International News Events: Asked and Answered...

[mamselle]

Ah, OK, I missed him.

Apologies.

M.

[Hibush]

Um, if you're referring to Vlad the Impaler, he was Romanian, not Russian.

Bit of a difference...

M.

There's also Novgorod the Great, so-named (if memory serves) after Vladimir the Great, Prince of Novgorod.

If one wants to refer to the current wannabe Russian tsar with an accurate and clever reference to the past or to popular culture, what would be the soundest nickname?

[jimbogumbo]

Newsmax had a picture of Putin on the (January?) cover and referred to him as Vlad the Great.

The NY Post recently c termed him Vlad the Mad. Don't know if they meant angry or crazy though- I'm not a reader, just a Googler.

[Parasaurolophus]

Um, if you're referring to Vlad the Impaler, he was Romanian, not Russian.

Bit of a difference...

M.

There's also Novgorod the Great, so-named (if memory serves) after Vladimir the Great, Prince of Novgorod.

If one wants to refer to the current wannabe Russian tsar with an accurate and clever reference to the past or to popular culture, what would be the soundest nickname?

In Québec, we have always pronounced his surname the same way we say 'poutine'.

[ergative]

Um, if you're referring to Vlad the Impaler, he was Romanian, not Russian.

Bit of a difference...

M.

There's also Novgorod the Great, so-named (if memory serves) after Vladimir the Great, Prince of Novgorod.

If one wants to refer to the current wannabe Russian tsar with an accurate and clever reference to the past or to popular culture, what would be the soundest nickname?

In Québec, we have always pronounced his surname the same way we say 'poutine'.

I seem to recall hearing that in France they add an e onto his name (so it's spelled Putine), because otherwise it's spelled the same as a word that means 'whore', and is commonly used as a curse. French-knowers, is that correct?

[Parasaurolophus]

That is correct, although we don't use that curse at all, and they more commonly say 'pute'.

[mamselle]

The US Embassy in Moscow is telling US citizens to leave Russia while they can:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYiIiuCwWoE

M.

[mamselle]

Interedting dynamic analysis: one correspondent suspects Putin will "subcontract the repression out," by governing through a puppet warlord as he has in Chechnya...

   https://youtu.be/sU8tZIl4G84

Why dirty (or bloody) your hands, indeed, when you can get someone else to do your bidding?

M.

[mamselle]

I am impressed by Zelensky's courage, and I have already begun to mourn his almost-certain death in the upcoming days.

Offered a way out of Kiev, he is reported to have replied, "The fight is here. I need ammunition. I don't need a ride."

Beauty pageant winner Miss Ukraine has signed out a rifle and is staying to fight.

I am not normally in favor of using guns, bombs, or other lethal weapons, but I am impressed with the resolve people have shown in the face of an idiotic monster bent on their destruction.

Civilian death toll last night was 352. Of those, 14 were children.

M.

[mamselle]

Who among you, when your brave colleague asks for a no-fly zone, gives them a standing ovation...(but little else)?

This morning, I looked up the words to the Mourner's Kaddish.

I pray not to have to use it.

In happier times...

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywdrLaTmE3U

This joyful, full-of-life man, and all his compatriots, deserve life.

Not death.

M

[mamselle]

This fellow, likewise, impresses me. As corrupt as he well may have been, can you see our most-recent-former -President in a flak jacket at the barricades, saying pretty much word-for-word what his successor has been saying, and never breathing a word of recrimination or self-glorification?

   https://www.businessinsider.com/former-ukraine-president-fighters-arent-waiting-for-nato-troops-2022-3

Reminds me of Jefferson and Adams: they had their differences but they fought together against a serious present foe--and not each other--when it counted.

M.

[mamselle]

Two good pieces of news in an otherwise awful situation:

1) EU Commission President has visited Bucha, Ukraine, as well as Kiev.

Speaking with President Zelensky, she advanced more sanctions and a fast-tracked application to the EU.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TLETXE_35Y&list=PLT6yxVwBEbi0Q8wAkcLl8el1T3LLM41Yq&index=2


and

2) The UN has voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Commission.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IV-BgtcHSw

Russia tried to claim they'd already quit, but the Ukranian ambassador had it in a nutshell: "You don't resign after you're fired...."

M.

[mamselle]

Interesting results in the first-round elections in France:

M. Macron will face Mme. Le Pen in the run-off; a third-party contender came up very close behind the more extreme right-standing Le Pen.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXJx9ifH2hk

Mme.'s father started the far-right party, which had a shadow existence for many years, before 2002, when he got to the 2nd round for the 1st time.

M.

[mamselle]

Mais, oui, c'est Macron:

   https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/24/europe/french-election-results-macron-le-pen-intl/index.html

M.

[ergative]

So, what's just happened with cryptocurrency? It crashed? Do we know why? Something something juice slurps? What? Is this really the beginning of the end of crypto, as some catastrophists are alternately bemoaning or rejoicing, depending on their politics? Or is it just another market fluctation in a wildly unstable product?