EDITORIAL
Medvedevy the No-Man
The speech is so linguistically tentative, it’s like listening to an excruciatingly polite adjunct professor who is unsure of his material and scared his students don’t like him.
Ouch.
That was Moscow Times linguistic expert Michele Berdy on the most recent state-of-the-union speech by Russian “president” Dima Medvedev, the man the Wikileaks diplomatic leak documents refer to as “Robin” to Vladimir Putin’s “Batman.”
Nikolai Petrov of the Carnegie Center was even more brutal in his condemnation of the speech.
He wrote:
President Dmitry Medvedev’s annual state-of-the-nation address could be held up as an exceptional illustration of his recent musings on how, without political competition, Russia’s leadership runs the risk of “becoming bronzed,” like a statue, and “degrading like any living organism that remains motionless.”
The country’s lack of a political opposition capable of challenging the acuity of decisions made by the authorities, including through the delivery of a parallel address in rebuttal, has clearly taken a toll on the quality of the proposals coming out of the Kremlin. Even more problematic, apparently, is the creeping paralysis within the leadership itself, both structurally, as a result of the dual leadership, and temporally as the 2012 presidential elections approach. What kind of strategy could be expected, then? Just campaign promises to voters.
Medvedev’s address did not have a pivot, not even a “conditional” one, like in past years when he focused on modernization of the economy, fighting corruption and political reforms. The words were all still there, but they rang hollow, like a child’s rattle.
Ouch, ouch, ouch! Coming from sources like this, such seething russophobia means only one thing: Russia’s insipid propaganda cloak is coming apart at the seams. The world is catching on to the fraud, and catching on fast.
But there is still hope for Vladimir Putin, of course. He has succeeded in inserting this simpering, hopeless buffoon into the Russian presidency, where he dances as Putin’s marionette and can be removed at will. What’s more, he has received the good fortune of finding an equally hopeless and spineless counterpart of Medvedev in the Oval Office in the United States. The people of Russia, predictable, continue to cower int he shadows while Putin pursues his domestic crackdown, and there is little sign of heroic leadership in either Eastern or Western Europe that could give rise to a stand against Russian imperialism on former Soviet space.
In the end, though, Putin must contend with Russia’s worst enemy: Russia. As the perfect personification of his country, the ignoramus known as Medvedev hints at the awesome forces that will undermine the country and, once again, bring it to its knees.
POOR MEDVEDEV, He just cannot win!
And also, there is an ironic humerous literal meaning to the name, Medvedev-
From ancient times, about the only source for natural sweetness, was HONEY.
But to locate the bee honey-combs, was difficult. Early people (Russians and related people included), often used trained BEARS, often on chains, to help them find the bee hives and the precious honey. Thus the Russian name, ‘Medvedev’ literally means: “The one who knows where the honey is” (i.e. the bear).
Poor man! he is on his own chain around his neck, and is nothing but the honey-finder beast for his boss, Putin.
And too, this relationship is more and more obvious, to everyone.
In the Ukrainian language:
“med” = honey
“medved” = bear
ukrainian dialect (not language) just copies russian words.
LA RUSSOPHOBE RESPONDS:
Interestingly, Russian cuisine is just a copy of Ukrainian cooking.
To: All clueless teenage nashi – brainwashed useful idiots – kremlin propagandists – and – sock puppets and trolls.
Instead of repeatedly posting disinformation about the Ukrainian and Russian language, you should learn some historical facts:
Ukrainian is an East Slavic language spoken in Ukraine and in Ukrainian communities in neighboring Belarus, russia, Poland, and Slovakia. Ukrainian is a lineal descendant of the colloquial language used in Kyivan Rus (10th–13th centuries).
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/613050/Ukrainian-language
>> 1708 muscovy changes their name to russian empire.
>>1710 Pacta et Constitutiones Legum Libertatumque Exercitus Zaporoviensis) was a 1710 constitutional document written by Hetman Pylyp Orlyk. It established a democratic standard for the separation of powers in government between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches, well before the publication of Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws. The Constitution also limited the executive authority of the Hetman, and established a democratically elected Cossack parliament called the General Council.
Pylyp Orlyk’s Constitution was unique for its historic period, and was one of the first state constitutions in Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Pylyp_Orlyk
Orlyk’s basic law never entered into force, and is, by contemporary standards, a simplistic text. Yet, in its time, this document gained recognition as a serious document, and served as a blueprint for future constitutional designs.
Articles 1-3 dealt with general Ukrainian affairs. They proclaimed the Orthodox faith to be the faith of Ukraine, and independent of the patriarch of Moscow. The articles also recognized the need for an anti-Russian alliance between Ukraine and the Crimean Khanate.
>> 1720. Peter I’s ukase banning the publication and printing of books in Ukrainian.
>> 1740’s The first Grammar of Russian Language was written by Vasily Adodurov in the 1740s, and a more influential one, by Mikhail Lomonosov in 1755.
{PLEASE NOTE: Ukrainian books were banned by the SAVAGE UNCIVILIZED PAGAN BARBARIANS in the kremlin before the “rus-sin” language had grammar!}
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свежо предание но верится с трудом, ведмидко клищоногий.
Thats only because you are a brain dead Russian tosser.
Georgian metraki “Andrew”. Shut up, srakatvelo.
Oh diddums, seems our poor little pederast Hachikian is a little bit upset.
Of course given that he comes from a repulsive culture which is so backward it has to steal cultural icons from its betters……
If you ever needed a reason to despise Russia then I suggest you read up on the treatment of Ukraine by her Slavic ”brothers”. It is truly insane.
hachikian or onan onanyantz
ty obosranyi ruskiy riab whse armiashki lizot graznyu ruskuyu zhopu…
suka krivonosaja
>> 1753. Ban {BY THE KREMLIN} on the tuition in Ukrainian at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
>> 1769. Ban {BY THE KREMLIN} on Ukrainian ABC books.
>> 1775. Destruction of the Zaporizka Sich and closure of Ukrainian schools at Cossack centres.
>> 1784. Only “Pure Russian” is allowed {BY THE KREMLIN} as the language of instruction at the Kyiv Religious Academy. {BEFORE THE MOSKALI CAME, UKRAINIAN WAS THE LANGUAGE OF KYIV}
>> 1825 Modern Russian is sometimes said to begin with Pushkin.
“Of course, I loathe my homeland from head to toe – But I was annoyed when a foreigner shares this feeling with me”. Pushkin
>> 1830’s Alexander Pushkin is usually credited with developing Russian literature. Not only is he seen as having originated the highly nuanced level of language which characterizes Russian literature after him, but he is also credited with substantially augmenting the Russian lexicon. Where he found gaps in the Russian vocabulary, he devised calques. His rich vocabulary and highly sensitive style are the foundation for Russian literature. Russian literature virtually begins with Alexander Pushkin. His talent set up new records for development of the Russian language. He became the father of Russian literature in the 19th century.
{PLEASE NOTE: The savage uncivilized pagan barbarians in the kremlin were banning Ukrainian books and literature for over a hundred years before “rus-sins” had literature or a vocabulary!}
In Ukrainian, “bear” = vedmid
He-he. Really??? Russians trained bears to find honey?
Just for your information, the division “мед+вед” (вед-ать=знать=to know) is a typical mistake. In fact, it is “медв+ед”, that is, “the one who eats honey”. However, I have to admit: if we ignore the the facts your spin is really entertaining.
To Boba (& all):
First of all, bears do not need to be trained by humans, to smell and find honey. God has given bears this faculty, and this sweet-tooth.
(I know, because I have bears around me: they SMELL very very well, but they do not see well).
Your knowledge of the connection, between ‘honey’ and ‘bear’, is probably the most correct, by a modern correct analysis of the current Russian language, and no doubt also, in the related Ukrainian language. My original remark, was perhaps a bit too antiquated, as it was referring to the etymology (history) of the Russian word for bear,…which was, MANY centuries ago, connected to ‘honey’, BECAUSE: the peasants watched the wild bears, to see WHERE they went to get the precious/very desired honey. In that meaning, the bears were the ones who did know where the honey was. And too, sometimes, the local people utilized tame bears, (raised from cubs, by humans), to find the honey-combs. Tame bears, have been and still are utilized, for popular entertainment, i.e. the dancing bears, etc. , in and out of circuses. Both humans and bears, very much desired honey, but only the bears had the good sence of smell, to find it, which humans did not. SO, that is why, ‘bear’ and ‘honey’, became joined, in that very old word for, ‘bear’. Also, we moderns tend to forget, that certain basic words for basic things, often were spread across various cultures. Over the long long centuries of human civilization, especially in European/Asiatic cultures, there were many cross-cultural influences,/words and also far more inter-reactions of peoples/languages, than we have previously thought.
Thus, in old English, ‘mead’ was the word for honey, ( and the alcoholic drink, made from fermented honey), simliar to the slavic term, ‘med’ or ‘myot’, etc.
But yes, probably to most modern soviet-era Russians, they only understand the name, Medvedev, as connected to the animal, ‘the bear’.