Andriy Yermak’s Statement About Grasping How United States Politics Works Wins First Place In Pantheon Of Verbal Stupidity Reflecting Arrogance And Ignorance. Cuba Outcome Comparison
Andriy Yermak’s Statement About Grasping How United States Politics Works Wins First Place In Pantheon Of Verbal Stupidity
Reflects His Arrogance And Ignorance
Similarities With Obama-Biden Administration And Cuba From 2014-2017?
“If that means being considered ‘challenging’ by others- so be it. I will wait many more hours outside any door if that helps my country and my president’s mission. I have no ambition to fully grasp how American politics works- I come to speak about the country I know best: Ukraine.” Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine
Since 24 February 2022, Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (2019-2024; term extended due to imposition of martial law in 2022), and officials from throughout the government of Ukraine have embraced extraordinary and sophisticated measures- and antics (a plaque installed along “Walk of the Brave” with politician names engraved and performative air raid sirens), to curry favor with those in the United States working within the executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch.
The efforts have also included providing speakers for conferences and enlisting advocates, lobbyists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), think tanks, business organizations, academic institutions, journalists, individuals, and representatives of diplomatic missions to make the very public case of the government of Ukraine.
And who has been front-and-center, or at minimum next to the person who is front-and-center? Andriy Yermak, attorney, film producer, and Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
In meetings in Kyiv- seated always next to President Zelensky, or in meetings in Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Washington DC, and other locations where more recently he traded his olive military-style fatigues for a business suit. He accompanies President Zelensky or travels alone- both as a conflagration of head of state, head of government, prime minister, and often as representing the cabinet in totality. Mr. Yermak does nothing to dissuade the perception that he is the left, right, above, and below the president of Ukraine. To those within the government of Ukraine, he is simultaneously feared, loathed, and respected.
Mr. Yermak would have audiences believe that he has “no ambition to fully grasp how American politics works” and that whatever happens in the United States relating to Ukraine is somehow disconnect from his portfolio- and curiosity. An attorney and film producer who is not interested in how something works? Really? He asks audiences to believe that since 24 February 2022 he has shown no curiosity into how the political process in the United States functions. That during hundreds of hours of meetings in Washington DC and in Kyiv and in other countries with appointed officials, elected officials, and the supporting staff to each of them, he has not sought to “fully grasp how American politics works” with the goal toward securing support for the government of Ukraine.
He is not telling the truth. Or those who have met with him are not telling the truth. They report Mr. Yermak as a Head of the Office of the President who wants to know everything and wants to know how to do everything- what resources are needed, when are those resources needed, and who will provide those resources.
Mr. Yermak should be stating the obvious- that he and every member of the Zelensky Administration is immersed fully in understanding how Washington DC works because the effort is necessary to engage with Donald Trump, President of the United States (2017-2021 and 2025-2029).
Mr. Yermak’s statement is also insulting to President Trump. For a government that needs commercial, economic, financial, military, political, and social support from as many countries as possible, Mr. Yermak’s message is he, and by extension, the government of Ukraine- and President Zelensky, does not place importance upon understanding the United States political system because they will obtain what they want do to the effort of others. Spending time in the political weeds is for the little people- Mr Yermak is 6’1’’tall. Let those people do the learning and the government of Ukraine will collect the money. As President Trump has said previously, that is an example of ingratitude.
If the Trump-Vance Administration adopted the admission and perspective of Mr. Yermak, then officials would ignore Mr. Yermak, whose position is not confirmable by the 450-seat parliament, Verkhovna Rada, and engage directly with Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine, who is the head of government with constitutional authorities. President Zelensky does not want that.
Mr. Yermak has learned enough about the United States political system to recognize a time-honored phrase… espousing “plausible deniability” while in reality demanding to know everything and how to do everything.
The Ukraine-Cuba Comparison
When the Obama-Biden Administration (2009-2017) re-established diplomatic relations with the government of the Republic of Cuba on 17 December 2014, there was initial, but brief euphoria among United States-based companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and state and local governments. The belief was the government of the Republic of Cuba would embrace fully the opportunities for re-emergence of commercial, economic, financial, political, and social engagement. That did not happen.
The government of the Republic of Cuba believed they could select, similar to a customer at a buffet, elements of the renewed bilateral relationship. Take what they like. Leave what they do not.
The result was a shallow United States presence throughout the Republic of Cuba- no large companies assembling anything, manufacturing anything, producing anything, providing services, where they were deeply embedded within the Republic of Cuba. No accounting, law firms, retail, wholesale. And, specifically, no large-scale employment of Republic of Cuba nationals. Everything the government of the Republic of Cuba permitted as superficial- no roots; all easily rolled-up like a carpet and placed into storage or removed completely.
On 16 June 2015, Donald Trump announced he was seeking the 2016 presidential nomination of the Republic Party. On 26 May 2016, he became the nominee.
Throughout 2015 and 2016, voices representing the United States business community engaged with the Obama-Biden Administration imploring them to obtain access from the government of the Republic of Cuba to larger and deeper opportunities within the Republic of Cuba. Representatives of the United States business community also engaged directed with officials of the government of the Republic of Cuba. The effort failed.
The message included the urgency to prepare for an outcome that neither The White House in Washington DC nor the Palacio de la Revolucion in Havana wanted: A victory by Donald Trump. As the expectation was he would dismantle the initiatives in place since 2014. Fast forward to 2019 and that is precisely what happened.
Both the Obama-Biden Administration and the government of the Republic of Cuba failed to prepare, to inoculate themselves, from what they did not want. They refused to believe possible for Hilary Clinton, the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, to lose the election. Even waterboarding of officials in Washington DC and Havana would have failed to produce a change in thinking.
The government of Ukraine in 2024, like the government of the Republic of Cuba did in 2015, failed to anticipate potential changes that could arrive with the departure of the Biden-Harris Administration (2021-2025) and the arrival of the Trump-Vance Administration (2025-2029). The government of Ukraine, like the government of the Republic of Cuba, could not conceive of an outcome they neither wanted nor believed possible- certainly, the voters in the United States would not choose Donald Trump- twice?
Surprise. Those voters did just that and with that decision changes to policies and changes to regulations and changes to statues arrived. The government of Ukraine in 2025 got the government of the Republic of Cuba treatment- the carpet was rolled-up.
Had the government of the Republic of Cuba listened, by 20 January 2021 there would have been hundreds of United States-based companies with operations in the Republic of Cuba providing employment to thousands of Republic of Cuba nationals. Those companies would have been importing and exporting. The presence would have been far more immunized from disruption from the departure of one political party in The White House and the arrival of its replacement.
Had the government of Ukraine chose to be proactive in 2024, it would have began in earnest to reject certain spending by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)- for a cooking show, marketing Ukraine-based companies to European Union-based companies, for example. President Zelensky and other officials would have shown greater appreciation for the largess of United States taxpayers rather than continually unleashing an onslaught of insults and ridicule that the largess was never enough.
The government of Ukraine is correct in the Biden-Harris Administration should have front-loaded more military equipment, as should have the thirty-two country members of the Brussels, Belgium-based North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); and the twenty-seven country members of the Brussels, Belgium-based European Union (EU) should not have needed into a fourth year to implement eighteen (18) sanctions packages. Those should have been front-loaded too. The result has been the ability of the government of the Russian Federation and the armed forces of the Russian Federation to adapt rather than collapse.
Prepared to be disappointed, again…
“I held a meeting on sanction policy and our partners of sanctions and other restrictive measures against Russia. We agreed specific decisions. The first one is to synchronize sanctions by our country and partners by 100 percent.” Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine
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