#Ask the Crimean Tatars man

[goldmanguyperson]

hard to make friends when it’s predicated on threats huh. No mothers making families here

(по-русский)

[mesetacadre]

Regarding your post on Stalin and Lenin, I want to ask in good faith: how can honest Communists, in good conscience, acknowledge the material harm and the death tolls of the deportations of the Crimean Tatars, Soviet Koreans, and Chechens + Ingush carried out by Stalin's administration?

I at least understand why Marxist-Leninists dispute calling the Holodomor and Kazakh famines genocides, on the grounds that they came about as a mix of failed policy, bad weather, and unintended consequences.

However, while Stalin's influence on the Famines is debatable, allowing the deportations to be carried out (which DO constitute a genocide) must certainly fall on his head. This is doubly so because Lavrentiy Beria - the principal architect of the Crimean Tatar and Chechen deportations - was a close ally of Stalin.

A big reason I ask this is because I frequently see other communists either gloss over the material harm of these deportations, or treat them as a regrettable footnote in an otherwise proud career. I find both approaches problematic, because I do not see them as an honest assessment of Stalin's wrongdoing with regards to ethnic minorities within the Soviet Union.

I thank you for your time, and I look forward to reading your assessment, should you chose to answer it. Have a good day.

[context]

I'll get to the ask itself in a moment, but first I want to point out how you're doing exactly what the post you're replying to is criticizing, how every mistake and imperfect policy of the USSR between 1924 and 1953 is scapegoated to Stalin. You're ignoring both the very important structures of democracy and accountability within the party as well as in the administration of the state. He wasn't a dictator and policy was not a direct extension of the man's thoughts. The party leadership was a collective organ made up of at least a dozen people, of which Stalin was simply the chairman, with the same vote as everyone else. And every single one of these members were beholden to democratic recall at any time.

Let's start on the common ground, we understand that the famine which struck Ukraine, southern Russia and western Kazakhstan in the early 1930s has a context of cyclical famines, grain hoarding, rushed collectivization, and bad weather. There has been a strong effort on the part of capitalist powers to both exaggerate the effects of the famine and to place it all with intent to exterminate Ukranians specifically. The policy of collectivization and antagonism towards the grain-hoarding rich peasants was one approved by and carried out by hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions. We can debate the degree of maliciousness, the severity of its effects, etc. But what is indisputable once you know just a little of how the USSR worked, to pretend that it could all be carried out by Stalin's sole will is absurd.

And what is the context of the deportations? The fascist invasion of the USSR. This is an extraordinary circumstance, every facet of the USSR was being attacked and threatened with sabotage. It wasn't even the first time they had had to deal with internal sabotage, like it was revealed in the trials following the assassination of Kirov. Throughout the 30s, Nazi Germany's strongarm diplomacy was practically enabled by their ability to create fifth columns, to instigate conflict and to infiltrate. They were in the process of setting up a coup d'etat in Lithuania when, with only a week to spare, it was voted that Lithuania would join the USSR. So, the fear that, as the front advanced, the nazis would do everything in their power to turn the tapestry of nationalities close to the front against the USSR, wasn't only unfounded, it was certain. Fascists are also quite famously brutal against the minorities in the territories they conquered. Their modus operandi whenever they captured a population was to kill any elected leaders and start to instigate anti-semitism.

This was the rationale that drove the policy of resettlement. It was a rushed wartime decision, such was the context, and people definitely died unnecessarily in transport. They decided that the negative consequences of resettlement outweighed the risk of sabotage, destroyed supply lines, and of a completely certain brutal destiny for these minorities if the front advanced past them. It was not a genocide, and it had nothing to do with whatever personal relationship you think Stalin had with Beria. (As a tangent, in this interview, Stalin's bodyguard said that Beria was "neither his [Stalin's] right hand man or left hand man"). I reiterate though, the personal relationships of one man did not dictate the policy decided on democratically by the CPSU.

I don't see the problem in understanding the context of these decisions and understanding the rationale behind them without kneejerking into discounting Stalin's competency. It's very easy to criticize a decision with 80 years of hindsight, without the pressure of the largest land invasion ever carried out advancing steadily. You can't understand the policies of a country containing hundreds of millions of people and hundreds of nationalities through the lens of a single man's personal failings, especially in wartime. Admitting these mistakes, but understanding the context in which they were made, is the only way to learn from other attempts at developing socialism. What is not productive is to insist on pinning every mistake, every unnecessary pain, every inefficiency, as the wrongdoings of a single man. It's dishonest to both the past, and to how communists organize today.

[qqueenofhades]

Man, the Russia/Ukraine war has led to a lot of terrible takes from far leftists. I have a mutual from Brazil, a self identified socialist, who is convinced that Ukraine is full of nazis. While they don't support Russia, they questioned why they have to be "pro-Ukraine" or "pro-Russia". They call Ukraine a "nazi hole" but call Russia merely "fascist". Am I wrong in thinking that they've been influenced by Russian propaganda? I know Ukraine does have a nazi/far right problem, but so does the US? And most European countries? idk they strongly hate the US/US government too, and it seems to create some kind of brainrot. at least they don't blindly support China or Russia like tankies do (nor identify with them), but it's still frustrating to take a neutral position on a pretty black and white situation.

I don't want to confront them 1) cause I'm not the type to argue over serious things like this and this may break our long friendship and 2) I'm not super educated on the nazi situation in Ukraine.

Anyway thank you for letting me rant in your inbox.

Yes, Russia has specifically focused its propaganda efforts on Latin America, Africa, and other regions that HAVE suffered from Western/European/American imperialism and are thus predisposed to take the worst view of them/believe that this situation is their fault somehow. This is similar to what the USSR did in newly postcolonial Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, positing themselves as offering the shared hand of communist brotherhood from Western oppressors. Because of more recent events like the invasion of Iraq, which was fully as unjustified as the invasion of Ukraine, Russian propagandists and their eager tankie/leftist foot soldiers have also got a lot of mileage out of "whataboutism." This is likewise an old Soviet propaganda technique designed to deflect any criticism of the actual situation by disingenuously asking "what about this other one!!!"

Likewise, the idea that Ukraine has a "Nazi problem" is itself propaganda. In the last election, far-right/Nazi-identified parties won barely 2% of the vote and AFAIK, no seats at all in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament). This is far lower than the nearly half of the USA voting for the far-right/Nazi-sympathetic Republican Party, and as noted, the far right elements in the UK and Europe. The idea that Ukraine is "full of Nazis" (with a Jewish president who just celebrated iftar with the Ukrainian Muslims/Crimean Tatars during Ramadan and instituted observance of Muslim holidays nationwide, very Nazi of him) is a line used by Russian propagandists to "justify" their attack and appeal to national memories of the Great Patriotic War (World War II) and the struggle against the Nazis, which is the central cultural grievance/memory in modern Russia. The Putin regime has referred to anyone they don't like, but especially the Ukrainians, as "Nazis" for a long time now, so it's supposedly their holy duty to kill them/commit ethnic cleansing/forcibly reunite the "fraternal" people of "Little Russia," as Ukraine has been called since the 17th century, with "Great Russia." And yeah, no.

Because the West and Europe has been pretty solidly on Ukraine's side, Russia has therefore cultivated countries like China, India, Brazil, etc, who have all suffered from Western interference and are looking to move into the first rank of global superpowers. This is, as noted, similar to the competing systems of influence built during the Cold War, but it also relies on much deeper Russian grievances that go back to the medieval era. Anybody who knows a thing about actual Russian history would therefore know that every single word it says about the Ukraine situation is a lie, but because that lie is useful for many other countries and fits into their own understanding of themselves, it is easy to repeat and act like it's a so-called superior moral position. This is also why US/American tankies so eagerly lap up Russian propaganda, because it plays into their moral sense of themselves as far better than the rest of the West and "righteously" discovering that the West is responsible for all the evil in the world etc etc. While non-Westerners are just helpless misunderstood puppets with no real agency or ability to make complex choices. This totally makes sense!!!

[jdusiej]

Brief information about Crimean Tatars. When I was twenty-four years old, I joined the Selmash factory in Shyrchik as a worker. I was sent to the Crimean Tatar brigade. As he said, a Crimean Tatar man, older than me, works in this brigade. I was a foreigner and an Uzbek guy in this brigade. Our foreman was a tall, chested man named Alik, five or six years older than me. He always submitted the work in Russian or Uzbek. In this way, we worked for two months and got along well with the Tatar guys. It must be said that I am a meek person, judging by the fact that I am not talking. Among the Tatars, Salimkerey, two years younger than me, joked with me and would come from behind and kick my leg or run away. Seeing this, Brigadier Alik said: "Hey, Salimkerey, he will be your older brother by two years, you can't joke like that." He said that if he catches you and throws you into a ball with one hand, your bones will be scattered. Hearing these words, I thought that they lived in a Kazakh village and studied at a Kazakh school. During a work break, I told my foreman that thought. He laughed and said, "My man, this is our mother tongue." I asked if you study in your language at school. No, we are taught in a Russian school. He said that we speak at home and at work so as not to forget our language. I was surprised that the Tatar language and the Kazakh language were the same in the Crimea, and I asked how it happened. The foreman said: "I don't know about that side, but he started the work so that we can get to work." How much time has passed since then, I remembered the story of the Tatars in Shyrshik and wondered how the Kazakh and Tatar languages were really the same. It is Kazakhs, not Tatars, who are doing it in Crimea. It happened that in the tenth century, Crimea was conquered by the Kipchaks, and in the thirteenth century, the great khan of the great Moblystan state, Ugedei Khan , conquered Crimea with the Kerei Wak tribe under his command. That is why all the people here were Kazakhs. After this land was acquired by the Soviet government, the Soviet policy , fearing the increase of Kazakhs, called the Crimean Kazakhs Tatars. With that name, the Crimean bloods have been living to this day. In the same way, Kazakhs named Nogai have a nation named Nogai batyr. He was a people descended from the Kazakhs Saryuysin and Besene tribes. Aman ata is from Saryagash

[biscuit-drivels]

Ruthenian power couple. Alternate history, alternate universe, alternate everything

“What did I care about women before you grew into one?” he resumed bitterly “Hey, listen, one time in the Black Sea, I remember, I took a Turkish galley full of the most beautiful young girls a man would want to see. Picked for the Sultan’s harem from all over the world they were, and not one of them sparked anything in my heart. Not one! So what happened then? So my good brother Cossacks had themselves some fun and then I had a stone tied to the neck of each of these beauties and tossed them overboard! What did they mean to me? I didn’t care about anybody in those days! Didn’t fear anything alive between the earth and the sky! I made war on the Tartars, took my loot where it came, and lived in the Steppe like a prince in his castle . . . I was free! I did what I wanted! And what’s the story today? Eh? Will you tell me that? Here I sit like a slave, like a dog. . . a beggar waiting for one kind word from you. But I never hear it. Like I didn’t hear it in those other days when your own people were planning to marry you to me. Why is that? Why can’t you ever say it?”

... and I know it is a century off, but imagine this Ruthenian power couple, straight out of hell the Sultan’s harem :DDDDDDDDD

... enter Bohun.

... time for some puppy eyes angst.

... well, that was racey.

... so racey that you have to cool your head with a horse race.

... yeah, yeah Bohun :DDDDD Church Madonna, sure.

“I’m covered like a butcher with the blood of gentry But in those other days, when you could have loved me, the only people I killed in the Steppe were Tartars. Or Turks in the galleys .

‘And the loot,” he said. “The goods I took from them and brought home to Rozloghi. It wasn’t for me. None of it was. What would I want with silks and satins and yellow gold and jewels in those days? What does a free Cossack care about bags of treasure? It was for you! I brought it all for you because you were my heart and my soul and because I loved you. I killed a hundred men, burned a dozen palaces in the Crimea and took a score of caravans so that you’d be able to walk about shining in gold and jewels like one of God’s angels.”

... but Bohun doesn’t really need much persuasion.

‘Ask for anything you want,” he said heavily then nodded at the richly decorated walls. “Here, look around you. That’s all mine. That’s my loot from Bar. It took six horses to carry it here and there’s a lot more. You want gold? Shining jewels? People at your feet? Slaves? Servants? Peasants in your fields? Speak up and it’s yours. I’m a rich man and if I need more I know where to get it.”

His dark, slanted eyes were shining with that strange yellow glow, and she felt all her anger welling up in her at his presump­tion that she could be bought.

“You want a country of your own to rule? I’ll take and give you all the castles you want. I’ll give you half the Ukraine and more if that’s not enough. I may be just a Cossack, not a noble, but I’m a Zaporohjan Army ataman for all that, with a horsetail standard carried over me and ten thousand good men riding at my back and jumping at my orders. I can have ten thousand more anytime I want.”

Nodding, as if to confirm his power to himself, the Cossack hero stared at her with the quiet humility and hunger of a begging child.

“So ask for anything,” he said. “D’you want a kingdom? It’s as good as yours. You’re my queen. I’m your dog and warrior. Just tell me what to do, what to get you. Just so long as you don’t run from me anymore. Just so you’ll stay with me, and just so you’ll love me.

... but then, dramatic twist. Bohun has to go.

... leaving Alexandra all vulnerable.

... but Bohun doesn’t give up easily.

(who cares for characters looking drunk in the back, at least Bohun looks majestic in the screenshot)

... Alexandra slowly grows acustomed to Ottoman lifestyle. She is not Alexandra anymore, she is Hurrem.

... and Hurrem Alexandra is no weakling either.

Her own bloodless face stared at her coldly out of all those gold and silver mirrors with such strength and power, and with such pride and such indomitable will, that she seemed more like an avenging angel or a legendary fury than the mild and gentle icons to which HE compared her.

She shuddered then with the force of the anger that leaped in her breast.

She was a woman living in a time when few of her sex could decide their lives, direct their courses, or design the content of their fates. An orphan, thrown on the mercy of ruthless rela­tives strangers, she’d never had much say in what might happen to her. But she was a Ruthenian princess none the less.

Born in Ruthenia (then an eastern region of the Kingdom of Poland), Hurrem was captured by Crimean Tatars during a slave raid and eventually taken to Istanbul, the Ottoman capital. She entered the Imperial Harem, rising through the ranks to become the favourite of Sultan Suleiman.

Hurrem acted as Suleiman's advisor on matters of state, and seems to have had an influence upon foreign policy and on international politics. Two of her letters to King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland (reigned 1548–1572) have survived, and during her lifetime the Ottoman Empire generally had peaceful relations with the Polish state within a Polish–Ottoman alliance.

In her first short letter to Sigismund II, Hurrem expresses her highest joy and congratulations to the new king on the occasion of his ascension to the Polish throne after the death of his father Sigismund I the Old in 1548. She also pleads with the King to trust her envoy Hassan Ağa who took another message from her by word of mouth. In her second letter to Sigismund Augustus, written in response to his letter, Hurrem expresses in superlative terms her joy at hearing that the king is in good health and that he sends assurances of his sincere friendliness and attachment towards Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She also quotes the sultan as saying, "with the old king we were like brothers, and if it pleases the All-Merciful God, with this king we will be as father and son." With this letter, Hurrem sent Sigismund II the gift of two pairs of linen shirts and pants, some belts, six handkerchiefs, and a hand-towel, with a promise to send a special linen robe in the future.

There are reasons to believe that these two letters were more than just diplomatic gestures, and that Suleiman's references to brotherly or fatherly feelings were not a mere tribute to political expediency. The letters also suggest Hurrem's strong desire to establish personal contact with the king. In his 1551 letter to Sigismund II concerning the embassy of Piotr Opaliński, Suleiman wrote that the Ambassador had seen "Your sister and my wife." Whether this phrase refers to a warm friendship between the Polish King and Ottoman Haseki, or whether it suggests a closer relation, the degree of their intimacy definitely points to a special link between the two states at the time.

[nanshe-of-nina]

Wizarding Russian Empire and USSR || Sarafian-Kostov family

Zabel Afanasiyevna Sarafian (3 December 1852 – 23 June 1937) Zabel was born in western Georgia on the coast of the Black Sea to a halfblood family. Her father, At’anas Sarafian, was a somewhat prosperous Armenian wizarding merchant. She had one older brother, and three older sisters. At’anas was an extremely conservative and controlling man who was so protective of his daughter's chastity, he didn't even want them to marry on the grounds that no man would be good enough for them.

When she was 16, however, she met secretly met a handsome young Crimean Tatar who called himself Anastas Timurovich Kostov and quickly came to believe that she was madly in love with him. Shortly after, they eloped back to the Crimea together. Her father was enraged when he was and declared that Zabel was dead to him. At some point, at her behest, he converted to the Armenian Apostolic Church (having been raised as a Sunni Muslim) and they married shortly before the birth of the first child, a daughter named Ripsimiya. They then had two sons, Afanasiy and Ivan, in 1872 and 1873. Shortly after the birth of Ivan, Zabel found herself longing even more to see her family again. This longing was increased by the fact that her new husband was not the perfect man of her dreams he’d first appeared: he was uninterested in seeking work, preferring to live off other people as long as possible and she suspected that he was often unfaithful.

In 1874, her father died and she decided to attempt to take her three children with her to attend his funeral, hoping they could reconcile. Things did not go that way. Her mother informed her that her father had died of a broken heart because of her betrayal. Meanwhile, things got even worse when she received word from the Crimea that her husband (whose name at birth was actually Timur Chingizovich Bulatov) had married another woman in Sunni Muslim ceremony. Without any place to go, Zabel had little choice but to remain in Georgia. After six months, her mother and sisters caved and allowed her and her children to live with them. They soon became rather fond of her children, but their relationship with each other remained strained. 

Zabel never saw her Bulatov/Kostov again, but received sympathetic letters from his father, Chingiz Arslanovich Bulatov, who denounced his son as a worthless creature she was better off without, but she had best keep their children on a short leash so that they wouldn’t grow up to be like him.

Her youngest son, Hovannes/Ivan, died when he was six and afterwards, she pinned all her hopes on her second-born, Afanaisy (who first began using the surname Kostov in the 1890s), and was determined that he would get a formal education. She managed to get him admitted to Koldovstortez on a scholarship, but he was expelled in 1889, which prompted her brother, Sarkis, to declare that he was taking after his worthless father. Zabel had little contact with her only son afterwards, though she was present for the births of his children in 1903 and 1905. After the death of Selardi Vardanovna Vardanyan in 1906, though, all contact was broken off and she afterwards continued to live with her three sisters, all of whom never married. In 1914, her widowed daughter, Ripsimiya, was crippled for life after a fall from a broomstick and returned home to their mostly wizarding village.

Zabel, Ashkhen, and Ripsimiya were all moved into a comfortable home in Batumi in 1922 at the behest of Kostov, shortly after he’d reunited with his first two children, Avdotya and Ivan. Previously, during the Civil War, Zabel also convinced her son to marry Lyudmila Konvalinkova, a half-Czech, half-Russian witch he’d had a daughter, Yuliya, by in 1914, after Lyudmila and Anfisa Zoranovna Krupina asked for her to intercede with her son.

In the 1930s, she became extremely fond of both of the Aslanyan sisters, Anahit and Nane, and their brood of children. In her memoirs, Nane Aslanyan’s stepdaughter, Valentina Vyalitsyna, recalled Zabel as a mischievous and clever old woman with a fondness for love songs and dirty jokes who clearly deeply loved and missed her only son.

Ripsimiya Anastasovna Sarafian (25 February 1870 – 9 October 1944) The eldest of the three children of Anastas Kostov and Zabel Sarafian, Ripsimiya was raised in a mostly wizarding village on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia by her mother, three aunts, and maternal grandmother after her father abandoned their family. The youngest child, Hovhaness (or Ivan in Russian) died of an illness when he was six-years-old. Because their family were able to afford Koldovstortez’s fees for only one child, she was educated at home. As a child, she was very close to her younger brother, even though she somewhat resented that their mother constantly favored him. Because of her strong dislike of her father, she used her mother’s surname, Sarafian, all her life.

She was a self-taught herbalist as well as a midwife for local witches, having becoming the apprentice of Barbale Maisuradze, the mother of Armazi Vashadze, in 1887. Long misidentified as a spinster, Ripsimiya actually married a half-Armenian, half-Georgian squib named Sanasar Haykovich Mirzoyan in 1889, who was also the older brother of the notorious revolutionary terrorist, Baghdasar Haykovich Mirzoyan. How this misconception arose isn’t clear; either Kostov himself mislead people or it was the result of assumptions made by British historians.

After Kostov and Baghdasar were expelled from Koldovstortez in 1889, they briefly lived with Ripsimiya and her husband in Batumi while becoming involved in revolutionary activities, but were forced to flee in 1890, after the Storozhey raided their home. In September, she gave birth to a stillbirth daughter, which she blamed on the Storozhey for falsely prosecuting on her “innocent” brother and brother-in-law. Over the next thirteen years, she had four miscarriages, three more stillbirths, and her only living child, a son named Sarkis, died at the age of 3 in 1895. Despite their sadness over their lack of children, Sanasar and Ripsimiya’s marriage was still nevertheless an extremely happy, loving, and passionate one.

In 1903, she and her mother received an owl from Kostov informing them that he’d gotten married and his new wife was pregnant. Zabel was simply delighted, but privately wondered what kind of husband her son would make, while Ripsimiya was insulted that he hadn't bothered to write before. Nevertheless, as a midwife, she helped deliver her new niece on 1 May 1903. Kostov was only able to return to Georgia in March and left to go into exile (though he was vague about where) with his wife and daughter. Selardi and her daughter later returned to Georgia in November 1904 after finding out that she was pregnant again, because she wanted have Ripsimiya deliver the child. Selardi gave birth to another child, a sickly son named Ivan, in February 1905. Around the same time, Sanasar, who was in Baku with Kostov and Baghdasar, was one of the many who murdered in the anti-Armenian riots. Ripsimiya was distraught by his death and refused to ever marry again. Until the day she died, she dressed in black and wore a locket with a lock of her dead husband’s hair in it. Because of her husband's murder, she thereafter developed a lifelong grudge against Azeris.

But worse was yet to come. In August 1906, young Ivan fell gravely ill and it seemed likely that he would most likely die and Selardi became sick with grief. She prayed all night to ask God to spare her son. It seems as if her prayers were answered, because Ivan recovered, but his mother then sickened and looked to be at death’s door. Ripsimiya sent word to her brother, who rushed back to Georgia, only for Selardi to die the following day on 23 September 1906. Kostov was grief-stricken. Two days after Selardi's funeral, Ripsimiya tried to comfort him, because she understood the pain of losing a beloved spouse, but rebuffed her, insisting that she couldn't understand and acted sulkily when she reminded him that he had two children to remember Selardi by. The conversation turned into an argument when he made it clear that he was planning to leave again. She accused him of being exactly like their father and reminded him that she had also lost her spouse, which he might have remembered if he wasn’t so self-obsessed. Kostov said nothing in response and began packing a bag and left. In hindsight, that was the end of their good relationship.

Kostov never forgot what she said to him and held against her for the rest of her life. Meanwhile, the Vardanyans begged Zabel, Ripsimiya, and the aunts to allow them to raise the two children, as they were all they had left of Selardi. The Sarafian women agreed, but visited them often.

Revolution During and after the Revolution, Ripsimiya continued to live with her mother in the Caucasus and played no role in her brother’s rise to power. By this point, she was an invalid as a result of numerous pregnancies in quick succession and an ill-timed fall in her early forties. Secretly, she wrote often to her sister-in-law, Lyudmila, and her nephew, Ivan, and sympathized over their repeated clashes with her brother and asked them to visit her if they needed to get away.

However, she may have been indirectly and partially responsible for the probable assassination of her former brother-in-law, Baghdasar Mirzoyan, in 1923 on her brother’s orders. In addition to behaving increasingly erratically, in 1921, Mirzoyan had boasted while drunk, that he’d regularly “comforted” the widowed Ripsimiya between 1906 and 1907. Whether he was telling the truth is unknown, but such gossip circulating did nothing to improve Kostov’s already strained relationship with his sister.

She played a direct role in role in politics only once, when Armazi Vashadze begged her in 1930, to intercede with her brother to pardon Ripsimiya Sarkisovna Nazarian, his sister-in-law and her namesake (as she had delivered Nazarian in 1891). Though generally uninterested in politics, she agreed to try for once, while also writing to Nazarian and advising her to grovel. Whether or not her plea and advice had any effect is unknown, but Nazarian was indeed temporarily forgiven in 1933.

In 1932, her sister-in-law and her brother’s children all visited her and Zabel in Georgia. Lyudmila also took two of her sisters and their children along for the visit. In her memoirs, Vlasta Ilyinichna Andropova, daughter of Dragomira Konvalinkova, vividly recalled Zabel and Ripsimiya. She said Zabel was extremely kind and friendly to everyone, even though she had trouble talking to them, because she was only spoke Armenian and Georgian, and insisted on giving all the children presents. Ripsimiya, on the other hand, was a dour, gloomy, and boring woman whose conversation was limited to three topics: religion, illness, and death.

After Lyudmila’s death, Kostov asked her to come to Lysaya Gora to care for his three teenage daughters. She refused, saying that she didn't like the climate and couldn’t leave their mother, but he could send his girls to come live with them instead. He didn’t like the idea, though, and instead let the subject drop. After her mother’s death in June 1937, she was joined by her nieces, Avdotya and Zoya, after Zoya’s husband, Vardan, and his family were all arrested on her father’s orders. Like her nieces, Ripsimiya was stunned at this development, but didn’t even bother to question her brother about it, as she knew she'd get no answer.

Death In the middle of 1942, Ripsimiya fell seriously ill and her condition worsened throughout 1943. When it became clear she was dying, Avdotya asked her aunt if she wanted to send for her brother. She refused, saying, “Don’t bother. There’s been no love between us for thirty years or more and what's the use pretending now?”

She finally died 9 October 1944, with three of her nieces at her side, and was buried without fanfare. Avdotya tactfully changed her aunt’s last bitter statement into a wish not to bother her brother, but she and her sister later admitted the truth in the 1960s, after their father’s death.

[cadpadawan]

What a time to be alive!

On March 11 2020 the World Health Organization declared that the outbreak of a viral disease, with a name similar to a certain brand of light beer, had reached the level of a global pandemic. In the panic reaction, that ensued the reports about the number of the infected, the mass demand on toilet paper and instant noodles skyrocketed on an intergalactic scale. As I let this sink in, it becomes increasingly clear that not even the best of stand-up comedians could have made this shit up!

A great deal of the recent public narrative has focused on the importance of social distancing, and something as surreal as the correct hand washing technique. It turns out, that an acute and extremely violent diarrhea is not a typical symptom of this disease. So, even in the most unfortunate case, that I would become infected with this novel coronavirus-thingy, it wouldn't be exactly the most rational manouver to stockpile 500 rolls of toilet paper, in preparation for a two-week isolation period. Unless, of course, I happened to have some weird pre-existing medical condition that would force me to poop runny and fluid shit non-stop in this doomsday bunker of mine. So far, I haven't been diagnosed with such a syndrome, not that I know of, anyway.

Of course...

There is always the chance, that the universe had a special treat preserved just for me, for a special occassion, like this:

SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKER!

As for the counter-measures...I have actually practiced the noble art of social distancing and personal hygiene long before it started trending. You see, I'm not exactly a people's person. I'm more like one of those ”mind your own business and fuck off!”-persons. And coming to think of it... What kind of person does NOT wash hands after taking a shit, anyways?!?

Seriously, though...Now the University of Applied Sciences, where I am currently studying mechanical engineering, has also closed doors. The University administration had the forethought to do so in advance, a week before the Finnish government ordered all schools to go online. The ongoing product development school project is pretty easy to execute online, luckily. So, in this respect, this global panic should not compromise my studies that much. I'm quite self-disciplined, so this sudden change of plans did not exactly freak me out. I think I have the emotional strenght to focus on this school project, despite the fact that it would be much more pleasant to binge on alcoholic beverages and PS4 for the next couple of weeks. On a side note, I've been playing the novelty PS4 game Death Stranding for a few months now. Suddenly, the dystopian atmosphere of the game does not seem that far-fetched. We are turning into something similar to the game's isolated prepper characters. (Or, to be more to-the-point, I doubt there ever was a time when humanity was truly connected – when there was no physical barriers, we built the barriers in our minds, that's for sure...)

While conducting an in-depth online research into the topic of the school project, I also went through the trouble of getting the facts straight about the coronavirus via some quality sources of information. Let's face it: social media does not qualify as such. If I was dumb enough to take the corona-garbage in my Facebook newsfeed seriously, it would mean that this COVID-19 outbreak was either:

1) a punishment from a narcissistic god, on the grounds that humanity is a bunch of ungrateful little shits, wallowing in a cesspool of sin – homosexuality, gender equality and veganism, in particular.

2) a pre-emptive strike in the forth-coming WW3, conducted by a biological weapon that was engineered in some top-secret level-5 security military lab in Wuhan, China.

3) A dick move played on the Jumanji-board, that some douchebag accidentally came across in the estate of his deceased grandmother.

4) A Black Death reconstruction executed by the aliens responsible for this shit show simulation.

So, what the actual fuck is this coronavirus, then?

We are witnessing the triumph of an infectious disease, that is caused by a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2). The COVID-19 monicker seems to stand for a novel CO-rona-VI-rus D-isease that emerged in 2019.

Coronaviruses are fairly common in the animal kingdom, although, this novel coronavirus seems to be one of a kind, that has not been previously detected. If I asked my internet friends here, they would probably say something along the lines of ”I'm not saying it was aliens...but it was aliens!”

Either that, or Mother Nature just wants to kill us all?

The source of the virus is not yet fully known. The latest findings suggest all kinds of bat-related stuff. So, I guess it would be fairly safe to assume, that the world has now officially gone bat shit crazy? The year 2020 will be forever remembered as the Great Pandemic of toilet paper hoarding. Officially, the common symptoms of COVID-19 include high fever, dry coughing, shortness of breath, fatigue paired with muscle and joint pain. No mention of convulsive diarrhea anywhere. Are the government officials withholding some crucial information, in the best dystopian fashion? I guess it would prove pretty hard to maintain morale, if the public was told that we are going to dive in some deep shit, in the most literal meaning of the expression.

Well, I didn't stock up on emergency supplies.

I'm a student with no budget, for fuck's sake. I live from one government hand-me-down to the next, or as we say in Finnish: ”kädestä suuhun”. It literally means ”from hand to mouth”. I could not possibly afford to stockpile shitload of TP or anything else, for that matter. Not that I even wanted to. I find it extremely hard to believe, that the world is going to run out of toilet paper any time soon...or...if a single drop of bat guano is going to collapse all civilization as we know it, then...maybe all this so-called ”civilization” is not so civilized to begin with... From a bystander's view, this onslaught of basic human stupidity, that this pandemic seems to have released upon us, makes it fairly easy to relate to the idea, that Mother Nature really wants us all dead. Maybe...just maybe...the real virus that is threatening all lifeforms on this blue planet is human, not some small agent that replicates inside the cell of an organism. After millennias of gang-bang-thank-you-Ma’m it's payback time?

Whatever the case, it's peculiar that, at this point, the virus seems to have entered Europe via Italy. Well, it still remains to be confirmed, but...if this actually proves to be the case, it would bear an uncanny resemblance to another historical pandemic from way back – the Black Death, that swepth across Europe in the 14th century. Well, y'know...history on repeat etc...

The Black Death, a.k.a. The Great Bubonic Plague, was the first major outbreak of a pandemic on the European continent. It probably originated somewhere along the Mongol conquest of China, due to a pathogen spillover event. Such an event most likely took place somewhere in the Hubei province in China in late 2019. A reservoir population with a high pathogen prevalence, like maybe some killer bats from outer space, or a secret military lab, came into contact with a novel and unsuspecting host population – the ordinary chinese folks doing some grocery shopping at the local market.

Back in the day, the war-mongering Mongols obviously had no clue about the correct hand washing technique, or cough etiquette. The plague spread like wildfire among the troops. It was caused by a bitchy pathogen, a bacterium called Yersinia Pestis. Eventually, the pathogen traveled down the Silk Road to the seaports of Europe, among the Mongol army. To be precise, the pathogen was actually carried by fleas that black rats were infested with. When the Mongol armies arrived at Europe, things got a bit gruesome. Djanibek Khan was the commander of a massive Crimean tatar force, that sieged the port city of Kaffa in 1348. By conducting a somewhat brutal manouver in biological warfare, Djanibek Khan's troops catapulted infected corpses over the city walls. A few infected Genoese traders managed to escape – and introduced the Black Death onto Italian soil. The rest is history.

Ok, let's assume the internet scholars, religious freaks and conspiracy theorists were right for once. Why does the entry point always have to be Italy?

It's almost as if the history of mankind wanted to suggest, that God had some serious bone to pick with the Italians. What have the Italians done in the past, that seems to have compromised the cosmic balance so seriously?

Luigi, you did not by any chance place a slice of pineapple on the pizza, did you?!?

Ever since the Dark Ages, politically motivated monoteistic religions have always blamed normal people for any kind of disasters. The concept of God's mercy is convenient in such a way, that premature death in the hands of any natural disaster would automatically grant an instant VIP-entrance to the delights of afterlife paradise, for a beliver, whereas for a non-believer it most certainly would mean a severe charcoal-grilled punishment in the never-ending flames of hell. In this respect, these so-called Abrahamic religions have not really changed in the last 4000 years. If history can teach us only one thing, it would be: the vast majority of mankind is actually dumb as shit.

So, what can I do?

Not much, except keep avoiding stupid people, as usual, and keep washing my hands as if I had a severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. Yeah, I'll just keep focus on my studies. Whenever I need a break from the depths of mechanical engineering, I'll just check on the news to see the most recent updates in this global shit show. It's funny, when I read about the history of mankind, I can't help but think, that my ancestors must have been of a special kind of stupid in many ways, indulging in a behaviour that was harmful to themselves in the long term. As I watch the stupidity of mankind unfolding right before my very eyes, I feel the occassional urge to book the next flight to Northern Italy and start licking doorknobs in the local supermarkets, relentlessly. Maybe I could wash the sour taste from my mouth with an ice-cold Corona beer, with a slice of lime in it. The path of glory has been well-defined, like aeons ago. The issue has always been how to bring everyone along for the ride. With the general attitude being ”Me first & The Gimmie Gimmies” (the best band name ever, by the way!), we're heading towards the biggest butt-fuck in the history of humanity. Maybe we'd be better off hoarding lubricant, instead of toilet paper?

[priceforrottenjudgement]

So tell me about the under represented groups present at the ESC! Are there Roma or Sámi singers? There are over 5 mil Black people in France, several million South Asians in the UK. Are they represented in the ESC? How about Jews, Muslims, people from other religious backgrounds? I don't see Europeans flying off the handle every time Eurovision is all white or someone says the g-word and calls Roma people thieves. So why the struggle now?

be me. make a post about how youre annoyed that a european festival is getting adapted by americans. have it blow up. get asks where people like this genius demand you do their homework for them and show numbers of representation in the esc.

you know what? no. you get that there isnt one giant esc committee that decides which singer goes for which country? there is a jury in each country responsible for that and im SURE they could be more diverse, im sure of it. But i can also tell you have no clue about eurovision and are just sending me this ask bc i insuted your new favourite movie or something.

esc is very political and every year there is one or multiple contestants who come with a political message. i cannot name all from the top of my head bc why the fuck would i memorise all esc contestants.

I can name one roma song from the top of my head and thats origo from 2017 sung by a hungarian roma man. 2016 had ukrainian singer jamala, a muslim woman sing about crimean tatars in her song 1944 and she won that year. On the topic of jewish people................. you get that israel is in eurovision, yes?

eurovision is nere “all-white” as you call it and the fact that you even wrote it shows that you know very little about esc and europe in general, so why even message me? go fuck yourself.

[marketingadvisorvietnam]

Portugal wins Eurovision Song Contest for the first time

Marketing Advisor đã viết bài trên http://www.ticvietnam.vn/portugal-wins-eurovision-song-contest-for-the-first-time/

Portugal wins Eurovision Song Contest for the first time

Portugal wins Eurovision Song Contest for the first time Portugal's Salvador Sobral celebrates after winning the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 14, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Gleb Garanich

Russia boycotted this year's event after Ukraine barred its contestant from entering the country.

Portugal's Salvador Sobral won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday performing a jazz-style ballad written by his sister, taking the top spot for the first time in the country's history and celebrating with a call to "put emotion back into music".

Along with singers from Italy and Bulgaria, Sobral was a favorite going into the final of the annual song fest, which was hosted in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, and he led the voting throughout the evening. Portugal finished ahead of Bulgaria and Moldova.

A soft-spoken, 27 year-old with a scraggly beard, Sobral won with "Amar Pelos Dois" ("Love For Both of Us"), sung in his native Portuguese. This is the first time Portugal won since it first entered the contest in 1964. After being announced as the winner, Sobral performed the ballad again, this time in duet with his sister Luisa.

"Music is not fireworks, music is feeling," he said after winning. "Let's put emotion back into music."

Portugal's Salvador Sobral performs the song "Amar Pelos Dois" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhi-bition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017. Photos by Reuters/Gleb Garanich

Asked later at a press conference whether he was now a national hero, he said: "Honestly man I just want to live a peaceful life, if I thought of myself as a national hero it would be a bit weird, you know."

Ukraine hosted the competition while it also fights a war, hundreds of kilometres (miles) away in the east, against Russian-backed separatists.

As is custom in the contest, geopolitics played a part.

Russia boycotted this year's event after Ukraine barred its contestant from entering the country – a symptom of the countries' toxic relations since Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014. Ukraine won last year's Eurovision with its Crimean Tatar entry Jamala.

Ukraine's Jamala performs a song as a fan attempts to show his buttocks during the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 14, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Stringer

In a grim reminder of the continued conflict in the east, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko cancelled his scheduled appearance at the competition after four civilians were killed in artillery attacks that Kiev blamed on the separatist rebels.

Bringing change

This was the 62nd edition of Eurovision, recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest-running annual TV music competition. It began in 1956 with just seven countries. Ireland have won most often – seven times in all – following by Sweden.

Sobral came into the competition having told local media that he has a heart problem, without giving details. In the run-up he wore a sweatshirt drawing attention to the migrant crisis in Europe, but was asked to stop wearing it by the organizers.

"I hope this can bring a change not only to this contest, but to music in general, and pop music," Sobral said about his win, contrasting his song to music normally pumped out "16 times a day" on radio stations.

Italy's Francesco Gabbani performs the song "Occidentali's Karma" dur-ing the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Other hopefuls this year included Italian Francesco Gabbani. He was tipped to win with a number, viewed nearly 114 million times on YouTube, that mixes Buddhist imagery with a dancing ape, and that he explained as poking fun at the West's superficial embrace of eastern culture.

Croatia's Jacques Houdek performs the song "My Friend" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibi-tion Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Jacques Houdek, known as "Mr Voice" in Croatia, blended pop and operatic singing styles in the song "My Friend". Romania fielded a duo that combined rap and yodelling.

Italy's Francesco Gabbani performs the song "Occidentali's Karma" dur-ing the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Azerbaijan's Dihaj performs the song "Skeletons" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017

Austria's Nathan Trent performs the song "Running On Air" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibi-tion Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017

Spain's Manel Navarro performs the song "Do It For Your Lover" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhi-bition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Ukraine has won the competition twice, including last year with a song about the mass deportation of Tatars from Crimea by Josef Stalin, and its winners performed on Saturday.

Moscow fielded a candidate this year who had violated Ukrainian law by performing in Crimea after the Russian takeover. Kiev accused Moscow of deliberately provoking a row.

Sweden's Robin Bengtsson performs with the song "I Can't Go On" dur-ing the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Ukraine's O.Torvald performs the song "Time" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

United Kingdom's Lucie Jones performs the song "Never Give Up On You" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the Inter-national Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Russian singer Yulia Samoylova performed in Crimea again on Tuesday, coinciding with the first Eurovision semi-final.

"I think politics shouldn't intervene," said Liza Ignatieva, a 21-year-old university student in Moscow. "But they broke the rules of the event by not letting her in. Why they invented new rules for Russia only? Yes, we have bad relations but they shouldn't do it to us."

More than 10,000 have been killed in the war between Ukraine and pro-Russian fighters that erupted in 2014 following the Maidan street protests that ousted a pro-Russian president, and the annexation of Crimea.

But during Eurovision at least, Maidan and its surrounding streets have been filled with fans. Big screens and food stalls have been set up in the center of the capital, and Ukrainian memorabilia put on sale.

"And yes, there is a war going on, but it's further, further out," said Stephanie Novak, a visiting fan from Australia.

"And I think isn't it the whole point of Eurovision to help bring Europe together? What could be better than bringing Europe to a country that is being so affected by war at the moment and to show them what a beautiful country it is."

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[marketingadvisorvietnam]

Portugal wins Eurovision Song Contest for the first time

Marketing Advisor đã viết bài trên http://www.ticvietnam.vn/portugal-wins-eurovision-song-contest-for-the-first-time/

Portugal wins Eurovision Song Contest for the first time

Portugal wins Eurovision Song Contest for the first time Portugal's Salvador Sobral celebrates after winning the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 14, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Gleb Garanich

Russia boycotted this year's event after Ukraine barred its contestant from entering the country.

Portugal's Salvador Sobral won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday performing a jazz-style ballad written by his sister, taking the top spot for the first time in the country's history and celebrating with a call to "put emotion back into music".

Along with singers from Italy and Bulgaria, Sobral was a favorite going into the final of the annual song fest, which was hosted in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, and he led the voting throughout the evening. Portugal finished ahead of Bulgaria and Moldova.

A soft-spoken, 27 year-old with a scraggly beard, Sobral won with "Amar Pelos Dois" ("Love For Both of Us"), sung in his native Portuguese. This is the first time Portugal won since it first entered the contest in 1964. After being announced as the winner, Sobral performed the ballad again, this time in duet with his sister Luisa.

"Music is not fireworks, music is feeling," he said after winning. "Let's put emotion back into music."

Portugal's Salvador Sobral performs the song "Amar Pelos Dois" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhi-bition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017. Photos by Reuters/Gleb Garanich

Asked later at a press conference whether he was now a national hero, he said: "Honestly man I just want to live a peaceful life, if I thought of myself as a national hero it would be a bit weird, you know."

Ukraine hosted the competition while it also fights a war, hundreds of kilometres (miles) away in the east, against Russian-backed separatists.

As is custom in the contest, geopolitics played a part.

Russia boycotted this year's event after Ukraine barred its contestant from entering the country – a symptom of the countries' toxic relations since Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014. Ukraine won last year's Eurovision with its Crimean Tatar entry Jamala.

Ukraine's Jamala performs a song as a fan attempts to show his buttocks during the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 14, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Stringer

In a grim reminder of the continued conflict in the east, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko cancelled his scheduled appearance at the competition after four civilians were killed in artillery attacks that Kiev blamed on the separatist rebels.

Bringing change

This was the 62nd edition of Eurovision, recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest-running annual TV music competition. It began in 1956 with just seven countries. Ireland have won most often – seven times in all – following by Sweden.

Sobral came into the competition having told local media that he has a heart problem, without giving details. In the run-up he wore a sweatshirt drawing attention to the migrant crisis in Europe, but was asked to stop wearing it by the organizers.

"I hope this can bring a change not only to this contest, but to music in general, and pop music," Sobral said about his win, contrasting his song to music normally pumped out "16 times a day" on radio stations.

Italy's Francesco Gabbani performs the song "Occidentali's Karma" dur-ing the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Other hopefuls this year included Italian Francesco Gabbani. He was tipped to win with a number, viewed nearly 114 million times on YouTube, that mixes Buddhist imagery with a dancing ape, and that he explained as poking fun at the West's superficial embrace of eastern culture.

Croatia's Jacques Houdek performs the song "My Friend" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibi-tion Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Jacques Houdek, known as "Mr Voice" in Croatia, blended pop and operatic singing styles in the song "My Friend". Romania fielded a duo that combined rap and yodelling.

Italy's Francesco Gabbani performs the song "Occidentali's Karma" dur-ing the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Azerbaijan's Dihaj performs the song "Skeletons" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017

Austria's Nathan Trent performs the song "Running On Air" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibi-tion Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017

Spain's Manel Navarro performs the song "Do It For Your Lover" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhi-bition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Ukraine has won the competition twice, including last year with a song about the mass deportation of Tatars from Crimea by Josef Stalin, and its winners performed on Saturday.

Moscow fielded a candidate this year who had violated Ukrainian law by performing in Crimea after the Russian takeover. Kiev accused Moscow of deliberately provoking a row.

Sweden's Robin Bengtsson performs with the song "I Can't Go On" dur-ing the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Ukraine's O.Torvald performs the song "Time" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

United Kingdom's Lucie Jones performs the song "Never Give Up On You" during the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final at the Inter-national Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, May 13, 2017.

Russian singer Yulia Samoylova performed in Crimea again on Tuesday, coinciding with the first Eurovision semi-final.

"I think politics shouldn't intervene," said Liza Ignatieva, a 21-year-old university student in Moscow. "But they broke the rules of the event by not letting her in. Why they invented new rules for Russia only? Yes, we have bad relations but they shouldn't do it to us."

More than 10,000 have been killed in the war between Ukraine and pro-Russian fighters that erupted in 2014 following the Maidan street protests that ousted a pro-Russian president, and the annexation of Crimea.

But during Eurovision at least, Maidan and its surrounding streets have been filled with fans. Big screens and food stalls have been set up in the center of the capital, and Ukrainian memorabilia put on sale.

"And yes, there is a war going on, but it's further, further out," said Stephanie Novak, a visiting fan from Australia.

"And I think isn't it the whole point of Eurovision to help bring Europe together? What could be better than bringing Europe to a country that is being so affected by war at the moment and to show them what a beautiful country it is."

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