This Ukraine summitry is all reality TV, zero substance
The medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan predicted and the US president internalised. For Ukrainians, that spells tragedy.
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SO MUCH has happened in recent days, it’s easy to overlook how little has happened. To wit: Nothing material. Not when it comes to matters of war and peace in Ukraine, where Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to bomb civilians, to detain children (for which he is wanted by the International Criminal Court) and more generally to terrorise a sovereign nation that he considers an errant satrapy.
That, however, is not the impression you may have formed if, like me, you’ve been following the summitry and pageantry on YouTube, TikTok, X, Truth Social or your medium of choice. In the endless scroll of our screens, one meme chases another while all orbit around the bright yellow-orange star of the show, Donald Trump.
The medium is the message, the philosopher Marshall McLuhan observed six decades ago. And the message today is that this US president – for better or worse – is shaping world affairs.
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