Members of the Kharkiv orchestra defying air raid sirens, playing the theme for “Schindler’s List” to a crowd on a Friday night.
Kharkiv, Ukraine. Day 142 pic.twitter.com/YBVloIUGyk
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) July 15, 2022
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On the other side of the border…
Let me be more explicit: The Kremlin is worried about giving too many Russians advanced weapons, training, and organization, because it worries they’ll turn their guns against the state. https://t.co/nWk9zEqYQU
— Ryan Bridges (@ryanbridgesgpf) July 12, 2022
Yet another interesting convergence between Russian nationalists and arch-conservatives. https://t.co/yGoCYh9ERk
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) July 8, 2022
Gin & Tonic
I’ve seen that cigarette warning before and may even have commented on it. There are two forms of the verb “to die” in Ukrainian – one for people and one for animals. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which form is being used here.
Alison Rose
@Gin & Tonic: It’s brilliant.
Saw some pics on Olena Zelenska’s FB earlier, with Antony Blinken, and it was very lovely. I’m glad FLOTUS invited her and I’m eager to see her speech on Wednesday!
Roger Moore
Something important to remember about the Russian invasion is that they probably can’t commit too many more troops than they already have. They’re having trouble keeping the their existing forces supplied, so trying to add a lot more would just exacerbate their current logistical problems.
FlyingToaster
@Roger Moore: The problem is attrition; they’re losing troops (as casualties) so they need bodies in the training pipeline or the Russian’s can’t hold what they’ve got. The standard Russian war practice is to bombard until everything is flattened, then send in the tanks -n- infantry, then send in the TikTok soldiers to occupy the ruins. They need the artillery manned, tanks driven, and infantry to take the ruins; they’re losing the tanks and infantry. They got artillery for months yet.
Mallard Filmore
@Roger Moore:
The Russian army has a morale problem:
YouTube link: https://install.local/ukraine-open-thread-alongside-the-military-news/#comment-54697
title: ‘”Just Wear A Diaper, Soldier!” – Advice From Russian Army Command Given From the Deep Rear’
Jerzy Russian
@Gin & Tonic:
Are there other verbs on Ukrainian that take different forms depending of if humans or animals do it?
I remember learning a long time ago in high school German that “to eat” has different words for humans and animals. I remember thinking that that was dumb. I realize now German speakers might think that having only one word for “to eat” probably is gross.
Benno
Re: the last tweet, I mean…as an academic, that poster is not exactly wrong.
germy shoemangler
Andrya
@Gin & Tonic: If you feel so inclined, please help. I wrote out the cigarette pack inscription on an online Ukrainian language typewriter, checked it carefully, then pasted it into five different English to Ukrainian online translators. I got the following five results:
(twice) If you burn, you will die and putin will die soon.
(twice) You will die and you will not die.
(The second two translators did not mention putin, although his name is clearly the last word in the cigarette inscription.)
(once) Throw smoking and won’t see putin’s breath.
If you care to comment, I’d be grateful. If not, I accept that you have better things to do.
Jay
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ukraine-cards
oatler
@Jerzy Russian:
How about the ocean liner Immer Essen from “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid”?
pat
German, essen vs. fressen?
Wir essen, die Tiere fressen.
Betty Cracker
I read an interesting article in The Atlantic this weekend by Kyiv-based journalist Veronika Melkozerova. It’s called “The Hate I Feel.” She described meeting a Ukrainian family that had fled Russians in Mariupol and were on their way to the western part of the country. Melkozerova described what happened when she and the refugee family passed by a display of destroyed Russian military equipment in Kyiv:
Basically, the article is about how full of rage people are:
They are tired of hearing “not all Russians.” Weary of hearing Russians who resist Putin being praised. Fed up with Ukraine being pressured to make concessions to end the war, etc. She just hates all those motherfuckers, even though she acknowledges it’s eating her up inside.
Ohio Mom
@pat: Oh, I get it now. In Yiddish, a person who is a glutton is a fresser. Now I see the derivation.
Gin & Tonic
@Andrya: “Quit smoking [or] you will die and will not [live to] see putin die.”
The first word there literally means “to throw” or “to throw away,” but in context means to throw away the habit. The second word literally means “to burn” but colloquially means “to smoke.” Led to some confusion a long time ago when I was in a cab and the driver asked “may I burn?” I didn’t want him to set fire to the cab, and only then realized he wanted to light up a smoke.
Andrya
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks!
Roger Moore
@FlyingToaster: @Mallard Filmore:
I was thinking of the thing about them applying only a fraction of the force they have available. Maybe they have more troops out there- though it sounds as if there are limits on sending conscripts to Ukraine- but they’re still limited by logistics. They could have 10 million troops in reserve, but they’d still be limited by the number they can get the bullets, beans, and gas to fight.
Ken
I take it that “the conflict has only just begun” is the new reality, and the original claim “we will win in 5 days” has been memory-holed.
zhena gogolia
@Andrya: Those translators really suck
zhena gogolia
@Ken: he just lies and spouts bullshit all the time. Why anyone tries to “analyze” it is beyond me.
japa21
@Roger Moore: Give them enough beans and they’ll have all the gas they need.
Ken
@zhena gogolia: Kremlinology has a long history.
Joy in FL
@Jay: Thanks, Jay. I’m going to donate to that. (see comment #10 for link to the Awareness Cards)
ColoradoGuy
Any translations of the Russian recruiting poster? Presumably, it is a sort of “Rake’s Progress” showing the fecund and radiantly healthy soldier at age 39, while the 39-year-old University educated man falls into idleness, drunkenness, with a nagging wife.
The implied message is that Russia losing (white) population thanks to people being over-educated. Definite parallel to Tucker Carlson’s “replacement theory” American Nazi Party propaganda line.
different-church-lady
In Russia, cigarette quit you.
Uncle Cosmo
@Jerzy Russian: Three words, actually. Over 50 years ago Herr Peter Armbrust, my second-year German instructor at Johns Hopkins, explained the distinction between essen, fressen and speisen to us thusly:
i.e., “One dines in a restaurant; one eats at home; one slurps grub from the pig trough at ***the commuting students’ cafeteria.”
It was a good joke at the time; as with all good jokes, there was more than a touch of truth within it…
Uncle Cosmo
@oatler: Fress, fress, mein Kindt…
LeftCoastYankee
Sergio Olmos was one of the must follow reporters during the 2020 summer protests in Portland. His (and other local reporters) videoing what actually happened was an antidote to national media cutting and pasting Portland Police Bureau press releases. I think OPB had him on staff (or contract) after that.
Seems he’s got that “bear witness to the horrors” mindset many intrepid reporters have.
Jay
@Joy in FL:
Welcome. Sadly, not the first war zone where they have run their awareness project.
Kelly
@LeftCoastYankee: Sergio Olmos has been in Ukraine lately and Venezuela before that. Definitely a bear witness guy.
Jay
@germy shoemangler:
https://english.nv.ua/amp/ukraine-arrests-former-sbu-department-head-for-treason-ukraine-news-50256965.html
So, an arrest “behind Enemy lines” and an extraction.
Reports are that 60 some Ukrainian Security Forces are Russian agents and assets.
So a house cleaning is in order.
zhena gogolia
@Ken: The people in the Politburo were pretty rational actors compared to this.
zhena gogolia
@ColoradoGuy: Basically, it says if you go through the civilian educational system, you have to pay for it, and there aren’t any good-paying jobs when you get out, plus you have to pay for your housing and food. If you go into the military, you get paid, you get an education, you get a government mortgage, and you’re all set. Assuming you’re not assigned to the warship Moskva. (I added that part.)
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: And after 20 years of military service, you’re guaranteed a pension of $255 per month.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, I left out the pension, sorry.
Andrya
@Gin & Tonic: Can a person (or a senior citizen married couple) live on $255/month in russia?
Jay
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/coutts-protests-conspiract-murder-police-jerry-morin-bail-denied-1.6523970
Even ours are not “rugged haulers of wood and water”, but instead crying snowflakes.
Gin & Tonic
@Andrya: With indoor plumbing?
Jay
@Andrya:
it’s roughly 1/4 of the 2021 average monthly wage in Russia.
Ken
Does “in the hole” mean what I think it means? That is, did this guy just basically say,
“Hi, judge, sorry I look this way but the guards here at the prison keep putting me in the special cells for disobeying the prison rules. So how about setting bail?”
Jay
@Ken:
yurp.
different-church-lady
@Andrya: In Russia, pension live off you.
Andrya
@Gin & Tonic: I take it you mean “yes, they can survive, but it dire poverty”. Correct? Although given the proclivity of the russian army in Ukraine to steal toilets, indoor plumbing might be scarce overall.
I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the tireless work you have done informing the jackals about the Ukraine situation. You have made me a much better informed advocate for Ukraine, and since I share what I learn on BJ with friends/family, you have created other more effective advocates as well. Thanks!
Alison Rose
@Ken: If he keeps saying it has only just begun, then he can convince themselves that when* they win, it will have been within the first few days.
*They will not. This is me channeling his bullshit thinking.
Jay
@Andrya:
seconded.
Gin & Tonic
@Andrya: I am glad my scribblings have some benefit.
Ladyraxterinok
@Gin & Tonic:
In the 50s 60s and 70s when smoking was much more common and accepted in the states, US students of German would find this line in lists of possible phrases for conversations when one needed a light/a match for a cigarette: “Haben Sie Feuer?” (ie.”Do you have fire?”)
It could come as a bit of a shock!
divF
@Ohio Mom: Also, Possibly the origin of this dialog from The Producers:
Leo: Actors aren’t animals, they are human beings!
Max: Have you ever eaten with one?
Professor Bigfoot
@ColoradoGuy: “In this production, Russia is playing the role of Germany; and Vladimir Putin takes on the role of “Adolf Hitler.”
It’s amazing to me how parallel they are; right down to supporting Klansmen and other white supremacists here in America.
“Same as it ever was.”