There's no denying the UK can have a complex relationship with France. From boat crossings in the Channel to ferry passport checks, there's been tension recently.

But as a close neighbour and a fellow NATO member, there are few in mainstream politics who would consider France anything but a strong ally. Especially at a time when western unity over the war in Ukraine is so important, and any division could be exploited by the likes of Vladimir Putin.

While Ms Truss's comments did appear to go down well with the audience of Conservative members, she's still the foreign secretary - the UK's chief diplomat. And therefore what she says on international affairs really matters.

This won't be the end of the matter. Ms Truss will be asked about these comments again over the coming days.

What happens next will be watched carefully, on both sides of the Channel.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-62682448

The body language can convey information which the laws of politeness interpret as FACE ATTACK.

The Ukrainian ministry of culture went all wrong when it recommended a three finger salute, because the gesture had established itself as a shocker implying an invitation for sex. The verbalized message is “Two in the pink, one in the stink” that corresponds to the Russian «Два в парадный, один в шоколадный».

Hima is one of the last remaining Kusunda, a tiny indigenous group now scattered across central western Nepal. Their language, also called Kusunda, is unique: it is believed by linguists to be unrelated to any other language in the world. Scholars still aren't sure how it originated. And it has a variety of unusual elements, including lacking any standard way of negating a sentence, words for "yes" or "no", any words for direction, or even a set grammatical structure.

According to the latest Nepali census data from 2011, there are 273 Kusunda remaining. But only one woman, 48-year-old Kamala Khatri, is known to be fluent.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220804-kusunda-the-language-isolate-with-no-word-for-no

What's more, no one in the Biden administration has given us its definition of victory yet. As in Afghanistan, the goal posts are unclear and keep moving. Various members have suggested that the U.S. must keep weapons flowing to Ukraine and sanctions tightening on Moscow until Russia is permanently "weakened" and its military capability degraded, "so Putin doesn't do it again."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will declare victory when his forces reclaim all of the country, one fifth of which is now controlled by Russia. But even with our aid, Ukraine's definition of victory is implausible given Russia's overwhelming military superiority.

https://www.newsweek.com/bidens-recklessness-turning-ukraine-another-afghanistan-opinion-1726140

outlet ['autlet] - торговая точка; магазин

outlet ['autlet] - a shop or organization which sells the goods made by a particular manufacturer.

 McDonald's has announced plans to reopen outlets in Ukraine, which closed after Russia's invasion in March.

The fast food chain said it hoped the move would help restore a "small but important sense of normalcy".

There will be a phased reopening over the next several months in Kyiv and western Ukraine in areas deemed safe, the burger giant said.

McDonald's had more than 100 restaurants in Ukraine before the conflict started.

The company has continued to pay wages to more than 10,000 staff since then.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62508898

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220804-the-surprising-benefits-of-gossip

Nepal's Kusunda language has no known origin and a number of quirks, like no words for "yes" or "no". It also has only one fluent speaker left, something linguists are racing to change.

At  present there are 7 109 languages, most of them – spoken.

All hiararchies of languages are built on vehicular languages, because regional languages are interesting only to their speakers. That;s why any attempt to substitute a regional language for a regional one is doomed to failure.

As Americans, we all want Ukrainians—and everyone around the world—to live in a democracy. But that could be an unachievable goal for Ukraine in the near future. U.S. billions will not stop Putin's war, and like Afghanistan, Ukraine is not a mature candidate for a Jeffersonian and Western-style government.

https://www.newsweek.com/bidens-recklessness-turning-ukraine-another-afghanistan-opinion-1726140

All languages have the same semantic fields, because we live in the same environment and we are endowed with the same instruments of perception and cognition:

“Although language is not universal, languages nevertheless form part of a universal society in which, once some difficulties have been overcome, all people can communicate with and understand each other. And they can do so because in any language men always say the same things. Universality of the spirit was the response to the confusion of Babel: many languages, one substance” [Paz, 1992: 153].

Usually substantivized adjectives carry the idea of plurality with the sole exclusion:

The deceased – покойные (покойники)

The deceased – покойный (покойник)

Thus, you would expect “As Ukraine's military step up their strikes”, but it is not the case:

As Ukraine's military steps up its strikes on Kherson, hinting at a new offensive to recapture the region, there is another force working alongside. They are Ukraine's shadow army, a network of agents and informers who operate behind enemy lines.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62333795

Ukraine's definition of victory is “implausible” – political correctness

REBEKAH KOFFLER , PRESIDENT OF DOCTRINE & STRATEGY CONSULTING, FORMER DIA INTELLIGENCE OFFICER
ON 7/19/22 AT 6:00 PM EDT

As Americans, we all want Ukrainians—and everyone around the world—to live in a democracy. But that could be an unachievable goal for Ukraine in the near future. U.S. billions will not stop Putin's war, and like Afghanistan, Ukraine is not a mature candidate for a Jeffersonian and Western-style government.

Despite the rosy image of Ukraine painted by Washington politicians and the mainstream media, the country remains one of the most corrupt places in the world, ranking 123rd out of the 180 countries on the corruption scale, only slightly worse than the legendarily corrupt Russia, which is 139th.

Washington's democracy promotion project, as noble as it may sound, has been tried and failed many times around the world. And it is unlikely to succeed in Ukraine.

What's more, no one in the Biden administration has given us its definition of victory yet. As in Afghanistan, the goal posts are unclear and keep moving. Various members have suggested that the U.S. must keep weapons flowing to Ukraine and sanctions tightening on Moscow until Russia is permanently "weakened" and its military capability degraded, "so Putin doesn't do it again."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will declare victory when his forces reclaim all of the country, one fifth of which is now controlled by Russia. But even with our aid, Ukraine's definition of victory is implausible given Russia's overwhelming military superiority.

https://www.newsweek.com/bidens-recklessness-turning-ukraine-another-afghanistan-opinion-1726140