Today is the one-year anniversary of the start of the conflict in Ukraine and there will be a lot of media posturing about it. You may have already noticed.
NATO honored the date by comparing the conflict with the heroes’ journeys from pop culture references including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Avatar, Braveheart, The Avengers, Dune and The Shawshank Redemption. This is a not-so-subtle way to reduce the conflict to a good vs. evil dichotomy that will maybe inspire some and turn off others. (I’m in the turned off camp. Leave my Potter out of this!)
The European Union wanted to honor this date with the tenth sanctions package but they couldn’t agree on one.
The United Nations passed a truly symbolic non-binding resolution calling on Russia to leave Ukraine. A representative from China condemned Western leaders for failing to bring about peace saying that the “brutal facts offer [an] ample proof that sending weapons will not bring peace.” China released a document demanding peace negotiations begin immediately and that the West abandon “the Cold War mentality.”
