If anybody is going to be organizing elections in Ukraine, London intends to have its hand in the outcome. The Economist provocatively announced March 30 that “preparations are underway for a presidential vote” in Ukraine, reporting as fact (based on unnamed sources, of course) that Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called a meeting of his team last week and told them to start preparing to hold elections, perhaps as soon as July. A “senior government source” spoke of early elections catching Zelenskyy’s opponents so off guard that he might run unopposed. Don’t forget that poll in March—commissioned by The Economist, they report!—which ostensibly found that Zelenskyy’s popularity had risen greatly after his humiliating meeting with President Trump.
These clever British giggle that “Messrs. Putin and Trump, may not now want a quick election…. Both presumably demanded one believing it would lead to Mr. Zelenskyy’s exit. Given that the calculation has flipped upside-down, they might not sit quiet while he fast-tracks his progress to a second term.”
BBC followed up today, with an article citing the various denials by government officials of any such plans as proof that Zelenskyy is indeed “mulling a summer poll,” or why would they have to deny the rumors? BBC, too, echoes the line that “by winning a second term, Zelenskyy would call Russia’s bluff and strengthen his hand in any long-term negotiations.”
The British Empire never has only one plan at play. The Economist’s menacing headline on its musings was Macbeth’s murderous thought, “Twere Well It Were Done Quickly.” It concluded with another sinister thought. “Mr. Trump’s rushed diplomacy could lead to a bad peace agreement and resentment,” they write. “In time, some Ukrainians may call for a tougher, more militaristic government. For all his flaws, Mr. Zelenskyy depends too much on popular approval to ever become a true dictator. Whoever comes after him may be less circumspect.”
