This morning I find myself singing that old song: "Feelings, nothing more than feelings..."
According to the Medusa Project, a Russian news site, President Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. of deliberately and gratuitously worsening Russian-American relations:
американская сторона «предприняла ничем не спровоцированный шаг по ухудшению российско-американских отношений»
The American side "took an absolutely unprovoked step toward worsening Russian-American relations."
Fascinating. Unprovoked? But what caught my eye in the news this morning was the English translation of Putin's characterization of his cuts to embassy and consulate personnel. In English he was reported in the New York Times to have said: "It is biting."
CNN was a little more clear, saying that Putin called the cuts "biting" measures. But the Russian says something different: chuvstvitel'ny. The measures should be sensed, noticeable, possibly emphatic. But biting doesn't sound right to me (even though my internet multitran.ru does give that as one possible option).
If we think again about yesterday's post -- when I perhaps somewhat obliquely compared Putin to the elderly storage attendant at my language institute in the late 1980s -- we might return to the days of Romanticism. Putin is sensitive (the primary meaning of chuvstvitel'ny) and his feelings (chuvstva) have been hurt by the "unprovoked step" in worsening relations.
So yesterday I claimed that President Putin may be feeling cornered, as if the U.S. is trying to encroach on his power and inhibit his autonomy. No doubt he is frustrated by his inability to manipulate the U.S. Congress, media, and public opinion as masterfully as he does similar bodies at home.
But he's also starting to sound like a spurned lover or indeed a teenaged Lothario who's failing to seduce:
Zhdat' is "to expect" or "to await." Waiting? I suppose that is one way to define this period in Russian-U.S. relations. We closed their diplomatic sites, and they did nothing in return. Perhaps they really were waiting to see whether President Trump would give their sites back. But he won't, and he can't.
We encroach on Russia, Russia fights back. How weird, though, that the new Cold War is all about feelings.
According to the Medusa Project, a Russian news site, President Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. of deliberately and gratuitously worsening Russian-American relations:
американская сторона «предприняла ничем не спровоцированный шаг по ухудшению российско-американских отношений»
The American side "took an absolutely unprovoked step toward worsening Russian-American relations."
Fascinating. Unprovoked? But what caught my eye in the news this morning was the English translation of Putin's characterization of his cuts to embassy and consulate personnel. In English he was reported in the New York Times to have said: "It is biting."
CNN was a little more clear, saying that Putin called the cuts "biting" measures. But the Russian says something different: chuvstvitel'ny. The measures should be sensed, noticeable, possibly emphatic. But biting doesn't sound right to me (even though my internet multitran.ru does give that as one possible option).
If we think again about yesterday's post -- when I perhaps somewhat obliquely compared Putin to the elderly storage attendant at my language institute in the late 1980s -- we might return to the days of Romanticism. Putin is sensitive (the primary meaning of chuvstvitel'ny) and his feelings (chuvstva) have been hurt by the "unprovoked step" in worsening relations.
So yesterday I claimed that President Putin may be feeling cornered, as if the U.S. is trying to encroach on his power and inhibit his autonomy. No doubt he is frustrated by his inability to manipulate the U.S. Congress, media, and public opinion as masterfully as he does similar bodies at home.
But he's also starting to sound like a spurned lover or indeed a teenaged Lothario who's failing to seduce:
«Мы довольно долго ждали, что, может быть, что-то изменится к лучшему, питали такую надежду, что ситуация как-то поменяется, — объяснил президент. — Но, судя по всему, если она и поменяется, то не скоро».
"For a fairly long time we have expected that perhaps something will improve, [we have] cherished the hope that the situation would change somehow," the President explained. "But judging from everything, if it will change [in the future], then not soon."
Zhdat' is "to expect" or "to await." Waiting? I suppose that is one way to define this period in Russian-U.S. relations. We closed their diplomatic sites, and they did nothing in return. Perhaps they really were waiting to see whether President Trump would give their sites back. But he won't, and he can't.
We encroach on Russia, Russia fights back. How weird, though, that the new Cold War is all about feelings.
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