Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

This fight is for everything.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

No one could have predicted…

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Come on, man.

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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 457: Russia Opens Up on Dnipro, Kyiv, and Other Parts of Ukraine!

War for Ukraine Day 457: Russia Opens Up on Dnipro, Kyiv, and Other Parts of Ukraine!

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(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Earlier today the Russians decided to unload on civilian targets in Dnipro.

We’ll cover the other areas that Russia targeted after the jump.

I’ve just checked the Ukrainian air raid tracker and there does not appear to be anything currently active. I’ve also poked around on the flight trackers and they’re not reporting anything currently in the air for Russia. For now things are quiet over Ukraine. Unfortunately, this can change very quickly.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

During this week, we have also made substantial progress in providing modern aircraft for Ukraine – address of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

26 May 2023 – 19:23

Dear Ukrainians, I wish you health!

I just held a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

The questions are obvious. The front line, our defense, and our active actions, providing our soldiers with weapons and ammunition, equipment.

Air defense and protection against terror. During the day, I receive reports on the situation in the city of Dnipro and the elimination of the consequences of another strike. It is a pure atrocity: a Russian missile, ballistics – against a hospital and a veterinary clinic. Absolutely sick creatures.

As of this minute, two people have been killed in this strike. My condolences to families and friends! Debris clearance has not yet been completed. More than 30 people have been injured, including two children.

We will do everything possible, everything impossible, to speed up the supply of more air defense systems of a higher quality to Ukraine – this is literally a daily issue for work with partners.

During this week, we have also made substantial progress in providing modern aircraft for Ukraine, which will become a key component of our defense in the sky. We are moving faster in defense modernization than could have been predicted six months ago.

General Syrsky made an important report at the Staff meeting – regarding the relevant directions in Donbas. Our soldiers are doing incredible things there, and every position retaken from the occupiers, every height occupied by our forces are new and new arguments for the world that Ukraine can, can win. Thanks to every soldier! Tavria, Odesa, Pivnich, defense of Kharkiv region – attention to each direction. Supplying equipment to offensive brigades.

The Minister of Defense reported to me about the results of the Ramstein meeting – good results.

Today, I also held a meeting with international experts regarding our movement in NATO – a more conceptual one. We have to use it – and we will use it! – every opportunity this month and next month, in general, this year, to fill our relations with the Alliance with real political content.

I had an important conversation with Senator Graham, one of the most influential and experienced U.S. senators. We discussed the situation in our defense today, our needs in the near future. Thank you for understanding Ukraine!

We are preparing several international appeals to increase support for our state and our struggle for freedom – support among our traditional allies and partners and in the countries of the Global South.

I held a meeting devoted to new sanctions against those who support Russian aggression.

And one more.

Today Georgia celebrates Independence Day. I greet all the people of Georgia and wish them to be together with us and all other European nations in a free, peaceful and united European family. I wish this for the entire Georgia – and those parts of your country that are still under Russian occupation. Yet! Georgia is one of the ancient and respected historical forces, and this force CANNOT be defeated, I am sure of it. The occupier will lose. გაუმარჯოს თავისუფალ საქართველოს!

Glory to Ukraine!

The Ukrainians have commissioned a new gunboat!

The Bucha is a Gyurza-M class gunboat. Her official name is BK-08 Bucha and its pennant number is P181. Her hull number is 01036 and it was laid down on 8 FEB 2019. Would one of our Ukrainian speakers please let me know if I should be referring to the Bucha as a he, which, if I’m recalling correctly, was the standard usage in the Soviet and now the post Soviet Russian Navy?

Regardless, fair winds, following seas, good hunting, and if I may cross Service lines and use my brigade combat team’s motto: Strike Hard!

Here’s some more on the Bucha from the Ukrainain MOD’s Telegram channel:

And another one:

Bakhmut:

More from Dnipro:

Mariupol:

Merefa:

Trotsnoyets:

Marinka:

Kyiv:

Spirne, Donetsk Oblast:

From Dmitri of War Translated, an interview of a Ukrainian Gepard operator with English subtitles:

Krasnodar Krai, Russia:

The Kyiv Independent‘s Ilya Ponomarenko has published a new and very timely op-ed. Here are some excerpts: (emphasis mine)

You’re closely following the living history of a nation bravely resisting an imperialistic war of aggression that has inspired the world when, all of a sudden, you come across a picture of a Ukrainian soldier wearing a Totenkopf “skull and crossbones” patch or giving the Nazi salute.

Rightfully so, the use of Nazi or neo-Nazi-related symbols by Ukrainian combatants is shocking and almost always causes controversy.

These symbols, reminders of some of history’s worst crimes against humanity and the attempt to exterminate entire groups of people, are deeply offensive.

Of course, seeing these symbols on soldiers is always distressing, to say the least. While these soldiers do not represent a widespread practice in the Ukrainian military, the use of these symbols nonetheless discredits Ukraine and scares away some potential supporters worldwide.

After almost a decade of reporting on this war, I’d like to chip in with a couple of thoughts on why you might see these symbols on the battlefield in Ukraine. Not to justify these soldiers’ decisions — as any use of Nazi symbols should always be condemned — but to offer my explanation for this phenomenon.

So, why are these symbols present on the battlefield?

First of all, let’s establish one fact. No, Ukraine does not have “a Nazi problem.”

Ukraine is no more “Nazi” than any country that has its small number of misfits who admire Adolf Hitler and form fringe groups and gangs based on those views. Ukraine has its groups like the U.K. has the neo-Nazi organization Combat 18, the Scandinavians have the Nordic Resistance Movement, and the United States has the Aryan Brotherhood.

With absolutely no proof, the Kremlin’s war propaganda created the absurd narrative that Ukraine is a full-fledged, World War II-style Nazi nation that needs to be “de-Nazified” as justification for its brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Just like in many places around the world, people with far-right and neo-Nazi views, driven by their ideology, are prone to joining the military and participating in conflicts. One also has to take into account that in Ukraine, nationalism with deep historical roots is tied to a desire for independence from Russia. It has driven many to take up arms to fight in what they believe is an existential war against a neighbor that seeks to subjugate and destroy their country.

Among them, people with far-right views.

This feeling was very real back in 2014, in the early days of Russia’s war in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas. Ukraine’s military was deeply disorganized and disoriented. Ultra-nationalist and far-right groups were among the many others that organized volunteer battalions to fight Russia’s invasion in the east.

These groups were aggressive and highly motivated. It is, of course, true that, for instance, the Azov Battalion was originally founded by neo-Nazi and far-right groups (as well as many soccer ultra-fans), which brought along with it the typical aesthetics — not only neo-Nazi insignia but also things like Pagan rituals or names like “The Black Corps,” the official newspaper of Nazi Germany’s major paramilitary organization Schutzstaffel (SS).

But as with any country, real neo-Nazis in Ukraine were and still are a tiny minority.

All former guerilla groups with far-right ties were quickly absorbed into Ukraine’s Armed Forces or the National Guard between 2015-2016 as linear, disciplined, and fully-controlled combat units.

From my experience observing this war over the years since 2014, the Ukrainian military has done a rather good job of “secularizing” and isolating these units from their far-right origins, largely due to pressure from the West.

This policy could be described as “keep your views to yourself and train hard.”

This is what happened with Azov. Far more moderate servicemembers rose to prominence (and even to fame during the Battle of Mariupol and the siege of Azovstal), along with military specialists from other branches of service, who joined Azov because they wanted to serve with a highly professional combat unit.

It hasn’t helped that, since 2014, some Western journalists have made the supposed “rise of the far right” a staple of their coverage of Ukraine, as headlines of supposed neo-Nazis in the country are consistently attention-grabbing.

And right before the full-scale invasion, certain American journalists wrote about how Ukrainian neo-Nazis were allegedly using the threat of Russia’s full-scale invasion to seize power in the country.

But guess what — the Russian invasion did happen, and the neo-Nazi power grab never did. Not only was there no serious evidence ever presented to support claims of an attempted “coup,” these fringe elements are nothing compared to Ukraine’s state and military machine.

A drop in the ocean, as the saying goes.

Nevertheless, notorious Nazi and quasi-Nazi symbols are sometimes used by soldiers who do not come close to having any extremist or hateful views.

Nevertheless, notorious Nazi and quasi-Nazi symbols are sometimes used by soldiers who do not come close to having any extremist or hateful views.

So why is this happening? In the oversimplified memory of some around the world, particularly within various militaristic subcultures, symbols representing the Wehrmacht, Nazi Germany’s Armed Forces, and the SS are seen to reflect a super-effective war machine, not the perpetrators of one of the greatest crimes against humanity in human history.

While this, of course, does not absolve these soldiers of wearing extremely offensive insignia, it offers a partial explanation as to why, in my opinion, these symbols have become an integral part of global militaristic subcultures that embrace different historical symbols of war, particularly Nazi ones.

As these insignia were absorbed into militaristic subcultures around the globe, many who wear Nazi patches on their uniforms have come to disassociate these emblems from the crimes committed by their original users 80 years ago.

Although the presence of Nazi symbols on the battlefield generates the most controversy, they are just a fraction of the militaristic emblems embraced by combatants worldwide. Norse and pseudo-Norse, or Viking, symbols of war — the very symbols that the Nazis themselves used to create their own insignia — are also very common.

The culture of modern war patches, a strange, pseudo-art form in militaristic subcultures, has developed into a standalone phenomenon in which those who bear them sometimes completely divorce their modern use with any former ideology. And some symbols hardly have any ideology behind them at all – such as the ubiquitous Punisher skull patch coming from the famous Marvel show.

This phenomenon is hardly unique to Ukraine.

One might remember a scandal over the fact that U.S. Marines Scout Snipers used the SS runes as their unofficial symbol. In 2012, they thought it was a good idea to take a picture of themselves posing next to an SS flag in Afghanistan, prompting swift action from the Corps.

Russia’s propaganda created and cultivated for years the myth about the Ukrainian far-right, inflating their numbers and so-called power within the country. Many Western journalists have built their entire careers feeding off of Moscow’s narrative.

The irony is that Russia has long promoted not only Nazi-style symbols but Nazi practices, morphing into a fascist state that has made war crimes part of its foreign policy.

The Russian far-right and neo-Nazi paramilitary unit Rusich uses both the swastika and the 88 symbol, a neo-Nazi numerical code for “Heil Hitler.”

Dmitriy Utkin*, the alleged co-founder and top commander of the notorious mercenary army Wagner Group, has a large swastika and the Wehrmacht symbol tattooed on his body. And yes, he goes under the nom-de-guerre Wagner not because he’s a big fan of the opera. Hitler was a great admirer of the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner and glorified him during his reign.

Russia’s official policy is ethnic cleansing, killing those speaking Ukrainian, kidnapping Ukrainian children and raising them as Russian, and denying a nation of 40 million the right to exist.

More at the link!

* If you want to know if anyone talking about Wagner knows anything about Wagner, ask them the following question: how many Dmitriy Utkins are there? If the answer is one, they don’t know what they’re talking about. I’ll put the correct answer in the first comment.

Also, you’ll notice what Ponomarenko is describing in his op-ed: that this entire discussion, including that being done in legitimate news reporting, is occurring within Russia’s informational framing. As I wrote the other night, Russia won the information war on this and a number of other issues – many not related to Ukraine at all – way back between late 2011 and 2014. The result is that far too much of our policy discussions are occurring within Russia’s framing. And that includes the domestic moral panics that just miraculously reignited in time for the 2020 election and have been artificially amplified and boosted ever since. Does anyone really think a loser like Chris Rufo – failed career, failed political bid – actually managed to create the overlapping anti-CRT, anti-woke, anti-trans (the “grooming”) moral panics on his own? Of course not, don’t be naive.

Our last bit of serious stuff for tonight is an op-ed by RAF Air Marshal (ret) Edward Stringer published in The Financial Times:

Many have questioned why President Volodymyr Zelenskyy so determinedly pressed for the supply of F-16 fighter planes to his forces in Ukraine. Can one particular aircraft make such a difference? The answer, in the case of the F-16, is yes.

In using the G7 summit to announce that the US would help train Ukrainian pilots to fly the aircraft, Joe Biden tied his allies into the decision. In effect, Zelenskyy hijacked the event so that major nations swung in behind Ukraine, just as the Russian military leadership appeared to be turning on itself.

Biden’s initial reticence on F-16 training was the fear of escalation. That the White House has overcome this caution suggests that their risk appetite has increased. Its other concern was that the Ukrainians would not be able to operate these jets effectively. Nato would usually package F-16s with a full range of supporting aircraft that are considered essential to their operations: electronic warfare, suppression of enemy air defences and airborne command and control. Without these, critics argued, the planes would be of little use.

The easiest charge to dismiss is that it would take 18 months to train Ukrainian pilots. Recent US Air Force trials proved that even though the F-16 is a high-performance fighter, experienced Ukrainian pilots could learn to fly it in four months.

In fact, Ukrainian forces have integrated western weapons on ex-Soviet aircraft in timescales that should embarrass our own peacetime processes. There are legitimate questions about who does deep maintenance on this western aircraft, but maintaining the F-16 on the frontline should not be an issue: it is a straightforward, single-engine aircraft, produced in great numbers, and so spare parts are plentiful.

The far bigger issue is who sustains the supply of western air-to-air missiles. The US Amraam is very capable but cost an estimated $1mn each. The longer-range European Meteor is even more expensive. While national war stock levels are understandably classified, it is an open secret that most Nato air forces are short. Allies would do well to accelerate their missile supply chains as a matter of urgency.

The lack of supporting air power is harder to remedy. Of course, Ukraine cannot replicate Nato support functions. But it doesn’t have to: Kyiv is not seeking a package of expeditionary air power, operating at range, deep into enemy territory. It only needs to keep the Russian air force (VKS) on the back foot in the skies over Ukraine.

The war has so far revealed that the VKS is restricted to operating in very small formations and only in airspace over land it controls. But it is shielded by extensive surface-to-air missiles and has longer-range air-launched weapons that give it the advantage over Ukrainian equipment.

The F-16, with its longer-range radars, sensors and missiles, would restore the Ukrainian air force’s edge both qualitatively and quantitatively — and push the VKS back into Russia. That will, in turn, protect both Ukraine’s ground forces and its critical infrastructure. But boosting its effectiveness in the absence of wider air power packaging will require imagination.

For me this is the heart of the Air Marshal’s argument, not the technical discussions: (emphasis mine)

Finally, there is a moral dimension to consider. Nato would fight Russia by winning the air battle first, and then using air superiority to drive a more efficient land battle. Given the weakness of the VKS, this is no pipe dream. But the west’s constrained donations to date have forced Ukraine to pursue grinding land tactics. We have restricted Kyiv to fighting in a way that we would not, and to take casualties that we would not.

This is, perhaps, the best articulation of what has been frustrating and angering me for the past 15 months! Especially as all Ukraine asked for was the means to defend itself rather than asking us to come fight for them. And our response has been we support Ukraine completely all while forcing them to fight in a manner so constrained that we would never even remotely consider fighting that way. For all the aid we and our allies have provided, for all the encouraging statements of moral support, if we had any self awareness at all we will look in the mirror and find ourselves morally wanting. Unfortunately, as a society we don’t have any self awareness and will likely applaud ourselves for our moral courage, when in reality we should be repenting our moral cowardice.

That’s enough for tonight.

We have more Ukrainian strategic wildlife assets!

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I’m just going to repost last night’s tweets about the Patron boxes for Ukrainian children:

And a new official video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

Ось таке макеба наразі! #песпатрон #патрондснс

♬ оригінальний звук – Patron_official

The machine translation of the caption is:

That’s the kind of makeba we have now! #песпатрон#патрондснс

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    80Comments

    1. 1.

      Adam L Silverman

      There are three Dmitriy Utkins. The first, and original, is the shaven headed, NAZI tattooed public face of Wagner when Prigozhin needed plausible deniability that Wagner PMC existed. This Utkin, the original whom I’ve seen referred to as Prigozhin’s cousin, was a Spetznaz officer – I’ve seen both lieutenant colonel and colonel provided as his rank – but he isn’t the best or most highly decorated of the Wagner mercs. If you look at any of the pictures with him, other Wagner mercs at awards ceremonies with Putin or other senior officials you’ll notice that Utkin is always farthest from Putin or the senior officials, he has fewer medals than his colleagues, and their medals are all for higher awards than his. You may have also noticed no one has seen Utkin in at least two years.

      So who are the other two Dmitriy Uktins? They’re a pair of late 20 to early 30 something year old Russian men employed by Prigozhin in various management roles at his Concord Services company. He forced them both to legally change their names to Dmitriy Utkin so he had a legitimate employee who didn’t look like a NAZI liche he could point to when asked about the real and original Utkin.

      Reply
    3. 3.

      Another Scott

      Thanks for your continued updates, Adam.

      More news:

      ‼️ Russians are preparing massive provocation and imitation of the accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the nearest hours.

      They are planning to attack the territory of the ZNPP. After that, they will announce the leakage of the radioactive substances. pic.twitter.com/Vk6hRDD26v

      — Defence intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) May 26, 2023

      (via @Tatarigami_UA )

      Grr…

      Slava Ukraini!!

      Cheers,
      Scott.

      Reply
    4. 4.

      Adam L Silverman

      @Another Scott: Let’s see what they do, now that Budanov put the Russian plan out for the world to see:

      Reply
    5. 5.

      Parfigliano

      Evil, stupid, or shitty technology?  With limited inventory of missiles seems like really stupid targeting.  Im guessing its all.

      Reply
    6. 6.

      CarolPW

      I usually pass by the videos of Russian tanks being blown up, but after the previous tweets about the hits on the clinic and veterinarian hospital I took great pleasure in watching this one.
      The Bucha for some reason makes me think of Viet Nam.

      Reply
    7. 7.

      Anonymous At Work

      @Adam L Silverman: ZNPP is a big worry.  Can the IAEA actually *do* anything to stop this sort of provocation?  Or is the defenselessness the actual defense for IAEA observers/inspectors (they don’t have weapons and don’t bring weapons, so you can’t say they started any shit)?

      And yes ZNPP should be one of UA’s main objectives in the counter-offensive, to take it off the table, get international crews in there to repair it, etc.

      Reply
    9. 9.

      Anonymous At Work

      @Parfigliano: The speculation I read that I do think makes sense is that RU is forcing UA to exhaust its anti-air defenses, so that the RU airforce, as crappy as it is, will have free reign.

      Reply
    10. 10.

      Anonymous At Work

      @Adam L Silverman: Extreme response? Bring UN troops with them.  That’s asking to start a fight, though.  Anyone but Russia (since it sits on Security Council), you could have UN “take charge” of the site to maintain operations in scram mode.

      Anyone but Russia, yeah, you could force them to choose between fighting the UN over a potential nuclear catastrophe or letting some eggheads play with the place in their own corner.  But Russia and Security Council.

      Reply
    11. 11.

      Captain C

      @Adam L Silverman: In such a case, perhaps the Ukrainians should offer a conditional cease-fire:  all Russians and allied forces must evacuate from all pre-2014 Ukrainian territories, leaving behind all armored vehicles (including aircraft) and weapons larger than a rifle.  And not come back.

      Almost certainly won’t happen, but it seems fair to me

      ETA:  That is, I don’t think the Russians would agree to it.

      Reply
    12. 12.

      A Good Woman

      OK, I confess I am actually a technology idiot.

      I would love to order up some packages for the orphans, but my payment options appear to be 3rd party vendors to use for payment, and I would like to stick to my trusty VISA.  Suggestions, recommendations, what do I do?

      Reply
    13. 13.

      Gin & Tonic

      I don’t know what military tradition is, but most words equivalent to “ship” or “boat” are male nouns, and that MOD update refers to the “Bucha” with a male pronoun.

      Reply
    14. 14.

      Alison Rose

      Appreciate the FT article and your closing comments. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

      Regarding the pronoun usage for the boat thingie…I would just like to know why gendering vehicles and the like ever became a thing, and also does the I HAVE NO PRONOUNS!!!!! crowd also object to that stuff or nah?

      (It’s nah.)

      Thank you as always, Adam.

      Reply
    18. 18.

      oldster

      One thing that makes US air superiority click is our integration between jets out front and AWACs in back. The AWACs coordinate the fighters, the drones, the satellite sensors, etc., to inform the fighters about where to go and what to do.

      There’s no way in hell that US pilots will fly F-16s over Ukraine. But I wonder about US AWACS planes piloted by US personnel, a couple hundred miles back from the Russian border. They could make a huge difference to the effectiveness of the Ukrainian pilots on the front line.

      And maybe we’ll never know, and maybe that’s okay.

      Reply
    20. 20.

      Alison Rose

      @Gin & Tonic: Yes, I am aware. I took four years of French and have some familiarity with Spanish. I meant in English, though. We don’t have gendered nouns and yet calling cars and boats “she” has been a thing for a long time, and I don’t get why when we don’t have that custom that other languages have.

      Reply
    23. 23.

      HinTN

      Unfortunately, as a society we don’t have any self awareness and will likely applaud ourselves for our moral courage, when in reality we should be repenting our moral cowardice.

      That, right there, says it all.

      Reply
    24. 24.

      Adam L Silverman

      @Gin & Tonic: In the European, American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand navies ships and boats are feminine. For the Soviets, the pre-Soviet Russians, and the post-Soviet Russians they are masculine. Wasn’t sure whether Ukraine was going with the European (Western) convention or the Russian one on this. Hence the question.

      Reply
    25. 25.

      Mike in NC

      I have a model of one of those crazy gunboats the Soviets designed in WW2, which was with very low freeboard with a couple of T-34 tank turrets for firepower.

      Reply
    29. 29.

      Jay

      Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi – who is looking pretty good for someone who various Russian trolls claimed was "killed in action" a few weeks ago – hands over the latest vessel to join the Ukrainian riverine force – the small armored artillery boat "Bucha". https://t.co/NeGECR8Bhs— Jimmy Rushton (@JimmySecUK) May 26, 2023

      Reply
    33. 33.

      Gin & Tonic

      @Adam L Silverman:

      @A Good Woman:

      I am unsure what the nature of my assignment is, as I don’t know which charitable organization(s) is/are being contemplated. Be aware that the banking and payments system in Ukraine is far ahead of that in the USA, so you may not always have a good fit. Just one example, if you want to transfer money to someone, they just give you the name of their bank and their account number, and you make a transfer from your bank – it is instant and cost-free. I doubt the US will ever achieve this level of simplicity, because there are rents to be skimmed.

      Reply
    35. 35.

      Raoul Paste

      @Adam L Silverman: This NPP gambit sure sounds like a significant escalation.  I suppose if Putin is already a war criminal, he doesn’t feel much restraint here.
      You just have to wonder what is the red line  for monstrous conduct?  It’s well above my paygrade, but I still feel the rage.

      Reply
    39. 39.

      Gin & Tonic

      And, yeah, a friend of my wife’s was wounded on TDF assignment and taken to hospital in Dnipro. We do not currently know his status.

      Reply
    41. 41.

      Dan B

      @Jay:  Sounds amazing!  I’ve never seen candied Salmon in Seattle but I’ve been cooking frozen Sockeye with teriyaki sauce since they get bitter by this time.  Copper river is $37 per pound but fresh Columbia River is only $28.

      Reply
    43. 43.

      Eyeroller

      @NutmegAgain: ​
       It’s an old and probably very sexist convention, but it’s not really English grammar. English uses what linguists call “natural gender” so non-animate nouns are neuter. But for whatever “romantic” reasons, boats and ships are sometimes called “she.”

      Reply
    46. 46.

      FelonyGovt

      @Gin & Tonic: Wishing for the best possible news for him.

      Adam, I don’t say it enough but thank you for the prodigious effort involved in putting these together every night. It’s very much appreciated.

      Reply
    48. 48.

      Anoniminous

      @Alison Rose:

      Because Old English had gendered nouns.  During the OE -> Middle English -> Modern English *she-the-boat became the-boat when using the noun but Modern English retained the *the-boat-she when using pronoun reference.  Why?  I don’t know and AFAIK nobody else knows.  Just one of them things.

      Reply
    49. 49.

      Anoniminous

      FWIW – Swedes introduced ‘hen’ as a gender-neutral personal pronoun while retaining hon (“she”) and han (“he.”)  A much more sensible solution.

      Reply
    50. 50.

      Adam L Silverman

      @Gin & Tonic: Would you, when you get a moment click through to the link in the first Patron tweet and see if there’s a way to make the purchase of the gift boxes for the orphans with just a Visa transaction?

      Reply
    52. 52.

      Adam L Silverman

      @Sebastian: I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking me? In my defense it was a very long week, so I’m sure the confusion is on my end.

      Reply
    54. 54.

      Gin & Tonic

      @Adam L Silverman: Oh, I see. Long travel turn brain to mush.

      Selecting “Monobank” as a payment option clicks through to several ways of paying Monobank, among which Visa/Mastercard is included. This would seem to satisfy the commenter’s request.

      Reply
    55. 55.

      Anoniminous

      Institute for the Study of War:

      SW has recently observed footage purporting to show elements of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) 123rd Brigade, likely previously deployed near Siversk, operating in the Bakhmut area, and DNR forces may be replacing Wagner formations.

      When last heard from the Donetsk People’s Republic was kidnapping men off the street, shipping them off as “replacements,” while arming them with Mosin–Nagant bolt action rifles. These dudes should be considered untrained badly armed rabble.

      Reply
    57. 57.

      Lyrebird

      @Gin & Tonic: ​

      Someday when you have time, if you feel like saying more about the word for thanks in Ukrainian I would be interested.
      Also, this song is beautiful!

      Hat tip to
      @Jay: ​
        because this was below the Saint George award tweet.

      Reply
    61. 61.

      bjacques

      @Jay: Westham United for life!!

      Seriously, I’m pretty sure that’s from The Wall, when the main character goes fash for awhile. Boy, did that part not age well.

      Reply
    64. 64.

      Sebastian

      @Timill: Thank you, Timill.

      @Adam L Silverman: As Timill said, it’s a way to send a few bucks for coffee. I am reading your posts almost every day, even when I don’t comment. Your continued tour de force made me wish I could buy you a coffee for all this late night labor and so I blurted it out, thinking you knew what it was.

      Reply
    67. 67.

      glc

      @NutmegAgain:  That would be from the perspective of the Indo-European family (and some others) – not generally. English grammar may be working its way in the general direction of Mandarin. It remains to be seen.

      Details.

      Reply
    71. 71.

      Geminid

      The Wall Street Journal published an article Monday. May 15 about Russian sanctions circumvention:

         Sanctioned Goods Flow Into Russia

      Cluster of ex-Soviet republics is hub of shipments of Western products to country.

      BERLIN-  A group of former Soviet Republics has emerged as a major transhipment hub forU.S. and European computer chips, lasers, and other products with civilian and military uses headed to Russia,  according to Western officials and data compiled by the Wall Street Journal.

      The article focuses on the roles of Armenia, Georgia. Kyrgestan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan in this trade. Total US and EU goods exports to these countries rose to $24.3 billion last year from $14.6 billion in 2021. In the same period, this category of exports to Russia from the countries rose “by nearly 50% last year to around $15 billion.”

      Besides valuble components obtained individually,  Russia is importing some consumer goods with the apparent intent to strip them of useful electronic components. One small example:

          Last year, after it’s imports of washing machines from the EU surged, Uzbekistan’s exports of the appliances to Russia jumped to $10.6 million from around $90,000 the year before.

      The article describes Russia’s need of electronic components for its war effort, and the ways Russia uses these nations in what analysts at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development calls “the Eurasian roundabout.”

      Sarah Stewart, CEO of a Washington think tank focused on Russian trade data, noted that the relatively small volumes flowing through a number of countries “add up to a significant contribution” to Russia’s efforts to get hold of foreign technology.

      The article also reports on Western efforts to curb this trade.

      Reply
    72. 72.

      Torrey

      @Alison Rose: ​
        I see you’ve received a number of responses to this question, and I really hate to be that person, but it’s a good question, and Chethan Murthy probably got closest to the mark.

      While Old English did have gender, the word bát, which became our word “boat,” is masculine gender, and scip, which became our word “ship,” is neuter. While I haven’t checked the OE words for batge, coracle, raft, canoe, pirogue, submarine or water wings, I think the genders of bát and scip are pretty conclusive. Can’t blame the Old English.

      Reply
    73. 73.

      Wombat Probability Cloud

      @Anoniminous: For a similar reason, I’ve always liked “per,” used by Marge Piercy in Woman on the Edge of Time (1976), but sadly it never caught on.

      Reply
    74. 74.

      Torrey

      @Gin & Tonic: ​
       
      I just tried it, and the payment was blocked on this end. I’d be interested in knowing if anyone else was able to make it work. (I have managed to make payments to a couple of other organizations in Ukraine work, so I’m not sure what happened.)

      Reply
    75. 75.

      Andrya

      @Geminid:  The governments of Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan are being unbelievably stupid.  Based on putin’s writings, he think’s he’s on a mission from G-d to restore the utmost extent of both the USSR and the russian empire- which included all five of the above countries.  If russia loses the current war, they are probably OK.  If  russia succeeds, putin would be coming for them next- and none of them would be equipped to resist the way that Ukraine has.

      There is precedent for this type of short-term thinking stupidity- such as Stalin shipping war supplies to Nazi Germany up to the very day of the German invasion in 1941.

      Reply
    76. 76.

      Geminid

      @Andrya: Have you read The Deadly Embrace: Hitler, Stalin and the Nazi-Sobiet Pact, 1939-1941 (1988)? Authors Anthony Read and David Fisher produced a well-researched history of the intricate process that culminated in the Ribbentorp-Molotov pact, signed in Moscow a few days before Hitler invaded Poland.

      Read and Fisher then followed the course of German-Soviet relations right up to the last shipments of raw materials you describe.

      It’s a gripping story. One key moment is a dinner is at a Berlin restaurant in early July of 1939. A senior German Foreign Ministry official and one of lesser rank attended. A Mr. Astakhyov(sp?) was by far the more important of the two Russians attending, Astakhyov’s rank at the Soviet Embassy was not high, but Fermans knew he was one of Stalin’s trusted men. After a leisurely dinner discussing tentative deals made in trade between the two countries

      Reply
    77. 77.

      Geminid

      @Geminid:

      …the discussion became more serious over post-dinner brandies. Finally, the German popped the question: might the broader problems between the two adversarial nations be resolved in a spirit of cooperation? Astyakhov assured him that there was no reason that all issues between Germany and the Soviet Union could not be resolved.

      That was the signal Hitler needed. Six weeks later, with stresses over the Danzig question reaching a fever pitch, Hitler’s diplomats pressed their Soviet counterparts for a visit to Moscow by FM Ribbentrop. After a couple days, Stalin assented. Ribentrop flew to Moscow and in 36 hours of negotiations with FM Molotov (Stalin was listening though an open door into the next room), the pact was made that set the stage for the Second Workd War.

      Reply
    79. 79.

      way2blue

      @Dan B:

      Oh.  I remember buying blueback salmon at Quinault Pride in Taholah for $2.50 / lb (~20 years ago).  Only catch was that you needed to buy the whole fish.  We bought a ‘small’ 10-lb salmon and feasted for a while…

      Reply

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