Zelensky Signs Law Banning Russian Place Names in Ukraine - The New York Times

Zelensky Signs Law Banning Russian Place Names in Ukraine - The New York Times FM: John Whitbeck I am, frankly, mystified by President Zelensky's ongoing and intensifying counter-hearts and-minds campaign, a campaign which has been barely mentioned in mainstream Western media but whose latest installment is reported matter-of-factly and approvingly in the NEW YORK TIMES article transmitted below. Some will recall that virtually the first act of the new American-selected-and-installed Ukrainian government after the anti-Russian coup in 2014 was to strip the Russian language of its status as one of the two official languages of Ukraine, a gratuitously Russophobic act which, unsurprisingly, immediately triggered the separatist rebellion in the majority-Russophone Donbass. Presumably, President Zelensky believes that fueling an intense level of hatred of everyone and everything Russian will prove useful in keeping the population of western Ukraine onside for continuing the war over control of eastern and southern Ukraine "for as long as it takes". However, if he genuinely expects to "liberate" any of the five eastern and southern oblasts annexed by Russia and to control and govern them afterwards, one would think that he would be seeking to make those living there who are linguistically and culturally Russian feel welcome and respected, not unwelcome and detested. In this context, it is worth noting that, in addition to Ukraine's banning of the political parties historically most popular in the contested oblasts and its banning of the patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church and arrests of the church's leaders, a close advisor of President Zelensky recently stated that Ukraine is planning to hold "treason" trials for those in the contested oblasts who have "collaborated" with the Russian administrations there once Ukraine has "liberated" them from Russian control. In light of President Zelensky's counter-hearts-and-minds campaign, a highly significant percentage of the Russophone populations of the contested oblasts must feel petrified at the prospect of being "liberated". NOTE: It is not clear from the TIMES report whether, in accordance with the new law, current Ukrainian citizens who wish to remain Ukrainian citizens but who cannot demonstrate a "knowledge of Ukrainian language and history" deemed adequate and politically acceptable by the Ukrainian authorities will be stripped of their Ukrainian citizenship and rendered stateless.