With the firing of more than 500 Ukrainian prosecutors, several of whom played key roles in Rudy Giuliani’s pressure campaign, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent a message to President Trump — that his promise to root out corruption in Ukraine may be more important than pleasing Trump.
That ain’t “Mild” in diplo-speak.
All that matters is that he said there was no quid pro quo and that Pompeo followed up making sure he understands that he is still on the hook with the Trump administration to make them happy…
Indeed. Translated out of diplomatic palaver, it would be more like “cuts Trump off at the knees.”
Oh yes, Jabba. Occlude the firmament with as much smoke and mirrors and your flapping mouth as possible. Eleven more months of it and the result will go against you. But then there is the DNC, which will continue to play into your hands, be thoroughly outframed and you’ll get re-elected.
It’s only ‘mild’ because right now Trump is the only game in town. Just wait.
So the quid pro quo is no quid pro quo? Norman, coordinate!
@castor_troy It sounds like Zelensky could use Obama’s Anger Translator, Luther.
(h/t Key & Peele)
Depends. I don’t think we or the russkies are quite sure how to take Zelensky. He’s definitely an unknown quantity. russia thought going in that he would totally roll over, one of their first moves was to offer russian passports to all Ukrainians in the conflict zone, and he rather forcefully objected to that.
It’s Ukraine, so he’s playing some angle (that whole Kolomoisky patron bit), but nobody’s sure which way he’ll jump.
Based on what’s come out over the last couple weeks (i.e. Poroshenko was all set to play ball with Giuliani and friends), it sounds like Zelensky’s election threw them all for a loop. It seems like Russia must have been interfering in some capacity, but I have no idea what they were aiming for and whether they wanted this outcome. As you said, they may have thought he’d be a pushover as a political neophyte, but he does seem to be holding his ground to some degree.
Perhaps Putin thought he’d be Trump redux in Ukraine: an entertainer who wouldn’t understand how to play the game and could be easily manipulated and led by the nose to Russia’s desired outcome.
Oh, putin was definitely playing in it. One of his more clever things was to get a second Tymoshenko on the ballot (costs $70K to get on the ballot, that’s enough for a decent apartment even in Kyiv, and it was some random guy in some small town where that’s a veritable fortune) to siphon votes there.
But it’s always been an odd thing. Kolomoisky was one of the key players who stopped the russkie advance, by organizing and equipping the volunteer battalions early on, so certainly no friend of russia…
Zelensky needs to shut his fucking piehole. He’s so fucking terrified about Trump’s willingness to abuse his power and the GOP and their corrupt willingness to cover for anything Trump does that he’s playing right into their shit, allowing them to corrupt him. Every time he goes on camera, Faux News blows a load all over the internet…and absolutely none of the nuanced, intellectualized crap in this article will beat out the right wing propaganda machine blaring a “Zelensky says no quid pro quo” narrative all over the place.
He’s saying as much as he can without directly “provoking” trump to order an accidental airstrike on the presidential palace.
I’m going to Chinatown in SF later to ask all the merchants there if they are getting shaken down by anybody. I’m sure they’ll all be entirely honest about it.
When I was a teenager I used to read and watch spoofs of people in the position of Zelensky which would chide them for Weather-Vaning.
All of us knew who the players were and what they had to do. And the most flattering portrayals weren’t of The Soviet Union or the United States. We all knew what “need” and “danger” were.
If the American People polled at 75+% percent Impeachment and Removal a lot of us would be impressed with Zelensky’s backbone.
Yup. Very easy to armchair-quarterback what Zelensky should say or do when a decent chunk of your country hasn’t been annexed by the adversary next door who has the military capability of smashing across your country in short order.
If you read Zelensky’s words never said there was “no quid pro quo” . Instead he showed us how fast he’s learning the political game and said he did not discuss a “quid pro quo” which does not preclude him talking about a tit for tat or other exchange. If he said “yeah I did it” it would end his credibility as a reformer and doom his next election. And it’s all so silly. Like I said in an earlier post Zelensky’s not going to cave outright to Trump because no one can stand Trump and it would be a political loser for him. Way too much American perspective on this.
There’s been ample testimony from Americans that a quid pro quo was in play. You can drop the Latin and use Ukrainian or English for the arrangement but it was a “do this and I’ll do that” extortion of Ukraine.
He said no quid pro quo. Period. That is the takeaway. Again, put down the nuanced, intellectualized understanding of the world around you and start understanding how the vast majority of this idiot country misunderstands…heck, actively disunderstands…the world around them.