In case President Volodyumyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington D.C. or Sean Penn’s virtue signaling trip inside the country’s borders weren’t enough to satisfy one’s desire for war time theatrics, NATO has attempted to elicit further support for Ukraine in their ongoing fight against Russia by loudly and proudly sharing an essay comparing the small Eastern European country to some of pop culture’s greatest heroes.
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Originally published by the North American Trade Organization’s NATO Review – an online news magazine published “under the authority of the Secretary General” – on February 16th, the essay in question saw Ukrainian journalist, TV anchor, and radio host-turned-frontline fighter Pavlo Kazarin recount his on-the-ground experience with “joining a true people’s army.”
Several days after Kazarin’s lengthy essay hit NATO Review’s front page, it was subsequently picked up by NATO proper, who took to Twitter to share highlights from Pavlo’s essay, beginning with his assertion that “We haven’t won yet. But in many ways, we have won.”
From there, the military alliance brought attention to Pavlo’s aforementioned concept of “a true people’s army”, sharing his description that the Ukranian forces “contained ordinary workers and company directors, parents and their children, schoolteachers, theatre people and new university graduates.”
“People bring knowledge and skills from their civilian professions into the army,” further highlighted NATO of the newly-trained fighter’s words. “As no one had got round to telling them ‘It cannot be done’ they set about creating new ways of solving problems.”
“Once you reach the front line, you come to an important realisation,” they continued. “Whether you survive is mainly a matter of luck. Training can improve your odds. So can practice and experience.”
Turning to Pavlo’s thoughts on Russia specifically, NATO shared his recollection that the Kremlin “continues to mobilise and does not count its losses. Ukraine is left playing David to an aggressive Goliath.”
“Moscow tried to divide Ukraine, but achieved the opposite,'” Pavlo stated in follow-up before adding, “If Ukraine loses and Moscow gets its way, the domino effect might be felt around the world.”
“There are hundreds of thousands of soldiers in trenches,” the featured quotes continued. “Millions of their friends and relations are at home without power. In these circumstances, it doesn’t matter what your language is.”
It was here, near the end of their thread, that the organization chose to spotlight Pavlo’s particularly cringe-worthy attempt at referencing pop culture – including Avatar, Dune, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe to garner sympathy for Ukraine.
Affirming the man’s belief that “Ukraine is hosting one of the great epics of this century,” NATO penultimately quoted, “We are Harry Potter and William Wallace, the Na’vi and Han Solo. We’re escaping from Shawshank and blowing up the Death Star. We are fighting with the Harkonnens and challenging Thanos.”
“We haven’t won yet,” read the final declaration of both NATO’s thread and Pavlo’s essay. “But in many ways, we have won.”
