🚨JD Vance goes BEAST-MODE on Zelenskyy trying to sabotage a Trump Peace deal:
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 20, 2025
“His country wouldn’t exist without the generosity of the United States of America. Say thank you. It’s stupid. Badmouthing Trump in public will not change his mind. Zelenskyy needs better consultants pic.twitter.com/96yzVIYKYn
A testy back-and-forth has quickly escalated after Ukraine was left out of talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia earlier this week, drawing a rebuke from Zelensky.
Trump responded Tuesday with unfounded allegations that
Zelensky “started” the war, with the Ukrainian leader responding Wednesday that
the U.S. president was living in a “web of disinformation.” Trump sent his
angry Truth Social post hours later.
This exchange came with the backdrop of disagreement when recently
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special representative for Ukraine and Russia, said in an interview that the United States would like to see elections in Ukraine, possibly by the end of the year, following a potential cease-fire agreement: “Most democratic nations have elections in their time of war. I think it is important they do so...
As discussed elsewhere, the prohibition of wartime elections is established in Ukraine’s statutory law. Ukraine’s Constitution does not explicitly address the issue of wartime elections, except for Article 83(4) that provides for the extension of the Parliament’s powers until the day of the first meeting of the first session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (the Ukrainian Parliament), elected after the termination of martial law or state of emergency. Nothing similar is made with respect to the president. According to one of the drafters of the Constitution, this special treatment of Parliament was originally aimed to enhance Parliament’s standing in the constellation of powers and prevent possible abuses during wartime or national emergency.
Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law” (2015) prohibits the holding of elections during martial law and the Electoral Code of Ukraine (2019) ordains suspension of all elections during such period. This is not an arbitrary political decision but a constitutionally viable solution aimed at ensuring stability in times of crisis. The law prevents governance from collapsing into uncertainty while the country is under extreme conditions.
As discussed elsewhere, conducting elections under the current conditions of war in Ukraine can undermine democratic principles and, therefore, is unconstitutional. Holding elections amid ongoing hostilities poses significant challenges to ensuring free and fair electoral processes, potentially leading to democratic erosion. In such volatile conditions, elections may not reflect the genuine will of the people, thereby compromising the legitimacy of the democratic system. Ukraine’s wartime conditions, thus, make elections both unconstitutional and unfeasible, with ongoing hostilities, mass displacement, security risks, and occupied territories undermining electoral integrity and legitimacy.
Though the last paragraph seems to be a bit of rationalization, Ukrainian law evidently encourages this "constitutionally viable solution." Further, knocking Zelenskyy or his nation for not adhering strictly to traditional democratic norms during wartime is a little rich coming from an appointee of President Donald Trump.
Having encouraged the insurrection of January 6, 2021 to prevent a peaceful transition of power, the man who labeled the Democratic Party the "party of crime," Trump pardoned rioters who "violently assaulted police officers and those with long criminal records." Vice-President J.D. Vance has both defended the pardon of such criminals and denied the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The President who endorses an attempted coup at home so that he can remain in power blames Ukraine for starting the war with Russia and calls its leader a "dictator without elections." And no one in his Administration will concede that Vladimir Putin is himself a dictator.
I would prefer Ukraine hold elections because of the likelihood that, were Donald Trump still to be alive and kicking in autumn of 2028, he will try to remain in office by canceling the presidential election while possibly making a false analogy to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.. (Article 14 of the USA Constitution limits an individual from being elected more than twice. The document is silent on the number of terms or length of time a President can serve.)
But facts are facts, and the fact is that Ukraine was invaded by a country the current American President holds blameless. He has accused his counterpart of having been on the "gravy train" during the Biden Administration and says he "better move fast (or) he's not going to have a country left." The mob boss masquerading as macho President has tried to shake down Zelenskyy, demanding ownership of 50% of Ukraine's mineral reserves because "I want it back."
Yet, a top representative of this Administration whines about "badmouthing Trump in public." Like President, like sycophant: always the victim.
No comments:
Post a Comment