I'm just going to say it: Zelensky is an idiot.

The only reason the man got worshiped is because he did the same thing any C- or better leader would have done in his circumstances and didn't flee the country. That's a really fucking low bar. It's very rare for a leader to flee. Even Muammar Gaddafi didn't flee Libya. Hitler didn't flee.

Now as for why Zelensky is an idiot: the United States told Zelensky's staff that Russia was going to invade in a November 2021 meeting, and Zelensky's response was to downplay and stay in denial because he was worried about a panic:

Ukrainian officials complained that whenever the Americans shared their bleak outlook about an imminent invasion, they never fully provided Kyiv with the details of their intelligence. In November, Ukraine’s foreign minister and Zelensky’s chief of staff visited the State Department in Washington, where a senior U.S. official greeted them with a cup of coffee and a smile. “Guys, dig the trenches!” the official said. “When we smiled back,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba recalled, the U.S. official said, “ ‘I’m serious. Start digging trenches. … You will be attacked. A large-scale attack, and you have to prepare for it.’ ”

Similarly, warning Ukrainians to prepare for war as some partners wanted him to, he said, would have weakened the country economically and made it easier for the Russians to capture. “Let people discuss in the future whether it was right or not right,” Zelensky recalled, “but I definitely know and intuitively — we discussed this every day at the National Security and Defense Council, et cetera — I had the feeling that [the Russians] wanted to prepare us for a soft surrender of the country. And that’s scary.”

This motherfucker did not mobilize and did not wisely use the MONTHS of warning to dig trenches and fortify the already-known routes of attack, because he was afraid that this would cause people to flee (yes, and?) and cause a slow down of the economy (which slowed down MUCH WORSE once the invasion started). This motherfucker robbed his people of the time to prepare, preparation which would have saved thousands of lives, and might have stopped the invasion much sooner and prevented the loss of Kherson, for example.

Trench networks could have been filled with mobilized territorial defense brigades. Roads could have been extensively mined and had elaborate fortified ambush positions prepared. Women and children could have fully evacuated out of likely combat zones. Mitigation measures against bombing and artillery could have been taken. Shelters built for civilians. supplies stockpiled. A defense in depth planned, prepared, and built out. They had PLENTY of time.

And this motherfucker squandered it all.

Zelensky was solely worshiped by the international liberal media because it serves the media's purposes to lionize him and use him as a champion for their cause. It's not like he earned it through genuine merit. He simply played the role handed to him and rattled his tin cup at every opportunity.

I'm just going to say it: Zelensky is an idiot.

The only reason the man got worshiped is because he did the same thing any C- or better leader would have done in his circumstances and didn't flee the country. That's a really fucking low bar. It's very rare for a leader to flee. Even Muammar Gaddafi didn't flee Libya. Hitler didn't flee.

Now as for why Zelensky is an idiot: the United States told him flat out Zelensky's staff that Russia was going to invade in a November 2021 meeting, and Zelensky's response was to downplay and stay in denial because he was worried about a panic:

Ukrainian officials complained that whenever the Americans shared their bleak outlook about an imminent invasion, they never fully provided Kyiv with the details of their intelligence. In November, Ukraine’s foreign minister and Zelensky’s chief of staff visited the State Department in Washington, where a senior U.S. official greeted them with a cup of coffee and a smile. “Guys, dig the trenches!” the official said. “When we smiled back,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba recalled, the U.S. official said, “ ‘I’m serious. Start digging trenches. … You will be attacked. A large-scale attack, and you have to prepare for it.’ ”

Similarly, warning Ukrainians to prepare for war as some partners wanted him to, he said, would have weakened the country economically and made it easier for the Russians to capture. “Let people discuss in the future whether it was right or not right,” Zelensky recalled, “but I definitely know and intuitively — we discussed this every day at the National Security and Defense Council, et cetera — I had the feeling that [the Russians] wanted to prepare us for a soft surrender of the country. And that’s scary.”

This motherfucker did not mobilize and did not wisely use the MONTHS of warning to dig trenches and fortify the already-known routes of attack, because he was afraid that this would cause people to flee (yes, and?) and cause a slow down of the economy (which slowed down MUCH WORSE once the invasion started). This motherfucker robbed his people of the time to prepare, preparation which would have saved thousands of lives, and might have stopped the invasion much sooner and prevented the loss of Kherson, for example.

Trench networks could have been filled with mobilized territorial defense brigades. Roads could have been extensively mined and had elaborate fortified ambush positions prepared. Women and children could have fully evacuated out of likely combat zones. Mitigation measures against bombing and artillery could have been taken. Shelters built for civilians. supplies stockpiled. A defense in depth planned, prepared, and built out. They had PLENTY of time.

And this motherfucker squandered it all.

Zelensky was solely worshiped by the international liberal media because it serves the media's purposes to lionize him and use him as a champion for their cause. It's not like he earned it through genuine merit. He simply played the role handed to him and rattled his tin cup at every opportunity.