The Putin Party

Randy Newman, “Putin” (2016)

[…]

Dark Matter contained a re-recorded version of his Emmy award-winning song ‘It’s a Jungle Out There’, which was used as the theme song for the television series Monk. The album tells countless humorous tales. However, one of its most memorable cuts is the track ‘Putin’, which sees Newman sarcastically attack the Russian president.

The song pokes fun at Putin’s efforts to appear macho, with Newman singing, “And when he takes his shirt off/ He drives the ladies crazy/ When he takes his shirt off/ Makes me wanna be a lady.” A chorus of ‘Putin Girls’ chime in to sing, “Putin if you put it/ Will you put it next to me?”

To accompany the scathing lyrics, Newman uses chaotic instrumentation that sounds like the perfect theme for a cartoon villain. The musician explained that he wrote the song when “all those pictures were appearing of him with his shirt off, and I couldn’t understand why. What did he want?”

He continued: “I think it was just personal vanity of some kind, like he wanted to be Tom Cruise. It wasn’t enough to be the richest and most powerful. He wanted to be the most handsome and a superhero, throwing young people around and wrestling.”

Newman claims that he originally wrote a much harsher version but had to tone down the insults. In 2018, the song won the singer his seventh Grammy, this time for the relatively obscure category of Best Arrangement, Instrumentals and Vocals.

Source: Aimee Ferrier, “Remembering Randy Newman’s satirical warning about Vladimir Putin,” Far Out, 14 October 2022

“RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA HAS MADE ITS WAY into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.” That acknowledgement from Michael McCaul, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was echoed a few days later by Michael Turner, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee. “It is absolutely true, we see, directly coming from Russia, attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor.” Among the falsehoods that GOP members of Congress are repeating is the notion that the Ukraine war is actually a battle between NATO and Russia. “Of course it is not,” Turner told CNN. “To the extent that this propaganda takes hold, it makes it more difficult for us to really see this as an authoritarian versus democracy battle.”

What makes it even more difficult to see reality plainly is the presence in the GOP of dunderheads like Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who gushed to an Alabama radio show that “Putin is on top of his game,” while scorning U.S. media accounts of Russian behavior. “The propaganda media machine over here, they sell anything they possibly can to go after Russia.” Tuberville may be the dimmest Putin booster on the Hill, but he is hardly lonely.

It has been two months since the Senate passed, in a 70–29 vote (including 22 Republican yes votes), a $95 billion foreign aid bill that included $60 billion for Ukraine. The Republican-controlled House, by contrast, has been paralyzed. Stories leak out that Speaker Mike Johnson, apparently influenced by high-level briefings he’s received since capturing the gavel, has changed his posture and wants to approve the aid. But Johnson leads, or is at least is the titular congressional chief, of a party that contains a passionate “Putin wing,” and so he dithers. This week, Volodomyr Zelensky has warned that Ukraine will lose the war if the aid is not approved. Yet Johnson is heading not to Kyiv but to Mar-a-Lago.

Pause on that for a moment. The Republican party is now poised to let a brave, democratic ally be defeated by the power that the last GOP presidential nominee save one called “without question, our number one greatest geopolitical foe.” One member of Congress has sworn to introduce a resolution to vacate the speaker’s chair if Johnson puts aid for Ukraine on the floor. And the entertainment wing of conservatism—most egregiously Tucker Carlson—has gone into full truckling mode toward the ex-KGB colonel in the Kremlin.

It’s worth exploring how the Republican party, the party of “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” became the party that now credulously traffics in blatant Russian disinformation while it flirts with betraying an important ally—along with all of its principles.

To some degree, people’s foreign policy inclinations are reflections of their domestic views. During the later years of the Cold War, large numbers of liberals and Democrats were more sympathetic to leftist regimes like Cuba (see Bernie Sanders) and Nicaragua (see Michael Harrington) than were conservatives and Republicans. I wrote a book about liberal softness toward left-wing authoritarianism and, though I haven’t yet read it, I gather that Jacob Heilbrunn’s new book does some similar spelunking about conservatives’ tolerance for right-wing dictators. Certainly some conservatives were more inclined than any liberal to go easy on South Africa because it was perceived to be a Cold War ally. On the other hand, Republican administrations did push allies to clean up their act on corruption, democratic elections, and other matters where they could (as for example in El Salvador).

Trump’s particular preferences and ego needs play a starring role in the GOP’s devolution. Cast your minds back to 2016 and the revelation that the Russians had hacked the Democratic National Committee. To rebut this damaging development, Fox News conjurers got busy inventing a tale about CrowdStrike, the company that documented the hack, alleging that the servers had been mysteriously moved to Ukraine so that the FBI could not examine them. In his infamous phone call with Zelensky, Trump fished out this debunked nugget and asked Ukraine’s president, who was then already fighting Russia in the Donbas, to do him a favor before he released the weapons Congress had approved:

I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say CrowdStrike. . . . I guess you have one of your wealthy people. . . . The server, they say, Ukraine has it. I would like to have the attorney general call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it.

This was bonkers. As the Mueller report made clear, the FBI did get all the data regarding the DNC hack. There was never a shred of evidence that the servers were moved to Ukraine, and in any case physical control of the servers was unnecessary. But what was Zelensky supposed to say? He promised to look into it just as a courtier to a mad king will say, “Yes, your majesty, we will look into why your slippers are turning into marshmallows when the sun goes down.”

As Fiona Hill told me, Tom Bossert, Trump’s first homeland security advisor, tried “a million times” to disabuse Trump of this Ukraine myth, as did CIA Director Gina Haspel, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Chris Krebs, and many others, to no avail. It was, Hill notes, “a too-convenient fiction.”

Because Trump regarded any implication that he had received assistance from Russia as impugning his victory, he latched onto the idea (perhaps whispered by Putin himself in one of their many private conversations) that, yes, there had indeed been foreign interference in the election, but it was Ukraine boosting Hillary Clinton, not Russia aiding Trump. Now, it’s true that Ukraine’s friends reached out to Clinton, but why wouldn’t they? Trump’s campaign manager was Paul Manafort, a paid agent of Viktor Yanukovych, the ousted pro-Putin Ukrainian leader.

Trump nurtured his misplaced grudge for years. Recall that when Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Trump’s initial response was that it was a “genius” move.

I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, “This is genius.” Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine—of Ukraine—Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. He used the word “independent” and “we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.” You gotta say that’s pretty savvy.

A non-sociopath would say it was raw aggression of the worst kind. A normal Republican of the pre-Trump mold would have been outraged at the attempted rape of a peaceful, democratic neighbor.

Most Republican officeholders are not sociopaths, but they take their marching orders from one and have adjusted their consciences accordingly. The talking point J.D. Vance and his ilk favor is that they cannot be concerned about Ukraine’s border when our southern border is also being invaded. Of course it’s absurd to compare immigrants looking for work or safety to tanks, bombs, and missiles, but that’s what passes for Republican reasoning these days. In any case, it was revealed to be hollow when Biden and the Democrats offered an extremely strict border bill to sweeten aid for Ukraine, and the GOP turned it down flat.

Russia’s fingerprints are all over the Republicans’ failed attempt to impeach (in all senses of the word) Joe Biden. Their star witness, Alexander Smirnov—who alleged that Hunter and Joe Biden had been paid $5 million in bribes by Burisma—was indicted in February for making false statements. High-ranking Russians appear to be his sources.

Whether the subject is Ukraine, Biden’s so-called corruption, or NATO, Putin seems to have pulled off the most successful foreign influence operation in American history. If Trump were being blackmailed by Putin it’s hard to imagine how he would behave any differently. And though it started with Trump, it has not ended there. Putin now wields more power over the GOP than anyone other than Trump. GOP propagandists indulge fictions that even many Russians can see through: Ukraine is governed by Nazis; Russia is a religious, Christian nation; Russia is fighting “wokeness.”

Republicans are not so much isolationist as pro-authoritarian. They’ve made Hungary’s Viktor Orbán a pinup and they mouth Russian disinformation without shame. Putin must be pinching himself.

Source: Mona Charen, “The GOP is the Party of Putin,” The Bulwark, 11 April 2024. Thanks to Mark Teeter for the heads-up.

Putin recommends reviving ‘Come On, Girls!’ contest, following Uralvagonzavod’s example

Following his visit to the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions, President Vladimir Putin instructed regional heads to explore the initiative.

This isn’t the winner of the Come On, Girls! contest in Nizhny Tagil, but a stock image that Rabota.ru figured was good enough.

The list of the head of state’s mandates includes holding corporate Come On, Girls! contests, as is already being done at Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil, where Putin met with the event’s winner.

Top officials have until November to submit a report detailing how they have implemented the mandate.

Come On, Girls! was a televised Soviet competition that aired from 1970 to 1987. Members of particular professions competed both for the title of best specialist and in creative contests.

During the same visit to Uralvagonzavod, it was suggested to Putin that excursions by schoolchildren to industrial enterprises be made mandatory. For the time being, authorities are drafting labor education lessons for pupils modeled on the Soviet system.

Source: Andrei Gorelikov, “Putin recommends reviving ‘Come On, Girls!’ contest,” Rabota.ru, 9 April 2024. Translated by the Russian Reader

Ode on Slate

OSIP MANDELSTAM ||||| ODE ON SLATE

Only by ear will we grasp

What scratched and grappled there,

Star with star mightily conjoined,

The old song’s flinty path,

Tongue of air, and tongue of flint,

Horseshoe with ring, water with flint.

The milky sketch in slate

On the clouds’ soft shale

Is no novitiate of worlds

But the delirium of drowsing sheep.

We stand asleep in the thick night

Beneath a warm woollen cap.

The spring babbles back to the thickets

A chainlet, a warbler, a spiel.

Fear writes here, here writes the fault line

With a milky stick of lead,

Here mellows the draft

Penned by flowing water’s disciples.

Steep towns of goats,

Mighty stratum of flint.

And there’s yet another ridge:

Ovine villages and churches!

The plumb line preaches to them,

Water schools them, time whets them,

And they’ve long since had their fill

Of the air’s transparent woods.

Like a hornet dead outside a hive,

The motley day is swept out in disgrace.

And night the vulture bears

Burning chalk and feeds the slate.

To erase the day’s impressions

From the iconoclastic icon

And brush from the arm like a chick

Visions already transparent!

The fruit was bursting, the grapes grew ripe.

The day raged as rage it does.

And a gentle game of knucklebones,

And vicious sheepdogs’ coats at noon.

Like debris from icy heights,

The seamy side of green icons,

The hungry water flows,

Winding, frisking like a cub.

And like a spider it crawls over me,

Where every joint is spattered by the moon,

In the stupefied heights

I hear the screeching of slate.

I break the night, the burning chalk,

To make a solid record of the instant.

I swap noise for the song of arrows,

I swap formation for an angry bustard.

Who am I? Not a righteous mason,

Nor a roofer, nor a shipwright.

I am a double dealer, and my soul is deceitful,

I’m a friend of the night, the day’s ramrod.

Blessed is he who dubbed flint

Flowing water’s disciple.

Blessed is he who cinched a belt

To solid ground on the sole of the mountains.

And now I’m perusing the logs

Of the leaden summer’s scratches,

Tongue of air, and tongue of flint,

Seam of darkness, seam of light.

And I want to poke my fingers

In the old song’s flinty path

As into a sore, joining

Flint with water, horseshoe with ring.

Source: mandelshtam.let-info.ru. Translated by the Russian Reader

Led Zeppelin, “Poor Tom” (1970; released, 1982)

Here’s a tale of Tom
Who worked the railroads long
His wife would cook his meal
As he would change the wheel

Poor Tom, seventh son
Always knew what was going on
Ain’t nothing that you can hide from Tom
Ain’t nothing that you can hide from Tom

Worked for thirty years
Sharing hopes and fears
Dreaming of the day
He could turn and say

Poor Tom, work is done
Been lazing out in the noonday sun
Ain’t nothing that you can hide from Tom
Ain’t nothing that you can hide from Tom

His wife was Annie Mae
With any man a game she would play
When Tom was out of town
She couldn’t keep her dresses down

Poor Tom, seventh son
Always knew what was going on
Ain’t nothing that you can hide from Tom
Ain’t nothing that you can hide from Tom

And so it was one day
People got to Annie Mae
Tom stood, a gun in his hand
And stopped her running around

Poor Tom, seventh son
Gotta die for what you have done
All those years of work are thrown away
To ease your mind is that all you can say?

But what about that grandson on your knee?
Them railroad songs, Tom would sing to me
Ain’t nothing that you can hide from Tom
Ain’t nothing that you can hide from Tom
Ain’t nothing that you can hide from Tom
Ain’t nothing that you can hide from Tom
Hey
Keep-a truckin’
Keep-a truckin’
Hey

Source: Led Zeppelin, “Poor Tom” (Genius)

I Apologize

Once upon a time, apologizing on camera was a Chechen and Belarusian practice. Since the outbreak of full-scale war, the Russian authorities have also adopted this method of putting pressure on dissenters, especially in music and pop culture. Here are some examples from the last year.

Underdog and La Virgen bars

To whom: the police.

For what: for holding a charity event to aid Ukrainians.

Quote: “We apologize, including to all law enforcement officers who had to be involved in these events because of us and waste their time.”

Did it help: Yes, the security forces have left the bars alone.

Rapper Scally Milano

To whom: Yekaterina Mizulina, head of the Safe Internet League.

For what: for mentioning drugs in his songs.

Quote: “We have to be role models, but ones with the right values. I urge all performers to be responsible. The moment has come to change everything for the better, and I want to have an impact on this.”

Did it help: Yes, Mizulina gave the rapper another chance: he had his a picture taken with her and deleted some of his songs from streaming services. The security forces stopped disrupting his concerts.

Rapper Loqiemean

To whom: to everyone.

For what: for protest songs.

Quote: “I spent time in prison. More precisely, I spent five days under arrest in a pretrial detention center. On this occasion, I have to shore up my opinion about the complaints about the pots.* I was wrong: I should not wish harm to my army, because the army is inseparable from the people. And I am an inseparable part of this people.”

Did it help: yes, apparently. Roman Khudyakov (which is the rapper’s real name) has stopped making public appearances, however.

*[In a video recorded on 23 March 2022, Loqiemean is shown baking meat in clay pots and saying that he would like those who bombed an apartment building in Odessa to be cooked in clay pots. On 1 May , Yekaterina Mizulina posted this video on her Telegram channel, captioning it as follows: “But we definitely do not need such concerts in Russia. Let him perform at home in his kitchen.”]

Singer Charlotte

To whom: the police.

For what: for anti-war statements and burning his passport.

Quote: “I was mistakenly obsessed with false information [voice-over: “Why were you brought here?”] I had a misfire in understanding what was happening.”

Did it help: no. Charlotte has been charged on four criminal counts, including “disseminating fake news about the Russian army” and “discrediting the Russian army.” He’s now under arrest in a pretrial detention center.

Charlotte, “Posh or Not” (2019):
“When I see a person, I look into their eyes
It doesn’t matter what you look like
It’s important what you’re talking about
When I don’t see a person, I look up at the sky
It doesn’t matter what I look like
It’s important what I’m talking about”

Blogger Nastya Ivleeva, singer Philip Kirkorov, rapper Vacìo, and others

To whom: everyone.

For what: for an “almost naked” party, at which the guests were dressed scantily; Vacìo even came wearing only a sock over his penis.

Quotes:

Vacìo: “I want to say that I don’t support LGBT people in any way and didn’t want to make any propaganda about it. I condemn LGBT supporters. I apologize for offending the feelings of other people and for being involved in such a terrible video at such a difficult time for our country.”

Philipp Kirkorov: “I went through the wrong door. Yes, I knew about the event, had received an invitation, promised to come and came, but I didn’t know about the nature of the events that would take place behind that door. And so I left.”

Ksenia Sobchak: “I can tell you for sure for myself, my friends, I definitely did not want to offend anyone. If someone is offended by my appearance, I apologize for it.”

Did it help: We don’t know yet. It seems that the backlash against Ivleeva and her guests is still underway.

Source: WTF (Mediazona) email newsletter, 28 December 2023. Translated by the Russian Reader

Hüsker Dü, “I Apologize” (1985)

MOSCOW, Dec 28 (Reuters) – A rapper who attended a celebrity party with only a sock to hide his modesty has been jailed for 15 days, sponsors of some of Russia’s best known entertainers have torn up their contracts, and President Vladimir Putin is reported to be unamused.

An “almost naked” party at a Moscow nightclub held at a time when Russia is engaged in a war with Ukraine and the authorities are pushing an increasingly conservative social agenda, has provoked an unusually swift and powerful backlash.

A video clip of Putin’s spokesperson listening to an explanation from one of the stars who attended has been circulating online. Baza, a news outlet known for its security services contacts, has reported that troops fighting in Ukraine were among the first to complain after seeing the footage and that photographs of the event reached an unimpressed Putin.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesperson, on Wednesday asked reporters to forgive him for not publicly commenting on the burgeoning scandal, saying: “Let you and I be the only ones in the country who aren’t discussing this topic.”

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that the event had “stained” those who took part, but that they now had a chance to work on themselves, according to the Ura.ru news outlet.

The fierce backlash from the authorities, pro-Kremlin lawmakers and bloggers, state media, and Orthodox Church groups has been dominating the headlines for days, displacing stories about rising egg prices and allowing people to let off steam by railing against the show-business elite instead.

The party, in Moscow’s Mutabor nightclub, was organised by blogger Anastasia (Nastya) Ivleeva and attended by well-known singers in their underwear or wearing skimpy costumes who have been staples on state TV entertainment programmes for years.

DOUBLE APOLOGY

Ivleeva, who has since become one of Russia’s most recognised names, is seen in one clip showing off an emerald-studded chain around her backside worth 23 million roubles ($251,000) at a time when some Russians are struggling to get by.

She has since issued two public apology videos for the event which spanned Dec. 20–21.

In the second tearful apology, released on Wednesday, Ivleeva said she regretted her actions and deserved everything she got but hoped she could be given “a second chance.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by НАСТЯ ИВЛЕЕВА (@_agentgirl_)

Nastya Ivleeva’s second social media apology for the “almost naked” party, posted on Wednesday

Her name has since disappeared as one of the public faces of major Russian mobile phone operator MTS, the tax authorities have opened an investigation that carries a potential five-year jail term, and a Moscow court has accepted a lawsuit from a group of individuals demanding she pay out 1 billion roubles ($10.9 million) for “moral suffering.”

If successful, they want the money to go to a state fund that supports Ukraine war veterans.

“To hold such events at a time when our guys are dying in the (Ukrainian) special military operation and many children are losing their fathers is cynical,” said Yekaterina Mizulina, director of Russia’s League for a Safe Internet, a body founded with the authorities’ support.

“Our soldiers on the front line are definitely not fighting for this.”

Many of the party’s famous participants have recorded apologies, including journalist Ksenia Sobchak whose late father Anatoly was once Putin’s friend and boss.

SOCIAL CONSERVATISM

The scandal comes at a time when Putin, who is expected to comfortably win another six-year term at a March election, has doubled down on social conservatism, urging families to have eight or more children, and after Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that LGBT activists should be designated as “extremists.”

Nikolai Vasilyev, a rapper known as Vacio who attended wearing only a sock to cover his penis, was jailed by a Moscow court for 15 days and fined 200,000 roubles ($2,182) for propaganda of “non-traditional sexual relations.”

Other more famous names have had concerts and lucrative state TV airtime cancelled, contracts with sponsors revoked, and, in at least one case, are reportedly being cut out of a new film.

The scandal has angered those who support Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Standing outside the Bolshoi Theatre on Thursday, Nadezhda, one Moscow resident, told Reuters she was outraged and thought those who took part should be punished and not shown on TV anymore.

“If you’re partying at least don’t film it,” she said. “At such a difficult time (for Russia), they should at least be ashamed. Aren’t they ashamed before those who are fighting for us?”

Alexander, another Muscovite, said those who attended had not broken any law and were free to do as they pleased at what was a private event.

But one woman who said her nephew had lost both legs in combat wrote in a post to the League for a Safe Internet that the stars should pay for prosthetic legs for her relative and others to make amends.

“That would be a better apology,” the unidentified woman wrote.

($1 = 91.6205 roubles)

Source: Andrew Osborn, “Russian stars’ semi-naked party sparks wartime backlash,” Reuters, 28 December 2023

In her first social media post about the scandalous party, released five days ago, Nastya Ivleeva wasn’t apologetic or teary-eyed at all. ||| TRR

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by НАСТЯ ИВЛЕЕВА (@_agentgirl_)

The situation around the “naked party in Moscow,” in the course of which the Russian patriotic crowd has canceled many quite pro-regime figures, quite tellingly illustrates the degradation of Russian society. Previously, there were two realities: the reality of official propaganda, and a parallel reality in which there was “contemporary art,” “kinky parties,” and “Knife magazine.” In exchange for symbolic loyalty to the regime, one could gain comparative individual freedom.

Now that time has come to an end. There will be no individual freedom even for the chosen ones. The only freedom that remains for Russians is the freedom to vote for Putin and the freedom to apologize to Kadyrov.

There is something incredibly funny about the fact that Russian culture, after all its sobbing about imaginary [culture] “cancellation” [on the part of the west], has finally joyfully taken the plunge and canceled itself.

Source: Aleksandr Wolodarskij (Facebook), 28 December 2023. Translated by the Russian Reader

Small Acts of Defiance

The town’s coroner and mortician, Dr. Ivan Malinin, a Russian immigrant who barely spoke English, performed the autopsy on Williams at the Tyree Funeral House. Malinin found hemorrhages in the heart and neck and pronounced the cause of death as “insufficiency of [the] right ventricle of [the] heart.” Malinin also found that, apparently unrelated to his death, Williams had also been severely kicked in the groin during a fight in a Montgomery bar a few days earlier in which he had also injured his left arm, which had been subsequently bandaged. That evening, when the announcer at Canton announced Williams’s death to the gathered crowd, they started laughing, thinking that it was just another excuse. After Hawkshaw Hawkins and other performers started singing “I Saw the Light” as a tribute to Williams, the crowd, now realizing that he was indeed dead, followed them.

Source: “Death of Hank Williams,” Wikipedia

Hyvästi Suomi!

This can be translated as “Goodbye, Finland,” or it can be translated as “Adieu, Finland.” The correct translation will depend on our neighbors.

Source: “News Roundup” email newsletter (Delovoi Peterburg), 24 November 2023. Translated by the Russian Reader

Finland has temporarily closed all but one of its eight passenger crossings to Russia in response to an unusually high inflow of migrants for which the Nordic country accuses Moscow.More than 700 migrants from nations such as Yemen, Afghanistan, Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria, have in the past couple of weeks entered Finland via Russia. Helsinki says Russia is funneling migrants to the border, a charge the Kremlin has denied.

Having last week closed four border stations, Finland overnight closed all remaining passenger crossings except its northernmost one, Raja-Jooseppi located high north in the Arctic region, for a month.

Raja-Jooseppi opened its gates for traffic this morning and will continue to accept asylum applications during its four daily opening hours, the Finnish Border Guard said.

No migrants arrived overnight outside opening hours, it added.

The Border Guard is stepping up patrolling along the length of its 833-mile frontier with Russia.

It will get additional resources for the task from the European Union’s border agency Frontex, which said on Thursday it would deploy 50 border guard officers and other staff to Finland along with equipment such as patrol cars to bolster control activities.

Source: “Finland closes passenger border crossings with Russia,” NBC News, 24 November 2023

What are the benefits for Russia?

HS: Russia wants to create an image of a hostile West that is of benefit to the Russian leadership. Finland has not fit this image in the past, but now they are trying to build it. Relations between Finland and Russia are at a turning point. The Russians have realised that they do not know Finland after all. They want to see who Finland cooperates with and at the same time try to stir up discord within Finnish society. Building a new relationship will be a long-term process.

JS: Russia can create a fortress mindset due to a perceived ‘threat’ from the West. Finland’s eastern border is becoming a useful confrontational narrative for the Kremlin. When the same narrative is repeated, a kind of protection mechanism kicks in and even sceptics will start to believe it.

Source: “What is Russia hoping to achieve with hybrid tactics on the Finnish border?” Yle News, 21 November 2023

The Front Lawn, “Claude Rains” (1989)

Claude Rains in Casablanca

He was the French Police Inspector

A functionary through and through

A small man

Remember at the end out on the airstrip

He could have tried to stop them

Ingrid Bergman and her friend from the French Resistance

But he pretended not to see

It was a small act of defiance

As the storm broke in the distance

He was on their side after all.

Claude Rains gave the order to collect the usual suspects

And the camera came in close up on his face

He watched as the plane left the airstrip

Like hope leaves a dying man

But he hung on to the choice he’d made

Claude Rains

Claude Rains

Claude Rains

Claude Rains

I saw a new film the other day

And it was set at the start of a nuclear war

The actors weren’t as good as Claude Rains

But then there was nothing that they could do

All of their small acts could count for nothing

As the storm broke in the distance

Not much to make a film about

Source: “Claude Rains,” The Front Lawn: Lyrics

Civic Council named “undesirable organization” in the Russian Federation

The Prosecutor General’s Office added us to this list on November 3, exactly one year after we announced the creation of our Mobilization Center. We have openly stated that we are working to ensure that the Russian Federation in its current form, with its current government and all that this government calls the state, ceases to exist.

Today it is the Russian state that is criminal, and armed struggle against it is legitimate and necessary. So the Prosecutor’s Office and the Justice Ministry are formally correct: we are their enemies.

In fact, our status as an undesirable organization has not changed anything. Supporting the Civic Council within Russia was also a criminal offense before we were give this status, just like all other independent political and civic activities. The Russian authorities hand down approximately the same prison sentences for making [anti-war] comments on social media and engaging in armed resistance. So, we propose fighting effectively, rather than commenting in vain.

We have to resist intelligently, so we suggest that our supporters inside Russia observe the rules of information security and be vigilant.

We do not accept donations payable to Russian bank cards and do not have accounts in Russian banks.

We are not urging you to attend protest rallies right now. The time to go to the public squares will come later.

We invite those who are ready to take up arms to fight, fully aware of the consequences.

For those who do not want to stay on the sidelines but cannot fight for various reasons, there are other ways to support our cause:

donating money, including anonymously through crypto wallets (including Monero)
providing information to our OSINT service
disseminating information about the opportunity to volunteer

To volunteer for the Siberian Battalion, fill out this form.

Anyone who wants to make a donation should go here. All options are a help to us.

Anyone who wants to help with information or other work inside the Russian Federation should write to us at civic_council@proton.me.

Sincerely yours,

Civic Council, an undesirable organization in the Russian Federation

@obserwujący

P.S. We suggesting giving us the special status of “an organization readying the overthrow of the Putin regime.”

Source: Civic Council (Facebook), 23 November 2023. Translated by the Russian Reader

Foreign luxury brands are closing their flagship stores on Nevsky Prospect, but they could be replaced by Russian fashion retailers, say market participants.

Analysts expect a reduction in rental rates on Nevsky Prospect.

According to sources cited by Kommersant-SPb and NF Group, Breitling, Fendi, Omega, Rolex, and Salvatore Ferragamo have already vacated their spaces in downtown Petersburg. Louis Vuitton has the same plans. Market participants ascribed the mass exodus of luxury sellers to political pressure in the brands’ home countries and logistical and supply chain challenges.

“Luxury retailers initially took a wait-and-see attitude, but now it has become clear that there are no prospects for stabilizing the economic situation in the medium term,” said a source who spoke to Kommersant-SPb.

KNRU development director Polina Fiofilova noted that western brands that have been operating in the fashionable part of Nevsky Prospect for years have driven rents “sky-high” and inflated the expectations of landlords.

In the first half of 2023, the rates per square meter in this locale ranged from 2,600 to 6,700 rubles per month (VAT included), while in the adjacent Telezhny Lane they amounted to 2,500 to 5,200 rubles per square meter per month. Local fashion retailers simply would not be able to afford such rents, analysts said.

Nevsky Prospect is still empty. Despite a reduction in vacancies compared to the peak period, their level remains quite high, thus generating pressure on rental costs, added Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of the agency Infoline Analytics.

As Delovoi Peterburg wrote earlier, despite the departure of a number of foreign brands, fashion retail sales increased by nine percent, a nineteen percent increase compared to the same period last year. But the average receipt remained at the level of last year or even decreased.

In period from July to September, ten international brand stores opened in Petersburg shopping centers. Most of the new boutiques belong to the fashion segment.

Three new Turkish clothing brand stores opened in Petersburg, along with Quiksilver (Australia), Mark Formelle (Belorussia), Woolrich (USA), Yamaguchi (Japan), Liu Jo (Italy) and two Stockmann’s stores (Finland).

We reported in October that the Italian clothing brand OVS would return to Petersburg after a ten-year hiatus.

Source: “Western luxury brands close Nevsky Prospekt boutiques en masse,” Delovoi Peterburg, 20 November 2023. Translated by the Russian Reader

Rosstat reports that the retail price of bananas increased to 143 rubles per kilo for the first time since it has been tracking their price. Compared to October last year, the cost of bananas increased by 47 percent, which was the biggest single-month increase since 2000. Oranges led the price growth among fruits: in October, they rose in price to 209 rubles per kilo, or by almost 80% year on year. Fruit prices were affected by the weakening of the ruble, which led to an increase in suppliers’ purchase prices and a rise in the cost of logistics, according to market participants. Albina Koryagina, a partner at NEO, a consulting company, says that last year the Russian authorities controlled the growth of retail prices for socially significant products, including bananas (aka “the poor people’s fruit”), as much as they were able, but this year retailers can no longer afford to hold down prices “even when pressured.”

Source: Moscow Times Russian Service, daily news roundup, 24 November 2023. Translated by the Russian Reader

4,121 criminal absence without leave [AWOL] cases have been delivered to Russia’s military courts since the start of the military mobilization in September 2022, as reported on Friday, November 24, by Mediazona, which studied information available on the websites of the military courts.

The courts have already made rulings in 3,470 of the cases. “Most AWOL cases result in suspended sentences. The percentage of such rulings is sixty-three for volunteer soldiers, while for mobilized [conscripted] soldiers, it is slightly lower—fifty-six percent,” the article says. A suspended sentence, it notes, makes it possible to return a serviceman to the front.

In addition to criminal AWOL cases, Mediazona found 317 cases of disobeying orders, 96 cases of desertion, 54 cases of assaulting a commanding officer, and 42 cases for other offenses on which the authorities have doubled down during the mobilization.

According to the infographic published by Mediazona, the most cases were launched in the Moscow Region (309), the Rostov Region (224), and the Maritime Territory (181). 123 cases were launched in Moscow, and 116 in St. Petersburg.

Source: Jan Roffe, “More than 4,000 criminal AWOL cases launched in Russia,” Deutsche Welle, 24 November 2023. Translated by the Russian Reader

French Kiss

French Kiss: A Concert by Vera Egorova & The Big Buddy Band

6:00 p.m., October 14, Palma Creative Space, Pirogov Embankment, 18

Performers

Vocals – Vera Egorova, Double Bass – Anton Krasikov, Guitar – Yuri Yurov, Drums – Ivan Laptev, Saxophone – Anton Seryogin

Description

The lights of the city in evening, the music, the vibe… under a Paris sky!

Stage Magic Agency invites everyone to be inspired by the romantic motifs of France in the light of the crystal chandeliers at the Palma Mansion on October 14. The evening’s programme includes treasures of French pop and chanson as performed by the extravagant Vera Egorova & The Big Buddy Band. We will make a genuine French voyage from Zaz’s contemporary hits to such symbols of the era as Edith Piaf and Yves Montand.

Vera Egorova & The Big Buddy Band are musical hooligans from St. Petersburg and the musical project of singer and actress Vera Egorova. The band has performed more than 500 concerts in Russia and abroad and taken prizes at various international competitions and festivals. Each of their performances is a ton of drive and an endless stream of emotions.

Well, bon voyage! See you at the Palma!

Concert programme:
Zaz – Je veux
Zaz – Paris sera toujours Paris
Zaz – demain c’est toi
Edith Piaf – Padam Padam
Edith Piaf – La vie En Rose
Joe Dassin – Les Champs Elysees
Charles Aznavour – Oublie Loulou
Paolo Conte – Via con me
Yves Montand – Sous le ciel de Paris
Patricia Kass – Mon mec a moi
Julie London – Fly me to the moon
Madeleine Peyroux – J’Ai Deux Amours
Osvaldo Farres – Quizas

Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes

Source: Bileter.ru (via the website’s 5 October 2023 email newsletter). The “concert programme” is reproduced here as it appeared in the original.

“Vera Yegorova & tBBB — Je Veux (ZAZ cover) | LIVE.“

I could detect almost no actual French in this so-called cover of a French song by the “musical hooligans from St. Petersburg,” making it a perfect illustration of the cargo cult character of “world culture” as imagined and appropriated by xenophobic Putin-era Russians. ||| TRR

Dozens of people, including a 6-year-old child, were killed in a Russian attack that hit a cafe during a wake service in a village in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine on October 5, according to Ukrainian officials. RFE/RL visited the village a few hours after the deadly attack.

Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (YouTube), 5 October 2023

[…]

— Why is the issue of colonialism nearly absent from the Russian opposition’s agenda?

— It’s an unpopular topic because it forces us to look for the root of our troubles not only in the Putin regime but in ourselves as well. It forces us to look at our behavior and change it, and that’s an unpleasant process. No one likes admitting they’re wrong. No one likes admitting that their behavior or they themselves are racist. No one likes admitting they’re a xenophobe or colonialist.

— What must we do to rid ourselves of the colonial and imperial mindset?

— First of all, we must understand that Russians have to do this work themselves. Because if someone else from the outside does the work to decolonize Russians, they won’t like it. We don’t have to agree with every position 100%, we can argue on some points.

Changing a mindset is not an instantaneous thing. Unfortunately, we just don’t have time, because if we are going to discuss for another twenty years whether it is possible or not to use slurs in reference to ethnic minorities, nothing can help us anymore. We will turn other people’s lives into hell, and our own, too. But, of course, Russian colonialism won’t let itself be deconstructed without putting up a fight.

— This begs the question about another pattern you described—complaints about Russophobia. Why do you think they are unfounded? And do you consider, for example, banning cars with Russian license plates from entering European countries to be Russophobia?

— Of course, this is a very unpleasant situation. Russian liberals support one of the most important narratives of the Putin regime and of Russian colonialism in general, which boils down to the claim that Russians are victimized. I don’t think that banning Russian cars from entering [the EU] is a manifestation of Russophobia. I think it is a manifestation of the reaction to [Russia’s] full-scale invasion [of Ukraine], which, by the way, is still ongoing. The reaction is going to affect people who themselves have not been involved in the invasion in any way. Moreover, people who are least guilty may suffer from it—for example, activists who have been fighting the Putin regime all their lives.

This will continue, because the citizens of the Russian Federation were unable to oppose what is happening in any way, and in the eyes of the world, most of them fueled this invasion economically, politically, and rhetorically. Precisely because we don’t resist, we have to pay for it somehow. For example, we are in no hurry to separate the criminals from those who have not committed crimes.

[…]

Source: Farida Kurbangaleyeva, “‘The war is a consequence of Russian colonialism and imperialism’: anthropologist Vasilina Orlova on why the opposition is also to blame for the invasion of Ukraine,” Republic, 5 October 2023. Translated by the Russian Reader

Vexations

Igor Levit performing Erik Satie’s “Vexations” (short edit)

On 30 May 2020, Igor Levit performed all 840 repetitions of Vexations at the B-sharp Studio, Berlin. The performance streamed on Periscope, Twitter and other platforms, including on The New Yorker‘s website. Levit said the recital was in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, his reaction to which he characterised as a “silent scream” (stumme Schrei). The 840 sheets of music were sold individually to assist out-of-work musicians.

Source: “Vexations” (Wikipedia)

Finland will ban entry to passenger vehicles registered in Russia starting Saturday, the Nordic country’s top diplomat announced Friday afternoon.

“Our decision is for the ban to come into force after midnight,” Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster Yle.

“We estimate the new rules will significantly reduce traffic on the border between Finland and Russia,” she added.

EU citizens and “their immediate circle,” as well as diplomats and those traveling for humanitarian reasons, would be exempt from the restrictions, according to Yle.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia issued no-exception entry bans this week for Russian-registered cars after the European Commission clarified that existing regulations prohibit the import or transfer of goods originating in Russia.

Estonian and Lithuanian officials later suggested that cars with Russian license plates would be confiscated if they refused to re-register or leave.

Finland’s Valtonen ruled out confiscations in her country, telling Yle that vehicles with Russian license plates would have to leave Finland by March 16, 2024.

Supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny urged Baltic leaders to lift the vehicle ban on claims that they harm Russian war exiles and play into the Kremlin’s narrative of anti-Russian feelings in the West.

Moscow has accused the EU of “racism” for its ban on passenger vehicles, while former President Dmitry Medvedev called for a suspension of diplomatic relations.

Finland, a member of the European Union, joined NATO this year, thus doubling the length of the U.S.-led military alliance’s border with Russia.

Finland’s neighbor Norway, which has joined the EU’s sanctions against Russia despite not being a member of the bloc, said it was also considering banning entry to Russian-registered vehicles.

Source: “Finland Follows Baltics, Bans Entry to Russian Vehicles,” Moscow Times, 15 September 2023. The emphasis is mine. Judging by the outsized reaction to this news by “anti-war Russians” in the press and on social media, the proposed vehicle entry ban vexes them more than the endless repetitions on violent death, widespread destruction, and genocide in Ukraine, unleashed by their country’s now-572-day-long invasion of their former neighbor. ||| TRR

This is an actual headline:

“Nobody is safe from Russia’s wave of re-nationalization.”

This how and what the former “Fennomans” from the newspaper Delovoi Peterburg write about Finland today (in their morning newsletter)—without a hint of shame, so to speak:

Finland is selling its house in St. Petersburg, and the Central Bank is struggling with the fall of the ruble. Such are the economic news in St. Petersburg this week.

How much does the “Finnish House” cost? The issue is very difficult, given Finland’s unfriendly attitude towards us and the sanctions. Basically, with the sale of the building on Bolshaya Konyushennaya, which belonged to Finland, an entire era of good neighborliness between our countries ends.

Source: Thomas Campbell (Facebook), 15 September 2023. Translated by the Russian Reader

Not all attempted performances of this work have been successful. In 1970, Australian pianist Peter Evans decided to abandon a solo performance of the piece after five-hundred and ninety-five repetitions because he felt that “evil thoughts” were overtaking him and observed “strange creatures emerging from the sheet music.”

Source: “Vexations” (Wikipedia)

Quiver, quaver, flutter, squirm, twitch
Shimmy, wobble, shake, convulse, twist
Tremble, jerk, shudder, vibrate, writhe
Jiggle, bobble, sway, waggle, die

Source: Annelyse Gelman, Vexations (University of Chicago Press, 2023), p. 40

Colleagues, I may have missed something, but how do Finland, Poland, etc., make the case for the reasonableness of banning cars with Russian license plates from entering?

I mean, how does this contribute to the stated goals of combating military aggression?

Source: A “friends only” social media post by a Russian acquaintance, 16 September 2023. Translated by the Russian Reader

We demand that Western leaders end the policy of avoiding “escalation of the conflict.” It only allows Putin to blackmail the West with the very “escalation,” hoping to force him to “geopolitical capitulation.” Any international legal order is maintained only as long as its violator meets a collective rebuff. While his co-founders are ready to fight for him.

We demand a fundamental expansion of military assistance to Ukraine up to the direct participation of NATO troops in hostilities. Ukraine should receive binding security guarantees now, not after the end of the war.

We urge Western leaders to put aside fears about the possible collapse of the Russian Federation as a result of the fall of the regime. None of the “painful consequences” of this will outweigh the danger of preserving the imperial state, which will reproduce aggressiveness and revanchism. Either Russia will become confederate, democratic and “pro-Western,” returning to its European roots, or it must disappear as an integral entity.

Source: Paul Goble, “‘Victory for Ukraine; Freedom for Russia’ — Four Russian Activists Call for a World without Putin and Putinism,” Window on Eurasia (New Series), 14 September 2023

The space between good and bad began to diminish
Daughter studied botany while I analyzed the transference
Over the PA someone said, And the wisdom to know the difference
We integrated our sensory impressions into a coherent scene
Her hair was getting long, her eyes were turning green
As for wisdom, we didn’t know what to do with it

There was a time before and after thinking of death
As the worst thing that could happen to a person
Bodies were interred and then exhumed again
Satisfactory, said Hank, which meant the opposite
We had overestimated our capacity for wonder
We had underestimated our capacity for pain

Source: Annelyse Gelman, Vexations (University of Chicago Press, 2023), p. 40. The book has been longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award for Poetry in the United States.

Discourse

“My supervisors would prefer the text to be British English. Is that possible?”

What makes the Expanding Circle Englishes real rather than abstract varieties? This article highlights that it is culture that makes the specifics of an English variety whereas linguistic features might be shared by a number of other varieties Russian English as a linguistic entity is based on the specifics of Russian culture and mentality revealed on all language levels, lexical and phonetic levels being the most noticeable. The negative attitude towards the concept of Russian English can be accounted for by a) the theoretical confusion of the variety with its only one lectal subtype (taking the basilect for the variety), while any variety is a complex and a continuum of several lects; b) scholars’ understanding of a dynamic and functional variety characteristic of a speech community as an interlanguage of an individual with a fossilized level of language competence, and c) ignoring the fact that any variety expresses the cultural mentality in real life discourse. Change in the attitude in the speech community occurs with the gradual overcoming of these misunderstandings, which takes a fairly long time.

“We would prefer to use British English vs. American if possible.”

Free Dirt (August)

Died Pretty, “Free Dirt” (1986)

I just noticed that the Australian band Died Pretty released their gorgeous first album, Free Dirt, on 8 August 1986, two days before my nineteenth birthday. Sadly, the band’s unforgettable lead singer Ron S. Peno died on 11 August this year, a day after my birthday. Happily, my equally unforgettable friend Jenya Kulakova celebrates her thirty-fifth birthday today. She was not yet around to enjoy Free Dirt when it hit the record stores thirty-seven years ago, but maybe she’ll enjoy it today—along with my translation of a poem written by one of the most famous writers from her adopted hometown. ||| TRR

The cover of Died Pretty’s 1986 debut LP *Free Dirt*
Image courtesy of Jittery White Guy Music

August

Provincial towns, where you’ll never get a straight answer.
What’s it to you? It was yesterday however you cut it.
Outside the elms murmur, nodding to a landscape
Only the train ever sees. Somewhere a bee buzzes.

The knight made a career of crossroads, but these days
Is himself a stoplight. Plus there’s a river in the distance.
And between the mirror into which you gaze
And those who can’t recall you there’s also little difference.

Closed fast in the heat, the shutters are entwined in gossip,
Or merely ivy, to avoid making a blunder.
Bounding through the front door, a sunburnt stripling
Clad in only his swim trunks has come to collect your future.

So twilight’s a long time in descending. Evening’s usually cast
In the shape of a train station square, with a statue, etc.,
Where the glance in which you read “You bastard!”
Is in direct proportion to the crowd that’s not present.

Source: VK. Translated (many moons ago too) by the Russian Reader

We’re Having a Party in the Streets

Today is my birthday, and I can think of no better birthday present than Qazt: Ossetian Urban Rituals in Vladikavkaz, a 46-minute documentary film released earlier today by Tbilisi-based Ored Recordings, whose remit is “traditional and local music from the Caucasus and beyond.” The film comes hot on the heels of Ored’s release of the eponymous album a week ago.

Nothing would make me happier today than if you watched the film and listened to the album, which I’ve pasted into this post, below. If you like what you hear, see, and read, support Ored’s vital mission by sending them what you money can afford and downloading the Qazt digital album or any of the other releases in the label’s growing back catalogue. Thanks! ||| TRR

Qazt is a traditional game among the Ossetians. It is a ritualistic, musical, dance, and social space that forms on various festive occasions. During the qazt, young people would socialize, boys would showcase their courage, and they would compete in various heroic and joyful activities. In 2020, we traveled to Vladikavkaz to explore the urban qazts, make a documentary film, and issue this release. We were interested in qazt as a new cultural phenomenon, an event of urban culture, and a modern form of Ossetian self-organization.

Filmed by Tamerlan Vasil’ev (and Muhamed Eley)

Audio release on Ored Recordings

Special thanks to Alik Puhati

Ored Recordings 2023

Source: Ored Recordings (YouTube), 10 August 2023

Qazt is a traditional game among the Ossetians. It is a ritualistic, musical, dance, and social space that forms on various festive occasions.

During the qazt, young people would socialize, boys would showcase their courage, and they would compete in various heroic and joyful activities.

Analogues of qazt can be found among other peoples in the Caucasus. For example, among the Circassians, such festive dances are called dzhagu. The semantics of the Ossetian word “qazt” and the Circassian “dzhagu” are even the same — “game.”

In 2020, we traveled to Vladikavkaz to explore the urban qazts, make a documentary film, and issue this release. We were interested in qazt as a new cultural phenomenon, an event of urban culture, and a modern form of Ossetian self-organization.

During the pandemic years, traditional dances on the streets of Vladikavkaz became a noticeable event — qazts were covered by Caucasian media and Ossetian bloggers. We were invited to film the event by Alik Pukhaev, the author of the Rajdian blog.

In 2020, qazts seemed to be a growing initiative. This youth movement had it all: a vibrant cultural component, moderate protest, and an orientation towards the future, rather than a romantic desire to return to the past, where everything was considered better, purer, more authentic, and more national.

The qazts were organized not by officials who often do things formally, nor by the elderly, who are used to scolding the youth and imposing what they consider to be the authentic traditions of their people. No, this new cultural movement was led by young people who equally loved Ossetian culture and some global elements — like rock music or hip-hop. What was even more important is that the organizers did not draw boundaries between their local and global identities, between the traditional and the modern.

Qazts in the center of Vladikavkaz became part of urban culture, something that not only ethnographers but also urbanists from fancy magazines would write about in the future. The urban dances and songs struck a balance between preserving Ossetian culture and Caucasian solidarity. Initially, Ossetian students were inspired by Circassian festivities in Nalchik and decided to create something of their own.

It is important to note that at weddings in North Ossetia, Circassian and Chechen dances are very popular. According to Ossetian cultural activists, sometimes they are even too popular. Despite their desire to build horizontal connections with their neighbors and avoid getting trapped in provincial ethno-patriotism, the organizers of the qazts noticed that foreign cultural elements were becoming more popular than local ones, and many traditional dances were being forgotten.

Therefore, their project had specific rules: only Ossetian songs were allowed to be performed, and only Ossetian dances were allowed to be danced. All the other variety was appreciated but could be done on another occasion.

They also had a dress code: men were not allowed to dance in shorts, and women were not allowed to wear trousers. Some people criticized this approach on social media. Working with traditional culture is often associated with conservatism, so some viewed the effort to dress the audience in a certain way as backward.

On the other hand, one could compare this practice to dress codes at raves. It would be unfair to label a Berghain bouncer as a backward traditionalist if they don’t let someone in for not adhering to the techno dress code.

“It’s not a return to the past; we were creating a new culture for ourselves and others. We were trying not only to introduce Ossetian songs and dances into the urban environment but also to rethink our own culture. In the past, each dance had its context, which might not be understood in Vladikavkaz today. That’s why it’s important to come up with new meanings,” explained one of the qazt initiators, Tamu Berozti.

People of different generations – from children to grandparents – attended the qazts and embraced what the youth offered them. These evening gatherings in the city park or on the central avenue of Vladikavkaz provided many with an answer as to why all these songs about past heroes and dances with strange meanings were important. Or rather, the question “why?” did not arise because qazt had become a natural form of uniting people with similar identities.

The youth didn’t just bring culture to the public sphere, where people literally encountered Ossetian language and music while strolling through the city. For a while, the qazts managed to break the monopoly that academic and exemplary song, and dance ensembles had built. Qazt deliberately distanced itself from a staged show. It was not choreography for the audience, but a way to spend time together and, in the long run, negotiate with each other.

Since the release was recorded and the film was shot, three years have passed. In 2020, the main concern was the pandemic, which forced people to seek new ways of living together and uniting. Today, the main context in which the North Caucasus and other regions included in the Russian space live is war. The issues of preserving identity, culture, and solidarity have become even more acute.

It’s difficult to say why the qazts didn’t become a new driving force, a space for reflection, or simply a viable cultural phenomenon. They emerged brightly, attracted attention, and slowly faded away.

Perhaps the general fatigue of the main participants played a role: in the North Caucasus, musicians often expect overwhelming success and recognition after their first successful events, but over time, they lose enthusiasm and feel discouraged.

Maybe some tensions among the main organizers contributed to it – it was evident that they had disagreements on various issues. Or against the backdrop of a general depressive atmosphere in the region after 2022, they all became tired and engaged in other projects. More intimate and with clear structure – like the Ragon traditional music ensemble and the Uatsamonga choir.

In any case, there was no cultural revolution, and the qazt remained a ghost of a possible future.

However, its influence is still felt. Street concerts with Ossetian-language indie music in Vladikavkaz have increased. The Ragon group is releasing its second album and actively performing at festivals.

In the Rajdian blog, there was a post about a tweet from a dissatisfied Ossetian from the diaspora in Turkey:”Cultural youth is not the necessary generation for the continuity of ethnic identity. We need a political youth,” commented a descendant of migrants.

Many active young people in the North Caucasus share this view, perceiving music and dances as entertainment and distraction from problems. While we dance and sing approved songs joyfully, our languages are disappearing, and social problems are increasing more and more.

Initiatives like the Vladikavkaz qazts could have become an example of music aimed not only at entertainment but also at solidarity.

And the fact that our new release is once again about something from the past proves that cultural identity without a civic position is insufficient for gradual and confident development.

Film by Tamerlan Vasiliev will be out soon

Recorded on August 2020 in Vladikavkaz

Sound and mixing: Timur Kodzoko
Cover photo: Tamerlan Vasilyev
Cover art: Milana Khalilova
Liner notes: Bulat Khalilov
Translation: Bella Mirzoeva

Special thanks to Alik Puhati

Source: Ored Recordings (Bandcamp), 4 August 2023

Middle of the Morning

So perhaps there were people who would like to hear about feelings, but I did not think they were people I would want to know.

— Helen DeWitt, The English Understand Wool

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “Middle of the Morning” (2023)

Well, I’ve tried
To open up my window and let the light come in
I step outside
In the middle of the morning and in the evening again

Yes, I’ve tried
To be grateful for my devils and call them by their names
But I’m tired
And by the middle of the morning I need someone to blame

I know you’re scared of me, I can see it in your face
I can feel it in the way you move around this place
I know you’re scared of me, I can see it in your smile
Like an unattended child you can’t quite trust

But I’m tired
Of stepping on your shadow and feeling in the way
Yes, I’m tired
And by the middle of the morning I’m out of shit to say

I ain’t used to this, seeing everybody’s hand
I was raised to be a strong and silent southern man
I ain’t used to this, a thousand days alone
In my bed or in my head or in my phone

Yes, I’m tired
Of living in the moment and sleeping through the dream
I step outside
In the middle of the morning and the roses hear the scream

I know you’re scared of me, so I never get too close
I just sit here on the tailgate like a farm hand’s ghost
Watch the roses bloom, watch them wilt away and die
‘Til I notice I’ve been crying this whole time

Well, I’ve tried
To open up my window and let the light come in
I step outside
In the middle of the morning and in the evening again

Source: Musixmatch. Thanks to Mark Rogers (Nashville Babylon) for the heads-up.

Russia continues to reap the consequences of its reckless campaign to release dangerous criminals from prisons to dispatch in their illegal war against Ukraine, RFE/RL’s Sever.Realii reported on Aug. 3.

The latest case involves 37-year-old Igor Sofronov, who had previously served a sentence for robbery, attempted murder, and other crimes. Upon returning to his hometown of Dereviannoye in the Republic of Karelia after his involvement in the war, Sofronov spiraled into a series of alcohol-fueled binges.

During one of these drunken episodes, Sofronov, along with his drinking buddy, 38-year-old Maxim Bochkarev, who had also been imprisoned for theft, abduction, robbery, and rape, unleashed a brutal massacre, claiming the lives of six individuals.

“The murders were committed in two houses within 200 meters of each other. In the first house, two men (father and son) were killed, and in the second one, three men and a woman were brutally murdered. Both houses were set on fire after the killings. The suspects were apprehended six hours later,” the report said.

Local residents revealed that Sofronov had served as a mercenary for the Wagner private military company. There is also information suggesting that he fought as part of the “Storm Z” unit, which operates under the Russian Ministry of Defense and recruits prisoners for participation in so-called “meat grinder assaults.”

This tragic incident serves as yet another example of returning Russian aggressors turning their violence on their fellow citizens.

Source: “Former Wagner prisoner kills 5 Russians in drunken rampage after return from Ukraine,” The New Voice of Ukraine, 3 August 2023

The Arlenes, “Lonely Won’t Leave Me Alone” (2002)

There was a time I thought I knew
About life and what to do
And now it’s plain I know nothing at all
I should have known better

But I took it all on blind faith
And now the bad guys have all run away

Lonely won’t leave me alone
Tried I tried but you won’t let go
It’s a pain that won’t go away
Lonely won’t leave me alone

There was a time I had pride
I had friends stood by my side
And a smile was all I had to give
Under a spell under a cloud
I fell in with the wrong crowd
And so I guess I learned my lesson well

Lonely won’t leave me alone
Tried I tried but you won’t let go
It’s a pain that won’t go away
Lonely won’t leave me alone

Chalkin’ days on the wall
Seems this night won’t end at all
For me patience leaves
Trace your smile on the glass
Try to make it all last
Till I come home again

Lonely won’t leave me alone
Tried I tried but you won’t let go
It’s a pain that won’t go away
Lonely won’t leave me alone

There was a time I thought I knew
About life and what to do

Source: SongLyrics. Thanks to Mark Rogers (Nashville Babylon) for the heads-up.