31.12.18 It’s a rare case when one meets in Western discourse the traces of the Russian narrative: 

Far too many Western (especially American) analyses explicitly or implicitly act as though the United States and its NATO allies worked assiduously to establish cordial relations with Russia but were compelled to adopt hardline policies solely because of Russia’s perversely aggressive conduct. That is a distorted, self-serving portrayal on the part of NATO partisans. It falsely portrays the West as purely a reactive player—that NATO initiatives were never insensitive, provocative, or aggressive. Nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, the opposite is closer to the mark; Russia’s actions, both in terms of timing and virulence, tended to be responses to aggressive Western initiatives. Unfortunately, avid NATO supporters seem determined to double down, insisting that the Trump administration adopt even more uncompromising policies.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-nato-partisans-started-a-new-cold-war-with-russia/

27.12.18 The Christmas words English has forgotten:

 Waits           

From as early as the Middle Ages, almost every town and city in the UK had a band of musicians and singers called waits. Their duties included waking the townspeople on dark winter days by playing in the streets, and welcoming Royal visitors by performing at the town gates.

Waits were abolished in 1835, but the term became associated with any group of singers or musicians who sang and played carols around their town or village at night, over the Christmas period, whilst collecting money. In other words, carol singers.

In a sentence: “Bob, come to the door – the Christmas waits are here!”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4LPlJJTYWgdxyQwj3jljXYC/bummock-and-blenky-ye-olde-christmassy-words

23.12.18 It was October 1939, and Winston Churchill was on BBC radio, describing Russia: "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." Of course, World War II had just begun, and the question regarding the intentions of the Soviet Union — and particularly its relations with Nazi Germany — was of paramount importance to the United Kingdom, Europe and the world at large.

Bookending Churchill's characterization of Russia was the following: "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia … but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest."

https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/journey-russian-enigma

Стоял октябрь 1939 года. Уинстон Черчилль, выступая на радио «Би-би-си», описал Россию следующими словами: «Это загадка, упакованная в тайну, спрятанную в непостижимость». Конечно, Вторая мировая война только началась, и первостепенное значение для Соединенного Королевства, Европы и мира в целом имел вопрос о намерениях Советского Союза — особенно в свете его отношений с нацистской Германией.

Книга Черчилля заканчивается следующей характеристикой России: «Я не могу предсказать вам действия России… Но, возможно, к этому есть ключ. Это национальные интересы России».

https://inosmi.ru/politic/20181217/244247023.html

21.12.18 The BBC might have known better! The scandalous admission:

On March 13, 2017, BBC Ukraine published the piece “ Desiat’ mifiv pro Ukrains’ku revoliutsiiu” (Ten Myths of the Ukrainian Revolution). The piece gives no author but describes itself as being based on materials supplied by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (Ukrains’kyi instytut natsional’noi pam’iati, hereafter UINP); indeed, it largely copies a section of the guidelines for schools and universities on the UINP’s website that instructs teachers on how to commemorate the centenary of the Ukrainian Revolution in accordance with a presidential decree of 2016 .

There is no attempt to distance BBC Ukraine from the views expressed in the materials. The text lists ten “myths,” most of which are simplified statements from the Soviet historiography on the revolution in Ukraine. The piece then gives a refutation of these.

Each response to the “myths” consists of a series of decontextualized facts, omissions, simplifications and logical inconsistencies that, taken together, are an attempt to create the UINP’s own nationalist “myths” regarding the revolution in Ukraine, above all in relation to the Ukrainian People’s Republic (Ukrains’ka narodna respublika, hereafter UNR), the Ukrainian state for which many supporters of independence fought after 1917.

https://www.newsweek.com/why-bbc-peddling-false-history-about-ukraine-695692

17.12.18 Some people are happy to take life as it is served to them. Others can be slightly more inquisitive, and may instead choose to question everything. Why is the sky blue? Why are there stars in the sky? Why are there only 24 hours in a day? Why do we drive on the left? No matter what you tell them, they are just inclined to constantly ask questions until their insatiable curiosity has been satisfied.

In Russian those people who just won’t stop asking “why?” are called почемучка (pachemuchka), which is extremely hard to translate into English. The word почему means ‘why’, and the -чка ending is an affectionate way to describe someone. It can roughly be explained as ‘little-why-people’.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20181030-the-10-personality-traits-that-english-cant-name

13.12.18 What a stylistic find - the land of the “Putin Versteher” (Understander)!!!

Even a close ally of the USA may be the target of contemptuous remarks if it dares to have an opinion of its own. Look at these malicious swipes at Germany that have become part and parcel of modern American discourse:

Germany postures itself as the conscience of Europe. It takes in floods of refugees and scolds those who do not. It claims to guard European unity against the nation-state and ridicules the United States for electing a real estate developer as president.

But Germany, the self-declared paragon of European values, is also Germany Inc., the land of the “Putin Versteher” (Understander). Germany Inc. is poised to give the Kremlin its greatest “pipeline politics” victory.

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/420537-putins-latest-ukraine-stunt-may-blow-up-in-his-face

11.12.18 The sheer amount of substandard science content on the Internet will make your head spin. Too many websites are chock-full of copy and pasted press releases, ideologically tainted writing, or downright lazy, hyped, or misleading reporting. RealClearScience's job is to filter out all of the garbage to bring you the most relevant, interesting, and accurate science news and opinion. During this pursuit, we notice a number of websites that rise above the rest. Here are our picks for the top websites for science in 2018.

https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2018/12/10/the_top_10_websites_for_science_in_2018.html

7.12.18 "What it is now fashionable to call a “narrative” runs like this: plucky little Ukraine was just exercising its right to move two gunships and a tugboat from Odessa to its port of Mariupol on the Azov Sea, when big bad Russia obstructed their legitimate passage, rammed the tug, detained the ships, and captured 24 Ukrainian sailors – all with no justification whatsoever. 

Russia has a different version, and this is that the Ukrainian ships flouted agreed regulations – by not giving notice of their arrival – and the clash was deliberately staged to bolster President Petro Poroshenko’s flagging support as he starts his campaign for re-election. Ukraine, it should also be said, denies this, and says its ships tried to give notice but could not raise any response. On the other hand, if you recall the saga of the non-murdered Russian journalist in Kiev, Ukraine has some rather bold form in the anti-Russia fake news department.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/russia-ukraine-crisis-sea-of-azov-black-sea-putin-poroshenko-trump-a8659746.html

It is a rare case when they put two narratives side by side in the English language mass media. In most cases "facts" are offered for the reader to grapple with WITHOUT a different version of events.

3.12.18 Ambivalence is a natural feature of English syntax that should be dealt with in Russian translation by means of clarification (Y. I. Retsker). The device of clarification is often resorted to in the strategy of Horace (the latter makes the translator “improve” the text in conformity with the interests of the stylistic norms of the Receptor’s culture). 

NATO has outlived its usefulness. It risks dragging America into an unnecessary war in which most European allies would do little more than watch. Getting out is more complex than getting in. In the meantime, Washington should stop adding to it new members that are security liabilities. The Trump administration should instead focus on engaging in serious negotiations to end the neo-Cold War that has developed between Washington and Moscow.

https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnationalinterest.org%2Ffeature%2Fukraine-should-not-be-member-nato-37287

НАТО исчерпала себя, и пользы от нее сегодня мало. Эта организация может втянуть Америку в ненужную войну, в которой большинство европейских союзников ничего не будут делать, наблюдая за происходящим. Выбраться из такой войны намного сложнее, чем вступить в нее. Вашингтону пора прекратить расширять альянс за счет принятия новых членов, которые являются для него обузой в плане безопасности. А администрации Трампа вместо этого надо приступить к серьезным переговорам о прекращении новой холодной войны, которая идет между Вашингтоном и Москвой.

https://inosmi.ru/politic/20181129/244118410.html

1.12.18 Hate speech n the  internet must be dealt with in the most serious way. The Germans are in the vanguard of this important movement that is going to revolutionize communication in social networks:

As the most ambitious law of its kind, Germany’s new Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) has become a touchstone for Western democracies struggling to deal with hate speech on the internet. The law is designed to force social networks to effectively monitor and remove dangerous content. Online platforms operating in Germany face fines of up to €50 million for failing to systematically delete it.

https://www.euronews.com/2018/11/23/germany-s-new-anti-hate-speech-law-needs-teeth-if-it-has-any-hope-of-stamping-it-out-onlin