Selling Out Ukraine

The 1930s all over again

Peace in our time. Image credit: The Guardian

As of 18th March 2022 the Western media narrative is subtly shifting. Audiences have a very limited attention span, so war porn is beginning to lose its appeal. After all, there are only so many ways to spin an inherently contradictory story: plucky Ukraine fighting off the Russian invaders but Russia continues to advance on all fronts slowly but inexorably.

And so the media is easing us into the next standard narrative: for all its plucky resistance, Ukraine can’t win this war and therefore what’s the point of continuing?

Putin has made his demands: Ukraine must disarm and never even imagine joining the EU or NATO but instead be content to become a vassal state, subject to the constant demands of Mother Russia. Russia must of course remain in possession of all the territory it’s invaded, plus a bit more as compensation for the terrible losses it has suffered during its humanitarian operation to free Ukraine from Nazi influence. And Zelensky must admit that Ukraine is truly full of Nazi fascists who must be rooted out for the sake of peace and freedom.

Hey, it’s not really such a big deal, right? I mean, considering we’re not the ones who have to surrender everything we value and hand ourselves over to a megalomaniac tyrant.