Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared his personal income for the first time since the outbreak of war with Russia, as part of his effort to increase transparency in his government.
In 2021, the year before Russia invaded Ukraine, Zelenskiy and his family reported income of 10.8 million hryvnia ($285,000), down 12 million hryvnia from the previous year, even as his income was boosted by the sale of $142,000 of government bonds, according to a statement on his website.
In 2022, the first year of the Russian invasion, the Zelenskiy family’s income fell further to 3.7 million hryvnia as he earned less income from renting real estate he owned because of the hostilities.
Even as the war allowed Ukrainian officials to withhold revealing sensitive personal information, Zelenskiy pushed to make them publicly declare assets. Increasing transparency and tackling graft are necessary for his country to ensure continued financial aid from its western allies, even as more than $100 billion of funds are held up due to political maneuvering inside US and EU.
It’s more like pre-CRA America, and I’d definitely entertain the argument of calling that an Apartheid state against black people or native Americans.
Also Palestinians in Israel (not the West Bank, not East Jerusalem, Israel proper) are still having their lands stolen by Israeli authorities, and are forbidden from living in certain places, along with a whole host of other injustices.
And, more importantly, people calling Israel an Apartheid state are usually referring to its occupied territories, while everything you just said doesn’t apply as soon as you step into East Jerusalem, let alone the West Bank.
Fine, but with that definition most middle eastern countries and many in Africa would be considered apartheid states as well. Even Russia is bordering on Apartheid with the way it treats Chenchens, Rurals and deep eastern settlements. China is apartheid on Uygurs. Turkiye on Kurds and Armenia. My point is that there seems to be a huge double standard criticizing Israel for Apartheid while not criticizing many other countries for it. I’m fine with blaming Israel for it as long as other countries get blamed for it. I don’t see anyone in the Middle East raging at China for the way they crack down on Muslims in a much worse way than Israel has done
We expect more from Israel because it’s a western country but at the end of the day they are just another country in the middle east. They have their own version of religious fanaticism same as other Arabs with their own. I’m tired of all the news from Israel while literally half the world’s population is struggling to survive. It feels like a giant class and race war to distract us
How so?
Most Arab countries committing genocide rightfully get fucked pretty hard for it (unless they’re doing it on behalf of the West like in Yemen).