THE forerunner of this newspaper, now amalgamated into our masthead on page one – the Skibbereen Eagle – became famous, and some would say infamous, for daring to tell Russia that it was keeping its eye on the Czar’s activities in the late 1890s.
Those words, though not written exactly as oft-quoted now, were from the pen of the Eagle’s then editor, Fred Potter. It caused quite the amusement in the halls of the British establishment that a little newspaper from the south west coast of Ireland would have the audacity to call out the ruler of a giant world force.
It was a real David v Goliath tale that is retold to this day, on a very regular basis.
And yet as the world watched the happenings in the White House in Washington last week, as US president Donald Trump lorded his power and influence over the Ukrainian president, that Old Testament story came to mind once more.
But if Trump would fashion himself in the Goliath role, then he should have realised that sometimes the ‘little guy’ can inflict as much injury with a few well-chosen pebbles and a sling as his aggressor can do with big weapons – as was the case in the original bible story.
A lesser man would have emerged from that unsavoury battle bruised and broken, after being pummelled by not one, but two opponents, on their ‘home’ ground.
But President Zelensky, Europe’s feisty fighter, battle-weary but resilient, left the White House and gave a calm and reasoned interview to a pro-Trump media outlet within hours, stating his case, without apologising for the alleged ‘disrespect’ shown to the US president and vice-president.
This week we learn that Zelensky – ever the diplomat –has said he is willing to sign the US’s minerals deal in a bid to keep hopes of an eventual peace alive.
But it was difficult to watch the president of a world superpower sitting in their comfortable and secured home demanding respect from the president of a country who has been bravely leading his citizens through the most devastating period in its modern history.
The respect should surely have been going in the opposite direction. And the questions and comments about the president’s war fatigues were wholly inappropriate. Men and women fighting for the freedom of their country are provided much-needed solace by seeing their leader dressed in clothing denoting he is one of them and not ‘above’ them.
For the leaders of the once-great United States of America to mock Zelensky’s attire after three years battling a massive aggressor seems childish at least, and poorly-judged at worst. As a result of the two Americans’ behaviour, the European leaders came out within days, united and resolved in their decision to back their Ukrainian neighbours against Russia.
The overall result is a huge shift in geo-politics and a radical dialling-up of the global political atmosphere. It would now appear the unthinkable has happened – America is aligning itself with Russia and forcing European countries to strengthen their already close ties in a bid to provide protection for one of their own.
While President Trump’s near-subservience to Russia and its leader Putin has been no secret for many years, few would have predicted the tables would turn so suddenly after his second term began.
His determination to elicit major change, on many fronts, as quickly as possible, has also been well noted since his first term in office, but to re-arrange the position of the major players on the world chess board so swiftly and so violently, within weeks of assuming power, has taken even his some of his own party members by surprise.
As many commentators have noted this week, respect for America itself has fallen so dramatically in the past week that it is quickly losing its place as the great defender of democracy and its good name is being dragged through the mud. When the tiny voice of the Skibbereen Eagle’s editor made itself known in the face of Russian aggression over 125 years ago, the world was a very different place.
But little did we realise that so many years later, it would still take the ‘little man’ to stand up to the dictators of this world and make their small voices heard.
