A Primer on Volodymyr Zelenskyy

  Zelenskyy 101, just a quick introduction to Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This will not be a complete accounting of the man who serves as president of Ukraine. Indeed, the history of the Ukrainian war is not covered, nor is an account of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.
 
 Nevertheless, this provides a background on the man who assumed the presidency in 2019.

 Zelenskyy was born into a Jewish family Jan. 25, 1978, giving us a man now 47 years old. His grandparents were killed in the Holocaust, their house being burned to the ground during a massacre. 

 He became an actor, starring in the 2008 feature film Love in the Big City, followed by leading rolls a number of other films. From 2015-2019, he played the lead character in Servant of the People, a television series he produced in which his character arose from being a high school history teacher to become president of Ukraine by ranting against government corruption. 

 In 2019, he stormed to the front of the presidential race, conducting an anything-but-normal campaign. He eschewed the main street media, instead using social media platforms, including YouTube and Instagram. He did not present a platform, and held stand-up comedy shows instead of having campaign rallies.

  He won the election on the second round of voting, securing 73 percent of the vote, the largest landslide in Ukrainian history. 

  Shortly after the election, the Secret Service of Ukraine revealed that he operated offshore companies, some of which owned London property. I'm not sure why that would be a negative. The Wikipedia article left me scratching my head on that, but it does appear there were ethical concerns. Otherwise, the Secret Service would not have been investigating it. 

  Concerns were also raised as he was connected to billionaire businessmen. I do not know why that would be a concern. In the U.S., our politicians not only have connections to the rich, but the rich can become president, and the richest man in the world can take on a leading role in crafting the government. 

  If we judge Zelenskyy by some of the measures he championed upon assuming office, we  probably should be inclined to believe he is an anti-corruption figure. He proposed changing the media laws to reduce the influence of oligarchs on TV and radio broadcasters, an effort that was attacked as being anti-free speech. The law provided criminal liability for disseminating disinformation, and, for that, it was suggested he was censoring the media.  Zelenskyy's measures also included requiring oligarchs to register and prohibited them from contributing financially to politicians.

  Zelenskyy was attacked as being corrupt for taking a trip without reporting it. He responded that he paid for it with his own money but was still criticized for not being transparent.

   His approval rating dropped as low as 25 percent at one point, but that was still equal to or higher than his predecessors at that stage of their presidencies.