March 20, 2009 — Contents

FRIDAY MARCH 20 2009

(1)  Another Original LR Translation:  The Whirlpool of Russian Madness

(2)  EDITORIAL: India Learns to say “ouch!” in Russian

(3)  EDITORIAL: Psycho Russia, Qu’est-ce que c’est?

(4)  Annals of Russia’s Keystone Copskis

(5)  Fighting for Historial Truth in Ukraine

NOTE:  Kim Zigfeld’s latest installment on Pajamas Media advises the Republican Party to get wise to Russia, but quick.

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Another Original LR Translation: The Whirlpool of Russian Madness

A Note from the Translator:  Some people in Russia – sadly few in number – see and understand the ever enlarging whirlpool of madness into which the country is being engulfed. Here are three ‘fun’ items from last week’s Novaya Gazeta, a special issue subtitled “Encyclopedia of Bureaucratic Idiocy: Can there be any hope for a country where such stupidity reigns?”

The Whirlpool of Russian Madness

Novaya Gazeta

Translated from the Russian by Dave Essel

Sergei Kuzhegetovich Shoigu [TN:  Russia’s Minister of Emergency Situations] has proposed that that it be made a criminal offence to deny that the USSR was victorious in the Great Patriotic War.

We have chosen Mr. Shoigu as our “Man of the Issue,” in particular because Yuri Chaika, our Prosecutor General, seconds the choice. Shoiga has done well to take this matter so much to heart: it’s a very serious thing to entertain doubts about Russia’s victories nowadays! Shouldn’t we be doing more than he proposes, however? We suggest that there should be a 2-year sentence for denying that Russia is rising up from its knees, one year for each lying rug-burnt knee! It should also be a criminal offence to deny that Zenit won the European Cup and Bilan the Eurovision contest. A suspended sentence would probably do in the latter case – on condition that the accused expresses regret.

EDITORIAL: India Learns how to say “Ouch” in Russian

EDITORIAL

India Learns how to say “Ouch” in Russian

The government of India has learned a harsh lesson on the perils of placing trust in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.  Now it, like Russia, stands humiliated before the world.  Its decision to buy a squandron of MiG fighters and an aircraft carrier from Russia will likely go down as one of the stupidest decisions in the annals of military history.

EDITORIAL: Psycho Russia, Qu’est-ce que c’est?

EDITORIAL

Psycho Russia, Qu’est-ce que c’est?

We simply don’t see how it’s possible to argue that neo-Soviet Russia is governed by anyone except a clan of barbarically ignorant madmen.  Given this reality, it’s impossible to imagine how Russia as we know it can survive.

Annals of Russia’s Keystone Copskis

It would be hard not to find this amusing, if it were not so very horrifying.  Oleg Kozlovsky reports on his blog about the truly amazing, chicken-with-the-head-off incompetence of Russia’s police establishment, who are far more dangerous to Russian citizens than the nation’s criminal element:

Yesterday, myself and two other activists of Oborona were arrested at a small action at the Moscow State University, my alma mater. We called students to participate in the Dissenters’ Day, which was planned for March 12th. We had leaflets, a loudspeaker and a flag. The police arrested three of us and took us into custody. Initially, they charged us with “a violation of the rules for conducting a public action,” which meant that we could be held in the custody for up to three hours and then be fined up to 1000 roubles (about $30).

Fighting for Historical Truth in Ukraine

The New York Times reports:

A quarter century ago, a Ukrainian historian named Stanislav Kulchytsky was told by his Soviet overlords to concoct an insidious cover-up. His orders: to depict the famine that killed millions of Ukrainians in the early 1930s as unavoidable, like a natural disaster. Absolve the Communist Party of blame. Uphold the legacy of Stalin.

Professor Kulchytsky, though, would not go along.