People prefer a comedian because it is not funny.

A comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyi got 30% of the popular vote in Ukraine's presidential election, with the current president Petro Poroshenko coming second with 16%. Former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko came third with 13.40%. There will be a run off between first and second. Zelenskyi stars in a television serial 'Servant of the People' in which he is a teacher who "accidentally becomes president after an expletive-laden rant about Ukrainian politics goes viral on social media". His usp seems to be that he has no policies and stated, "No promises, no disappointment." He is not the first comedian to attract people's support. Beppe Grillo set up the Five Star Movement Party in Italy, which won the largest share of votes in last year's general election and is now part of a coalition government. People in Ukraine are fed up with corruption and lack of jobs, with 60% of the population living below the poverty line in 2016. How did Ukraine come to such a mess? In 2013, the then president Yanukovych rejected a deal with the European Union, which was offering a loan of 610 million euros, to prevent a default on its debt repayment. Russia, on the other hand, offered a loan of $15 billion and cheap gas, which would have helped in building industries with cheap energy. When President Yanukovych accepted the Russian offer, Western nations, led by the US, sponsored an armed coup against him, forcing him to seek refuge in Russia. The east of Ukraine is Russian speaking and they were outraged at the coup and protested against the neo-Nazi government in Kiev. The government responded with bombing by fighter planes and helicopter gunships. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and, in response, the US and Europe levied economic sanctions against Russia. Russia has sent forces into Venezuela to support President Nicolas Maduro and prevent the US from ousting him. In 2015, Russia decided to support President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in his fight against various terrorist forces, some of which were supported and armed by the US. It destroyed a lucrative trade in smuggling oil through Turkey by the Islamic State (IS) by bombing tankers and oil terminals. This destroyed a large part of IS finances. President Erdogan of Turkey furiously denied any involvement in oil smuggling. In the recent local elections, the opposition may have won the capital Ankara and is ahead in Istanbul, but chances are that Erdogan may yet fix the result, just as he managed to cheat his way to victory in a referendum in 2017. The West is losing some of its power as corrupt leaders are being punished by the people even if they have to elect a comedian with no experience in politics. What else can they do?