A dispute over taste and tasting

 
The Russian Duma is dominated by free speech haters

...or, to put it better, thugs and plain f*cks. Take a look at this: Duma Bill Sharply Restricts Rallies.

"...[T]he United Russia majority in the State Duma gave preliminary approval to a bill outlawing protests near government buildings Wednesday... The bill bans rallies and demonstrations outside presidential residences and buildings occupied by federal, regional or local authorities, as well as foreign embassies and offices of international organizations[,]'' as well as "cultural venues, stadiums, hospitals, schools, kindergartens and religious centers".

The bil is not only blatantly anti-Constitutional -- in spirit at least; it's a spit in the face of the voters who, only three and a half months ago, elected the same Duma deputies who are now seeking to shamelessly take away their freedom of assembly.

Let's wait and see what Putin and his team say. Some Russian observers think Putin's administration wants to avoid public protest as it pushes through some rather unpopular free-market reforms. If so, then the price is obviously much too high, and the reforms will turn out a disaster. Just as the original concept behind the new demonstrations law was sound but got horrendously distorted on its way to the Duma, Putin's economic reforms, unless subjected to public scrutiny, will become another round of rent redistribution. The bureaucracy with its business cronies is always happy to take away any extra income from the average Russian, in the form of rents it creates by regulation. Ever wondered why the supposedly impressive GDP growth in 2000-2003 does not seem to have seeped through to most people's disposable incomes?

Curiously, the Communists, the LibDems (nationalist clowns), and the Rodina faction (divide-the-spoils populists) all voted against the draft law. Thank you guys.
posted by Alex(ei) at 10:06 PM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
Trivia

On early Animals recordings, Eric Burdon sings and talks with an accent that is neither British nor generic American but rather a variety of Black American. No wonder, since most of those tracks were covers of blues and rock-n-roll pieces. I don't have a good ear for dialects, but something tells me Burdon did a good job with both verbal and musical accents. (Note the way he says "argument" and "Maudie" -- JL Hooker's Maudie, that is.)

One Monkey Don't Stop No Show, which has more talking than signing, begins, "You know I got a letter from a friend of mine // In Newcastle-upon-a'Tyne the other day." The narrator, it turns out, is a resident of England as well, as his friend tells him, "You wanna catch that flyin' Scotsman back up here to Newcastle." Yes, the Flying Scotsman, the express railway going though Newcastle, and "Things don't happen like that here on Tyne" sound obviously British, even English, even Geordie-ish -- but these localisms are uttered in a bluesy voice as if transplanted from overseas. Yet it doesn't sound funny or fishy (imagine a native of Moscow singing about a stroll down Arbat in a Ukrainian accent -- that'd be silly or crudely hilarious); it only adds to the drive and turns Newcastle, where people "don't go away stealin' each other's loved ones away from one another", into a terribly attractive place!
posted by Alex(ei) at 11:20 AM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
Nulla dies and all that

Just for fun, a quote from a 2000 article in Transitions Online, by a lady who was apparently born and grew up in Russia:

"Tiring the world with boasts of how well-read and literate we are, we learn elementary vocabulary from Dal, a Russian Dane, who lived 150 years ago!" comments a Moscow journalist Oleg Pshenichnii, referring to an out-of-date dictionary written by Alexander Dal, which established the current language norms.

Funny how many errors one can pack into a short paragraph. First, the name of the man who did a great service to the Russian language by compiling its first -- and in some ways, best dictionary, was Vladimir Dal, or Dahl. Second, Dahl's dictionary is in no way outdated: its enormous collection of idioms remains literally a thesaurus beyond compare. Third, Dahl did not establish norms or anything; he just travelled about the country and collected words and proverbs. A proto-Slavophile of sorts, Dahl was all for the Russian vernacular and against literary Russian's becoming a calque of French or German (One and a Half Words on the Russian Language), but I don't think the language took the direction he recommended. And, of course, Russians do not learn elementary vocabulary from Dahl, nor do Americans, from Webster.

As far as I know, it was from Dahl's notes that Afanassiev extracted most of his Forbidden Tales.
posted by Alex(ei) at 8:27 AM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
Undue optimism?

Writing on the recent presidential election in Russia, Nikolas Gvosdev makes mostly valid points, but something must be wrong with his consolationist view of the Russian polity. I haven't pinpointed the problem yet, but I know something's rotten in this czardom.

But does that mean that Sunday's presidential elections were nothing but a farce, devoid of meaning and lacking in any democratic legitimacy?

No, it was a farce full of meaning and legitimacy; still, a farce.

Yet here it is also important to recognize that potential Glazyev and Khakamada supporters in the Russian electorate may have preferred to cast a vote for Putin, seeing him as the "half-a-loaf" candidate who could deliver on some of the agenda espoused by the other candidates.

That's right, but why did people who only shared part of Putin's proclaimed agenda vote for him? Apparently because the other candidates were obvious lightweights: Putin's team had removed potential heavyweights from the ring -- well in advance.

And this is an important point. Putin can be criticized for his "overkill" campaign methods, but the election was not "stolen." Kharitonov, Glazyev, or Khakamada do not speak for some silent Russian majority whose will was bypassed due to fraud or harassment. Most Russians support Putin's vision of orderly reform and trust him as an individual.

" 'That may be right,' she would say then," but Russians have no other vision to support because Putin's clique wouldn't let other visions be convincingly communicated to the common people.

In slightly different words, Putin was the least evil for most Russians under the circumstances and conditions he had created for them. There is no means for the Russians who supported him only half-heartedly, subject to certain conditions (I suppose they make up the majority of those who voted for Putin), to voice their concerns and translate them into public policy. That is, Putin democracy is no modern, liberal kind; rather, a raw, plebiscitary variety.

Note, by the way, that Hitler's NSDAP got just above 30% in the last election before he assumed the chancellorship of Germany (Putin's Unity got 37% of the vote in 2003), but a year and a half later, in 1934, 90% of the voters who went to the polls authorized him as a de-factor dictator. He was quite efficient, it seems, in between the two dates.
posted by Alex(ei) at 6:55 AM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
This time (again), the terrorists were outsiders

There has been no shortage of invective against the Spaniards who supposedly 'cowered to terrorism'. Well, it looks like the terrible blasts in Madrid did somehow influence the following election, which is certainly deplorable. But -- since there are two big issues involved, I--q and t----m, let's start by separating the flies from the meat: Iraq's Iraq, and terrorism's terrorism. I won't go so far as to say the twain have never met, or never shall meet, but so far the world has not seen convincing proof of Iraq being a sponsor of terrorism. The alleged link, therefore, remains tenuous. One might suspect that terrorists have found it easier to recruit fresh bomb flesh after the Iraq war started, but it's a side effect. The invasion did achieve one good thing, Saddam's removal, but those (predictable) side effects seem to be getting out of hand.

Most Spaniards have opposed the deployment of their troops in Iraq from the start. No wonder this was a factor in the March 14 election. This part of the story is clear and has nothing to do with terrorism. Then there were Aznar's calls to newspapers: don't say it wasn't ETA. Quite a familiar situation, I must say, but not one a politically mature nation would tolerate. Socialists did well in opinion polls before the explosions, but they were popular with the kind of crowd that's too undisciplined to be counted on -- the young, first of all. Awakened by the bombs, even they hurried to the polling stations.

The war on terrorism... Spain has been fighting a war against ETA for thirty years, so it's no stranger to the war on the big T. It probably knows better how to fight it that its overseas critics. It wasn't an abstract entity that planted the 3/11 bombs; it was humans, most likely of a common religious and ethnic background. For all I know, they were not native Iberians. Why not take a better look at those who are coming into the country or staying illegally? The immediate answer to exogeneously generated terrorism is simple -- if politically incorrect: control immigration! We'll see if Spain can manage that.
posted by Alex(ei) at 8:12 AM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
Happy St. Patrick's day

I was going to talk about Pearse and Russian revolutionaries, but not today, apparently, and certainly not until I've had my afternoon pizza. There's been a street parade in Moscow on Novy Arbat on every St. Patrick's since 1994 or so, but I've always been late for the green beer at the Shamrock bar: the stock never lasts for later than 3 pm. The same problem in the only Irish bar I visited in Great Ireland Across the Sea: they had run out of the green nectar before that glorious moment when, as the song goes, the "happy couple enters the bar", pardon the present tense. The barman looked at us with a mix of contempt and pity: "now they're going to order Bud Light, idiots," but turned all warmth and light when we both asked for Kilkenny.

Oh, and don't forget to stop by PF's.
posted by Alex(ei) at 4:02 AM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
Cui bono?

It turns out the Moscow city government, together with its business cronies, had its own plans for the Manege before it caught fire last Sunday (This link to an article in Kommersant will expire soon). Moscow's chief architect admitted he had seen reconstruction proposals in the past two years, but the city preservation committee (an arm of the Moscow government) and the public at large were up in arms against them. Given that the Manege is somewhat unique in its design (Betancourt built it without a single supporting column on the inside), plans to convert it into a shopping center were not exactly a unifying cause for the Muscovites. (There is already an underground shopping mall beneath the Manege square.)

Now that the Manege as a building -- and, therefore, as a protected building -- is no more, control over its remnants will be transferred from the federal level to Moscow city, i.e., to Mayor Luzhkov & Co. That is, Luzhkov and his "business associates" will have their way. Not that the mayor is more corrupt than other elected and, especially, unelected bureaucrats -- he might be a more decent man than most of those, actually. Not that he is behind the arson, if it was arson indeed. It's just that he's way too lucky, that man in a cap -- almost as lucky as Putin; and they always have it their way, unlike us.

posted by Alex(ei) at 10:58 PM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
Ouphante Fairie 2

About ten years ago I thought of writing a novel so titled; I even had its cover (paperback) before my eyes. Inside, there would be a street map of the place where most of the action was to have happen -- among other things.
posted by Alex(ei) at 5:16 AM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
Ouphante Fairie

I was only a few years older than Chatterton when I first read his most-published piece, the roundelay from Aella. It has one particularly thrilling line that I could do understand at once -- the first of the following:

Ouphante fairie, lyghte youre fyres,
Heere mie boddie stylle schalle bee.

My first, wild guess was that 'ouphante' was an early form of 'orphan'; then the fairie was a sweet protector of orphans and other unfortunates. Wrong, and laughably so. For all I know now, 'ouphante' is derived from 'ouph', elf. No expert on the good people am I, but elfin fairies cause me no trouble.

What caused me discomfort was 'youre' instead of 'thy'; indeed, I have seen a version with 'ouph and fairie' in place of 'ouphante'. (In the only Russian versified translation I know, it's fei da gnomy.) Fine with me; but why did Chatterton also use 'ouphant' elsewhere in Aella, and in Battle of Hastings? He might have spotted 'ouph and fairie' in one of the genuine manuscripts he went through as a child, mistaken 'ouph and' for 'ouphant' and consistently used it later; but it does not explain the plural 'youre'.

I don't care about the 'youre'/'thy' thing anymore; having browsed through more Chatterton, I don't think he was perfectly logical in choosing between the pronouns. My feeling is that ouphant(e) fairies are like angels of death:

As ouphant faieries, whan the moone sheenes bryghte,
In littel circles daunce upon the greene,
All living creatures flie far from their syghte,
Ne by the race of destinie be seen...

Perhaps Keats' sore-sighing grot-dweller was one of that kind, too.
posted by Alex(ei) at 5:02 AM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
Fire on the Election Day

Yes, I did vote yesterday. Against all candidates: it's a valid option here. The best I could do to protest that farce misnamed election.

Why did Putin have to turn the election campaign into a joke when he had a tremendously fat chance of winning a really competitive race? That way, his democratic legitimacy would be out of question. Answer 1: his team prefer Putin to depend more on them than on popular opinion. Answer 2 (my choice): Putin is sending down a message: "Don't mess with me. Don't even try to challenge me at an election. Stay put."

A terrible ending to the phony Sunday: in the evening, the Manege Hall caught fire and burned down to its walls within only a few hours. Designed by engineer Augustin Betancourt and architect Osip Bove, the man who oversaw Moscow's post-1812 reconstruction, and also built the Bolshoy opera house, the Manege stands (or stood) within a few dozen yards from the Kremlin walls, between the old University and the Alexandrovsky garden. Originally used for indoor cavalry exercises, the building has long been an exhibition hall.

I saw the fire on TV: I don't think anything Moscow had seen anything like that since its inhabitants set fire to their city on Napoleon's entry. Perhaps it was the most spectacular fire in a European capital since Turner sketched the burning of the Houses of Parliament. But I don't think anyone applauded when the roof fell, this time.
posted by Alex(ei) at 12:00 AM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
Goings-on

I let the previous post hang on top for a whole week, partly because I think it's important. Now on to what's going on around: Russia has got a new government, Putin is going to get reelected on Sunday, and the Russian SEC's status got reduced: it will now report to PM instead of President.

Interestingly, the man who I voted for in December's Duma elections is now the first, and only deputy PM, but is he going to make a difference?
posted by Alex(ei) at 8:12 AM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
Rumor: the Duma plans to restrict Internet access

Utro, a somewhat sensationalist but overly reasonable Russian e-zine, reports, quoting other sources, that the Duma is going to consider a bill that would require all users to obtain a special permission (as usual) to get access to the Internet. Terrible as it sounds, our dishonorable members are capable of pretty much anything.
posted by Alex(ei) at 4:53 AM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)

 
Pain 2

It's getting better now for me, but the world hasn't changed much since yesterday. Putin has asked the Duma to appoint Mikhail Fradkov as PM, a man whose name and the word "bureaucrat" are a perfect match. I have little to add to what the papers say expect one silly thing: now that Russia's PM has a Jewish name, it'd be harder for the WaPo to accuse Putin of anti-Semitism. I wonder if Vladimir Vladimirovich (oh my) had that in mind.

Now back to our perpetual magnet: another fundamental quote. "[W]hile the anguish of his soul // Tells him he is not dead..."
posted by Alex(ei) at 8:44 AM. Permalink 0 BlogSpot comment(s)