SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE

When offered safe countries to run to, the President of the Ukraine said, “I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition.” It sounds like a line from a sit-com and it might well be. President Zelenski was a comedian and an actor before becoming President. His show, “Servant of The People” is on Netflix and is now probably going to be an international hit.

I am sure most people here in the UK are rooting for Ukraine, but because the Ukraine has had its fair share of dodgy politicians and corrupt oligarchs, one held one’s breath to see if the President would just grab his money and run when he had the chance. The Afghan President did just that when the Americans decided to let the Afghan government sink or swim in the face of the Taliban’s continuing insurrection. The Afghan president had obviously not understood that leadership meant more than dipping one’s hand in the public till and so it was every man for himself, and don’t bother to lock the door behind you.

Ukraine’s president Zelensky was an anti-politician politician who came to power because all the others were either tainted with old soviet ways of doing things or saw democracy as synonymous with kleptocracy. “I am not a politician,” he said, “I am just a simple person who has come to break down this system.” Even so, his ability to run the country in the face of more cynical powers in Ukraine did not impress the electorate and his ratings were very low. If there had been another election, he could have lost. As we know in the UK, comedians do not necessarily make the best Prime Ministers. But on the other hand, under certain circumstances they are just what one needs.

Our Boris Johnson rather fancies himself as cut from the same cloth as Churchill, despite, career wise, Churchill not being the best of Britain’s politicians to model one’s self upon. Churchill’s political career was somewhat chequered and as soon as the war was over, he was, in his own words, given the order of the boot by the electorate. The rather grey figure of Clement Atlee was the most effective Prime Minister and much of the actual work of running the country during the second world war, was done by him, protected from criticism by the rhetoric and theatrics of Churchill. And there is the irony, rhetoric and theatrics matter! They galvanise support and moral. The legendary Ed Murrow of CBS news once said that Churchill “Mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.” Churchill was also a bit of comedian with a way with one-line put-downs: ”If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.” “Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.” “Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.” But administratively he was all over the place and if the war had not happened, his reputation would have been for wild gestures with little substance and all too often disastrous consequences. As it was, his moment came and the British understood that under the circumstances one really did have to be crazy to be Prime Minister and crazy might well be what was needed. Though, it has to be said that beneath the crazy leader, a solid dull political operator like Clement Atlee is a great asset.

Zelensky has channeled some aspects of Churchill, but with a streak of rationalism. He once said, “I loved mathematics. Everything in mathematics was clear to me.” So one does detect that there is a hint of a rational plan, rather than his merely being caught in the headlights of an unexpected on coming car. There is nothing accidental in the level of preparedness that Ukraine had for this war. And Zelensky’s script, one suspects, has been rehearsed: "When you attack us, you will see our faces. Not our backs, but our faces." Ratings polls declaring dissatisfaction with his peace time actions might owe much to the manipulations of powers that did not like his anti-corruption stance.

Zelensky’s ability to galvanise the country’s resistance has a lot to do with the fact that he seems to be a decent bloke with a sense of humour. He is “authentic.” And during a war where on the one hand you have a bloated faced hard man threatening nuclear war backed by a bunch of overweight, stony-faced generals, and on the other hand you have an easy going nice chap, it is easy to see who the good guy is. He is the man who says, “I do not try to play a role. I feel good being myself and saying what I think.” Which, for an actor, is an interesting thing to say. It does indicate that he really does understand the times we live in and that his fight is a battle with a past that his country has no intention of returning to. You cannot imagine President Putin saying the following: "I really do not want my pictures in your offices, for the President is not an icon, an idol or a portrait. Hang your kids' photos instead, and look at them each time you are making a decision." And so the Ukrainians have sent their wives and children away into safety, while the men have stayed behind to fight for their families and homes.

Zelensky is not a flag waving nationalist calling for loyalty to some mystical national destiny. He is something else. Zelensky is a Russian speaking Jew, and about as far from being a Nazi as you can imagine. “I respect Israel as hugely special, especially given all the sensitivities around it. The Jews managed to build a country, to elevate it, without anything except people and brains.” Israel's constant sparring with Russian forces in Syria perhaps strengthens his conviction that Russia can be beat. And one gets a whiff of the liberal Jewish attitudes of New York when he says things like, “We will build the country of opportunities, one where all are equal before the law and where all the rules are honest and transparent, the same for everyone. And for that, we need people in power who will serve the people.” And having Russian as his first language undermines any idea that he would persecute Russian speakers. He says, “How can I be a Nazi? Explain it to my grandfather, who went through the entire war in the infantry of the Soviet army, and died a colonel in an independent Ukraine. You are being told we hate Russian culture? How can someone hate culture? Any culture? Neighbours always enrich one another culturally, but that does not make them one, does not dissolve us in you. We are different. But it is not a reason to be enemies. We want to determine our history by ourselves. In peace, calm, and honesty.”

PROPAGANDA

Despite all the appealing sentiments of Zelensky, there are commentators who see him as merely a disingenuous puppet of that conglomerate bête noir, “The West!” They say that Russia was forced, for the sake of their security, to invade. They blame the war on a demonising “Narrative” that the mysteriously controlled “Main-Stream” western media perpetuate. Putin may not be cuddly but he is protecting Russia’s interests against the forces of the duplicitous NATO. Indeed there are those who see the whole thing as a “Wag The Dog” conspiracy and think the war, as we in the West see it, is a fake and that the Ukrainians are staging fake battles to show Russians in a bad light. If you watch Russian TV you might even wonder if there is any conflict going on at all. You will see no bombed cities on the screen. You will see no streams of refugees fleeing to the West. What you will see is a cuddlier version of Putin visiting schools, joking with both children and hard nosed TV pundits explaining how Ukraine is over run with Nazi militias terrorising Russians.

Considering that nobody from the “alternative” media are actually in Kyiv, one might say that the Main-Stream Western media know a bit more about the reality of the situation than those merely sat in front of their computers. The argument is that the “Main-Stream” media shows things that confirm their prejudices and that if they pointed their cameras in the direction that Russia’s media did, they would show buildings that have not been bombed and food trucks that helpful Russian soldiers were bringing to Ukrainian refugees fleeing Western oppression. They claim that Russia and Russian culture are under threat from America and the liberal wokeness of our decadent emasculated societies. Putin has even managed to position himself as a supporter of JK Rowlings in her battle against cancel culture! The liberal democracies are, he says, trying to cancel Russia. Tolstoy, Chekov, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich are all being banned by the western nations. This is a battle for Russia’s spiritual essence. It is a battle between banality and genius. And Putin is well down with the kids and in tune with what is happening far more than anyone else. He has even got an Instagram account, or at least someone set one up with his name, which is more than Zelensky has! At least, I haven't found one.

Having lived in Asia for thirty years, my FaceBook Friends’ list contains people from many cultural enclaves, China being the largest. Western media, I am told in my news feed, is brainwashing the world. I think I can say without much contradiction that China is a pretty big country into which little Western media content is allowed so the West is not exactly brainwashing them. Similarly if one delves into what is allowed in various Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries, one would be lucky to find many households glued to the BBC or CNN. And then there is the bulk of Africa, who aren’t exactly tuned into the BBC World Service for their information. For that matter, those great English-speaking democracies, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, are not exactly known for their pro-Western take on most things. And yes, I am stretching the term “democracy” somewhat, but the point is that the world is not being brainwashed by the West. We in the West, on the other hand, might be, but the wider narrative is also available here, whereas in such as China and Russia, you would be hard pressed to find anything but the official state line.

However, the current vogue for censorship does not sit well with our claims to be a free society. It is a shame that Russia’s “Russia Today” (RT) news network has now been banned from our screens in the UK. We are supposed to be a democracy where free speech is sacrosanct, and I doubt RT would have changed many people’s opinion of the Russian invasion. In fact, the ham fisted manner Russia and other dictatorial regimes deliver their propaganda is usually counterproductive. So much so, that they might as well sign off their shows with a crafty wink.

It may be that Western media does a better job at brainwashing, but at least it can be questioned and when it can, Western media gets into investigative mode. There is always some pushy little careerist looking to expose the lies and deceits of other journalists in order to get a prize and boost their reputation. The battling, hard working, exposers of injustice, media ignorance and subterfuge, often depose the mainstream of the moment and become the mainstream of the future. And they do it largely without being thrown in jail or poisoned with nerve agents. Give or take some dodgy deaths, D-notices, and libel threats, for the most part our societies are pretty open and inclusive.

My social media feed likes nothing better than to slip me slogans decrying the idiocy of Western culture. One particular meme that is bouncing about my FaceBook stream says how hypocritical of the West to have sympathy for Ukrainians and not for those millions of “Black Haired” victims of Western warmongering. Given the large immigrant populations from Africa and Asia that have settled in Western countries one can only imagine that some Chinese Communist Party propaganda department operating from a bunker in Wuhan, thinks Westerners are all, as they say in China, “Green eyed, red bearded.”

THE TROUBLE WITH AUTOCRACIES

Because of my life in Hong Kong, I probably get more Chinese propaganda than most people in the UK, and similarly because of my life in Hong Kong I am perhaps more complacent about the rise of China than most. I simply like China and Chinese culture. There is much that the West should adopt and there was a time when there was much to be said for China’s authoritarian state and its successful integration into the economy of the world. While the Communist Party operated a very wide interpretation of who could be a member, it was not so obsessed with ideological purity, idiotic “Anti-Sparrow” policies and “Great Leap Forwards” into mass starvation. Instead there was a comparatively transparent decision making process at least within the internal democracy of the Communist Party. They even began making funny movies! Check out the Chinese film “Lost in Thailand”. Though nothing quite beats Steven Chow’s “Shaolin Soccer” for comedy, but that’s a Hong Kong movie. It was banned in China: "Shaolin Soccer… makes too much fun of football, and the subject matter makes it inappropriate to show in China, said Zhou Jiandong, an official in charge of approving films, according to the China's Star Daily. In short it was too funny. And somehow, the censor's comments are evocative of the woke sensibilities currently in vogue that arouse John Cleese to a state of peevishness.

As soon as China got themselves a leader looking for a lifetime guarantee of their term of office decision-making became inflexible and prone to shut down any bearer of inconvenient news. One might sympathise with the State’s antipathy to Boy Bands and China’s youths obsession with K-Pop, but pandemic cover-ups and arrests for such as “picking arguments” does not have many immigrants clamouring for visas to live there. As for Hong Kong and what has happened there, don’t get me started! Dictatorships spoil everybody’s fun and ultimately make stupid decisions, no matter how much of a genius the great leader is.

Which brings me back to Russia where we find a state that indulges in poisoning, imprisoning, and murdering those opposing President Putin’s great thoughts. Which cannot possibly lead to realistic policymaking or encourage a culture of initiative and creativity. Instead it encourages a strange liking of Winchester Cathedral for Russian military intelligence officers bearing perfume bottles laced with novichok, and encourages the suicide of the odd General who has discovered that the tank maintenance budget was mislaid, and encourages the odd invasion of a neighbouring country with rather bad memories of Russian control, despite fostering the genius of Nikolai Gogol. Genius though Putin may be, and a Russian one at that, thus, as Dostoevsky must have said somewhere, embodying the true soul of mankind, he does seem unaware of the AI industry’s mantra: “Garbage in, garbage out!”

The Russian Novelist Boris Akunin said recently in an interview, “Putin monopolised propaganda and used TV channels to zombify people. Then he destroyed the independent courts and judicial system. He destroyed the parliamentary system. Then he corrupted the presidential elections. In Russia it is not safe to tell people what you really think.”

Those in Russia who crave greater ties with the West are attracted to the West’s open societies where one is free to say stupid things, create useless art, and fail to get more likes on Tik Tok. The West, after all, is where all those Russian oligarchs want to set up their homes. Granted that much of the West’s cacophony of silliness gets one wanting to hurl abuse on Twitter, but there is no doubt that this freedom makes it an attractive place to live. They come to the UK in private jets and in half inflated rubber dinghies on rough seas not for the weather or sun kissed beaches, they come for all the triviality and distractions of the West, along with the technology, scientific thought, the immense scholarship, literature, drama and art, and an endless debate that is determined to be as inclusive as possible. Often they come to find a place that allows them to be themselves and follow their own cultural bent, as well as watch Strictly Come Dancing.

Which brings me back to Zelensky and his “authentic” persona. I am under no illusion that Zelensky is just a simple bloke caught up in the moment. There is a lot of method in his madness, whereas Putin seems to have put a lot of madness into his method. Who will win this battle is too early to say. Everything we see or hear about the battle as it unfolds is propaganda and at best only half the truth. But it is hard to imagine that bombing a city is going to encourage those living there to enthusiastically embrace those doing the bombing.

And while I have your attention, why not head over to my YouTube Channel and check out our Round Trip of Malaysia and our documentaries on the founding of Johor Bahru and the History of the Johor Sultans. You can also hit the vlogs we've done covering our return to the UK. Please Like, Share, and Subscribe. We plan to embark upon a series of history tours of the UK, starting off with a history of the East Saxons, in Essex. We thought we would start there because, well, we have only just moved to Essex and thought we would explore the place, concentrating on its Saxon origins. After that, our plan is to do a complete round tour of the UK looking into local histories. So Subscribe so that you can be informed when new series and Vlogs emerge.

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