Genuine democracies do not ban multiple opposition parties or close opposition media outlets. Nor do they rigorously censor (and put under strict government control) media outlets that they allow to remain open. Genuine democracies do not outlaw churches that advocate policies the government dislikes. They do not imprison regime opponents, let alone without meaningful due process, much less tolerate the torture of political prisoners. Genuine democracies do not publish “blacklists” of domestic and foreign critics, thereby putting a target on their backs. Yet the Ukrainian government has committed not just one or two, but all of those abuses.

theamericanconservative.com

False Democracy - The American Conservative

Ukraine is not the bastion of freedom described by most Western media.
(Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukraine’s Western cheerleaders seem to have no shame. They continue to portray the country as a freedom-loving democracy, even though evidence continues to mount that it is nothing of the sort. The political and media lovefest accompanying President Volodymyr Zelensky’s official visit to Washington and his address to a joint session of Congress in late December was the latest example.
Voice of America published an article comparing Zelensky’s appearance to Winston’s Churchill’s address to Congress in December 1941 in terms of its heroic tone and substantive significance. The New York Times contended that public morale back in Ukraine had been greatly buoyed by Zelensky’s “hero’s welcome” in Washington. 19FortyFive senior editor Matt Suciu chastised Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida for “refusing to clap and join in a standing ovation …