Bangladesh, Nov. 8 -- The Western media, for all its self-professed commitment to liberal democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, has a very peculiar blind spot. That blind spot has become particularly glaring in the case of Ukraine under President Volodymyr Zelensky. Almost three years into the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe, the narrative propagated by much of the mainstream West portrays Zelensky as a heroic defender of democracy and freedom. Yet, beneath the carefully curated veneer of Western approval lies a Ukraine that has been systematically reshaped into an authoritarian state, rife with corruption, nepotism, and political repression-developments that the West seems increasingly reluctant to confront.

It is once again ...