The path of “Dada”. How Zelensky is pushed to a chieftain dictatorship

The Liberal has been writing about the fact that Vladimir Zelensky has no other way than the dictatorship of a chieftain nature, ever since the public had only just laughed at the boy Volodyawho was in his forties, and who was not a loser for sure. We were wrong about the ideologybehind that dictatorship, but in case of Zelensky it’s not that big a deal. For the good of stabilization, or for any other purpose, his path in politics is inevitably the path of “Dada” (this is how the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was called). Or, there’s the path of another chieftain, the Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, who went to the polls under the slogan “Charles Taylor killed my father. Charles Taylor killed my mother. But I still vote for Charles Taylor”. And the longer the war in Ukraine lasts, the further the country will go down the African path, when the struggle against the legacy of colonialism, which is the fixed idea, becomes the home for banditry, corruption, and pillage.

At the same time, the African way is when there are totally nuts wearing camouflage or civil clothes begin to run around the country, imposing their own order throughout the wholeterritories, and limited only by the size and coolness of the guns each of such character is carrying. And their names do sound. In Liberia, for instance, there was a field commander called  General Butt Naked. He got his nickname for leading his fourteen-year-old soldiers naked, but by and large it is worthy of becoming a household name for all our camouflage heroes whose name we’re coming up on different stages of civil conflict, and then disappeared from the news agenda. Semenchenko, Karas, Parasyuk, Ivan Bubenchik ets — you can easily google those names.. And those «generals naked asses» has been dictating their agenda since the Maidan times. But if before the war their power was still limited by the government institutions, the deep state and other remnants of organized society, then after the war these very people would beready to become the only legitimate bearers of power on the ground. And in order to implement this scenario, it is only necessary to have a “Dada” — the father of peoples and a chieftain with whose name it would be possible to cover any mayhem and mess.

The president may have different views on such a prospect, but be that as it may, it is easier for him to lead a pack that needs a leader rather than let the pack to form their leader by themselves, and allow turning the broad masses of militant passionaries against him. Zelensky, as a play actor, not burdened with major corporate businesses to run, will definitely accept this proposal.After all, it doesn’t matter what kind of cattle he would appeal to. All the more so, a gangster,who has got to the local power, will be a hundred times more agreeable in relations with Kiev than a strong businessman, or, than, (good lord!), an elected territorial representative of the Old Guard, the opposition and other enemies of our all-Ukrainian Dada. And it would be cheaper for the budget, because finance is expected to receive not from the center, but from outside, and by old habit — through direct pressing the local businesses.

Of course, it will be against the inherent nature of the president’s office, if it does not prepare the resource today, creating and running the methodology of this truly rogue power. And he did it at the very beginning of the war, when Alexander Povorozniuk, “agrarian from the 90s”, as if from nowhere jumped in the media space with his monologue, which inspired the DJ mix “Fuck ‘emgood, Vladimir, fuck ‘em hard!”. In it, just reminding, the author appeals to President Zelenskyas to God: “You are one!” and calls for “taking and distributing to people” the property of those who had left the country, i.e. let his most passionate supporters to take on new distribution of property in the country. And it’s pretty funny, that this song even got on the scandal video from the party of Ukrainian cake eaters kicking it in Courchevel.  

Obviously, there’s no such thing as coincidence. And since Alexander Povorozniuk became the Knight of the Order of Saint Stanislav (Ukrainian elite club that includes prominent politicians, state officials, and all other famous people from Ukraine) back in 2007, he didn’t just appeared from nowhere, but from a nonpublic part of the elite pool, with all his previous convictions, pidgin Ukrainian,  and the emphasis on “I’m just a simple village fella”. That is, there was a person among the non-public part of the owners of life, who became public with the help of public communication technologies.

And so, Povorozniuk enters a direct public conflict with Dmitry Gordon (one of top Ukrainian journalists and publishers, the head of Gordon media who considere to be  one of the main talking heads of the deep state, and in general an extremely knowledgeable man with huge, like Don Corleone, connections. Having started as a public argument on the subject of who’s patriotism is fatter and longer, it has come to public denunciations like a demonstration by Gordon on live TV of a man, who, according to his words, was shot at by Povorozniuk. Povorozniuk himself, however, claimed that none of this was true, and that the conflict began with the refusal to be interviewed by Gordon: “I’m a simple village fella, I told him to go fuck himself”.

“He, Gordon, is accustomed to the way they do: he called me names, accused, and forgot all that. Everyone wears a smile again”, our hero describes the manners of his brothers –Knights of the Order of Saint Stanislav. But he says, as a simple village fella, will not tolerate such treatment.Anyway, for his bullshit, Gordon owes him  three millions of  Ukrainian hryvnia. More specifically about the car that Gordon allegedly sells, and the revenue from which Povorozniuk offers to give to the Ukrainian Army: “I give 3 mils to the Army, and you give me your car”. In general, as is customary not with politicians, but with racketeering: guilty — give the car, otherwise – we take you to the forest. Only the Lord and Povorozniuk know who is actually going to get that money.

Meanwhile, he sent a request to the IRS to confirm that Gordon had paid taxes on 27 apartments in Kiev, which Dmitry is supposedly the owner of, and which he rents for huge money.Apartments were acquired by Gordon profiting from human grief — the sale of “magic pyramids” to cancer patients, says Povorozniuk about his brother-Knight of the Order of Saint Stanislav.Povorozniuk himself “never stole from people, only from the state”. He himself is proud of this fact and declares it, evidently, seeing the theft from the state as assistance for the anti-corruption struggle.

Despite the caricature nature of the both sides, the conflict between Povorozniuk and Gordon is much more profound than it seems. It is really about two ways that a post-war Ukraine can choose. The first is the way of Gordon. That is, the old superstructure — political elites, the deep state and others recognize the new order of things, they integrate into it, and the most violent representatives of veteran and volunteer movements are put in place within the framework of measures to combat organized crime. But there’s the way of Povorozniuks together with Dada-Zelensky and their oprichniks. The first one is preferable for spooks and other sovereign’speople, but it may appear too expensive and Ukraine might not be able to afford it. The second involves devolving all power to local criminals. There’s also a third, intermediate option. That iswhen in the capital city everything is run Gordon-style, while beyond the city limits there’s the realm of Povorozniuks. For Zelensky, this option is the least advantageous, because the Povorozniuks are stronger than the law enforcers, which means that they would regularly visit the capital to swing rights. At the same time, Zelensky for them will be the personification of malevolent authority, which they sooner or later, according to the long Ukrainian tradition, will demolish. Through the arranged Maidan, of course. In general, there’s no good news in those options, except for the Dada’s path, on which the country can step seriously and for a long time.In short, it’s the Zeganda option instead of the present Zegordonia. 

There are also reasons pushing Zelensky on the path of Povorozniuk – decline in the popularityof his party “Servant of the People”, occurring regardless of the rating of Zelensky. VladimirZelensky has overgrown the party, as well as the image of the intelligent teacher Goloborodko he portrayed in the TV series. In his current hormone-fed image, he could better fit in the role of a gym teacher in high school, and even then by a long stretch of the imagination. Besides, everybody has grown fed up with a bunch of chancers and scammers, which turned out to be his party, and sociologists are already bringing out Serhiy Prityla’s party project to replace the old servants. This project has supposedly become the leader in popular sympathy. However, the project is named after a real person, which means it’s time for Zelensky to give it some serious thought. But if, having withdrawn from the party according to the pattern of Putin’s “People’sFront”, rise above the political struggle, then potential competitors like the same Prityla would remain at the level of politicians, and our “the One and Only” anchors himself to Olympus in the society of gods and heroes. And, by the way, in the role of “Servant fore the people “ show character Goloborodko he has already shot the Ukrainian Parliament with a machine gun. No surprise that this exact episode is repeated many times by authors of the video “Fuck ‘em good, Vladimir!”. 

However, the path of Dada has its risks too. Gordons and the spooks are true communicators with the West, for such things are impossible to implement without the involvement of special services. But the country, where, as Nobel awarded Russian poet Joseph Brodsky wrote, “Boys wander about with their knives, and there’s the smell of Old Spice and Komsomol around” is toxic by definition. And theWestern partners would be flabbergasted at the “Fuck ‘em good, Vladimir!” song, as well as at all the rest what is sung and said in this country. But they don’t have time to waste on such things. Povoroziuks need Dada precisely in order to, hiding behind his name, carry out the task of great and bloody redistribution, defying any authorities. And this means that people whom thepartners still want to be afloat would get in the middle, like, for instance, that very same Gordon with his boss ex-head of SBU (Ukrainian counterintelligence agency Igor Smishko, known in narrow circles as a curator of CIA projects in Ukraine.Dada will thus become increasingly criticized, the assistance will dwindle, and, if Moscow is not overly active towards Ukraine, the turning a hero-savior of mankind into a bloodthirsty tyrantmay begin immediately after his re-election. It took ten years for Saddam Hussein to get there.But it was back in the 20th century, today the processes are faster.

Admittedly, Zelensky’s current position does not presage problems on the “Western Front”. Onthe contrary, he is favored by the West like no post-Soviet leader. He doesn’t just pose with Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron and call Rishi Sunak “my friend”. He gives ultimatums to theWest from the moral high ground, demanding ever more weapons, money, and the harmonization of his foreign policy, he insists on punishments for “rogues” like Hungary and “hypocrites” like India and Israel. And he gets what he wants. But who’s saying it’s all so reliable? Opposition to the present western administrations is already playing on it, saying that soon Zelensky will demand blackjack and hookers. At a minimum, a change in the leadership of the White House could put him in a much more delicate position than the one in which he himself put US President Donald Trump. Remember the leaked transcripts of the phone calls? You can betTrump remembers that. Perhaps he wants to return to the White House just to find the bastard and get back at him. So the path of Dada, though risky, is likely the last chance. At least Dadaslifespan has some ten years warranty. 

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