31.05.18 The authorities in Ukraine have been sharply criticised for faking the murder of a Russian dissident journalist in Kiev.

An official from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said Ukraine was spreading "false information".

Reporters Without Borders said it was "part of an information war".

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44311201

27.05.18 

Trump lawyer 'paid by Ukraine' to arrange White House talks

By Paul Wood BBC News, Kiev 23 May 2018

The White House schedule said only that Mr Poroshenko would "drop in" to the Oval Office while Mr Trump was having staff meetings.

That had been agreed through official channels. Mr Cohen's fee was for getting Mr Poroshenko more than just an embarrassingly brief few minutes of small talk and a handshake, the senior official said. But negotiations continued until the early hours of the day of the visit.

The Ukrainian side were angry, the official went on, because Mr Cohen had taken "hundreds of thousands" of dollars from them for something it seemed he could not deliver.

Right up until the last moment, the Ukrainian leader was uncertain if he would avoid humiliation.

"Poroshenko's inner circle were shocked by how dirty this whole arrangement [with Cohen] was."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44215656

23.05.18 One of the great American authors, Philip Roth, has died aged 85.

The Pulitzer, National Book Award and Man Booker International Prize-winning novelist's work drew its inspiration from Jewish family life, sex and American ideals.His works included American Pastoral, I Married a Communist and Portnoy's Complaint.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44220189

21.05.18 At its worst, Britain is a nation of haves who are firmly determined to rule over the have-nots, regardless of the reality of their merits or circumstances. And why shouldn't they? That's what they've been taught from the top down. In other words, the monarchy is intrinsically illiberal, and so, at the moment, is the U.K. And thus as we celebrate a biracial American woman becoming a royal, thousands of legal immigrants — some who qualify for citizenship — are being threatened with deportation. As we discuss the price of Markle's sure-to-be-stunning dress, purchased by the partially taxpayer-funded family, thousands of ill people in Britain are being turned away from hospitals — surgeries postponed, life-saving screenings cancelled — because there's not enough money to run them properly.

http://www.euronews.com/2018/05/19/watching-royal-wedding-prince-harry-meghan-markle-don-t-forget-ncna875626

17.05.18 Wet dreams of a madman:

“Ukraine should now destroy elements of the bridge. While that course of action would be an escalation against Putin and one that would almost certainly spark Russian retaliation, this bridge is an outrageous affront to Ukraine's very credibility as a nation. Of course, from Putin's perspective that's the whole point. The bridge cost Russia's near-bankrupt government billions of dollars, but it offers Putin a formal physical and psychological appropriation of Ukrainian territory. Fortunately Ukraine has the means to launch air strikes against the bridge in a manner that would render it at least temporarily unusable.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/ukraine-should-blow-up-putins-crimea-bridge

13.05.18 The Israeli leader, in a tweet called the singer “caparra”, meaning “dear”, “honey” that in Hebrew refers to a good friend. Automatic translation of the social network issued a phrase: “You cow!” (English and Russian).

The following entry of the President Twitter translated as: “You’re a real cow. You brought great respect to the nation of Israel! Next year in Jerusalem!”. 

http://handofmoscow.com/2018/05/13/the-translator-said-the-winner-of-eurovision-cow-framed-netanyahu/

11.05.18 Part of the problem was the phrase ‘gender neutral’. If they had simply described the lyric change as ‘fair’ or ‘modern’ people wouldn’t have gotten their backs up. There is still so much sexism in our society

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180503-why-the-cost-of-equality-is-a-lot-lower-than-we-thought

7.05.18 The French President Macron made headlines in Australia complimenting the first Australian lady with an ambivalent epithet "delicious". It was a somewhat comedic ending to a serious news conference focusing on violent May Day protests in Paris, the Iran nuclear deal and China’s growing influence. The epithet raised eyebrows and was given at least three interpretations in the Australian mass media.

 https://nypost.com/2018/05/03/australian-first-lady-flattered-by-macrons-awkward-compliment/

3.05.18 Whataboutism is a linguistic invention of English, but a universal tool of beating the opponent with his own weapon, however illogical it might be.

For Trump and Putin, Syria Is a Battle of Competing Realities

By Masha Gessen April 10, 2018

“American exceptionalism. Coming a few years before Americans became intimately familiar with the use of words to mean their opposite, the Op-Ed probably appeared to most readers as an ordinary piece of Russian whataboutism—hypocritical and irritating, perhaps, but basically harmless”.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/for-trump-and-putin-syria-is-a-battle-of-competing-realities