Jonathan van Rij

Other lies about Ukraine: No, Zelensky hasn't banned "opposition parties". He has banned certain opposition parties because they are openly pro-Russian. Britain banned the British Union of Fascists during WW2 in exactly the same way. America went further and rounded up Japanese Americans and threw them into internment camps. No, Zelensky hasn't suspended "independent media". He has suspended pro-Russian media. Even Orwell, arguably the greatest defender of free speech of the 20th century, acknowledged the need for state restrictions on media during war. The idea that in WW2 we would allow pro-enemy propaganda on our airwaves is absurd. There are many legitimate criticisms to be made of the way this war came about, the way both the Ukrainian and Western leadership have behaved and the failure to end this war when it became clear that Ukraine had done its best and lost. But the spectacle of people sitting in warmth, comfort and plenty lying and misrepresenting a country and a people who are courageously fighting to defend their land against a bully is sickening and people who engage in this should be deeply ashamed. They won't, of course, because to most of them the war in Ukraine isn't a real thing. It's just a topic for online click farming. The only silver lining is we're really finding out who's who.