March 7, 2025, by Brigitte Nerlich
Steel porcupine: A metal metaphor for our times
When Covid spread I started to collect metaphors. Now the world has suddenly changed again. Metaphors of fighting a virus are replaced by talk about fighting literal wars. But metaphors are never far away.
European leaders gathered in London on 2 March 2025 to talk about the Ukraine-Russia-US situation and make plans for a just peace in Ukraine on the one hand and for more spending on defence on the other.
In this context, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, told reporters gathered outside Lancaster House that “We have to put Ukraine in a position of strength so that it has the means to fortify and protect itself, from the economic survival to the military resilience”, and…. wait for it: “It is basically turning Ukraine into a steel porcupine that is indigestible for potential invaders”.
The metaphor and its roots
Ursula von der Leyen’s ‘steel porcupine’ metaphor is vivid and strategic. By describing Ukraine as an indigestible steel porcupine, she is invoking an image of defensive strength and deterrence.
The metaphor suggests that Ukraine should be transformed into a country that is so well-prepared, fortified, and resilient so that any potential aggressor would find it extremely difficult and costly to attempt an invasion. The metaphor works by making various domains of knowledge interact: a porcupine’s quills make it dangerous to attack; steel implies industrial and military hardness; and indigestible suggests that Ukraine would be a painful and unpalatable target for invasion.
Ursula von der Leyen did not create the metaphor ex nihilo, though. It has been used before by John Mearsheimer, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, who said in 2014: “Putin surely understands that trying to subdue Ukraine would be like swallowing a porcupine.” This did not prevent Putin from trying, though.
The impact
Ursula von der Leyen’s metaphor began to circulate immediately and widely (145 mentions in All English Language News on Nexis on 5 March). It was received rather positively, especially online.
For some it became an emblematic part of an overall EU security strategy. A senior EU official was quoted in The Telegraph on 5 March as saying: “The ‘steel porcupine’ is the first pillar of the security guarantees… in the event of a peace agreement they can be in a position where they can defend themselves where any future Russian aggression would meet such a resistance it would be quashed or not take place because it would be obvious for any aggressor it would not succeed… This is the strategy and the strategy shared by a majority of member states”.
There were some critical voices, too. The Eurasia Review reported on 4 March that: “This imaginatively foolish and recklessly irresponsible undertaking does little to patch up the irreplaceable role the US plays in a number of areas” and the Times of India claimed: “Yes, Germany is finally increasing its defence budget. Yes, the EU is working on making Ukraine a ‘steel porcupine’ that Russia won’t be able to swallow. But none of this happens overnight. Meanwhile, Trump still holds all the cards.”
For others, there is the danger that “Trump regards Zelensky, not Putin, as the ‘steel porcupine’, the obstacle to peace.”
One article using an AI generated image to which we’ll come back, goes further and argues, using a counter-metaphor, that massive EU rearmament “could also create a debt bomb as well as cluster bombs of social discontent that explode at various points in the future.”
And one blog post (and the comments underneath it), using an AI generated image of a steel porcupine, goes down a very deep anti-von-der-Leyen rabbit hole of negative associations.
Such elaborations and extensions show that the steel porcupine metaphor was not only creative but memorable and impactful. It resonated! This is also demonstrated by other associations and visualisations.
Heavy metal
There were several posts associating the metaphor with heavy metal bands. Brooklyn Zelenka, for example, wrote: “‘Steel Porcupine’ would be a great name for a metal band” and added an image which shows the words ‘Steel Porcupine’ in a heavy metal font, and blue on top and yellow on bottom in Ukrainian flag colours. A black and white porcupine plays (the outline of) a guitar in the background.
One person posted a photo of the UK Radio 1 DJ John Peel who was famous for supporting obscure bands and musicians on his radio shows. It shows him sitting at a mixing desk wearing headphones and a plain jumper and looking at the camera. The post says: “That was Indigestible Steel Porcupine with their latest single.”
Freud’s metal porcupine
Sho Walker-Konno wrote: “Politics of arms-races aside, I am unequivocally in favour of EU figures using original and (you’ve got to hand it to VDL) baddass heavy-metal language.”
But then he asks: “Is ‘steel porcupine’ literally Freudian? Can’t find any other reference.” He attaches an image of a metal porcupine from the Freud Museum collection and its subtitle: “This intriguing metal figure of a porcupine with quills sat on Freud’s desk from 1909 onwards. Its individually crafted quills are decorative but sharp.”
There is quite a story attached to this ornament which you can read here. One thing jumped out at me: “Freud incorporated Schopenhauer’s use of the porcupine as a metaphor in describing the difficulties of group relationships.”
Schopenhauer’s parable of the porcupine
And that brings us to the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and the parable of the porcupine in which he explores how people can ‘be’ together (to keep warm but not prick each other) – he was a bit of a miserable so and so. What he says about ‘togetherness’ is important though:
“The mean distance which [people] finally discover, and which enables them to endure being together, is politeness and good manners. Whoever does not keep to this, is told in England to ‘keep his distance.’ By virtue thereof, it is true that the need for mutual warmth will be only imperfectly satisfied, but on the other hand, the prick of the quills will not be felt.” (italics mine)
Politeness and good manners, that’s something to aspire to in international relation and might avoid turning each other into steel porcupines.
Porcupines and possums
The Schopenhauerian porcupine strategy would also avoid the current situation summarised in this Bluesky post: “New American TV Bar experience: The TV with Fox News has chyron Rubio Says Trump Deserves Nobel Peace Prize and the TV playing ABC for the sports shows Zelensky hugging Starmer smiling in that ‘lets build a steel porcupine i’m not playing possum for Trump’ way”…
Visual metaphors
Quite a few people posted ‘images’ of the steel porcupine online, mostly generated by AI, thus turning a verbal into a visual metaphor. As I am not sure about copyright, I won’t post the images here, but you can always click through to them.
One of the most striking images adorned a rather critical blog post by Eugene Doyle. It shows a huge porcupine with spikes like Exocets, a bomber overhead, a heroic figure (von der Leyen?) on the ground, surrounded by soldiers, helicopters and a European flag on the left, all in black and grey tones.
Pablo Hassan posted another AI generated image. It shows a rather cute porcupine/hedgehog made from gleaming steel and wearing the Ukrainian flag as an armband. Andreas posted a slightly less cute one, created by Dall-E and showing a steel porcupine with quills in the shape of rockets. There are probably many many more AI steel porcupines out there, including the one I use in this post.
And finally, Lukas Dufta posted a Czech article that shows a picture of a steel porcupine in the wild!
Metaphors and the imagination
Adalbert Jahnz said on Bluesky “I do feel like the steel porcupine has good meme potential, just saying”. He was certainly right, as we have seen.
While I was writing this post, I stumbled across a theoretical article by Ramona Pistol on metaphor, making the point that some metaphors don’t just map aspects from one domain of knowledge onto another, but are invitations for the imagination:
“Novel and impactful metaphors stand out in communication because they ‘invite’ interpretation and simultaneously grant interpreters the opportunity for creation that demands active mental engagement. This dual feature highlights their unique role: they engage individuals by offering a fresh perspective, and they empower interpreters to construct meaning, thereby fostering a collaborative dynamic in the exchange of ideas.”
The power of metaphors and the imagination reminded me of William Shakespeare who wrote in Midsummer Night’s Dream:
“And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name”
Nowadays, AI gives things unknown shapes and it gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name. What we make of these creations of human and artificial intelligence and imagination is our responsibility.
Image: Created by ChatGPT on 6 March.
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