The Cult Of Zelensky, The Crimes of Fried, And The End Of Peace
American Government and Politicians Tip Into Madness, Worshiping War, Corrupt Leaders, And Supporting Open Graft And Crime
The bizarre spectacle of it all.
Just before the Holidays, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an unprecedented government and corporate media-sanctioned ritual, was welcomed and apparently crowned as the new arbiter of America’s financial and social destiny in official Washington.
The best marketing geniuses in American advertising couldn’t have done a better job of selling a grim future of perpetual war, and extreme indebtedness for generations to come, as America’s salvation. Corporate media, both left and right, join in to tell us to dig deeper and sacrifice more. It’s the “Deal of the Century!” say the financial “journalists” that have zero sense of historical perspective and its valuable lessons, and only see day-to-day life as profit and loss on a static graph, not real-world consequences.
America can’t hesitate, they say, and MUST boldly step into a glorious liberal world order, all led by a rumpled-looking little man in combat uniform, like a vampire for blood, always needing more. The tributes are STILL flowing in as I type this. Below is a particularly heinous example that falls immediately into the classification of propaganda, infused with sick irony, ignorance of the objective historical record, and the perverse imaginings of the glorious unity of war:
“Sure, there were dissenters in the room, but they were not what mattered. Words surged into the consciousness that I haven’t considered for a while — compatriots, comrades, co-believers in a common creed. Zelenskyy and his fellow Ukrainians have reminded Americans of the values and causes we used to admire in ourselves — the ardent hunger for freedom, the deep-rooted respect for equality and human dignity, the willingness to fight against brutal authoritarians who would crush the human face under the heel of their muddy boots. It is as if Ukraine and Zelenskyy have rekindled a forgotten song, and suddenly everybody has remembered how to sing it.”
If you have the urge to retch, you wouldn’t be the first.
The outsider’s voices, the “dissenters that don’t matter,” ACTUAL journalists like Max Blumenthal seeking the truth, are predictably marginalized. No hard questions are allowed to our arrogant, omniscient leaders, high on their power, deluded into thinking America’s perpetual involvement in endless war, especially in Ukraine, is another lucrative business opportunity. For them, it will be. The rest of America, not so much. They’re cynical, vile, and self-righteous, and believe they are untouchable.
The all-pervasive bipartisan division and rancor magically disappeared. If there is anything that can unite America, it’s war, and the empty-headed stenographers across the political spectrum celebrated the “unity” that war brings, especially Senate leaders like Mitch McConnell, who could have been, at that moment, reading off a teleprompter linked directly to the White House press office. Another convert to, and proselytizer for Zelenskyanity. He stabs the air and punctuates the words with his aging, feeble hands. You can hear the ghost of Senator Joseph McCarthy being channeled through him. The new “enemies” of America are named. War, and its funding, are the new “priority” of the ironically unopposed “opposition” party.
For those holding firmly to denying consent for war, the weird ceremony felt like some malevolent force indoctrinating America into the new religion of perpetual war with Zelensky as Messiah.
For the indoctrinated, it was a chance to broadcast the “good news for modern man”: America, like Sir Walter Raleigh, in deference and humble servitude, is ready to lay down its metaphorical cape over the mud puddle, and accede to the unprecedented, absurd demands of yet another former actor, in giving the lions share of all national treasure for generations to Ukraine to fight an unending proxy war. His “acting chops” apparently, make him a BETTER leader, because, as the corporate media like to remind us, it’s about appearances, not action or policy.
I’m sure Ben Stiller and Sean Penn gave him advice during one of the many celebrity tribute visits that Zelensky hosted since the invasion began. Stiller, a rich, comfortable celebrity, tweets the ludicrous assertion that he's EXACTLY like the: “families with kids, who will be struggling all winter to stay alive because their power and fuel will be targeted purely to make them suffer.”
Notably, the ceremony and events leading up to the “historic” speech were, to the objective observer, like watching a peaceful transfer of power from America to Ukraine with no prior notice. The media, Biden White House, and Democratic Congressional members didn’t hide the fact that they considered Zelensky to be analogous to a modern-day Winston Churchill fighting Hitler and the forces of Nazi Germany.
Zelensky was flown in courtesy of the US taxpayer on an Air Force jet, escorted over a red carpet, and given a limo ride to the White House. Biden hosted a joint press conference, only the beginning of the fawning PR spectacle to follow. Protocols usually reserved for rare visits from the monarchy were let loose in the strangest, and the tackiest manner. Zelensky was given an identical podium, with the Presidential seal included, that is typically reserved for American Presidents exclusively. It was as if the subliminal message was: This man, Zelensky, is now co-equal in power and authority to the American President and its Congress.
As alarming and hysterical as that may sound, consider that the Congress did something usually reserved for State Of The Union speeches, convening a joint session, demanding respect, attention, and adherence to protocol, and verbal censure by a tattle tale social and corporate media for those members who didn’t reserve their full attention for the “savior” of Ukraine.
Speaking of Messiahs and Saviors, the strangest aspect was, after being announced like Biden at a typical SOTU speech, Zelensky’s walk down the aisle. It was concerning to watch wide-eyed, almost hypnotized Congressional members closest to the aisle reach out and touch Zelensky, a sort of “Hosannah” moment reminiscent of Jesus's triumphant, if humble, return to Jerusalem on a donkey, his disciples reaching out to touch their savior. This was intentional, part of the coordinated, continuing effort to make this “cause,” and Zelensky himself, seem supernatural and larger than life.
In another ritual, flags were exchanged between the countries, all while Nancy Pelosi literally kissed Zelensky after. It was an assault on reality, reason, and objectivity. This was, in fact, intentional Democratic Party messaging: We’re going all in for the permanent war economy. The core of the issue is the abandonment of American society to the narrow interests of war profiteers. To quote Chris Hedges, from a recent excellent, incisive article on the transformation of the Democrats to a war party:
“Seymour Melman, in his book “Pentagon Capitalism,” documented the way militarized societies destroy their domestic economies. Billions are spent on the research and development of weapons systems while renewable energy technologies languish. Universities are flooded with military-related grants while they struggle to find money for environmental studies and the humanities. Bridges, roads, levees, rail, ports, electric grids, sewage treatment plants and drinking water infrastructures are structurally deficient and antiquated. Schools are in disrepair and lack sufficient teachers and staff. Unable to stem the COVID-19 pandemic, the for-profit health care industry forces families, including those with insurance, into bankruptcy. Domestic manufacturing, especially with the offshoring of jobs to China, Vietnam, Mexico and other nations, collapses. Families are drowning in personal debt, with 63 percent of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. The poor, the mentally ill, the sick and the unemployed are abandoned.”
The corporate vampires of the Military Industrial complex aren’t even trying to hide their open graft and criminality any longer. The outlook for their future profits is astoundingly bright, as key leaders from the President, to the Congress, to the US military, without the consent of the governed, and no formal declaration of war, have committed to the fight to “weaken” the two largest superpowers on the planet. Lavish receptions at the Ukrainian embassy were thrown to presumably line up the pigs to the gold-plated trough. The receptions are sponsored by major military weapons contractors, who literally brand their names directly onto the bottom. What used to be a matter of decorum or unspoken, is, now unasamedly out in the open
With the new cult/religion of Zelensky and the presumably imminent arrival of war, it’s no wonder that the most important financial corruption story of the last decade is summarily dismissed. Within, and running parallel to the FTX story, are definitive ties to bipartisan political donations to Congress, a connection to Ukraine, and a valid connection between Biden and his son Hunter profiting from power. The media and Democratic party sycophants demand that Donald Trump be tarred and feathered for all the alleged financial and related crimes he has committed, as he should be if tried in a court of law. The endless hearings in Congress from Mueller, to the January 6th committee, have resulted in plenty of opportunities for dubious political figures to cast moral judgment from on high, yet, no tangible results to bring Trump to justice. Which makes any observer wonder if the point is simply performative political theater. Cleaning their own house, and their own blatant corruption, especially in funneling taxpayer money to Ukraine while demanding zero accountability from The Pentagon is the greatest example.
While Bankman Fried remains under watch, he apparently has been treated by the justice system as one of the privileged, moving from the austerity of a Bahamian jail cell to the comfort and safety of his connected parents’ home. It’s not just the fact that his parents are connected, or that, somehow, he had enough money to make a 250 million dollar bail bond after declaring bankruptcy that smells funny, it’s the idea that Fried knows where the bodies are buried. I am going to go out on a limb here and speculate that the major details of the elaborate system of financial theft is connected to very powerful people: politicians, defense contractors, and celebrities. It’s unlikely that the general public will have access to certain “sensitive” parts of the testimony. Again speculation, BUT not speculation in isolation:
“DAVID NELSON, BELPOINTE ASSET MANAGEMENT: I'm not sure he survives. I mean this is a dangerous, dangerous animal.
STEVE MALZBERG, HOST: Are you talking about a Jeffrey Epstein scenario?
NELSON: I am, I am... I have no knowledge of such a thing but it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility. Everybody is ratting up...so the people that were under him are ratting him out, he's got nowhere to go. So the only people he can rat out are the people he gave money to. And what's really almost criminal here is some of the brightest guys in the room were referring to this guy as like a modern-day J.P. Morgan. This was the genius in here, but he did all the things that criminals have been doing for the last couple of hundred years. I mean Al Capone gave to the poor, gave to the Churches, he gave to politicians, and he was a very beloved member of the Chicago community during his reign of terror. This guy is not that different than that, he knows very well that if you are very generous with your dollars to the key people in government you can protect yourself, which is exactly what he did...It's going to be very interesting in the next weeks and months how this plays out in a court of law.”
Thanks to all who read, share or subscribe, and best wishes for a safe and prosperous New Year. It’s certain to be an interesting one.