A Portrait of Aleksandr Pushkin
Vasili Tropinin
1827
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Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin… what can one say? He’s the father of the Modern Russian Literary language… he was the pioneer, the trailblazer. What more can one say? He’s THE towering figure in Russian poetry, and few match him in Russian literature. His matrilineal great-grandfather, Abram Gannibal, came to Russia as a slave from Africa, but rose to be an aristocrat. That means that he had African blood in his veins… what’s wrong with that? According to the American “one drop” rule, that made him a “nigger”… according to our Russian “one drop” rule, it made him one of us, and honoured at that. I seem to notice a difference (and Anglo Americans look down their noses at us and call us “inferiors”, fancy that). However, A S Pushkin was a poet… let’s have some poetry…
BMD
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Awakening
O dreams, O dreams,
Where are your delights?
Oh, where are you,
The joys of night?
The joyous dream
Is vanished,
And in a deep darkness
I woke up
Alone.
The deathly-still night
Surrounds my bed.
The dreams of love
Grew cold in a moment,
And flew away
As a flock of birds.
But my soul
Is still full of desires,
And catches
The memories of a dream.
O love, O love,
Listen to my prayers,
Send me again
Yours sweet visions,
And in the morning
Let me die
In ecstasy
With no awakening.
1816
******
The Prophet
I dragged my flesh through desert gloom,
Tormented by the spirit’s yearning,
And saw a six-winged Seraph loom
Upon the footpath’s barren turning.
And as a dream in slumber lies
So light his finger on my eyes,—
My wizard eyes grew wide and wary:
An eagle’s, startled from her eyrie.
He touched my ears, and lo! a sea
Of storming voices burst on me.
I heard the whirling heavens’ tremor,
The angels’ flight and soaring sweep,
The sea-snakes coiling in the deep,
The sap the vine’s green tendrils carry.
And to my lips the Seraph clung
And tore from me my sinful tongue,
My cunning tongue and idle-worded;
The subtle serpent’s sting he set
Between my lips—his hand was wet,
His bloody hand my mouth begirded.
And with a sword he cleft my breast
And took the heart with terror turning,
And in my gaping bosom pressed
A coal that throbbed there, black and burning.
Upon the wastes, a lifeless clod,
I lay, and heard the voice of God:
“Arise, oh prophet, watch and hearken,
And with my Will thy soul engird,
Through lands that dim and seas that darken,
Burn thou men’s hearts with this, my Word”.
1826
******
Remembrance
When the loud day for men who sow and reap
Grows still, and on the silence of the town
The insubstantial veils of night and sleep,
The meed of the day’s labour, settle down,
Then for me in the stillness of the night
The wasting, watchful hours drag on their course,
And in the idle darkness comes the bite
Of all the burning serpents of remorse;
Dreams seethe; and fretful infelicities
Are swarming in my over-burdened soul,
And Memory before my wakeful eyes
With noiseless hand unwinds her lengthy scroll.
Then, as with loathing I peruse the years,
I tremble, and I curse my natal day,
Wail bitterly, and bitterly shed tears,
But cannot wash the woeful script away.
1828
Voices from Russia 
Donbass Miners Join Patriot Resistance… Junta is Dead Duck
Tags: Donetsk, Donetsk People's Republic, Novorossiya, political commentary, politics, Russia, Russian, Ukraine
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Editor:
This was a couple of days ago, but its important news, so, up it goes. The miners were the backbone of the socialist revolution… they’ll be the heart of the patriot movement. Don’t listen to lies from Potapov, Paffhausen, Dreher, Mattingly, and Kishkovsky… they have agendas. You can stand with rightwing puking dogs or you can stand with the miners of the Donbass. Rather obvious, no?
BMD
******
On Wednesday, around 3,000 Donbass miners… the driving force of the coal-rich region… marched through the streets of Donetsk, protesting against Kiev’s continuing military operation in the former eastern Ukraine. The demonstrators, who then gathered at a central square for a rally, chanted “Fascism won’t pass!” and “The Donbass won’t forgive!” Whilst some of the miners interviewed by RIA Novosti support the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), others simply reject what they refer to as the “fascist” policies of the Kiev junta. A miner named Viktor said, “What’s happening now in Donetsk, all this shooting, this does worry our wives, our children. People want to live peacefully, to work peacefully, in a peaceful and prosperous country”.
The rally marked the end of the Donbass miners’ “neutrality”… until this week, they chose to not take part in anti-government actions. Just one day earlier, on Tuesday, workers at several mines in Donetsk went on strike. On Tuesday, Konstantin Kuzmin, deputy head of the DNR’s coal mining industry, said, “The miners of the Donbass announced an indefinite strike and demanded an end to the military operation and the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donetsk Oblast. Miners from the Skochinskogo, Abakumova, Chelyuskintsev, and Trudovskaya mines joined the strike”.Previously, the bosses repeatedly warned the workers against walking out in protest against the putschist junta. However, Monday saw the junta’s brutal attack on the Donetsk airport in an attempt to seize it from the opolchenie. They unleashed fighters and combat helicopters and fighting eventually reached downtown Donetsk. More than 50 civilians and as many opolchenie fighters died in subsequent clashes.
The Donbass is the industrial centre of the Ukraine. Coal in is one of the nation’s biggest industries, whilst the region was a coal mining area since the late 19th century. The miners are a powerful driving force in the region. The clashes in Donetsk began just a few hours after the release of the early results of the presidential election. The president-elect, billionaire P A Poroshenko, is in favour of continuing the military operation in Novorossiya, despite earlier calls from the Rada to end it. During an election night news conference, Poroshenko said, “I don’t have the information to indicate that we must now stop [the operation]. I support its continuation, but demand a change in its format… it must be shorter and it must be more effective, military units must be better equipped”.
Editor:
Yes, there was a “change in format”… in keeping with Poroshenko’s past as a gangster. Yet, long-service personnel melt away, the border guards abandon their posts, and, yes, don’t forget that the commander of the navy rallied to Russia. A ragtag irregular and untrained “National Guard” (sic) took the place of the disciplined and competent Berkutovtsy (most of whom have rallied to Russia or joined the patriot opolchenie). The Euromaidan trash refuse to disperse… and Clan Balogh “goes to the mattress” and whacks Poroshenko’s subordinates. It’s a royally fucked up, Jabberwockian, and Monty Python ménage presided over by a bunch of former Mafiosi. You can see why the miners simply gave up on such a bunch of FUBAR individuals. A friend of mine wrote:
The miners won the Civil War against the Whites… they’ll win against the oligarchs, too. God willing, history WILL repeat itself.
BMD
28 May 2014
RT
http://rt.com/news/162092-ukraine-miners-protest-peace/