On the first day of the second year of the war the sun is bright in Kyiv. There are no clouds in the big blue sky. Winter — the warmest in 140 years — is over.
I just read China’s 12-point peace plan to end fascistic Russia’s genocidal campaign in Ukraine. It’s an interesting and unappetizing word salad.
Turning the page after 365 days of war will not be possible. We are very angry at Russia’s leaders and want to kill as many invaders as quickly and efficiently as possible.
There are many irritating distractions.
The include Xi Jinping and Farah Stockman, a member of the editorial board of The New York Times, who wants us to reflect about the price humanity is paying for a year’s worth of gratuitous death and destruction1.
She is joined by Seymour Hersh, who thinks that if facts proves him wrong, then the evidence is just part of a conspiracy and further proof he is correct.
Seymour says in this interview that he is a friend of Matt Taibbi, Elon’s buddy.
"Another All-Time Media Faceplant” American anti-Ukraine propaganda that reads like an ad for the Dynamic Tension body building program from Charles Atlas (World's Most Perfectly Developed Man). Except it’s a link to Matt’s Taibbi’s substack. Remember Matt from Moscow? Of course, we do2.
We have no choice but to fall like rain from the sky and point out that whatever China, Farah, Seymour and Matt say about fascistic Russia’s genocidal campaign in Ukraine is irrelevant, irrelevant, irrelevant.
But the same holds true for the masters of counterproductive pro-Ukraine boosterism who have been been pissing out increasing quantities of self-serving crap (Francis, Aslund, Kurkov, Ash et al) , working up a sweat at the edges of convention, then smashing on through with earnest whatever.
Looking on the bright side, all these experts hate themselves for doing their job, for laboring at a tone of such inelegance and witlessness it feels like watching an old man attempt to take a crap.
What the war in Ukraine has truly cost us. (The New York Times, February 23, 2023)
I like Kurkov's article that he wrote amidst recent vilification of Bulgakov. Link here:
https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/mikhail-bulgakov-friend-or-foe-andrey-kurkov/
I need to check what 'gratuitous' means, sometimes your style is a bit too lofty and/complex for me to understand. ))
I know Kurkov's family well,- has worked with his British wife Liz for over 20 years. Yes, he is the best known Ukr.writer abroad, his books sold well in Germany, Austria, UK etc.
Tried to read his books, but could never get past the first few pages. ((. To me they didn't appear interesting or talented, and I was curious what the West sees in them.
Then one day I saw the English translation of one of the books ,and understood. His publishers abroad find really great translators who make his book into more vivid and captivating reading than it actually is.. Plus his style (post-Soviet postmodern) appeals to a western reader.
Books aside, his articles on Ukraine are often good, and he is the only Ukrainian writer who tells a foreign reader about Ukraine , tours many countries with lectures .
And what was that Maidan diary? Very one-sided?