In particular, remember those killed in the fire at the Dom Profsoyuzov in Odessa on 2 May. American-sponsored Galician Uniate terrorists set the building on fire and then shot at those trying to escape. The American media fawns on them… you should not.
______________________________
To Valentina Serova
If God in his almighty power
Called me to heaven when I died
And I was asked, at heaven’s gate,
What I should choose to take inside,
I should not want, in paradise,
A tedious girl of honest worth.
I’d take with me the very same
With whom I’d shared this sinful earth:
The wild and wilful one, the one
Who gives me (for a time) her love,
She who tormented me below
Would keep me from ennui above.
There must be very few who’d take
Such desperate souls to share their bliss.
The blessed ones would peep at you
And say “Has Heaven come to this?”
I’d take with me the distances –
The agony of separation,
To call to mind when we’re apart
The way you kissed me at the station.
I’d have to take the dangers too,
To keep you anxious, true and wise,
So that no coward should enjoy
The azure brilliance of your eyes.
I’d take to heaven a faithful friend
To drink a toast when all is well.
And I should take the enemy
To fight with… as we did in hell.
Love and ennui and pity I’d take,
Even the nightingale in the wood…
Every tiniest detail of life
That we live on earth, I’d take… if I could.
Even death… if that could be…
I should not leave behind below.
All that is here our lot on earth
I’d choose to take with me… and so
God, in astonishment, would curse
The worldly loyalties of men,
And pretty soon, without a doubt,
Would pop me back on earth again!
Konstantin Simonov
1941
(written in Odessa under siege)
******
Konstantin Simonov was one of the most famous poets to come out of the VOV. He wrote the above poem in besieged Odessa in 1941. Today, a brutal and unrepresentative putschist junta that seized power from the legitimate government in February with American connivance occupies Odessa. One of its first actions was to outlaw the Russian language and to try to replace it with a hillbilly pidgin spoken only by a small minority in the Far Western Ukraine. That led to the Crimea rejoining Russia and for the Russian-speaking “Eastern Ukraine” to rise up against these American-fomented fascists. What you read and hear in the American media about the “Ukraine” is false. The people of Novorossiya (the name for the so-called Southeastern Ukraine in tsarist times) want to be free of “Ukrainian” dictatorship. If you love freedom and justice, you’ll support them.
#SaveDonbassPeople
(Google this and look at the images)
BMD
People seem to love the Russian poetry in translation. I’ll try my best to include a few examples each week. One of the purposes of this blog IS to make Russian culture known… and it never hurts to listen to others and to attend to THEIR wants, is it? If you’re interested, why not look at my companion blog, “Art and Faith?” It has a good amount (several thousand images) of our Russian art posted there (and I really should put up more… the current political situation had me focusing on the news).
BMD
Voices from Russia 
Slavyansk Mayor Sez Junta Losses Heavy
Tags: Novorossiya, political commentary, politics, Russia, Russian, Slavyansk, Ukraine, Ukrainian
______________________________
On Thursday, Slavyansk People’s Mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov said in an interview with the Latvian radio station Baltkom, “According to our information, the Ukrainian army suffered the following losses… 1,200-1,300 people killed, and eight helicopters, 15 armoured vehicles, and three [artillery] weapons destroyed. They’re suffering huge losses. I’m speaking only about Slavyansk”. Junta boss Aleksandr Turchinov confirmed Thursday the downing of a military helicopter killed 14 Ukrainian servicemen, including a general. Soon after that, the “National Guard” (sic) clarified that 12, not 14 people died in the Mi-8 helicopter crash near Slavyansk. Ponomaryov also said, “About 200 opolchenie died and 300 wounded. Several civilians died and eight people wounded yesterday”. The junta forces in the repression operation in Novorossiya began firing mortars at Slavyansk Tuesday at around noon local time, destroying several private homes, including houses in the villages of Andreyevka and Sergeyevka in the suburbs, killing several dozen people. Aleksei Pushkov, the head of the RF Gosduma Committee on Foreign Affairs, wrote Wednesday that the Kiev junta lies when it claims that they don’t target civilian areas in Novorossiya.
Editor:
The news of heavy losses in Slavyansk is no surprise, as untrained “National Guard” (sic) rabble carry out most of the offensive operations. The trained troops refuse to fight or have melted away. The operations around Slavyansk ground to a halt when the helo carrying the general in charge crashed, killing him and his staff. The junta has placed politically reliable, but militarily incompetent, Galician Uniates in charge of forces, as they don’t trust people from Malorossiya (the “Ukrainian” heartland) or Novorossiya (the former southeast). Thus, the incompetent lead the untrained, which, of course, leads to an inordinate butcher’s bill. The only good thing about that is that it means that the Euromaidan trash are dying in front of Slavyansk… which means that the junta won’t have reliable bully boys if enough die.
Nevertheless, this does mean one thing. Neither side will “compromise”. This Civil War must drag on… and the USA giggles like a demented toddler. What does that tell you about the American Establishment?
BMD
29 May 2014
RIA-Novosti
http://en.ria.ru/world/20140529/190221116/1200-Ukrainian-Soldiers-Dead-in-Slaviansk-Special-Op–Peoples.html