Everyone knows the story of Snake Island. At the beginning of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, a large contingent of the Russian Armed Services approached tiny Snake Island and its handful of Ukrainian Army defenders.
Easily outnumbered, the Russians expected the Ukrainians to quickly surrender, but instead a lone soldier chirped on the radio "Russian Warship, go fuck yourself..."
And the bombing commenced.
That was a year ago, so I was surprised to see this at the Daily Mail (UK) this morning:
President Zelensky Taunts Putin By Visiting Liberated Snake Island to Mark the 500th Day of War
That is Optics at its best and Zelensky gets it. There may be no world leader, today, that understands media presentation better.
Remember when Vladimir Putin used to get it? But here's the catch, in America, few people saw the above photo. Let me re-emphasize, the photo was at the Daily Mail (UK), where Zelensky was the lead story and his image was steeped in symbolism. Zelensky was the lead story in Israel, Ukraine, Russia, and Great Britain.
But not in America:
No Snake Island at CNN.
No Snake Island at the Drudge Report.
At first, I was kind of curious. In the news this morning was a lot of navel-gazing and jockeying for the 2024 election. Why no Snake Island? Is it because Americans have "war fatigue?" I don't think Americans have fatigue over a war that many are disconnected from. Do you see nightly updates from Ukraine on the evening news? Most people I talk to don't even reference the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.
How do I figure? Two weeks ago, I was frantically writing about events in Russia that may, or may not, have been a coup attempt. As I scoured the internet, I noticed that my Facebook feed was BEREFT of any news from Russia, despite the fact that I follow multiple overseas news sites. Then, when I was reading about Threads' new business model this week, "politics and hard news aren’t ‘worth the scrutiny,' negativity, or integrity risks."
If 75% of Americans are on Meta-owned social media platforms and they want to focus on social causes, entertainment, or sports...
And it hit me. It doesn't matter if you vote for senile Joe Biden or over-the-hill Donald Trump in 2024. Both of their plaque-filled brains are stuck in the past instead of looking to the future.
If you go back to that CNN photo, Zelensky is meeting with Turkish-leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. What if, when the microphones were on, Zelensky and Erdogan said all the right things to guarantee positive media coverage in the West, but then they had a private conversation.
What if President Zelensky said, 'I have been to every corner of Ukraine, and my citizens are deeply grateful to the West for weapons, but they don't want their country filled with rainbows, gender fluidity, and a celebrity obsessed TikTok culture. They want a traditional Ukraine run by Ukrainians.' And then Erdogan leaned over and confided 'the people of Turkey fear the same thing. The West has lurched way too far to the Left and my people yearn to be free of the shadows of both Russia and NATO.
What if President Zelensky continued, 'ultimately, the common man in Ukraine doesn't see the difference between Rich American Billionaires or Rich Russian Oligarchs. What if we formed our own (EEB) Eastern European Block? Wherever I go, leaders whine of the arrogance of America and the corruption of Russia.'
Instead of joining NATO, would a right-leaning Ukraine peel off other right-leaning countries that used to populate the former Ottoman Empire and form a new entity? The population of an alliance between Ukraine, Turkey, and the states of the former Yugoslavia would outnumber the population of Russia.
America is the backbone of NATO, but as everyone seems to be shuffling seats in the game of international musical chairs, would Eastern European countries be strong enough to trust their neighbor, form an EEB, and then simply ask America to step away?
America is already detaching itself from the entire situation in Ukraine. Would NATO really make sense to Ukraine in a quickly evolving political landscape?
I know Zelensky was on Snake Island.
Where is Putin today? Who knows.
Where is Prigozhin today? Your guess is as good as mine.
In America:
And at Medium:
"So 77 percent of Americans age 18–35 aren’t qualified (for military service) due to health issues including being overweight, being obese, drug use, mental health and criminal issues."
Could Zelensky cobble something together to counter Russia on his own?
I don't think America is as appealing of a partner as it used to be-
(Once the arms pipeline shuts down.)
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