william.scherk

Snapshot of warrior life. 

A couple Tweets from the war on Ukraine.

Just checking to see how the meta-tags show when OL interprets the Open Graphic code at the link. The link should drop us down to a particular video on the media list. 

Updated March 20 2022 · Latest video and audio -- Trumpism and Ukraine

WSSCHERK.COM

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Have figured out a few more useful means of delivering topical audio, video and brief commentary.

A grim night and day ahead in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol ...

I've followed Russia hand Julia Ioffe for a long time. Here she sat for almost an hour's interview with the PBS crew putting together their "Putin's Road to War."

She is a thorough-going Trump cynic, but discusses Trump's policy stances and relationship with Putin without rancour --  and is able to give the penetrating analysis that broad scope, deep knowledge and long-term research allow. If you just want a sample, start at 30 minutes. This is about what Putin sees in America, in what measure was what he saw in American division/paralysis a factor in risking the Ukraine operation now.

Although Kremlinology surely has its odd aspects -- eg, spiritualism or mind-reading, wishcasting, partyism or institute-itis -- Ioffe's 'Inside the Mind' readings seem to rest on firmer footings. "What do you think is going on in that guy's mentality that explains this decision-tree?"

If Ioffe is on the money, among the take-home truths are that Putin got shitty intelligence about what awaited the special operation forces, in terms of Ukrainian resolve and readiness, and in terms of actual Russian strength and weakness. 

"The bad news somehow didn't make it to the top." 
"Putin is the moderating voice in that camp." I paraphrase.

-- for a more speculative 'The Psy-Op that Failed' observation, analysis and argument this one stood out for me, in a Twitter thread by Kamil Galeev as far back as February 28:

"I Yam Winning the Propaganda [War] 'Special Military Operation'" ...

The leading candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada leadership is Pierre Poilievre --- born in Alberta with his surname from dad's origins in the small Saskatchewan 'French Canadian' community, better known now as the 'Fransaskois' community. Despite his prairie French roots, French is his second language and acquired mostly in his adult years.

His command of the language under question and in Parliament is almost perfect, more smoothly functional than Jagmeet Singh, and much more fluid and less stilted than previous leaders Erin O'Toole and Andrew Scheer. Basic fluency in French is an unstated rule for federal party leaders, and being at home in French can offer added bonus points and lures for Quebec voters. Being more than functional in the language of the majority in lhe province never upends a race, but helps in the hustle, the selling phase. Quebec voters can be as fickle as any other provincial bloc.

Compared to O'Toole and Scheer, Poilievre sounds and looks fresh and on point in encounters, fresher still compared to the ancient Jean Charest (former federal Progressive Conservative leader, former Liberal premier of Quebec), rumoured to jump in the race. 

Here we get good questions, strong answers -- in the sense of short phrases, no wriggling, in this interview replay on Facebook Video. 

Radio-Canada Information - Entrevue avec Pierre Poilievre | Facebook

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM

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Course à la direction du Parti conservateur du Canada : « Il y a beaucoup de Québécois qui me [disent] que je serais un bon candidat. C’est quelque...

Here is Jagmeet. I think Poilievre could kill in this format, whereas Jag merely hit all the points in his general script:

If it seems a little bit weird to see a Sikh man representing a Vancouver-area suburb doing politics in French in North America, but that is the deal. You have to be good enough to perform under pressure in the language of one-fourth of the population. At least to be seriously in the game.

I had assumed a francophone background for Poilievre. Rong! Like Singh, he worked at it. He positioned himself and worked it.

If I were Trudeau I would half-dread half-relish the prospect of a fight for power with Pierre Poilievre.  Ultimately, I think Poilievre will get a stint at Sussex Drive. If the Conservatives are not too stupid and tear themselves in two one more time. 

Everyone has likely seen this moment when a Russian broadcast was momentarily marred by dissent.  The lady was hauled off to jail in the immediate aftermath, of course.

Ukrainian-Australian Zoya Sheftalovich translated the Ukrainian president's latest address, which was in Ukrainian and Russian, and had some poignant items. We pick up her thread at entry nine:

Did Zelensky deliver a master-class in Propaganda/Persuasion? It seems like he is directly addressing the invader conscripts in their own language, sure -- but how many could possibly have listened to his address? If the Ukrainian claim is even partly true that "we can listen to your [military radio chatter] communications," then does it go the other way? Would conscripts on the fronts or in convoy be in a position to listen to the Ukrainian president, would that not also be an offense in itself?

Volodomyr Zelensky was an actor, most famous for the Ukrainian television series Servant of the People (Слуга народа). The series is online, of course:

Сериал Слуга народа - 1 и 2 серии | Премьера комедии 2015

T.CO

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Сериал комедия Слуга народа, смотреть онлайн.Присоединяйтесь к нам в социальных...

Now they tell us ...

Of my three 'a-political' Russian YouTube channels only two remain so. In Saint Petersburg, Sergey Baklykov's live-stream channel has had him lay down the hard line just recently -- in terms of de-nazification and special operations to ensure Ukrainian neutrality.

If you are familiar with broad strokes of official state messaging in Russian to Russians, you wouldn't have been surprised to hear it from Sergey as he did his Live in St Pete sundowner rounds in the gorgeous public spaces of the old capital. 

Sergey did take a stroll down to where the demonstrations against the 'special operations' were going to occur.  That live video was not retained. It's got to be a weird line to walk: at least partially dependent on the good favour of foreign English-speakers, and at the same time, getting bellicose about the right of Putin to do what he must do. Sergey gets pushback but doesn't get into the gutter or become personal. If he is able to keep broadcasting his perspective will be important as events ripen.

At some point he will be likely entertaining dissent from other Russian in St Pete and beyond. It won't be able to be expressed in social media, being illegal, yet I imagine his thinking may shift if influence by the 'underground' current of opposition.

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Valeria and Alex and their dog Sheffield have some really nice American/Western/English-speaking fans. Without comment on the world outside her commonplace pursuits, Valeria head out with camera dedicated to telling it like it is -- supplementing her income from the fans is more difficult under sanctions but can be accomplished. Today's shortage reports were foreign chocolate and certain medications. The dog nees medication for its foot problems. Visually, their little corner of greater Moscow in late winter is like the beat-up part of Winnipeg in winter. Beaten up looking, scuffed, worn, dirty.

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The third channel I watch is by Dan Freekoz and features his extended family. In the recent "How are RUSSIANS Going To Survive Under SANCTIONS," one of the answers is shown: planting a buttload of potatoes.

I hope none of these folks get cut off from any necessary lifelines. (of all of them, I think Valeria is the most enterprising -- in a plodding way -- with a Patreon, a second YouTube channel, and a Telegram presence, plus Etsy, Instagram ...)

The tweet below was strangely moving. It's important to be hard-eyed in times of war, to keep a certain flinty disregard for largely emotional appeals. So many hearts aching, so much fear and loathing and contempt almost always on offer.

Sometimes enough heartache is generated that it can become too difficult to be stony, even though freely expressing yourself can expose you to great personal risk.  If there is no public space for behaviour outside the bright lines, how will you express your thoughts? 

Today I learned via my US/UK chemical warfare wonk that the Polish and Ukrainian languages are closer to each other than are Russian and Ukrainian. "Mutual intelligibility" being one of the yardsticks. 

Who know they knew so little about the Polish-Lithuanian heyday (when Poland dominated Ukraine and shaped some of its unique aspects)?

By Wikipedia users Halibutt and Mathiasrex - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

-- word of the hour: Ruthenian; former word of the hour: Rusyn.

Gack.

I follow three YouTube channels from Russia, each an "apolitical" slice-of-life channel, where families are featured doing what Russian families do -- when you have an English-speaking 'fan-base' outside of Russia.

Different Russia is the most homely, boring, plodding of the three. Valeria Kovtunova will take you for a walk with her dog, Sheffield. She'll take you on the train, for a drive, to view the work at their dacha. 

For the past several videos, the tone has shifted slightly.  Without Valeria saying a word about the war in Ukraine, you can feel the effect on their plodding, happy lives.  Previous videos showed how prices of goods had gone up sharply, with the ruble then having fallen below 100 to the US dollar.

I don't believe that Russia will ban the use of YouTube by its citizens, although the State Duma is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a "False News" law with penalties of up to fifteen years in prison.  YouTube has "temporarily" demonetized Russian channels, so Valeria is not going to be able to supplement her family's earnings.

The last day of Ikea for the Kovtunovs ...

Down undah!

My language maintenance and learning uses machine-translated text-to-speech versions of items that I have written but not necessarily shared.

This is a French reading (with a reasonably human-sounding Canadian accent) of my 2019 musings-to-self about a since-departed OLer:

NewsMax live at CPAC:

President Trump is speaking.

Top predator says what?

Guess who has a book coming out?  

The come-on for this video is "why did London's Millennial Bridge oscillate and require two years of engineering before it re-opened?"

I got hooked into the the whole thing by the part where you could see people essentially marching in step on the swaying bridge. How did that happen? How do/why do people synchronize?  

This video goes places ...

Funny work here.

How this neuron movement depiction was accomplished, I have no idea.  I also had no idea that neurons have this apparent 'seeking' behaviour:

The wags at the Daily Show have culled some prime Jeanine Pirro bits for a 'Daily Affirmations' video. For fans of straight talk. 

What undersea volcanoes in the South Pacific look like when they blow, from a satellite vantage. The shock wave from the eruption off Tonga's shores perturbed the atmosphere. Early reports from Tonga are hopeful that the resulting tsunami did result in human slaughter. New Zealand is the closest nation with a will to help and the ability to do so. 

New Zealand coverage roundup.

Hoping everyone has the happiest of holidays, close to family and full of plenty.  

See you all on the other side of Christmas ...