In Surprise to No One, Corporate Media Attacks Democracy
Russia is evil for not allowing real elections, but Ukraine cannot possibly be expected to hold any elections because Russia is evil
I remember a time when the corporate media was lecturing all of us about democracy and the dangers posed to it by the return of Donald Trump to the White House at every possible moment, but it is clearly true what many other people have pointed out before me: When they said that Trump posed a threat to “our democracy,” what they meant was that they believed that Trump posed a threat to their bureaucracy. Now the mask has dropped even further as Newsweek laments that Ukraine, who had previously been cast as fighting for democracy itself, couldn’t possibly be expected to hold democratic elections.
There are concerns that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could be ousted from office after President Donald Trump said that Kyiv should hold elections, according to British newspaper The Telegraph.
Newsweek has reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Zelensky was made Time Magazine's person of the year in 2022 for his "success as a wartime leader" and has been lauded as the face of Ukrainian resistance to Russia's invasion. His exit from office could drastically change the outcome of the war and the achievement of security guarantees for Ukraine.
Ukraine hosting an election also raises the concern that Russia could interfere in the poll and install a pro-Kremlin leader who would be more amenable to Moscow's terms to end the war.
I’ve written previously about how the Ukrainian constitution suspends elections when an official declaration of martial law has been imposed, but it is, conveniently, the Ukrainian president, in this case Volodymyr Zelensky, who gets to make the declaration of martial law that suspends elections and keeps the president in power indefinitely. It’s one thing for a politician to suspend democracy and elections so that they can hold onto power, it’s expected, even, especially in a country as corrupt as Ukraine, but it’s another for the American corporate media to so blatantly turn on a dime and start propagandizing against democracy after using it as a cudgel against Donald Trump and his supporters during the recent presidential election. An election that was held, I’ll remind everyone, while the U.S. is militarily engaged in multiple active war zones across the world, even if our government refuses to call them wars.
In fact, the United States has held presidential elections, including ones that led to a change in the Commander-in-Chief, in the middle of almost all the major wars that it has waged: In 1864 during the American Civil War, in 1944 during World War II, in 1952 during the Korean War, in 1968 when Richard Nixon succeeded Lyndon B. Johnson as President during the Vietnam War, in 2004 while the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were in their early years, and again in 2008 with Barack Obama succeeding George W. Bush as President while those wars were still ongoing and set to get even worse. If the American taxpayer is going to be robbed to pay for Ukraine’s war in the name of defending democracy, then shouldn’t the Ukrainian government be expected to live up to a minimum standard of democracy set by the United States throughout its history?
Newsweek and the rest of the corporate media don’t want you to think so; they do not believe in democracy, or elections, or freedom, or any other buzzword they’ll cynically exploit when it suits them. They are a part of the regime, and the regime benefits from war. “War is the health of the State,” as Randolph Bourne famously said. The war between Ukraine and Russia is a benefit to the regime, in ratings and arms sales, and Volodymyr Zelensky potentially losing an election is a threat to the continuance of the war. So they will tell you that Vladimir Putin is evil because he doesn’t hold real elections in Russia, therefore, negotiating with Putin is evil, while at the same time arguing that Ukraine can’t hold elections at all, also because Putin is evil. The real issue, however, is that propaganda outlets like Newsweek have a vested interest in the continued slaughter of Russians and Ukrainians and will say anything to try to keep it going, while those of us agitating for peace know that war is actually the greatest threat to democracy and, more importantly, to human liberty.
All of that said, whether Ukraine has elections or not should be of no consequence to the United States government, as there should be no further aid to Ukraine regardless of its level of democracy. It's time for Zelensky back up all of his tough talk on his own dime, without ripping off the American taxpayer.