May 31, 2019 A sherpa is the personal representative of a head of state or government who prepares an international summit, particularly the annual G7 and G20 summits. Between the G7 summits there are multiple sherpa conferences where possible agreements are laid out. This reduces the amount of time and resources required at the negotiations of the heads of state at the final summit. The name sherpa—without further context—refers to sherpas for the G7 summit, but the designation can be extended to different regular conferences where the participation of the head of state is required. The sherpa is generally quite influential, although they do not have the authority to make a final decision about any given agreement.

The name is derived from the Sherpa people, a Nepalese ethnic group, who serve as guides and porters in the Himalayas, a reference to the fact that the sherpa clears the way for a head of state at a major summit.

The name has caught on as an official reference since 2005

As Harry Obst explains: “The original purpose of putting these meetings into the hands of the sherpas was to bypass the involvement of the national bureaucracies in order to provide for some privacy and expediency” (Harry Obst. “White House Interpreter” an interesting book, by the way!)

May 27, 2019 The English vocabulary was enriched by books about WWII. The term "Catch-22", for example  that means  now a tricky problem or a no-win or absurd situation, comes from Joseph Heller's anti-war novel "Catch-22". 

“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to, but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.” (p. 56, ch. 5)

The novel sets up a logical framework for the paradox:

“The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on, and that includes Colonel Cathcart. And don't you forget that, because the longer you remember it, the longer you might live.”

This consideration that excludes any talk of the Right side and the Wrong side in the war is typically an American turn of mind.

May 23, 2019 Fifty years ago, Billy Pilgrim became unstuck in time, and a classic 20^th-century novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, was born. Published in 1969, the novel catapulted the 47-year-old Kurt Vonnegut into the popular and literary mainstream by speaking directly and poignantly to the anxieties of the rising countercultural generation about technological progress, the Vietnam War, and nuclear holocaust. But as novelist and Iraq War vet Kevin Powers notes in his excellent foreword gracing Modern Library’s 50^th anniversary edition, the book still speaks about the horrors of war in a way that today’s veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the rest of us, can understand and appreciate.

https://www.the-american-interest.com/2019/05/17/a-triumphant-failure/

May 21. 2019 The NYT is worried about sexual abuse in the Ukraine: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/19/world/europe/ukraine-sex-abuse-miitary-war.html?fbclid=IwAR1K46i8T327dMEdXESaRsrGSifmZE8cLErHs_qGNo0mvCGlQ_ra0qxVj1M

Sexual abuse does not have an equivalent in Russian or Ukrainian that indicates the little place we attach to such awful things as "sexual abuse". 

A disgusting piece that shows clearly how the NYT is divorced from the Ukrainian reality. Culture gap or the lunatic fringe?
It is idiotic to speak about sexual abuse when the country is losing its population at the cosmic pace!!!

May 17, 2019 A piece of awkward syntax of the original is dealt with quite efficiently in the Russian translation that offers a change in the FSP of the original (the FSP is a functional sentence perspective that establishes the "Theme - Rheme" relationship):

Will Volodymyr Zelenskiy fare any better than those who failed before him? His outsider status certainly gives cause for optimism, albeit of the heavily guarded variety. Indeed, it says much about the scale of public contempt for the Ukrainian political classes that Zelenskiy’s complete lack of experience is also his strongest recommendation.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukraine-s-most-urgent-need

Окажется ли Владимир Зеленский лучше тех, кто потерпел неудачу до него? Его положение человека со стороны, безусловно, дает повод для оптимизма — хотя и весьма острожного. Действительно, то, что полное отсутствие опыта у Зеленского также является самым главным качеством, говорящим в его пользу, ярко свидетельствует о масштабах презрения общества к украинским политическим классам.

https://inosmi.ru/politic/20190516/245083809.html

May 13, 2019 One of the reasons for ambivalence is the inability to achieve clarity in one’s speech:

"Tolstoy expressed himself very clearly and had, moreover, unique powers of self-expression – a good deal more than the majority of his commentators. Like most really great men, he meant what he said and said what be meant."

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/07/the-real-tolstoy-archive-7-may-1925

The inability to arrive at clarity is the quality that stands behind the regret of the old French governess in the magnificent novel "Rudin" by Turgenev:

"Quel dommage que ce charmant garcon ait si peu de ressources dans la conversation…"

May 11, 2019 In September he returned to Spasskoye, and on 25 October, three days before his 41st birthday, he completed On the Eve. The novel he had been thinking about for six years was written in less than three months. But his misgivings were suddenly overwhelming. He questioned every element of the book and became convinced that the entire structure was in some mysterious way faulty. He sent it to Countess Lambert, to whom he had promised to dedicate the novel. Her judgment was unequivocal: she hated it. And, in case he doubted her verdict, she got her husband to provide an identical second opinion.

The author built a fire in the drawing room of his St Petersburg apartment. In his hand he held the manuscript, written in a notebook given to him by Viardot, with the words "May I bring you luck" written in her hand on the cover. Had Annenkov not arrived then, this literary gem might have been lost for ever. He rescued the manuscript from the fire, and with it Turgenev's confidence. This must be partly why, in his last years, Turgenev wrote that the dearest people to him were the Viardot family, Gustave Flaubert and Annenkov.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/30/on-the-eve-turgenev-rereading

May 7, 2019 A phenomenon related to "post-truth" is "dzhynsa": A homegrown disinformation phenomenon emerged in this murky information environment long before Russian disinformation gained traction. Reporters Without Borders defines the phenomenon, known as dzhynsa, as “material…aimed to improve or create a positive image of a political party, politician, or other individuals… which is not marked as advertisement in a way understandable to the audience.” In short: Ukrainian television is a web of oligarchic influence, and much of the content it airs patently seeks to amplify that influence.

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/ukraine-election-us.php

May 3, 2019 Words can sometimes backfire:

As a relatively new defence secretary, Gavin Williamson once said that Russia should "go away and shut up".

Well, the prime minister has told him to go away because in her view, he did not shut up.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48128188

May 2, 2019 One of the chapters of Stephen Lendman's book "Flashpoint in Ukraine" is called "The Odessa massacre". Today Ukraine remembers the tragedy when dozens of people were burnt alive: "Police stood by and did nothing. They conspired with fascist killers. So did Odessa firefighters" (Stephen Lendman. Flashpoint in Ukraine).

May 1, 2019 The first thing to get to know for a linguist is that 7 109 of langages spoken on this planet are organized into a hierarchy in which only 85 belong to the so called vehicular languages that are dominating in the sphere of culture, business, technology, medicine and travel. About 1000 are on the brink of extinction.

THE FIVE BEST LANGUAGES TO LEARN FOR BUSINESS IN A CHANGING WORLD:

1. (Mandarin) Chinese 2. Arabic  3. Spanish 4. Russian 5. Portuguese

https://nomadcapitalist.com/2013/11/03/top-5-best-language-learn/