BRILLIANT, WICKED, SICK. This is the recent childrens fashion show in Moscow that is currently attracting anger and disgust. The fashion shows theme was children of the world against the war. It was allegedly a concept of a 10 yo Russian girl designer. For a 10 yo, she amazingly has a VERY keen awareness of the dynamics of current international relations. The imagery is as evocative but not as delicately subtle as Beijing 2008, the haunting painting of Chinese-Canadian artist Liu Yi. With toy handguns, the models wore dresses inspired by the flags of nine countries: Russia, USA, Ukraine, Britain, Germany, China, Italy, France, and Greece. Catwalking to the beat of gunshots, each model walked and pointed their guns to the audience. Russia opened the show, followed by the US, and then China. As China walked, the two walked behind her: The Superpower Trinity, whose rivalry will surely define the future world order. Ukraine closed the show, and what the model did provoked an outrage. After pointing the gun to the audience, Ukraine aimed it at herself, attempting suicide. The countries behind her gestured her to stop. Music changed. Angels entered stage, and took all the guns away - peace has arrived.The presence of angels reminds me of the earliest debate in IR theory: realism vs idealism. This part seems to be sending a message that peace is a product of wishful thinking: our best hope for peace is the existence of supernatural powers who can override our flawed human nature. But this sequence might also be trying to inspire hope, the same hope offered by one of Steven Pinkers book on the declining pattern of violence throughout our long history: the better angels of our nature seems to be orienting us away from violence... Then Russia, Ukraine, and the US held hands. But is this the tag of geopolitics or the chain of cooperation? The end. Because children were used, some people called it sick. Others cried foul at what Ukraines model did. Well, it was a wicked interpretation of what Ukraine did when it willingly embraced the EU. It produced a tectonic shift in the balance of geopolitical power - the quake that provoked Russia to salvage by all means necessary to the status quo ante. Finally, this was a brilliant propaganda, who echoed the recurring motif of classic Russian literature: Dark and redemptive.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 22:05:12 +0000
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