In case you missed it...
President Zelenskyy Bans Opposition Parties in Ukraine
Read the full statement on the official Ukraine government website.
Of this decision the far left, far right and the truly independent press seem to be united in opposition. For example, LeftVoice says,
The ban on these political parties represents a repressive domestic policy against any kind of opposition. The move is a direct alignment with the nationalist and extreme right forces that are stirring up an increasingly strong anti-Russian sentiment. This is stoking hatred towards the Russian-speaking population, which makes up 30 percent of the country’s inhabitants. (emphasis mine)
Aljazeera says,
All this signals that the Ukrainian government’s decision to suspend left-wing and opposition parties has little to do with any objective war-time security needs of Ukraine, and much to the with the post-Euromaidan polarisation of Ukrainian politics and redefinition of the Ukrainian identity that pushed a variety of the dissenting positions beyond the borders of tolerable discourse in the country. It also has to do with Zelenskyy’s attempts to consolidate political power that began long before the Russian invasion.
And Breitbart notes,
All of the parties banned in the country — which has previously been described as “democratic” by U.S. President Joe Biden — have been considered Eurosceptic, anti-liberal, or pro-Russian by the Zelensky government…
The Guardian offers no opinion, just bland facts, and the BBC, NPR, and the mainstream USA press are all strangely (or perhaps not so strangely) silent.
But what do you think?
It seems to me that the rhetoric from both Russia and the west has been so egregious, and that it's been very hard to sift through all the wild claims on what's happening on the ground in Ukraine ... all this fogginess has forced researchers and sense makers to focus on recent history (like the documented rampant corruption leading up to the invasion) and overt public moves, like the declarations from the Ukrainian government above. And frankly it doesn't look very good for the west's narrative. I predict the Ukrainian flags will start quietly disappearing from profile pics, though the war machine has enough momentum, so i fear we are on a set course at this point...