.

Zelensky Gets a Hard Lesson

Zelensky comes strutting, in hope of a payout—
Trump and young J.D. are trusting that he’ll
Accept their diplomacy’s well-crafted layout
Of how the Ukraine needs a cease-fire deal.

Zelensky has burned through a mountain of dollars—
(Three hundred billion is what he’s received).
But here in the White House he argues and hollers
How that’s not enough, and he’s angry and peeved.

Trump says “You’re not thinking of your shattered nation—
Your country’s a shambles, and that is the truth.
To fight on is only a sick prolongation
Of bloodshed and death for Ukrainian youth.”

Zelensky, alas, is not used to straight talking—
(In Europe the leaders all kiss the guy’s ass).
His normal response is to heighten his squawking
If he isn’t treated like Hosts at High Mass.

That’s when he gets a full cannonade’s thunder
As Trump says “Don’t tell us how we have to think.
This war you provoked was an imbecile blunder
And much worse than that, we are now on the brink

Of a World War, and we’re not gonna let it
Happen a third time. So just shut your trap.
We need a cease-fire. And NATO? Forget it—
Zelensky, we’re sick of your posturing crap.”

.

.

Joseph S. Salemi has published five books of poetry, and his poems, translations and scholarly articles have appeared in over one hundred publications world-wide.  He is the editor of the literary magazine TRINACRIA and writes for Expansive Poetry On-line. He teaches in the Department of Humanities at New York University and in the Department of Classical Languages at Hunter College.

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67 Responses

  1. Brian A. Yapko

    Joe, you must have been on fire to write an excellent poem this quickly on a topic of utmost newsworthiness. You present this amazing scene between Trump, Vance and Zelensky with exceptional accuracy as well as insight.

    It is refreshing to have a president who actually “tells it like it is” rather than coddles and enables an impossible position. Zelensky has not served his country in this situation. If the U.S. were to actually guarantee military protection to Ukraine (whether individually or through NATO) in the event of some future Russian attack then war between Russia and the U.S. would become inevitable. Such a war would be a disaster for both sides and for Europe. Trump knows this. Clearly. And Trump and the countries that still value rationality over TDS recognize that China would necessarily get involved and almost certainly on the side of Russia. This is what was meant by Trump and Vance cautioning about flirting with World War III.

    Trump’s offering is much more subtle and much more effective. The U.S. would have a presence in Ukraine for industrial purposes (mining, etc.) — a multi-billion dollar presence. And our very massive investment there would neutralize Russia’s willingness to wage war against Ukraine. A sensible and creative realpolitik solution rather than a forever war or World War III. If only people could get over themselves and their ideological biases long enough to actually run the tape forward. Foreseeability is in short supply on the Left.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Brian, I wrote the poem in a white heat after seeing the live broadcast made from the Oval Office. I was never more proud of Our Guy from Queens County! And J.D. Vance spoke with the same force and precision as he did to those assembled E.U. timeservers recently!

      What a difference from the mealy-mouthed, sail-trimming, script-reading bureaucrats and speechifiers who make up the rest of the world’s political community. Can you imagine what a cliche-laden, touchy-feely word salad that idiot Kamala Harris would have emitted if she were the President? And imagine the placating, syrupy, make-nice, oh-so-very-British love talk that is being lavished on Zelensky right now by Starmer in 10 Downing Street.

      This totally unnecessary war in the Ukraine is completely the fault of neocon meddlers in previous American administrations. They orchestrated the 2014 coup, they funded the Maidan demonstrators, they pushed for E.U. and NATO membership for the Ukraine, they encouraged Ukrainian Nazis, and that truly evil, sick bitch Victoria Nuland made sure there was plenty of funding for the forced metamorphosis of the Ukraine into a U.S. sphere of influence, and a rainbow-flag-waving trannie sanctuary.

      The Ukraine is a natural gateway into Russia. In World War II the German Wehrmacht swept through it easily. Russia has to protect itself against the possibility of the Ukraine becoming a jump-off point for invasion, just as we had to prevent Cuba from becoming a nuclear missile launch pad for the Soviets in 1962. The Russian invasion was inevitable and justified.

  2. Mark Stellinga

    Great job, Joe – this could easily pass for a first-rate Newsmax monolouge! Zelensky’s been schmoozing his way into tax payers’ pockets from the git-go, and I’ve no doubt that somewhere close to half of the Biden-cover-up-portion he sent to Ukraine is now safely hidden in their collective Swiss accounts. Hopefully Kash will quickly find his millions in cash…

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Yes, Zelensky has a net worth of over 500 million dollars. (See Mike Bryant’s link below.) How does a failed comedian and heavy cocaine addict get that much cash?

  3. Julia Griffin

    I thought nothing could be more disgusting than the sight of coward Trump and toady Vance insulting that brave man for refusing to buy their unguaranteed support for his country against unprovoked invasion by an evil tyrant, but your “poem” and the responses to it show me I was wrong.

    Dear God. Dear GOD.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Dear God what? If you say a prayer you ought to finish it.

    • Mia

      In my opinion, the most absolutely disgusting thing is that the world has allowed a war where a million have either died or have been injured. I find that incomprehensible. Where is the media coverage. Where are the demonstrations. The cries of genocide. I can’t help but wonder whether it is because those suffering are mostly Christian.
      It is much easier to be brave when Zelensky’s family is safe in an undisclosed location. And he is probably so well protected in his pretend, pristine outfit that has never seen action.
      You would think he would just have had enough , some compassion for his countrymen and would be trying to achieve peace through diplomatic means.
      May God have mercy.

      • Joseph S. Salemi

        Mia, the war came about because American neocons wanted it to happen. So did influential globalists, who hate Putin because he refuses to let his nation become prey to a worldwide banking kleptocracy.

        People of all faiths and opinions are suffering in this pointless war: Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Jews, atheists. Wars have a way of being all-consuming when it comes to the killing and mutilation.

        As for demonstrations, what enrages me is to see those stupid demonstrators packing the sidewalks near 10 Downing Street to show their support for Zelensky. Maybe they haven’t heard that he has sent over half a million of his young men into a hopeless meat grinder.

    • Paul A. Freeman

      Well put, Julia.

      Trump Diplomacy Limerick

      Though Don aimed to show off his clout,
      by fuming and choosing to shout,
      the White House’s bully
      exposed to us fully
      he’s just an insufferable lout.

      The Art of… Diplomacy Limerick

      To jump up and down, shout and scream,
      some think to an audience may seem
      a great show of strength,
      alas, though, at length,
      you’ll end up an internet meme.

      • Mia

        It isn’t just that Z is out of his depth,
        as a diplomat he is deeply inept,
        he has lined his pockets
        by allowing rockets
        to kill those he is meant to protect.

      • Joseph S. Salemi

        Poor Julia and Paul make a pair —
        The first with an unfinished prayer,
        The second by trying
        To tart up his lying
        With “facts” that are not really there.

        Nobody jumped up and screamed —
        That’s something that Paul Freeman dreamed.
        Our fellows told Zel
        He could just go to hell,
        And Zel’s pious puss came unseamed.

        People like Julia and Paul
        Are examples of minds that are small.
        Their brains only function
        With sobs of compunction
        Over what leftist newscasters bawl.

  4. Mike Bryant

    You nailed it, Doctor!
    Zelensky’s gig pays a lot more than his last gig as a comedian… although his begging for money to enable the slaughter of even more Ukrainians, Russians, Britons (if two tier Kier has his way) and potentially, French, American, and… (Place Your Favorite Citizens of Earth Here), could guarantee his joining the ranks of the billionaires getting rich from the bloodshed of our children.

    https://caknowledge.com/zelensky-net-worth/

    And these are LAST years numbers!

    Peace doesn’t pay…

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      This war is making many people very rich. And that is why they want it to continue, and hopefully ignite another bigger war with Russia.

      • Julia Griffin

        “Dear God” was a cry of despair, not a prayer – despair at the heartlessness, the smug arrogance, the sheet baseness of this government and its stooges.

        Suppose this country were invaded by a brutal foreign autocrat. Would you clamour for appeasement and sneer at those who asked for justice? If not, you are a hypocrite. If so – well, there are other names for people like you.

      • Joseph S. Salemi

        Has it not occurred to you, Julia, from reading all of the information brought up in this discussion thread, that the invasion of Ukraine was the direct result of the instigation of American neocons and their warmongering need to antagonize Russia? Or are you still so mesmerized by the bullshit put out by Mainstream Media that you can’t think clearly?

        As for your stupid hypothetical case, answer me this: If a hostile foreign power decided to foment trouble for the U.S. in the Florida Keys, or in the coastal islands off Georgia and the Carolinas, would you object to our sending troops there to prevent it? The Ukraine has always been closely associated with Russia and Russian security, and there was no way Russia could ignore the stupid neocon meddling and U.S. subversion that was going on there.

        There’s also a name for persons like you: a dumb left-liberal sentimentalist.

    • Mia

      Julia , I , like many others believe in free speech. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion as am I.
      Let us say your opinion was the correct one . That this war should continue because Putin is a tyrant. That the USA and Europe send young men and money to extend this war. Then what. When say ten million are dead and Putin is cornered do you think he would come out with a white flag and surrender. Or might he push a few buttons. And the west knowing this might try to justify and pre-empt this by doing a Nagasaki on St Petersburg. That is the kind of scenario we should be thinking about not the one whether the USA might one day face the same problem . It may or may not. But if it does after carrying out a prolonged war in Europe will it even be able to defend itself. How the enemies of the west will laugh and rub their hands in glee at so much death and destruction.
      we are entitled to our opinions, but when those opinions mean death and destruction, it behoves us all to debate them vigorously. Thank you for your contribution as I firmly believe that all sides should be heard and examined.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Mike, those faces are frightening. I’m sure that all the government centers of Europe in August 1914 were filled with faces similarly horrid and filled with blood-lust, champing at the bit for slaughter.

      Yes, the Democrats definitely want a war with Russia. In 2016 Hillary Clinton was actually wet in the crotch at the thought of it.

  6. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Joe, thank you for offering poetic food for thought.

    I come to this from an English and an American perspective. All the way back to the guy who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his endless warmongering in the Middle East – Tony Blair (George W. Bush’s poodle) who had a lucrative reign in Britain. Most of the rulers of the Western world have continued to ruin countries in the name of “democracy”, while lining their fat-cat pockets and grinning all the way to the banks that rule the world.

    Are we the people so blind we cannot see the devastation caused by these endless wars – the latest failure being Afghanistan, where the Taliban now rule, and a glut of weapons (left behind on Biden’s watch) is being utilized to nefarious ends? This serves to prove war is a business for those with money in the game. Surely Joe Biden’s subversion of the Ukraine’s democratic process when he got Victor Shokin fired for investigating the corruption of Burisma Oil (most lucrative for Biden and his son) points in that direction. These wars have nothing to do with “democracy”. Yet when Trump (whom I didn’t vote for because I don’t trust any president or prime minister after the horrors of 2020) wants to stop the flow of blood and blood money – all hell breaks loose.

    I’d like to know why anyone would trust the reasons for war we are sold daily by the bought and paid for media after the fake weapons-of-mass-destruction claim… yet we still listen to the growing-richer-than-Croesus politicians impoverishing the people and pocketing money we’re told will solve problems they created in the first place… problems that never end.

    Perhaps we should all start following the money instead of our media-plucked heartstrings.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Susan, you are always lucid and incisive in your commentary. And I have to agree that behind all of this sheer madness is money, money, money!

      The French have an expression, “Cherchez la femme,” which says that a woman is always behind anything that one might find hard to explain. When it comes to these goddamned wars, I think “Cherchez l’argent” might be a more trustworthy guide.

      Zelensky, who twenty years ago was a complete nobody, has a net worth of over 500 million dollars. This is so staggering that I need a stiff brandy and soda.

  7. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Dr. Salemi, the following poem contains my thoughts as a geopolitical and geostrategic thinker. I pray Trump and the administration have chosen the wise way, yet I would be remiss in not critiquing the meltdown and potential results. My primary concern is having a public meltdown that likely emboldens Putin.

    THE TRUMP-ZELENSKY MELTDOWN
    By LTC Roy E. Peterson (March 1, 2025)

    Let’s forget geopolitics and let’s debate
    Over what is the fashion and who’s looking great.
    Let’s invest in a nation and leave it to fate
    While the wolf in sheep’s clothing has opened the gate.

    Leverage has been lost against tyrants of men
    By such public displays that eschew acumen.
    The wolf has been emboldened by us once again
    To emerge from his shelter and to leave his den.

    Herr Hitler, of course, knew how to play such a game.
    Propaganda always will find someone to blame.
    Build up the Wehrmacht pretending that you are tame
    Then igniting a torch as the world you inflame.

    As history tells us, you must meet force with force.
    We know Chamberlain learned such a lesson, of course.
    Toothless strategies taken I cannot endorse.
    The tides of the future will trace to this source.

    The neo-peacemakers are light in the head.
    Such cowards they are who from battles have fled.
    We are back to the fifties, “better red than dead.”
    While the rest of the world by the wolf is misled.

    I am not a warmonger, peace lover instead,
    Yet, force must block force by someone else’s beachhead.
    The wolf is the winner who loves when sheep have bled.
    Lord, help us prevent war that we all surely dread.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      LTC Peterson, you are trained in military strategy and geopolitical thinking. I think you must know that any nation’s leadership must not think emotionally or glandularly about making war, or about using feel-good moral categories to judge how war is carried on tactically, in the field. A leader’s job is to protect his country, and that means taking pre-emptive action if necessary to wreck hostile preparations.

      See what I have written below, in response to Cheryl A. Corey. And then read George Christensen’s powerful article from Nation First (linked to by Mike Bryant) about the horrible history of our meddlesome interference and anti-Russian agitation in the Ukraine, and how it was deliberately done by arrogant neocons to stir up a major war. And then see if you can still tell us that Putin is a “wolf” and a “warmonger.”

      Stopping Zelensky (and the huge cabal of left-liberals, globalists, kleptomaniac bankers, mainstream media networks, armaments dealers, and verminous neocons that are backing his insane war) is the REAL job of genuine peacemakers today. And part of the task is convincing Zelensky that the Ukraine is NOT a major power, and never will be.

      Trump and Vance are trying to do that.

  8. Mike Bryant

    Zelensky was created by us… yes by the good old taxpayers of the USA. At least, with our money through the Neo-Con War-mongers in BOTH parties.

    The funny thing… the guys in Ukraine really are the remnants of the Nazis. They’ve never forgiven Russia for winning WWII.

    Putin is a bad man, yes. But he did not start the war in Ukraine. We did.

    https://choiceclips.whatfinger.com/2025/03/01/deep-state-scum-using-our-stolen-usaids-money-created-zelensky-with-films-and-propaganda-all-paid-by-you-and-me/

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Amen to that, Mike Bryant. Zelensky is a pure Made-In-USA product, designed by our intelligence and security agencies to foment a proxy war with Russia, using Ukrainian troops as cannon fodder.

  9. Cheryl A Corey

    If anything, Trump’s the only one out there with the courage and vision to propose a plan to end the war. The economic investment, with the backing, power, and prestige of the United States, would have been Ukraine’s “security guarantee”. It says a lot that immediately after being kicked out of the White House, Zelensky immediately high-tailed it to the UK to shake them down for money to continue the war! You could also say that Zelensky is something of a tyrant. He has shut down elections, churches, and free press. Before the meeting with Trump, he met with a “bipartisan” group of Dems and Rhinos, who perhaps tried to coach him on how to deal with Trump and/or led him to believe the US would continue to provide money and weapons. By the way, I’ve read that even before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was bombing the Russian speakers in the Donbas. We’re not dealing with saints here, and both sides need to give. I could go on and on, but I’ll stop here. (Kudos to Roy as well for whipping up more verse!)

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Yes, the Ukraine has a strong neo-Nazi element that terrorized the Russian-speaking inhabitants of the Donbas and other eastern parts of the country. Thousands of Russian-speaking inhabitants were killed. It was precisely these murderous acts that constituted the last straw for Putin, and drove him to attack.

      But the dominant geopolitical facts are these. The Ukraine is an open gate into Russia, made up mostly of low-lying steppes and flat plateaus. Massed armored divisions can cross it easily. Putin, as a competent Russian leader, cannot allow the area to become an E.U. and NATO base, or let it be controlled by a hostile party or power. During the Cold War, we knew that if the Russians had attacked Western Europe through the Fulda Gap in Germany we would be hard pressed to stop them. That’s why we kept the area of the Fulda Gap fully militarized IN OUR FAVOR.

      All Putin is doing is protecting his country from the machinations of neocon and globalist scum.

      • Julia Griffin

        Such a pity you couldn’t have explained that to Navalny! I’m sure he would have been as edified as I am.

        But at this point I suspect I’m just talking to a Russian bot.

      • Joseph S. Salemi

        Alexei Navalny? You mean the Russian extremist gadfly who was stripped of his “Prisoner of Conscience” status by Amnesty International? You’d better pick your moral heroes more carefully, Julia.

        If you think I’m a Russian bot, that fine. As for me, I know that you are a brainwashed left-liberal sentimentalist.

      • Mike Bryant

        And why was he stripped of his “prisoner of conscience” status Joe?

        Because of discriminatory statements he made in 2007 and 2008, which they deemed as advocacy of hatred, particularly citing his past anti-immigrant remarks. This Navalny guy is a HATER!

        But then they realized they needed to make Putin look bad, so they reversed their stance in May 2021, apologized to the anti-immigrant hater Navalny, and reinstated his “prisoner of conscience” status.

        Could it be that Amnesty is in the pocket of Soros, their largest backer?

        Yes… the bad guys keep changing… the only thing that doesn’t change is the absolute necessity of death and destruction… at scale.

  10. Mike Bryant

    I have taken the liberty of copying this from a substack article on Nation First, by George Christensen

    https://nationfirst.substack.com/p/zelenskyys-meltdown-and-a-history

    Zelenskyy’s Meltdown & a History Lesson

    Nation First looks behind the blow-up in the White House to see who Zelenskyy really is and whether the mainstream narrative around Ukraine stacks up.
    MAR 01, 2025

    Dear friend,
    Many would have been shocked to see this—Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the so-called hero of democracy, in an outright shouting match with Donald Trump and JD Vance in the White House. For years, the media painted Zelenskyy as a courageous leader, a beacon of freedom, standing up to Russian “aggression.” But yesterday, the mask slipped.
    * Zelenskyy’s mask slipped during a fiery confrontation with Trump and JD Vance in the White House, proving he is not a grateful ally but a desperate puppet.
    * Ukraine has always been historically tied to Russia, and its so-called independence was only ever made possible by Western interference.
    * The US and NATO deliberately orchestrated Ukraine’s turn against Russia, using coups and propaganda to install a puppet regime that serves their interests.
    * Zelenskyy is possibly a Western intelligence asset, propped up by globalist elites while enriching himself at the expense of his own people.
    * The war in Ukraine was never about democracy—it was a Western-provoked disaster meant to weaken Russia, and now that it has failed, Zelenskyy is being cast aside.

    When Vance asked a simple question—why isn’t Ukraine showing gratitude for the billions of dollars in aid—it triggered an outburst. Zelenskyy, instead of thanking the US for bankrolling his war effort, accused America of not understanding what’s coming. Trump, never one to back down, reminded him exactly where he stands: “You don’t have the cards right now.” And he’s right.
    Zelenskyy has never been in control of this war. He isn’t some heroic leader calling the shots. He’s a desperate man clinging to power in a crumbling regime, propped up by Western money, Western weapons, and Western propaganda. And now, as Ukraine’s battlefield losses mount, as conscripts are dragged off the streets to fight, as the tide of public opinion in the West shifts—Zelenskyy is panicking.
    And why wouldn’t he be? He was never the real power in this war. The real architects of this disaster have been sitting in Washington, Brussels, and London, playing their geopolitical games. The war in Ukraine was never about protecting democracy, and it certainly wasn’t “unprovoked.” It was engineered—deliberately—by the West.
    But to understand that, you need to know the real history of Ukraine and Russia—history the mainstream media will never tell you.

    The Deep Ties Between Ukraine and Russia

    The Ukraine and Russia have been bound together for over a thousand years. Kyiv, the modern capital of the Ukraine nation, was once the heart of Kievan Rus, the first great Slavic state, which laid the foundations for Russian civilization itself. When the Mongols destroyed Kievan Rus in the 13th century, Moscow eventually rose to prominence, but the connection between Russians and Ukrainians never disappeared.
    By the 17th century, the Ukraine was a contested frontier between Poland and Russia. Notice I am saying “the Ukraine”. This is important. The nation of Ukraine is a modern invention. The Ukraine was always considered as being part of greater Russia. In fact, the name Ukraine derives from the Old East Slavic word “ukraina” meaning “borderland” by which they mean the borderlands of Russia. Except, for some time, it was under the control of foreign invaders… and the locals revolted.
    In 1654, the Ukrainian Cossacks, seeking protection from Polish rule, chose to join Russia in 1654 under the Treaty of Pereyaslav. This wasn’t some act of conquest—the Ukraine’s own leaders asked to be under Russian rule. And why wouldn’t have they; they were practically from the same ethnic stock.
    For centuries afterward, the Ukraine was an integral part of the Russian Empire, contributing to its military, economy, and culture. Even during the Soviet period, Ukraine, now a nation, wasn’t occupied—it was central to the USSR, producing its leadership, its industry, and its agriculture. Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader who gave Crimea to Ukraine in 1954, was himself Ukrainian.
    So when Western politicians and media talk about Ukraine as a permanently oppressed nation under Russian rule, they ignore the fact that for most of its history, the Ukraine was a key part of the Russian world. The real division started not because of Russian oppression, but because of Western interference.

    The West’s Long War Against Russia

    After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Ukraine became independent. But Washington didn’t see Ukraine as just another new country—it saw it as a tool to weaken Russia.
    The US and NATO promised Mikhail Gorbachev that they wouldn’t expand “one inch eastward.” That was a lie. NATO quickly swallowed up Poland, the Baltic States, and much of Eastern Europe, bringing its military presence right up to Russia’s borders.
    Ukraine was the big prize. If NATO could pull Ukraine into its orbit, it would deal a devastating blow to Russia’s security. Moscow made it clear—Ukraine joining NATO was a red line. But the West didn’t care.
    Instead of letting Ukraine develop as a neutral state between Russia and the West, Washington started pouring billions of dollars into the country, funding pro-Western political groups, media outlets, and NGOs. Their goal? To turn Ukraine against Russia and bring it fully into the Western camp.
    In 2004, the CIA and State Department backed the so-called “Orange Revolution,” a Western-funded uprising that overturned an election result that had favoured a Russia-friendly candidate. That was their first attempt to hijack Ukraine’s government.
    But the real turning point came in 2014, when Washington orchestrated an outright coup.

    The 2014 Coup: How the West Installed a Puppet Regime in Ukraine

    Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s democratically elected president, wanted to balance Ukraine between East and West. He rejected a terrible EU trade deal that would have gutted Ukraine’s industry and instead sought closer ties with Russia. That was unacceptable to Washington.
    What followed was the Maidan coup—not a “people’s revolution,” but a Western-backed takeover.
    US officials, including Victoria Nuland and John McCain, openly supported the protests. Nuland was caught on a leaked call choosing Ukraine’s next leaders before Yanukovych was even removed. The violent street protests were driven by neo-Nazigroups like the Azov Battalion and Right Sector—groups that openly admire Hitler’s collaborators in Ukraine.
    Yanukovych fled, and Washington’s hand-picked government took over. One of its first moves? Banning the Russian language in official settings—a direct attack on the millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the east.
    And that’s when Donbass and Crimea said enough!

    The War in Donbass: Ukraine’s War on Its Own People

    The people of Donetsk and Luhansk (also known as the Donbass) didn’t recognise the new, Western-backed regime in Kiev. They held referendums and voted to break away. Crimea, home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, also held a vote—with over 90% choosing to rejoin Russia.
    The response from Kiev? Brutal war.
    Instead of letting the Donbass go, Ukraine launched a military assault. For eight years, the people of Donetsk and Luhansk endured shelling, airstrikes, and blockades. Thousands of civilians died. Where was the Western outrage? Nowhere—because the media ignored it.
    Ukraine even used Nazi-linked militias like Azov to wage war on these civilians. These groups wore SS symbols, celebrated Nazi war criminals, and committed atrocities. And yet, the West armed them, trained them, and lied about their existence.

    Zelenskyy: A Western Intelligence Puppet?

    In 2013, the left-wing Covert Action magazine published an explosive revelation about Zelenskyy that should shock anyone who still believes the mainstream narrative. In October 2020, long before Russia’s military operation, Zelenskyy secretly met with Sir Richard Moore, the head of MI6. Not the British Prime Minister. The head of British intelligence. Diplomatically, that makes no sense. But if Zelenskyy was an MI6 asset, it makes perfect sense.
    According to Andriy Mishin, a former employee of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, this meeting signified that Zelenskyy was a professional intelligence agent and that Moore was his direct handler, telling him what to do.
    Since 2020, he has surrounded himself with British—not Ukrainian—security guards. When Zelenskyy visited the Vatican in May 2023, he snubbed Pope Francis and instead spent his time with British Bishop Paul Gallagher. His handler, Sir Richard Moore, was also present.
    Are we really supposed to believe this is all coincidence?
    And if Zelenskyy is an intelligence asset, then his entire presidency—his entire persona—is an illusion crafted for Western audiences. And that brings us to his rise to power.

    Hollywood Presidency: How Zelenskyy Was Manufactured

    Before he was president, Zelenskyy was a comedian—a TV actor in a scripted Ukrainian drama called Servant of the People, where he played a humble teacher who miraculously becomes president. It was pure political fiction.
    And then, suddenly, it became real life. His campaign was managed by Western PR specialists—including an Obama speechwriter—and heavily financed by Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, one of the most corrupt men in Ukraine.
    Kolomoisky, conveniently, owned Ukraine’s largest oil and gas company and bank. And when Zelenskyy took power, his first priority wasn’t fighting corruption—it was ensuring Western financial houses like BlackRock took over Ukraine’s economy.
    We now know that Zelenskyy funneled millions of dollars into offshore accounts—money that could have gone to his people. He allegedly used it to buy:
    * A $34 million mansion in Miami
    * A seaside home for his parents in Israel
    * A $3.8 million luxury apartment in London
    This is the man the media calls a hero.
    And once he was installed, his real job began: provoking war with Russia on behalf of the West.

    The War the West Wanted

    By 2022, NATO had armed Ukraine to the teeth, and Kiev had massed forces near the Donbass. Russia had a choice—let the ethnic Russian people in Donbass face an ethnic cleansing, and then let NATO turn Ukraine into a de facto launchpad for war, or step in. They stepped in.
    The media screamed that it was an “unprovoked invasion.” But it was provoked. NATO expansion, the 2014 coup, eight years of war on Donbass—this war was manufactured in Washington and, if the allegations around Zelenskyy being a MI6 asset are right, also in London.

    Time to Wake Up

    Zelenskyy can yell all he wants in the White House, but his game is up. Ukraine was never an independent player in this war—it was a pawn. A pawn used by Deep State actors in Washington to weaken Russia. And now that the war is lost, that pawn is being abandoned.
    So when Trump tells Zelenskyy “you don’t have the cards,” he’s not just talking about negotiations—he’s exposing the truth. And why would Trump do this if Zelenskyy is a Western puppet or, worse still, intelligence asset? Because that would mean he’s a puppet or agent of the Deep State—the same Deep State who have tried to destroy Trump since he was first elected in 2016. Perhaps President Trump wants payback, perhaps he wants justice, or perhaps he just wants peace and an end to this pointless war.
    The war in Ukraine didn’t need to happen. It was deliberately provoked. And it’s time for the world to wake up to that reality.
    Until next time, God bless you, your family and nation.
    Take care,
    George Christensen

    Nation First, by George Christensen is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Thank God for the truth. Even if just one man says it, it echoes through the heavens.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Robert Kennedy is exactly correct. He has expressed the truth that dare not speak its name.

      Mike, I watched the photo and TV ops on the BBC that followed the summit meeting of E.U. leaders and Starmer with Zelensky. This was the “Let’s save face and do some damage control” session that Zelensky wanted after having his clock cleaned by Trump and Vance.

      There was a huge picture of Zelensky, smiling like a cat who had just eaten the canary, and surrounded by a pack of fatuous, clueless Europeans who were pledging support for him and for his refusal of a cease-fire. And that Labourite moron Starmer was actually talking about sending U.K. “peacekeepers” to the Ukraine, and hoping that other NATO members would do the same.

      Are these people insane? Do they know that if NATO soldiers are killed in a combat zone it could very well mean that all of NATO might be drawn into a major war? I’ll tell you who DOES know it — all of those armaments companies that Kennedy mentions in his speech. And they are just drooling at the prospect of such a bloodbath.

      Those stupid, smiling faces at Starmer’s photo op could have been a tableau vivant of Europe in 1914, when everyone was madly enthused with the prospect of a world war, all because of some daft dispute in the Balkans.

  13. C.B. Anderson

    This is one of the best comment threads I have ever seen here, and I have been inspired to spell out (not a limerick, but) a plan that should appeal to Julia and Paul. Instead of sending our illegals to Gitmo, let’s put them in Ukrainian uniforms and send them over there. On the way, pick up Julia and Paul and give them the appropriate gear so that they can follow their hearts’ desires. I call it three birds with one stone.

    If Zelensky had any smarts at all, then he would retire to Switzerland with his cash stash, along with all of his now-rich generals. My question is: how big was the Biden Crime Family’s cut?

  14. Julia Griffin

    Now I know you prefer Putin to Navalny, I really don’t have to engage with any of this any more.

    Enjoy your lives. I am going to have a long, hot bath.

    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Julia, your comment above: “Dear God” was a cry of despair, not a prayer – despair at the heartlessness, the smug arrogance, the sheet baseness of this government and its stooges.” is an inflammatory and sweeping generalization that leaves no room for discussion.

      Commentors here have provided a history of the problems in Ukraine, which is key to the discussion and well worth a read – comments you haven’t addressed and are instead bent on putting down the “stooges” who don’t agree with you. I may well be inclined to consider your views in depth if you presented a fair argument. I don’t know the answer to the political games being played (nearly all of them behind the scenes, as ever) but I’ve made a considered comment which is more of a question than an answer – a comment you’ve dismissed as unworthy of a response.

      Sadly (although a recent American citizen) I didn’t vote in this election because I’ve lost heart in the process. I take politics seriously and have just finished reading Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago”, so I know enough to contribute to this conversation… yet you sweep across me and many others with an insulting dismissal of anything we have said or may say – “Enjoy your lives. I am going to have a long, hot bath.” insults me.

      Based on the knowledge I have (I’m still researching) I agree with Trump. He wants peace as quickly as possible. We are funding a war that fills the pockets of the fat cats stoking that war – America being the main aggressor. You are speaking to those who don’t take your stance as if we are heartless. This is not true. I have read both sides of the argument and this quote springs to mind:

      War is a place where the young kill one another without knowing or hating each other, because of the decision of old people who know and hate each other, without killing each other. ~ Erich Hartmann

      It would have been my grandfather’s 103rd birthday today. He fought for Britain in WWII. My family went through the Blitz in London. I understand the necessity for war. I do not understand fomenting wars for the gain of the banks and fat cats that rule the world at the expense of innocent lives. Perhaps (after your soak in the bath) you can help me to draw a fair assessment. Where am I going wrong? Free speech is the forum of ideas that will get us there. Thank you.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      You’re appalled that persons disagree with you, and that they have evidence to back up their position. How typical of a left-liberal sentimentalist.

      Have a nice life listening to Mainstream Media.

    • Mike Bryant

      Amnesty International initially designated Alexei Navalny as a “prisoner of conscience” following his arrest in January 2021, highlighting his unjust detention by Russian authorities.

      However, in February 2021, the organization revoked this status due to concerns over discriminatory statements he made in 2007 and 2008, which they deemed as advocacy of hatred, particularly citing his past anti-immigrant remarks. This Navalny guy is a HATER!

      But when they realized they needed to make Putin look bad, Amnesty reversed its stance in May 2021, apologized to the anti-immigrant hater Navalny, and reinstated his “prisoner of conscience” status.

      Hmmmm awful lot of flip flopping going on… could it be that Amnesty is in the pocket of Soros, their largest backer?

      But, yes… the bad guys keep changing… the only thing that doesn’t change is the absolute necessity of death and destruction… at scale.

  16. Mia

    Why manipulation is called brainwashing is interesting and somewhat baffling. Washing is not exactly apt as the brain is filled with half baked propaganda. Perhaps it is the washing away of common sense.
    So what is the opposite of brainwashing.
    It is taking a bath. Soaking in truth. Perhaps we should also reflect on how good it is to have water, a bath and a home that it is not in a war zone . Or that we can relax without worrying that an air raid siren might go off at any moment.
    As someone who experienced certain aspects of war at a very early , formative stage , I find it incomprehensible that those who want to stop an unnecessary war are called heartless. I think go figure is an American phrase that is most apt.
    I could go on but I think I have subjected you all to enough of my musings, for the time being.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      The original source of the idea of “brainwashing” came from a Chinese phrase that referred to persuading persons to give up old ideas and accept new ones. During the Korean War, Chinese captors tried to convince American and other United Nations POWs to confess to war crimes and to take part in Communist propaganda broadcasts. The English translation of the Chinese phrase came into popular use because of that.

      All totalitarian (and many democratic) governments use various forms of brainwashing to control and direct their populations. The Nazis, the Fascists, and the Soviets were very good at it because they controlled all the schools and all the mass media, and brainwashing simply became what the liberal-left calls “universally accepted and authoritative truth from unimpeachable sources.” When they scream “Accept the science!” this is just a variant way of saying the same thing.

      This is why the liberal left labels anything they don’t want to hear as “disinformation” or “enemy talking points” or “factoids.” And when you live in a hermetically sealed bubble like academia, legacy journalism, an NGO, or a government bureaucracy, you are completely impervious to reality. Anything that does not fit in with the public orthodoxy that you have been trained for years to swallow is something that you reflexively disregard and dismiss.

      One of Bill Clinton’s old political hacks has just come out with a book that unconsciously expresses what I’m discussing. His name is Alexander Vindman, and his new book is “The Folly of Realism.” This is the apotheosis of left-liberal brainwashing — brainwashed people like Vindman are so detached from reality that they can’t see it as anything but “folly.”

      • Mia

        Thank you I did not know that the term came from China.

        It must be a coincidence that Vindman sounds very much like Windman,,,

      • Mia

        oops , that was meant to be dot, dot , dot
        not commas. I have been on the computer too long. Now I am looking up the book. Glowing blurb from a publisher called, Hatchette. Honestly someone is having a laugh.

  17. Margaret Coats

    Joe, thank you first of all for taking up this topic. As discussion has laid out, it is far more than a diplomatic spat in the news. Your poem focuses where thinking by ordinary persons is due. And that is important. Long before this, I heard French protestors claim huge Ukraine spending is contrary to French interests. This is certainly confirmed when one follows Trump to reflect how contrary it is to the interests of Ukrainians, so many of whom have fled their country.

    Thanks to other contributors, especially Mike Bryant for choosing the Christensen and Kennedy selections. I did read the lengthy Christensen material, but Kennedy exercises his remarkable cut-to-the-point capability. The war is being fought less against Russia, than in favor of globalism intent on dominating the Ukraine. This aim with its long history is almost a done deal. The proposal by Trump and Vance at least plans for it to take place without further destruction, and with greater future benefit for the people than possible from total corporate buyout of the ground on which they live.

    Thanks as well to Mia for her perspective and her musings, and to Julia Griffin for the statement revealing some of what goes on at Amnesty International.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Thank you, Margaret. People are getting fed up with Zelensky and his massive theft, not just in the U.S. but all over Europe. Only in Hungary is such dissent allowed to have public expression. In the U.K., France, Germany and other nations the mainstream media and newspapers keep a tight lid on the anger, refusing to publish anything except fawning support for Zelensky and his continuing refusal to face facts. And the left, of course, choreographs pro-Ukrainian demonstrations for the TV cameras.

      Trump has just ordered an immediate pause of all arms and ammo shipments to the Ukraine. Maybe a harsh dose of reality will wake Zelensky up.

  18. Mike Bryant

    You’re right, Margaret, about Julia helping to bring out the interesting things going on at Amnesty International.

    Some of the huge foundations that back them, generously, are The Open Society Foundations (George Soros), the Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation… who have all forwarded one-world agendas. (which are, incidentally, anti-religion, and especially anti-Christian)

    They happily work together with all churches, Protestant and Catholic, when their interests coincide???

    They advocate for the decriminalization of abortion and the decriminalization of prostitution.

    They also are huge advocates of the self-declared Marxist organization BLM. They supported the ME TOO movement, all manner of woke idiocies and the transgender movement.

    In the 2024 Gaza Report, Amnesty International has fudged their own definition of “genocide” in order to demonize Israel.

    Amnesty has been accused of being “Putin’s propagandist” and now Zelenskyy’s propagandist.

    I have only barely touched on the idiocies, lies, flip-flops and crimes that have been committed and abetted by this so-called advocate for justice.

    I’m pretty sure they will say whatever makes them the most money.

    • Margaret Coats

      Mike, all you say is what I have long known or suspected about this organization. Thanks for making the information public here. What’s interesting in the piece Julia posted is that Amnesty claims an “internal” discussion, privately lowering their assigned status of Aleksei Navalny, worsened his status in prison. How did the gulag guards find out, and why would they care? Amnesty cares because it makes them look influential.

    • Mia

      By one of those strange coincidences I went on the Amnesty International website a few weeks ago just out of curiosity but was not particularly enthused. Because of the discussion here I revisited the site and have found a nugget worthy of mentioning. They, to their credit, have taken the case of an imprisoned Turkish national, incarcerated for the crime of exposing Turkey’s use of chemical weapons in Syria and Iraq. I am sure that Turkey denies the allegations so we must say allegedly. Interestingly I have not heard anything about it from anywhere else have you? Is it because it is untrue or is it because Turkey is a powerful member of NATO , the same one that Zelensky wants his country to join. Another case of don’t look here , look over there. BTW, bringing Russia down would leave Turkey free to recreate the Ottoman Empire only this time stretching all the way to the UK . It has enough sympathisers in every European country already. It will be a walk in the park for them. Just as the last remnant of Christianity is dying in the middle east it will die in Europe. Can I claim asylum in the US please.

      • Mike Bryant

        Hey Mia, yes Amnesty International does often highlight the underdog. They do it just enough to retain credibility but not enough to lose their very wealthy sponsors. They deliver what Susan calls “truth sandwiches.” And no, I haven’t heard of his case, but the truth is almost never well-accepted, especially by the rascals exposed!
        You have been chased all across Europe! Maybe the Brits are about ready to stand up and push back… I have heard some rumblings.
        And Mia, you should’ve sought asylum under Biden! Your case will probably be a bit tougher now! However, I think you should go for it. It’s amazing what a smart lawyer can do!

      • Mia

        Dear Mike , thank you. I should have come when my sister did in the late seventies and now she is an American. I have American nieces and great nephews and nieces. So I am sort of a relative. But I really didn’t want to come under Biden but how stupid of me, with all that DEI I might be in congress but I doubt anyone would vote for me , I never say what people want to hear.

  19. Jerry Heavey

    A Haiku prompted by recent events at the White House

    Zelensky dismayed
    Putin pats the head of Trump,
    “Good doggy, ” he says.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      A haiku prompted by Jerry Heavey’s idiocy.

      Jerry Heavey spouts
      A brainless anti-Trump smear.
      (His virtue-signal).

    • Paul A. Freeman

      Trump and co. do seem to have tuned into Russian TV and are dutifully spouting the mouthpiece’s propaganda. RT are moving on, though. They have a new documentary out claiming Poland is not a real country, i.e. it’s ripe for the picking, too.

      I wonder when they’ll decide America cheated them out of Alaska and demand that back. I suppose the USA’s Panama Canal claims makes that a precedent.

      Where will it all end.

      • Joseph S. Salemi

        Is that the best you can do, Paul? Come up with scare stories about how Putin is the new Napoleon, and wants to conquer vast territories?

        I notice that you studiously avoid any of the hard evidence that has been presented in this thread about the real causes of the Ukrainian war. Why is that?

  23. Joseph S. Salemi

    Since I work in academia, I have several left-liberal acquaintances. Not all of them are insane, and some of them actually notice facts.

    One female colleague (from a far-left background of parental Communism) is a standard liberal who reliably votes Democratic, and who generally favors “progressive” causes. But several things have recently made her rethink a great deal of her inherited orthodoxy.

    The first two were the October 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, and the explosion of blatant anti-Semitism among academia’s elites and their propagandized students that followed hard upon this. My colleague is Jewish by heritage, though she is not a believer. But to revise an old saying, “Blood is thicker than dogma.” She was enraged at what she saw and heard, especially from colleagues at work who began speaking like Nazi S.A. thugs about her people, and from students who carried signs says “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Jew-Free!”

    When she spoke to me privately about this, I told her that the term “Jew-Free” was the English translation of the German term “Judenrein,” and was used prominently in Nazi propaganda to describe what they wanted for Germany and whatever other country they could control.

    The murderous October 7 attack, and this explosion of anti-Jewish hate, were Strike One and Strike Two for this woman. She was truly shaken by events. Now I’ll tell you about Strike Three.

    We spoke at length about the Ukrainian War, and she confessed that her initial sympathies were with the Ukrainians. But when I pointed out to her the hard evidence (of the sort that Mike Bryant has posted just above in this thread) about American neocon and Deep-State action to foment this unnecessary war… well, as the Brits say, “that tore it” for her. She was shocked and infuriated. She knew that the liars at the New York Times and the BBC and CNN had connived to cover up a profoundly evil act that has so far claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of young Ukrainian and Russian men.

    As the Burns memo proves, anyone with a brain could have predicted the bloodbath that we have right now. The Russians themselves told us that eastward expansion of NATO was militarily and geopolitically unacceptable to them, and would lead to a Ukrainian civil war and their intervention to protect ethnic Russians. And the arrogant scumbags in our Deep State totally disregarded this.

    My colleague is now much more thoughtful, and she also keeps silent a lot of the time. I realized that a critical mass of clear thinkers is developing slowly and steadily among persons who up to now have been thoughtless consumers of left-liberal propaganda from Mainstream Media. There’s even a phrase for the phenomenon: we on the right call it being “red-pilled.” It happens to you when you finally realize that you have been lied to and gaslighted and propagandized and exploited by the left-liberal Establishment and Deep State.

  24. Yael

    Awesome poem and discussion! If the MSM were to adopt this format I might pay attention to it occasionally. I do like to consider all the different viewpoints in a conflict because I understand that the world we live in contains a lot of nuances. I have found that whenever people attempt to dominate, manipulate or intimidate other people in words or actions, there is demonic oppression at work. If waging war and butchering people seems like the right answer to anyone, I suggest that the wrong questions were being asked.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Thank you, Yael. The great psychologist C.G. Jung (who was an agnostic) made the very same point that you have made. He said that his years as a psychiatrist, treating hundreds of patients, had convinced him that the most dangerous and evil tendency in human beings was the desire to control, dominate, intimidate, and dictate to others.

      You and I both know that this human tendency is demonic in its source. C.G. Jung learned of its power from his empirical dealings with persons.

      I personally regret that the long discussion thread following this poem got very heated and savage, and I’m sorry for my contributions to the verbal violence. It’s simply that the spectacle of the useless deaths of hundreds of thousands of young Ukrainians and Russians sends me into a rage.

      • Yael

        The unconscionable slaughter of the Ukrainian and Russian people is terribly infuriating, especially because we cannot seem to stop it. That’s why I believe it is important to have this discussion, even if some toes get stepped on, in order to shed as much light as possible on the situation. Light dispels darkness. It may not be much, but it’s better than doing nothing, lest being silent, we become accomplices to the murder.
        Because I have not seen this interesting viewpoint addressed here, I would like to submit the following perspective for your consideration:
        https://stateofthenation.info/?p=14571
        “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
        For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
        Ecclesiastes 12:13,14

  25. X

    The discussion was passionate but I don’t think it particularly savage.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      This is why I would like the entire discussion thread to end here. The situation between Russia and the Ukraine is already complicated and entangled enough. We don’t have to bring religion into it. Professional religionists always throw in extraneous issues and unprovable hypotheses and quotes from the Bible, when the real questions in war are simple ones of power and culture-clash.

      When things such as this come up, I always think of the brilliant lines of Dorothy Parker about religionists:

      They go around talking to everyone about Heaven,
      As if they were special correspondents.

      I don’t want to see any more comments in this thread, and if any more appear I will ask Mike Bryant to delete them