31.01.16  From "The Independent":

"It is this military might that is underpinning President Vladimir Putin’s strategic triumphs. His intervention in Syria has been a game changer and what happens there now lies, to a large extent, in his hands. The Ukraine conflict is semi-frozen, on his terms. The Russians are allying with the Kurds, unfazed by the Turkish anger this has provoked. And, crucially, they are now returning to Egypt to an extent not seen for 44 years, since they were kicked out by President Anwar Sadat.

One of the most senior analysts in Israeli military intelligence told The Independent in Tel Aviv last week: “Anyone who wants anything done in this region is beating a path to Moscow.”

Free or natural translation? Analyze the relationship between the underlined units:

Именно эта военная мощь лежит в основе стратегических триумфов президента Владимира Путина. Вмешательство Москвы в сирийский конфликт изменило его ход, и то, что происходит в Сирии сейчас, во многом зависит от его воли. Украинский конфликт стал «полузамороженным» — на его условиях. Россия заключила альянс с курдами, не обратив внимания на возмущение Турции. Что еще важнее, русские сейчас возвращаются в Египет — в масштабах, не виданных за последние 44 года, с тех пор как президент Анвар Садат выгнал их оттуда.

В интервью The Independent один из ведущих аналитиков израильской военной разведки сказал на прошлой неделе: «Любой, кто захочет сделать что-то в этом регионе, должен обратиться к Москве».

29.01.16  A Japanese politician once told me: “Japan went through a catastrophe in the middle of the twentieth century because it had mixed up two different things: a dream and a strategy.” Japan has learned the lessons of its mistake. Paraphrasing a Russian poet, one can say: “Let others profit from its lesson.”

http://www.nationalinterest.org/feature/how-russia-sees-the-world-14988?page=3

In a famous quotation from the greatest poem by Pushkin “Eugene Onegin” the corresponding line in Charles Johnston’s translation runs like this:

“Let others learn from his example!”

While there is a predictable competition in English between different variants of translation from Russian there is only one variant in the back-translation: the one which belongs to Pushkin:

Один японский политик как-то сказал мне: «Япония пережила катастрофу в середине 20-го столетия, потому что она спутала две важные вещи — мечту и стратегию». Япония извлекла урок из своих ошибок. Перефразируя одного русского поэта, можно сказать:«Ее пример — другим наука».

http://inosmi.ru/country_russia/20160125/235151868.html

This example illustrates how superfluous and perfidious the idea of “the dethroning of the original” is! The “scopos” theory in which the idea was born is indeed a throw-back in the theory of translation! 

24.01.16  A typical case singled out by the Guardian:  "Zubkov was born in Russia but studied in Kiev and is married to a Ukrainian. He said he previously had the warmest feelings towards Ukraine, but that nationalist slogans during the Maidan revolution and the sight of Lenin statues being pulled down across Ukraine led him to throw his weight behind the Russian annexation".

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/19/crimeans-still-tigerish-over-split-with-ukraine

Pay attention to the translation of an idiom "to throw one's weight behind smth.":

Зубков родился в России, но учился он в Киеве и женат на украинке. Раньше, по его словам, он испытывал к Украине самые теплые чувства, но послушав националистические лозунги во время революции на Майдане и насмотревшись, как по всей Украине сносят памятники Ленину, он стал ярым сторонником присоединения Крыма к России.

17.01.16 The native speakers of English are obsessed with "political correctness". Are they really aware of the fact the the so called "political correctness" is destructive of the language's natural development? An example from the BBC: "Film director Quentin Tarantino came under fire for using the word "ghetto" at the Golden Globes earlier this week. Why is this word sometimes considered offensive?"

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35296993

11.01.16 The 15th Annual No Pants Subway Ride («День в метро без штанов») took place on January 10, 2016. It was rainy and unusually warm in NYC. Riders participated all over the world from Moscow to Jerusalem.

The No Pants Subway Ride is an annual event staged by Improv Everywhere every January in New York City. (The date changes from year to year and is announced in early December.) The mission started as a small prank with seven guys and has grown into an international celebration of silliness, with dozens of cities around the world participating each year.

The idea behind No Pants is simple: Random passengers board a subway car at separate stops in the middle of winter without pants. The participants behave as if they do not know each other, and they all wear winter coats, hats, scarves, and gloves. The only unusual thing is their lack of pants.

http://improveverywhere.com/missions/the-no-pants-subway-ride/

In Moscow the police felt uneasy about the event: the Russian standards of good behavior in public are much more conservative than in the so called civilized world. The event throws some light on the cultural differences among different nations. I want to call a spade a spade. We do not need in Russia the celebration of silliness. We do not need gay and lesbian marriages. We do not need 'liberal' crooks and we do not need the values that are foreign to us. Whoever tries to change his identity in order to be more likeable to Western people are bound to end up in disgrace and shame!

Ass-lickers - that's what they really are!!!

5.01.16 People in the West start regarding Russia more realistically:

"C’est avec nostalgie mais non sans espoir que les Français doivent regarder Vladimir Poutine. C’est un homme de cette trempe qu’il faudrait à notre pays pour qu’à nouveau il se redresse. En attendant, la France devrait modifier son attitude envers la Russie. La complémentarité de l’Eurasie russe avec l’Europe occidentale est évidente. La Russie et la France ont à la fois une culture (chrétienne) commune et des intérêts convergents. Il serait temps de s’en apercevoir".

http://www.bvoltaire.fr/christianvanneste/vladimir-poutine-lhomme-de-lannee,228929

"Французам стоит взглянуть на Владимира Путина с ностальгией и надеждой. Именно человек такого калибра нужен нашей стране, если мы хотим, чтобы она поднялась. В любом случае, Франции нужно изменить отношение к России. Взаимодополняемость российской Евразии и Западной Европы очевидна. У России и Франции есть общая культура (христианство) и интересы. И нам пора бы уже это понять".

3.01.16 Very familiar words of high frequency are regularly used in a very specific way (as terms, for example, as is the case below):

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk had repeatedly said that Ukraine would not repay the Eurobond at maturity on Dec. 20 and that Kiev was ready to fight the issue in court.

maturity срок платежа (по векселю и т. п.) , срок погашения (облигации, кредита и т. п.)

http://www.euronews.com/newswires/3120312-russia-says-ukraine-defaulted-on-3-billion-eurobond/

1.01.16 The New Year is a holiday for most of us.  May you be happy!

Happiness comes with knowledge. Do you know that one of ten words chosen by the Oxford  dictionary for its frequeuency in 2015 is 'refugee'?