Day 664
Translators are having a field day parsing what Z said or meant to say during his end-of-year press conference yesterday evening. It wasn’t a complete disaster, but articles about the two-hour performance could have been more accurate.
Andy at The New York Times ends his reportage with a word salad quote from Z’s reflection on the meaning of solidarity.
The standard of competency is the ability to construe accurately what Z actually said, wanted to say and, er, was unable to find the correct words to express.
Actually, this:
"As for unity, that depends only on us. Unity is our weapon produced domestically, our know-how which helped us and saved the country at the beginning of the war. The word is probably too banal for some. But we must stick to some banalities because another banal but important word — "life" — depends on it," Zelenskyy said. [2.08 marker]
Foreign flaks pick up on much less in conversation than native speakers, so we excuse Andy’s botched rendering of an important message communicated poorly, which is:
National unity is important because Ukraine’s continued existence depends on it.
Unfortunately, the Z’s doucherockets have done a great job fertilizing splits within society about the conduct of the war only to complain later about Russian psyop (ипсо) operations to foment same. They plant the seeds for active measures.
So it’s important people remember who has cultivated this vulnerability in the first place — officials working for the President’s Office afraid of any competitor who would deprive them of the thrill of power, envelope salaries and beatings of the bounds.
On the Russian jacket, we have Putin, who earlier on Monday recapitulated his justification for the special military operation.
Students of history, politicians and decision makers should tune in to the sit-down portion of the Russian president’s address [starting at 48.00], in which he painstakingly justifies plans to wipe us all off the face of the earth.
“The United States, having solved the current problems of their plan, including the task of ‘tearing off,’ as they believe, Ukraine, breaking off Russia’s relations with Europe, achieved what they wanted, unfortunately. We just couldn’t behave any differently, or we had to give up everything and watch them chomping, eating everything that was ours, originally Russian. We couldn’t have acted differently, but they provoked us nonetheless. They deliberately dragged us and Europe into this war…” Putin said.
And, finally, on the American jacket, kicking Trump off the 2024 presidential race ballot in Colorado. Unfortunately, we have zero confidence in the US Supreme Court. So, more limbo.