leader whose missteps threaten not only his own nation’s existence but that of the whole world, as he nudges the United States toward possible nuclear confrontation with Russia.
Sounding this alarm today is commentator Vasko Kohlmayer. Writing at American Thinker, he states:
“Meeting with Congress, Zelensky Asks for More Weapons and a No-Fly Zone” reads a recent headline from the New York Times.
It does not take great strategic acumen to realize that trying to put up a no-fly zone over Ukraine — whose airspace is now controlled by the Russians — would inevitably lead to a direct clash with the military assets of the Russian Federation.
Zelensky is thus, in effect, asking that the United States — as well as other NATO nations — enter into a shooting war in Russia.
What Zelensky is in reality calling for is World War III. Such a war could very quickly escalate into a nuclear confrontation between Russia and the West. With both sides armed with thousands of nuclear warheads, this kind of conflict would result in a fathomless death toll and would almost certainly end the world as we know it.
Zelensky is effectively requesting that we commit suicide over Ukraine.
Kohlmayer further states that it would be lunacy to accommodate this desire over a corrupt country in which we have no national interest.
The writer then makes the case that Zelensky’s conceit and foolishness helped visit Ukraine’s current disaster upon it. For he rebuffed Putin when the latter wished to reach some sort of accommodation, asserts Kohlmayer, and even entertained the idea of Ukraine acquiring its own nuclear weapons. Of course, just as we drew a red line during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it’s folly to think Russia would tolerate a nuclear-armed ex-buffer state on its border.
So along with angling for Ukrainian NATO membership, this proposition invited Russian aggression. Even so, points out Kohlmayer — and despite Western intelligence indicating an invasion’s imminence — Zelensky “made light of those warnings.” He then acted shocked when they became reality.
George Washington He’s Not
Kohlmayer isn’t the only one viewing Zelensky — a man who can be seen on video dancing lewdly in high heels and playing a piano with, supposedly, his manhood (really) — as more zero than hero. Joining him is Colonel Douglas Macgregor (ret.), who told Fox Business host Stuart Varney earlier this month that “Zelensky is a puppet, and he is putting huge numbers of his own population at unnecessary risk.” As to whether he thought the Ukrainian leader was a “hero,” Macgregor responded:
No, I do not. I don’t see anything heroic about the man. And I think the most heroic thing he can do right now is to come to terms with reality. Neutralize Ukraine; this is not a bad thing. A neutral Ukraine would be good for us as well as for Russia; it would create the buffer that, frankly, both sides want. But he’s, I think, being told to hang on and try to drag this out, which is tragic for the people that have to live through this. [Video below.]
Tiptoeing Around WWIII in Russia’s Backyard
Not emphasized in this crisis is perhaps the most significant factor: Ukraine is in Russia’s backyard. Remember here that we had our Monroe Doctrine — stating that foreign intervention into the Americas would be considered a potentially hostile act against the United States — and that we reacted to the USSR’s deployment of nuclear weapons to Cuba as just that in 1962.
This is because that’s our backyard.
The rule here is that like it or not, you must tread softly in another great power’s backyard for a simple, most realistic reason: That power cannot back down at its own doorstep as this would mean an unacceptable loss of face and credibility.
Yet Zelensky would have us pound around in Ukraine like a T-Rex in Jurassic Park. “Having wrecked his own country,” writes Kohlmayer, “Zelensky now wants to wreck the whole world by pulling the West into a nuclear war with Russia.”
This is why, while Putin’s sanity has rightly been questioned, perhaps Zelensky’s should as well. And his judgment, already revealed as poor according to Kohlmayer and Macgregor, has certainly been further called into question. What does he think will be gained, after all, by inducing NATO countries into establishing a no-fly zone in Ukraine? Unless he’s Dr. Strangelove or is suicidal, he perhaps supposes Putin would be cowed.
But this appears a foolhardy gamble. As commentator Pat Buchanan wrote March 7 in “Is Putin Considering Using Nukes on NATO?”:
If this war does not end soon, Putin is likely to lose it and fail in his goal of pulling Ukraine out of the Western camp and back into the orbit of Mother Russia.
Eventual defeat is becoming visible, and Putin probably cannot politically survive such a defeat.
As his motivation is to hold power and use it to carve a niche in history alongside the greatest Russian rulers of the past who enlarged the nation or empire, Putin is probably not going to accept defeat and go quietly….
Would Putin exercise what has been called the “Samson Option” — pulling down the pillars of the temple and taking your enemies with you?
(Also see my piece, “Alas, the Best Outcome in Ukraine Now May be a Relatively Quick Russian Victory.”)
The problem with MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) is that it only deters destruction if none of the involved parties are mad. And with Zelensky and our Western globalists locking horns with Putin, the fear is that we just may find out what happens when mad meets stupid.
