O Pioneers!

A couple of summers ago I bought a t-shirt with a big Z on it, similar to the logo in Life Aquatic. It represented Team Zissou.  Since last February, I've kept it in the drawer as Z has became a symbol of fascism.  It's not the first time an autocratic country has appropriated a letter or symbol, but people are still asking why Russia would adopt a Roman letter and not a Cyrillic letter?  They could have just as easily used 3.

Oddly enough, Wes Anderson is obsessed with the letter.  He used it as a fascist symbol in his period drama The Grand Budapest Hotel.  It was a squiggly pair of Z's similar to the notorious SS of the Nazis. Maybe Putin liked it and decided to adopt the letter for his special military operation?   

More likely his propaganda team took the letter from World War Z, imagining their fearless leader as Brad Pitt battling a world overridden by spirited zombies. It wouldn't be the first time someone imagined the future as a Zombie Apocalypse.

Putin loved to project himself as the ultimate tough guy, riding a horse shirtless into the Russian taiga or scoring all the goals in a hockey match while Russian NHL players looked on in wonder at his prowess.  He had a small circle of celebrity admirers like Steven Seagal, Mickey Rourke and Jean-Claude Van Damme, which helped feed this tough guy image.

At first the letter was scrawled on tanks but has since become stylized and used as a nationalistic symbol throughout Russia and Russian-speaking communities around the world, often shown as a St. George ribbon from Tsarist times.  Lithuania has since banned the ribbon, as have many other countries, treating it as a symbol of hatred.  

After the annexation of Crimea, it was common for Russian nationalists in Lithuania to wear the St. George ribbon on Victory Day, when the Soviet forces defeated Nazi Germany.  It was usually twisted in the form of a bow and pinned to the breast.  They would gather at the Soviet memorial at the cemetery in Antakalnis as if to remind Lithuania that it owed its independence to Russia, conveniently forgetting that Lithuania was absorbed into the Soviet Union after WWII and regained its independence in 1991, as did Russia.  These nationalists would also descend on Vingio Park in large numbers singing their praises to Russia or the Soviet Union.  The odd part is that they didn't seem to differentiate the two.  No permits were given last May for such demonstrations.  Still, a few gathered at the cemetery in protest.  

One still wonders about this Z however.  It's a conscious choice to use a Roman letter.  The Ministry of Defense claimed it represented victory, romanizing за победу. But "za" simply means for.  It is "pobeda" that means victory.  So why not P? I guess it didn't look menacing enough. 

This "special military operation" was intended to show the world how powerful Russia is. They were going to take all of Ukraine in one big bite with the 200,000 men they had amassed at the border and the convoy of armored vehicles that stretched for 60 kilometers.  For a brief moment, the international media was awestruck, but then the convoy stalled as did Russia's war effort.  Putin's armed forces were never able to reach Kjiv and beat a humiliating retreat from the northern region of the country last summer, leaving a wake of burned-out cities and disfigured human remains behind them. 

The Russian Z became universally mocked.  Ukrainian vloggers like Denys Davydov often spell Russia with two Z's, and continually post "Ruzzian" losses on Telegram, the most popular social media site in Russia.  Et tu, Vlad!

Still, there is worry that the longer this war drags on the better chance Putin has to turn the tide.  One would think that "Ruzzian" armed forces will eventually learn from their many mistakes.  There is much anxiety over another major Ruzzian assault aimed at Kjiv within the next few days, as Putin has mobilized massive forces in Belarus.  It would be a make or break gesture on his part.  If successful he can finally claim victory.  If not, he will have a very difficult time explaining to his people how it went so wrong a second time.  Those German Leopard and British Challenger tanks couldn't come soon enough.

David Letterman aired his interview with Zelenskyy over the holidays and couldn't resist showing a clip from the president's comedy days when he commented on a speech Putin had given at the Pillar Hall during a stand-up routine.  Zelensky noted that Putin had called "Kjiv is the mother of Russian cities."  The comic responded to Russian people by saying, "kids, why say such nasty things in the news about your mother?"

President Zelenskyy doesn't seem overly worried.  You don't sense any great fear on his part, but maybe that is his way of calming anxieties as he has done throughout this war.  Probably the single greatest defeat for Putin is how the Ukrainian president has risen to become the most celebrated man in the world, feted by virtually every Western country and most recently giving an address to a joint session of the US Congress that had all but a handful of members giving him thunderous standing ovations. 

Zelenskyy is loved in Hollywood as well.  He recently gave a remote speech at the Golden Globes and has been visited by any number of celebrities in Kjiv, including Sean Penn who gave him one of his Oscars.  Oliver Stone never gave Putin one of his Oscars.

Maybe the Z should stand for Zelenskyy?  If Putin can appropriate the letter, why not someone who actually has it in his name.  But, President Zelenskyy isn't that type of person.  He understands his unique place in history and has accepted it with extraordinary humility.  Something Putin would never understand.  

The Z continues to flourish in Russian society although you wonder if it is the Russians who have become zombies, impervious to any contradictory news form the outside world.  However, I have to think there is only so long that Russians will go along with this internecine war.