Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the main issue for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion ends will be security. He said nothing about the task of rebuilding the country, but that won’t be his task.
A Big Israel
Zelensky said he wants his country to become a “‘big Israel’ with its own face” after the Russian invasion ends, stressing that security would likely be the main issue in Ukraine during the post-war period. He seems to be in denial of the fact that Ukraine is losing the war.
Commenting to the local media with posts on the president’s official website on Tuesday, he presented his vision for post war Ukraine’s future that included having armed forces in “all institutions, supermarkets, cinemas, there will be people with weapons”. In Israel, images of armed civilians, settlers and soldiers are commonplace, and the government invokes security frequently.
French-Jewish philosopher and internationally renowned opinion maker Bernard-Henri Lévy (BHL) said that Zelensky has entered Jewish heroism’s hall of glory.
Zelensky’s Israeli Model
Zelensky, who is Jewish on several occasions, stressed the importance of maintaining close ties with Israel, which he hailed as a model for Ukraine.
“I am sure that our security issue will be number one in the next 10 years,” Zelensky said, dismissing the idea that post-war Ukraine would emulate a liberal European democracy such as Switzerland as a model. He said that the Ukrainian people “will be our great army”.
He also said that Ukraine would not be “absolutely liberal, European”; that it would have to undertake a different modus operandi.
Distancing From European Model
He told members of the Ukrainian media during a briefing. “Ukraine will definitely not be what we wanted it to be from the beginning. It is impossible,”
“Absolutely liberal, European – it will not be like that. It [Ukraine] will definitely come from the strength of every house, every building, every person.”
Zelensky also stressed that Ukraine wouldn’t slide into authoritarianism. “An authoritarian state would lose to Russia. People know what they are fighting for,” he went on.
Zelensky’s Future
The problem of course is that will not be around when hostilities cease. A new Ukraine border is drawn by the Russian victors who will dictate the kind of state the new Ukraine will be. If he isn’t assassinated by extremists in his own regime he will probably be imprisoned by the new regime.