aim for a solution for the rumbling conflict in Eastern Ukraine. Kiev's release from custody of journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, who still faces charges of high treason for his work for the local bureau of Russia's RIA news agency, is a positive sign. Another is touted Russian-Ukrainian prisoner swap, though neither story is resolved, and each is only a small piece of the puzzle if relations are ever to normalize between neighboring states.

Also on rt.com No prisoner swap with Russia on Friday, talks continue – Ukraine

Meanwhile, he has reassured the western part of the country, where he received the fewest votes, relatively, of his European commitment by making Brussels the destination of his first trip abroad.

Exceeding low expectations

But perhaps Zelensky’s biggest achievement so far has simply been that heIt does not matter whether these claims are empirically true; they fit into a clear and compelling narrative, in which immigrants are portrayed as villains. Such a narrative, as we have seen, is a very effective mobilisation tool in the hands of cynical politicians.

Of course, financial crises – such as those in Latin America in the early 1980s, in East Asia in the late 1990s, in Eastern Europe in the late 2000s, and in Europe in the 2010s – also have clear victims: those who lose their jobs, houses, or retirement savings. But it is not nearly as easy to apportion blame.

In the past – going back to the Middle Ages, in fact – the finger has often been pointed at banks. But the sources of today’s “hot