We know that the Masters of War lied about the Gulf of Tonkin in order to rev up the Vietnam War. We know they lied about “Weapons of Mass Destruction” to drag us into Iraq. We know that they’ve lied and lied and lied about one war after another.
But this time it’s different. If you really believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
The lie du jour is that we have to “defend democracy” in Ukraine.
Which is odd, because there’s precious little democracy in Ukraine to actually defend. Not counting the violent coup in 2014, the current government of Vlodymyr Zelensky looks indistinguishable from any other corrupt Eastern European dictatorship.
After playing several clips of politicians saying that supporting Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky against Russia is about upholding “democracy,” [Tucker Carlson] explained, “As Pelosi puts it, the Ukrainian people are fighting the fight for their democracy, and for ours as well. That’s right – for ours as well. Without Ukrainian democracy, in other words, we can have no democracy here.”
“If the Ukrainians aren’t free, neither are we. We must make sure they can vote in Kyiv. So we can continue to vote in Kansas City,” Carlson added.
Yeah, about that…
[Carlson showed] a recent clip of Ukraine’s Zelensky announcing that elections would only be held in the country if it won the war against Russia […]
“So to recap, we are currently fighting a war for democracy on behalf of a leader who just casually announced he’s happy to end democracy, and our democracy-supporting leaders have no problem with that; in fact, they’re strongly for it,” Carlson explained. “Shocked? You shouldn’t be, of course, there for it. You should have seen this coming. Wars For Democracy always cancel democracy in the process. That’s why our leaders love them.”
“When normal people see war, they see death and destruction, sadness and suffering. But that’s not what demagogues see. They understand that differently. They know that war means power, mostly for them. During wartime, everything they do can be justified,” Carlson added.
Florida Capital Star
Indeed, using war as a justification, Zelensky has banned and jailed political opponents, and shut down, not just domestic opposition media, but critical foreign media as well.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been accused of media censorship after passing a new law on Thursday that could allow his government to block news websites.
On Thursday, the president passed the bill that expands the government’s regulatory power over news media. The 279-page legislation was passed by Ukraine’s parliament in December.
The law expands the authority of Ukraine’s state broadcasting council, meaning that it will be able to regulate all media in Ukraine […]
The regulator will be able to impose mandatory orders, and fines and even suspend media outlets without a court decision. Under the law, the council can also restrict content from search engines such as Google.
Newsweek
Not even churches are safe from Zelensky’s boot heel.
In a move condemned in Moscow, Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council told the government to draft the law following a series of raids on parishes that Kyiv says could be taking orders from Moscow as Russia wages war on Ukraine.
The security council, which groups top security, military and political figures, also ordered investigations into suspected “subversive activities of Russian special services in the religious environment of Ukraine¨ and called for sanctions against unspecified individuals […]
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) also continued its raids on Friday, saying it searched at least five parishes belonging to a branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which until May was subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Reuters
So… suspending elections, banning and jailing opposition parties, shutting down media, raiding churches and arresting priests.
Does this sound like democracy to you? How are we possibly “defending freedom” in Ukraine, when there’s none to defend?