#Yalta rest

[searuss8]

Сезонные водопады на карнизах Штангеевской тропы Ялта Крым 🍎

[sgiandubh]

Speed Bonnie Boat

The irony has not escaped me, that Baby and I finally made it back home on the 278th anniversary of the Battle of Culloden. Of course, nothing of this was planned - how could we? it's way above our heads, literally -, but didn't we laugh, Baby and me and Shipper Mom, finally content to have all the menagerie in one place, now cracking at its seams with unpacked boxes, tchotchkes, and irrelevant shite (why did I even pack this?).

You know this land is your land, when you finally start to see this, through the windshield: the glorious canola fields of the Deep South, near the Danube - my grandma's feisty, quick-witted and generous people's territory.

Uncharacteristically, I realized I came to Athens on a very unlikely Dubliner autumn and went back home on a very unlikely early summer April. Helps with the overall surreal impression:

All the roads leading to Rome, we can almost say "Hello, the house" in this pic. Smack dab downtown, where everything happens:

And then, the Jihad, between Lola the corgi and Baby the 'beige' (Greek passport says so) lab. This old lady is not really thrilled:

And for much of the rest of the tired, yawny human evening, the state of play was protracted war and a difficult Yalta negotiation of sorts:

Pasha ran in the shadows of the kitchen corridor. Nothing to report yet and unable to document properly: at night, all cats are black, says the Chinese proverb.

I have roughly two months to make this happen. For now, they can work with staying together in the same room and I think the one who's going to offer a truce is the Greek. With all this, I forgot to pour myself that Laphroaig. #Silly

'Carried the lad who's born to be king/Over the sea to Skye...'

PS: To all of you who offered their warmth and thoughts and even prayers, let it be known you are deeply loved by all of us. This land is also yours, my house is your house. No questions asked. We're good people. You will always find a spot for the outlander at a Romanian table and we like them long and boisterous. Mark me.

[loiladadiani]

"In St. Petersburg we work, but at Livadia, we live."

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna

In 1909, Nikolay Krasnov, who was responsible for the Yousupoff Palace in Koreiz, was engaged to design a new imperial palace in Livadia (before that, there had been an imperial residence in Livadia consisting of a large and a small palace used by Alexander II and later by Alexander III, who died at the smaller residence.) When Nicholas II decided to build the new palace, he also demolished the older residence but left the small palace where his father died.

The Tsar's diary indicates that the Imperial Family discussed the design; it was decided that all four façades of the palace should look different. After 17 months of construction, the new palace was inaugurated on 11 September 1911. In November, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna celebrated her 16th birthday at Livadia.

The family was always the happiest at Livadia.

One of the Tsar's "motors" at Livadia. If you look carefully, you can see the "side of the palace" where the car is parked and the main entrance in both the contemporary colored and black and white photos.

Above is the beautiful Italian Courtyard of the palace as it stands today. If you look at pictures taken when the Romanovs used the palace, the centerpiece of the courtyard was different. Today, there is a fountain at the center. Examining the older pictures (below), you can see that there seemed to be what I can only describe as a "well" at the center of the courtyard. There was a column on each side of the well. In one of the photos below, you can see Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich; he had his own rooms at the Livadia Palace.

Nicholas II and his family were so at ease at Livadia that they also conducted some minor official functions in addition to family activities. When the family went to Livadia, they usually went as far as Yalta by sea; it is easy to infer that the official activities they conducted were related to the crew of the Standart. In addition, at the time, it was believed that mountain air and rest could cure tuberculosis, and there were several spas and sanatoria in the mountains in the area. The Empress and the girls visited the sick there (they also participated in other charitable activities.)

The Yousupov family gifted the beautiful door above to Nicholas and Alexandra. The painting next to it is from a beautiful book by Kravnov ("Fiftieth Anniversary of Yalta"), who worked on the palace's design (and on that of the Crimean summer residences of several Grand Dukes.) The window is also featured in the painting.

The "solarium" seems to have been a very popular area. Nicholas and his children preferred the outdoors, and Livadia seemed to provide the Empress with the perfect environment to get sun and fresh air in comfort regardless of her many ailments.

This is the "Moorish" courtyard of the palace. It is small, but notice the exquisite tilework on the walls. And, of course, the little balcony between the windows seemed perfect to Alexis for him to "address" his family.

The palace had a chapel so that the Romanov family could worship in privacy.

A few of the interiors of the palace. The chandelier is Murano Glass (amazing that it survived all these years.) Olga's coming-of-age celebration took place in Livadia in the formal dining room in the photograph above, dancing spilling into the flower-perfumed courtyard. That is a luxury of the type you cannot buy! The girls' rooms are currently being restored. There are pictures of the rooms as they were, but I was not sure they were from Livadia, so I did not include them.

Finally, some photos of the "Tsar's Path" (or Sunny Path), which exists to this day (it goes from Livadia Park to the city of Gaspra.) The family loved to walk this path (regardless of its name, it is not sunny but pleasantly breezy). This path is on one level so that anybody can walk it, regardless of their cardiovascular status. I have read two stories about how it "emerged," and as usual, the truth is probably in the middle. First story: The new Livadia Palace did not exist yet, but the Romanovs used the old palace and always loved coming to Livadia. Alexander III kept gaining weight, and his doctor recommended that he walk but not overdo it...so Alexander had the path leveled. The path's beginning and end differed from what they would be later. Second Story: Sandro had the path from Ay Todor toward Livadia built because Nicholas and Sandro's families always visited each other (they started calling it the Prince's Path.) Nicholas loved the idea and extended the path.

Today, the main path remains, and other routes to other small towns can be hiked from it. Many of the same benches and sculptures are where they were at the time of the Romanovs.

Just one last photo. Here, you can see how close the palace is to the mountains and the sea. A beautiful big house full of fresh air and light with flowers perfuming the air. No wonder Olga liked it so much! (gcl)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Dove of Peace by Picasso

* * * *

World peace is not a party question. [...] The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one Nation. It cannot be just an American peace, or a British peace, or a Russian, a French, or a Chinese peace. It cannot be a peace of large Nations- or of small Nations. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world. It cannot be a structure of complete perfection at first. But it can be a peace—and it will be a peace—based on the sound and just principles of the Atlantic Charter— on the concept of the dignity of the human being—and on the guarantees of tolerance and freedom of religious worship. [...] We shall have to take the responsibility for world collaboration, or we shall have to bear the responsibility for another world conflict. [...] Peace can endure only so long as humanity really insists upon it, and is willing to work for it—and sacrifice for it.

—Franklin D Roosevelt, Address to Congress concerning the Yalta Conference, Mar 1, 1945

[promises-of-paradise]

Felix Yusupov on his escape to Crimea following the February Revolution

In the spring of 1917, many people left St. Petersburg and sought refuge in the Crimea. The Grand Duchess Xenia and her three eldest sons, with my parents and Irina and I, followed the general exodus. The wave of revolution had not yet reached southern Russia, and the Crimea was comparatively safe. My young brothers-in-law, who had remained at Ai-Todor, told us that when news of the Revolution reached the Crimea the inhabitants of the two neighbouring villages came to congratulate them on the change of regime - singing the Marseillaise and waving red flags. M. Niquille, their Swiss tutor, took the children and their governesses out onto a balcony from which he harangued the crowd. His country, he said, had been a republic for three hundred years, everyone there was perfectly happy and he wished the same to the Russian people. Frenzied applause greeted this speech. Feeling extremely embarrassed, the poor boys did not know which way to look, but it all ended peaceably and the enthusiastic demonstrators went home singing the Marseillaise.

The Dowager Empress, accompanied by my father-in-law [Grand Duke Alexander], her youngest daughter, the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, and the latter's husband, Colonel Kulikovsky, also arrived at Ai-Todor. After the Emperor was arrested, the [Dowager] Empress Maria, who wanted to be as near her son as possible, stubbornly refused to leave Kyiv. Fortunately the Government ordered all members of the Imperial family then in Kyiv to leave the town. The local Soviet having given their approval, preparations were made for leaving at once, but it was not an easy matter to persuade the Empress to go. Life in the Crimea was peaceful enough until May. But, as our stay there threatened to be a long one, I thought I ought to see what was happening to our house on the Moika and also to the hospital in our house in Liteinaya Street. I left for St. Petersburg with my brother-in-law Fyodor, who insisted on coming with me. I brought back with me two Rembrandts, which were among the finest portraits in our picture gallery: "The Man in the Large Hat" and "The Woman with the Fan." Unframed and rolled up, the paintings were easy to carry.

Our journey back to the Crimea took place under most unpleasant conditions. A crowd of soldiers who had demobilized themselves, but kept their arms, filled the train. There were as many piled on the roofs of the coaches as inside them. In fact one coach collapsed under their weight. As they were all more or less intoxicated, several fell off during the journey. The farther south we went, the more crowded the train became, chiefly owing to the civilians who were seeking shelter in the Crimea. Eight of us, including an old woman and two children, were huddled together in what was once a compartment of a sleeping car. We reached the Crimea at the same time as the all too famous Breshko-Breshkovskaya, nicknamed "the grandmother of the Russian Revolution," who came to the Crimea for a rest after her long imprisonment in Siberia. She traveled in the Imperial train, and Kerensky had placed the Palace of Livadia at her disposal. The city of Yalta, gay with red bunting, turned out to give this old termagant a rousing welcome. The most ridiculous stories went round about the Breshkovskaya. Popular report had it that she was the daughter of Napoleon I and a Muscovite shop assistant*. On arriving at the station in Yalta, the crowds hailed her with cries of "Long live Napoleon!"

While we were in St. Petersburg, an alarming incident had disturbed the peaceful life of Ai-Todor. One morning at dawn, my father-in-law was wakened by the barrel of a revolver being pressed against his forehead. A band of sailors, sent by the Sebastopol Soviet with a search warrant, had invaded the house. The Grand Duke was requested to hand over his keys and any arms he might possess. The Dowager Empress was forced to get up and allow her bed to be searched. Standing behind a screen and powerless to protest, she saw the leader of the gang make off with her papers and private correspondence; he had already taken all my father-in-law's papers. He even seized an old Bible which the Empress had had with her since the day she left Denmark to marry the Emperor Alexander III. The search lasted the whole morning. Nothing was found in the way of weapons excepting some twenty old Winchester rifles which came from a yacht my father-in-law used to own. In the afternoon the officer commanding the search party, an extremely disagreeable and arrogant man, informed the Grand Duke that he was obliged to arrest the Empress - "Maria Fyodorovna," as he called her - as she had, according to him, insulted the Provisional Government. My father-in-law managed with great difficulty to calm him down. He reminded him that it was not customary to allow sailors to enter an old lady's room at five in the morning, and that it was natural for her to resent it. This individual was to rise to an important post in the Bolshevik government, but eventually came to a bad end and was shot. That the Provisional Government had allowed Ai-Todor to be searched was a further proof of their weakness. Acting on trumped-up information about the anti-revolutionary activities of my father-in-law's family, the St. Petersburg Soviet had insisted on a search warrant being issued by the Crimean authorities. On hearing of what had happened, Irina hastened to Ai-Todor, but was not allowed to enter. There were guards at every entrance and even on the little footpaths known only to those familiar with the estate. It was only when the search party had left that she was able to join her family.

From then on, the inmates of Ai-Todor were subjected to every kind of annoyance. A guard of some twenty soldiers and sailors, all of them rough and insolent, settled down on the estate. The commissar who accompanied them produced a set of regulations by which the prisoners had to abide. After a list of things they were not allowed to do, came the names of the people they were permitted to receive: Irina, myself, the boys' tutors, the doctor and certain tradesmen. From time to time, and without the shadow of a reason, they were forbidden to see anyone, even Irina; then, without further explanation, the ban was lifted.

On my return to the Crimea, when Irina told me what was happening, we agreed that she ought to see Kerensky and ask him to intervene. So we left for St. Petersburg once more, but it was a whole month before Irina could get an audience with the head of the Provisional Government. On reaching the Winter Palace she met a few old servants whose joy on seeing her again was very touching. She was shown into the Emperor Alexander II's study. Kerensky came in almost immediately; he was most polite and even a little embarrassed. He asked his visitor to sit down, and she immediately chose her great-grandfather's armchair, thereby obliging the head of the Government to take the seat reserved for visitors. As soon as he understood what had brought her, Kerensky tried to explain that it was no responsibility of his. But Irina paid no attention and continued her narrative without sparing him a single detail. In the end she had to be satisfied with his promise to do what he could, and left her ancestors' palace forever, after saying goodbye to the staff for the last time.

In spite of what was happening and the general uneasiness, social gatherings were numerous in St. Petersburg. Even during the darkest days, young people must find an outlet for their high spirits. Small parties were given almost every night, either at the Moika or at the houses of friends who were still in town. We even spent an evening at Tsarskoe Selo with the Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich. After dinner his two daughters Irina and Natalia** gave a charming performance of a French play written for them by their brother Vladimir. The Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich paid us long visits, always thundering against everything and everybody. Toward the end of our stay in St. Petersburg the Bolsheviks made their first attempt to seize power. Trucks filled with troops drove through the city, shooting off machine guns; soldiers crouching on the running boards shot at any unfortunate pedestrians who had failed to take cover. The streets were strewn with the dead and wounded; the capital was in a state of panic. This time, however, the insurrection petered out and comparative calm was restored for a time.

Shortly after this, we returned to the Crimea. During our absence an inquiry had been held at Ai-Todor, following a complaint lodged by my father-in-law about thefts committed by the search party in May. All the inmates of the house were questioned separately. When the Dowager Empress' turn came she was requested to sign her statement: "the ex-Empress Maria." She picked up a pen and signed: "the widow of Emperor Alexander III." It was not till a month later that Kerensky's emissary arrived on the scene. He was scared of everybody and everything, and did nothing whatever to improve conditions.

In August we heard that the Tsar and his family had been taken to Tobolsk, in Siberia. Whether this measure had been forced upon the Government by the Bolsheviks or whether, as Kerensky stated, it was a first step toward action against them, it was impossible not to be extremely anxious about their fate. King George V had invited them to come to England, but this had met with the opposition of the British government in the person of Lloyd George. The King of Spain had also offered them hospitality, but the Emperor had refused, saying that no matter what happened neither he nor his family would ever leave Russia.

When autumn came, I decided to go to St. Petersburg again; I wanted to find a hiding place for our jewels and more valuable objets d'art. When I arrived I set to work at once with the help of the most trustworthy of our servants. I then went to the Anichkov Palace and took out of its frame, and rolled up, a large portrait of the Emperor Alexander III which the Empress Marie was particularly fond of and had asked me to bring back with me. Unfortunately I came too late to save her jewels; they had been taken to Moscow by order of the Provisional Government. [...] Before leaving Moscow I had a long talk with the Grand Duchess Elisabeth, whom I found full of courage. She had few illusions about the seriousness of the situation and was greatly alarmed over the fate of the Emperor and his family. After a short prayer in the chapel I took leave of the Grand Duchess, with a heavy foreboding that I should never see her again.***

*Breshkovskaya was in fact born in 1844, over 30 years after Napoleon's invasion of Russia.

**Natalia Paley later became a model and actress in France and America.

***his foreboding was correct. Grand Duchess Elisabeth was murdered in Siberia in 1918.

source: Lost Splendour by Felix Yusupov, chapter 26

[a-tale-never-told]

Yalta, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 1030:am August 31st, 2012.

*As a Gaz 13 Chaika limousine drives down the mountain roads to its destination, one man is preparing himself. He is wearing a business suit with a fedora, has small eye contacts, a little mustache, and a briefcase. This is Shinjo Nomuri, the general secretary of the Communist Party of North Japan*

*Nomuri had been earlier confronted from the airport by a few Kgb guards, who said that their boss asked for a meeting with Shinjo and that he sent them to pick him up. Shinjo went alone quietly, fearing they would kill him if he tried*.

*Eventually, they reach the destination, a huge Dacha that is with a Lenin statue standing in front of the entrance and all the other cars parked near the clearing. Watchmen and Security armed with AKM assault rifles and Mosin Nagant Rifles watch closely at the car.*

*One of the men steps out of the car, a Kgb escort, and looks at Shinjo*.

Kgb guard: Мы прибыли, сэр. Выйти из машины ( We've arrived sir, get out of the car)

*Shinjo nods and steps out of the limo, escorted by Kgb. One of the guards looks at the security and waves his hand at them. Upon seeing the Signal, they let him through*

*They enter inside the hallways of the Dacha and proceed to walk to the office. Inside the hallways lining them up are pictures and paintings of famous hallmarks of Soviet history, such as the 1917 October Revolution, a Stalin-era building of the 1930s, and the Soviet flag being hoisted on the Reichstag. the detonation of the first Soviet nuclear device, a scene of Sputnik 1 in space, Yuri Andropov giving a speech to a crowd of Kazaks in the Kazak SSR, and more*

*Eventually, they reach the office where the front entrance is guarded by two Kgb guards wielding assault rifles. The escort looks at the guards as they proceed to check if they have any weapons hidden in the suit *.

Kgb guard : Он с нами. Товарищ Николай просил о срочной встрече с ним ( He's with us. Comrade Nikolai requested to see him for something urgent)

*One of the guards looks at Shinjo intently and then goes inside the office for a bit. A few minutes pass untill the guard comes out of the room*

Kgb guard: Товарищ Николай попросил пригласить его. ( Comrade Nikolai has asked to send him in)

Kgb guard: Понял ( Understood)

*With that, the guards pass so that the door is opened by the escort. entering the office. Behind the desk, is a portrait of Leon Trotsky, while the rest of the room has two paintings depicting the Soviet countryside. Sitting at the desk signing papers, is a 6ft skinny yet well-built tall man wearing a Soviet officer uniform, with his black hair and surprisingly youthful face concentrated on signing the documents*

Nikolai: Господин Генеральный секретарь, присядьте, пожалуйста.( Mr. General Secretary, have a seat please)

*Shinjo does as asked and proceeds to take his seat thus kickstarting the meeting*.

[blickarmenie]

Jour 8

Ce jour, je le consacre à l'identité culturelle arménienne... Que peut bien cacher ce titre ronflant? Et si j'abordais un faiseur de croix?

Les croix en pierre, nommées Khatckar,  sont des prodiges ancestraux d'entrelacement, et surtout l'un des symboles qui affirme l'identité de ce pays. Je découvre Hambik dans son atelier que bien sûr j'ai eu du mal à trouver. Qui peut se douter qu'au rebord de l'élégante allée pleine de fontaines aux jets variés, qu'entre les kiosques premium, qu'entre les élégances actuelles et bruyantes, sur le bord du trottoir, de l'autre coté du nouvel immeuble audacieux, en fait, se cache un quartier très ancien et totalement invisible du promeneur qui, trop attiré par les vertiges du neuf, ne peut distinguer la muraille en bois protégeant l'intimité des irréductibles.

"C'est nouveau toute cette merde. Moi j'ai grandi ici, et tout le monde se connaissait et toutes les maisons étaient sans étage. Erevan s'est inversé. Les vrais habitants sont tous partis soit à Los Angeles soit dans les villages. Mais mon atelier, je le garde ici. Mon père faisait des croix. Je continue. Regarde, une seule croix pèse 800kg. Celle là va partir en Amérique. Il y a longtemps, je suis entrée au séminaire. Je voulais être Katolikos, le pape de l'église arménienne. Puis j'ai vu que les textes servaient juste à contrôler les personnes. Puis ils ont eu peur alors ils m'ont expulsé. Mais les prêtres continuent de venir me voir. Mais je dit à tout le monde que ce sont des menteurs. Et je fais des croix. Je ne travaille pas... en fait, je m'amuse. Ah, voici ma seconde femme, tu as vu ma première épouse. Mon désir est d'avoir 7 enfants. Par les temps actuels, une femme ne suffit pas pour ce projet donc j'en ai 2. Oui, au début ce fut compliqué mais maintenant c'est accepté. Et j'ai déjà 2 enfants. Lora est enceinte.

... Bonjour Lora, dis je à la belle sortie d'un film des années 30.

... Lora : d'où je viens? Je suis née à Yalta donc en Union soviétique, puis je suis devenue ukrainienne et comme j'habitais en Crimée, je me suis transformée en russe. Non je n'ai pas fui. Je suis ici car j'aime ce pays, je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais oui....

... Hambik: tout n'est que mensonge sauf ce que je fais de mes mains et c'est pour cela que chacune de mes croix est unique.

Faire par ses propres mains, voilà ce que je désire répandre auprès de la nouvelle génération, m'explique Koryun.

Lui, il est analyste financier. Il travaille 4 à 5h dans ce domaine, puis il descend tout en bas pour participer à la gestion du projet d'éducation artistique qu'il a lancé il y a 15 ans.

Faire par ses mains sinon toute notre identité va disparaitre. Il ne nous reste que ça. Maintenant, les écrans attaquent nos traditions. Tout devient pareil partout. C'est un grand danger. Mais avant, les Turcs nous ont massacré. Aujourd'hui, les azéris veulent nous détruire. Avant, Staline a voulu enterré nos musiques et nos danses. Mais en secret, les anciens ont conservé la mémoire.

Une de mes équipes a d'ailleurs recueilli de nombreux chants dans les villages. Tiens, voici un livre pour toi, avec des chants et avec le QR code tu as l'audio. C'est fait par les mains des élèves. On a des professionnels qui viennent les aider.

Le prototype de cours d'art inclus dans ce collège, tout ce que je te montre, c'est pour prouver au gouvernement que c'est possible, que cela a des résultats et que l'on peut répandre le programme dans toutes les écoles.

Nous on veut élever les âmes par la culture. On veut transmettre la beauté de nos chants, de nos histoires... Les actualiser.

Nous ne sommes pas des conquérants. Nous voulons juste vivre tranquillement.

Qu'est ce qu'ils ont les politiciens à vouloir nous forcer à haïr notre voisin? C'est eux qu'on devrait abattre!

[defactotl]

Inflexibilité persistante : la page indomptable du Likoud .

Malgré l'échec de la communauté internationale depuis le début du conflit actuel à trouver l'esquisse d'une solution, ne serait-ce qu'avec une orientation visant à prévenir une escalade extrême dans l'ensemble de la région du Proche-Orient, il faut dire que le texte prudent proposé par Malte, qui a fini par s'imposer, a réussi à naviguer au milieu d'une paralysie atroce du Conseil de Sécurité depuis l'annexion de la Crimée par la Russie en 2014, une situation qui perdure et s'aggrave toujours.

Depuis environ une décennie, le système international semble être en état d'agonie de plus en plus ressentie.

Aucune résolution de l'ONU n'a pu être adoptée en 2022 pour condamner l'invasion russe d'une partie de l'Ukraine, ni pour dénoncer les bombardements massifs de la population civile à Gaza par les Israéliens. La guerre se poursuit alors que le droit international ainsi que le système international laissent à désirer. Dans cette situation de fragilité du normativisme sur la scène internationale, la dramatisation atteint des sommets. La brutalisation s'accompagne largement d'une hyper-victimisation. Les Russes affirment mener une guerre contre les nazis en Ukraine, tandis que les Israéliens comparent le Hamas aux nazis.

Cette légèreté dans la manière dont la mémoire du national-socialisme allemand est reprise de manière généralisée, sans considération appropriée, est très symptomatique. Cela contribue à créer un effet analogique avec la situation qui prévalait à la veille de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Cependant, le système international qui a été mis en place à la fin de cette guerre, lors des conférences de Yalta et de Potsdam, semble plus obsolète, périmé et dysfonctionnel que jamais. Pourtant, des alternatives ne semblent en aucun cas être à portée de vue.

Le monde se retrouve maintenant pris en étau entre une guerre prolongée en Ukraine, qui pourrait durer de nombreuses années encore, et une guerre massive contre Gaza. Les mécanismes de freinage et les garanties pour éviter l'extension de cette guerre et sa généralisation dans un conflit total et régional restent insuffisants.

Les deux conflits menés simultanément à présent l'un en Ukraine l'autre au Proche-Orient flirtent sérieusement avec la logique du choc des civilisations, à condition de pouvoir facilement échanger l'étiquette de civilisation contre celle de barbarie. Dans les deux cas, l'Occident est impliqué dans une confrontation avec une partie d'une autre civilisation. Cependant, si par rapport à la guerre russe en Ukraine, une partie du monde, soit le "Rest" par opposition au "West" semblait plus ambiguë et hésitante, dans le conflit actuel, la division est plutôt présente au sein dans ce 'Reste' globale.

En Inde, on peux mieux constater qu'Israël a réussi à gagner le soutien d'une partie du Sud Global, comprenant l'Inde de la Hindutva ainsi qu'une variété de pays africains subsahariens.

Cependant, le consensus occidental en faveur du soutien à Israël est destiné à être érodé par des dissensions internes avec le temps, même si la principale limitation de cette solidarité occidentale envers l'État hébreu provient de la droite au pouvoir en Israël même. Celle-ci n'aspire surtout pas à se retrouver dans une situation où l'après Hamas à Gaza lui imposerait un engagement dans un sens redonnant vie à la solution des deux États.

Une pacification consentie par la communauté occidentale, même si elle est réalisée par des moyens des plus brutaux, est à craindre et à rejeter par cette droite, car elle pourrait lui imposer des concessions susceptibles d'attiser la suspicion, et ultérieurement, de conduire à une confrontation avec la société des colons en Cisjordanie, qui représente, y compris pour le Likoud même, le potentiel d'un autre Hamas.

Au cours de la dernière décennie, Israël a semblé snober l'Occident et éprouver une méfiance envers ses élites au pouvoir.

Ses dirigeants et meneurs d'opinion ont critiqué inlassablement le

droit-de-l'hommisme européen, réagissant comme outragés envers l'accord sur le nucléaire iranien d'Obama, et ne se sont même pas sentis à l'aise avec le plan de paix de Trump et de son gendre!

Trump avait surpassé ses prédécesseurs dans son enthousiasme envers l'État hébreu en reconnaissant la souveraineté israélienne sur le plateau du Golan syrien occupé, malgré la résolution de l'ONU condamnant cette occupation, et en déplaçant l'ambassade américaine à Jérusalem.

Le gouvernement israélien avait cherché à promouvoir des relations diplomatiques ouvertes avec les monarchies du Golfe, tout en évitant tout engagement susceptible de conduire à la création d'un État, même s'il s'agissait d'un micro-État disséminé ou de faible envergure, dans les territoires occupés en 1967.

Puis, la guerre menée par la Russie contre l'Ukraine a surgi. Israël n'a pas suivi de manière catégorique le consensus occidental hostile à la Russie, adoptant une position ambiguë similaire à celle de nombreux autres pays du Moyen-Orient et du Global South.

L'état hébreu a évité de compromettre ses relations avec Moscou, ce qui lui a valu des critiques répétées de la part du président ukrainien Zelensky.

Soudainement, tout a changé à la suite d'attaques sans précédent et de la prise de deux cents otages. Israël s'est senti plus ébranlé que jamais, cherchant un soutien accru de la part de l'Occident, en particulier des Américains. Joe Biden a montré lors de sa visite à Jérusalem au lendemain des attaques du Hamas un engagement indélébile envers Israël, supervisant une campagne de destruction massive contre Gaza. Cependant, rien de tout cela ne pouvait remédier à la divergence entre les deux perspectives.

Pour les Américains, une fin dans la terreur est préférable à une terreur sans fin. Elle pourrait ouvrir la voie à un règlement final qui permettrait la coexistence d'un État palestinien light, d'une part, et d'un État israélien infiniment plus musclé.

Cependant, cette perspective n'est pas partagée par le Likoud. Laissez-moi expliquer. En tant que forme d'extrémisme, le Likoud incarne l'extrémisme consistant à éviter toute décision définitive.

Il refuse de trancher de manière irrévocable et de préciser les engagements mutuels nécessaires, que ce soit concernant le statut de Gaza ou celui de la Cisjordanie.

Pour le Likoud, les territoires occupés en 1967 devraient demeurer dans un état de limbes perpétuelles, figés dans un état de transition sans fin, un chantier ouvert et une grande prison.

Le Likoud n'est aucunement enthousiaste à l'idée qu'en éliminant le Jihad islamique à Gaza, on pourrait restaurer les chances d'un règlement raisonnable du conflit avec un partenaire palestinien plus raisonnable. Ce que le Likoud s'efforce de prouver depuis deux décennies, sans relâche, c'est qu'un tel partenaire n'existe pas et n'existera pas. Ceux de Ramallah sont trop mous, même à son goût, ceux de Gaza sont trop brutaux et nihilistes.

Le Likoud est fermement convaincu que rechercher un partenaire palestinien pour la paix est une perte de temps et d'énergie, alors qu'il est ouvert à poursuivre des efforts de paix avec les monarchies du monde arabe.

Pour Netanyahou, tout comme avant lui pour Begin, la perspective de paix est souhaitée et considérée comme réalisable avec les pays arabes, mais sans la nécessité d'inclure les Palestiniens dans ce processus.

Cette perspective visant à atteindre la paix sans impliquer les Palestiniens porte la plus grande responsabilité dans l'actuel enlisement sombre et sanglant.

Pour le Likoud c'est exactement le contraire: éliminer le Hamas pourrait ouvrir des opportunités pour la paix avec les monarchies, à condition de ne pas risquer la création d'un État palestinien. Pour le Likoud, éviter toute concession aux Palestiniens est crucial afin d'éviter tout affrontement potentiel avec les colons de Cisjordanie.

Ces colons incarnent à la fois l'extension de l'État et une situation de non-État, voire d'anti-État. La perte de contrôle sur ces colons est une préoccupation majeure en Israël. Pour l'aile droite du sionisme, notamment pour le sionisme révisionniste, un Israël sans la Cisjordanie demeure un État incomplet, un État hors de soi-même. En revanche, pour le Likoud, la Cisjordanie ne doit ni être pleinement annexée à Israël ni être cédée aux Palestiniens. Elle est plutôt un laboratoire permanent où la société des colons est appelée à changer la donne, un processus exigeant plusieurs générations.

Cependant, ces colons ont développé un sentiment de méfiance envers tous les gouvernements d'Israël, ainsi qu'envers le monopole de la violence légitime détenu par l'État. Ironiquement, ils semblent davantage soutenir le modèle milicien prévalant dans les pays de la région. Ce caractère milicien de la société des colons en Cisjordanie, combiné à une intransigeance idéologique et religieuse directement liée à une interprétation biblique d'action directe issue du Livre de Josué, pourrait nourrir les pires extravagances.

Si ces colons devaient s'inspirer de l'incident de Babri Masjid en Inde en 1992 pour entreprendre une action similaire d'escalade dans l'enceinte du sanctuaire des patriarches à Hébron (al-Khalil) ou même mettre en danger la mosquée al-Aqsa de Jérusalem, cela pourrait susciter une inquiétude dépassant largement les frontières israéliennes, pouvant potentiellement affecter le monde entier d'une rage non expérimentée jusqu'à présent.

L'incident de Babri Masjid en Inde en 1992 a été une tragédie où une mosquée, la Babri Masjid, située à Ayodhya, a été détruite par des extrémistes hindous qui affirmaient que l'emplacement était le lieu de naissance du dieu Rama. Cette destruction a déclenché des violences et des tensions religieuses majeures à travers le pays, causant des pertes en vies humaines. Certains colons extrémistes pourraient être tentés de s'inspirer de cet événement pour promouvoir leurs conceptions des choses, notamment à l'égard d'al-Aqsa, en justifiant leurs actions par des croyances mythico-historiques frustrées.

Même si la guerre se déroule à Gaza et contre Gaza, l'enjeu essentiel demeure en Cisjordanie. Pour Israël, la guerre à Gaza va se poursuivre jusqu'à la destruction de la direction militaire du Hamas. Paradoxalement, la recomposition du mouvement après le démantèlement du noyau militaire dure en question semble plus réaliste et moins hasardeuse que la résurrection du Fatah.

Quant au Hamas, jusqu'à présent, tout porte à croire que l'axe iranien, tout en inspirant d'une part la volonté et le momentum de l'escalade et en nourrissant cette vision apocalyptique de l'amplification de la lutte, n'était pas conscient de l'ampleur préméditée de l'escalade une fois mise en exécution, ce qui a surpris tout le monde.

Toutefois, ceci engendre une problématique étant donné que ladite décision a été arrêtée par la faction militaire sans impliquer préalablement l'aile politique du mouvement, opérant ainsi en doublant la substitution vis-à-vis des résidents de l'enclave assiégée

Jusqu'au 7 octobre, l'essentiel du conflit se déroulait entre les formations pro-iraniennens et Israël dans le cadre d'une guerre statique. Le Hamas a ensuite opté pour une stratégie offensive absolue, passant d'une guerre de position à une guerre de mouvement. Bien que cette action ait infligé un coup psychologique traumatisant pour Israël, elle limite les options pour contrer le rapport de force militaro-technologique qui reste largement en faveur d'Israël.

Cependant, plutôt que de se désinvestir vis-à-vis du Hamas, l'axe iranien opte pour persévérer dans une stratégie de guerre d'usure et de guerre de positions, tout en élaborant une approche opérationnelle transcendant les frontières, impliquant les entités affiliées à cet axe en Irak, au Liban et au Yémen. Mais pour le Hamas, est-il encore envisageable de rétrograder de la guerre de mouvement vers la guerre des positions ? Cela demeure incertain. Toutefois, parvenir à éliminer définitivement le mouvement demeure un défi difficile à concrétiser. Il est également nécessaire de considérer la possibilité de susciter, dans les territoires Palestiniens occupés, un mouvement similaire à celui du mouvement islamique à l'intérieur d'Israël.

Dans son ouvrage 'The Paradox of Liberation' paru en 1995, le philosophe politique américain Michel Walzer a choisi d'étudier simultanément l'évolution des mouvements de libération en Inde, en Israël et en Algérie. L'insertion d'Israël dans une comparaison avec les mouvements de libération nationale en Inde et en Algérie est sans doute révoltante pour les Arabes, en particulier pour les Palestiniens, pour qui Israël représente un fait colonial et non pas un État né d'une lutte anticoloniale, contrairement à ce que soutient la rhétorique officielle en Israël. Néanmoins, sur le plan de la représentation des choses, le sionisme s'est bel et bien présenté comme un mouvement de libération nationale, tout comme les deux autres mouvements étudiés par Walzer. Il a évolué d'une période où il était sous l'influence d'une idéologie laïque et progressiste, vers une époque marquée par la montée en puissance du sionisme révisionniste, de plus en plus imprégné du revivalisme biblique.

Cette guerre actuelle semble incapable de générer des réactions assez fortes pour inverser cette tendance, même si, en théorie, elle remet en question des décennies entières où les idées concernant les droits nationaux et la construction nationale étaient subordonnées à des dynamiques de revivalisme mythologique davantage que religieux.

De plus, le camp pour la paix en Israël a fait naufrage avant même l'avortement du processus de paix entre le gouvernement travailliste et l'autorité de Yasser Arafat.

Depuis l'assassinat d'Yitzhak Rabin en 1995, l'assassin a imposé sa logique à toute la société : aucun individu ne devrait consentir à la moindre concession sur les terres occupées en 1967, même celui qui était le chef d'État-major pendant cette guerre, sous peine de provoquer une guerre civile. Ainsi, selon cette logique, l'assassinat de Rabin aurait été un acte visant à préserver la paix civile en Israël! Le parti de Rabin, et à sa gauche, le mouvement de la paix, n'ont pas réussi à inverser cette logique ni à prouver que c'est avec la paix avec la Palestine que la cohésion sociale israélienne sera préservée.

Le mouvement pour la paix en Israël est apparu à la fin des années 70 selon trois logiques distinctes. D'abord, d'anciens officiers et des sionistes déterminés, irrités par la défaite de la gauche sioniste aux élections de 1977 face à Begin, ont commencé à envisager qu'une réponse à la droitisation d'Israël pourrait être la réalisation d'une paix avec les Palestiniens. Cette paix serait vue comme une entente entre deux mouvements de libération nationaux qui, bien qu'ayant longtemps été en opposition, se verraient contraints de conclure à une coexistence pacifique en fin de compte.

Deuxièmement, des "nouveaux historiens" et des "post-sionistes" ont entrepris une démarche inverse, choisissant de déconstruire la grande narrative sur la guerre de 1948 en tant que guerre d'indépendance et de décolonisation.

Troisièmement, certains se sont réjouis de la visite de Sadate et de son discours à Jérusalem, ainsi que de la signature de la paix avec l'Égypte, mais sont restés perplexes car le gouvernement de droite cherchait la paix avec l'Égypte sans pour autant envisager la même démarche avec les Palestiniens.

Cependant, étant donné que ces trois piliers du mouvement pour la paix ont soit fini par se désintégrer, soit subir l'isolement et le dessèchement l'un après l'autre, peut-on encore espérer voir émerger un mouvement favorable à la paix en Israël ? Je ne parviens pas à comprendre comment la guerre actuelle pourrait contribuer à cela. S'opposer à Netanyahou seul ne suffit pas à raviver une volonté pour la paix en Israël.

Israël peut-il véritablement se libérer de l'emprise de Netanyahou?

Son influence perdurera pendant de nombreuses années encore. Il a symbolisé deux facettes sur la durée. D'une part, une opposition constante à tout effort visant à mettre un frein à la colonisation en Cisjordanie et à toute tentative de création d'un État palestinien, même dans ses formes les plus souples et réduites. La seconde facette réside dans sa capacité à éviter de graves débordements, préférant des campagnes de frappes limitées plutôt que des conflits majeurs.

Pourtant, ce même Netanyahou, confronté à une protestation de grande envergure en début d'année pour avoir empiété sur le pouvoir judiciaire et sapé l'État de droit, s'est finalement engagé dans le conflit le plus destructeur mené contre les Palestiniens. Il n'est pas exempt de responsabilité dans cette guerre, étant pointé du doigt pour la passivité et la nonchalance des appareils le 7 octobre face aux attaques. La résolution de la question des otages pèse lourdement sur lui et aura des répercussions directes. Il en subira probablement les conséquences, mais continuera néanmoins d'exercer une influence bien plus significative que ce que l'on pourrait imaginer. L'ensemble de la société et l'establishment israéliens ont, d'une certaine manière, adopté une vision proche du Likoud suite aux attaques. Un netanyahouisme ambiant s'est propagé même parmi les opposants les plus farouches à Bibi. S'en détacher? Pas pour l'instant. Peut-être même pas pour cette génération.

[noisynutcrusade]

Pupo will no longer go to the Moscow Festival: "But the controversy has nothing to do with it"

“The unpredictable, the impossible happened around my eventual participation in the festival Road to Yalta. By virtue of reflections and absorbed in my thoughts on the journey I am making from Lugano to the city of Spa, in Belgium, where I will stop for a few days to rest and reflect again”, he announces baby. I have decided not to leave for Moscow.” “Certainly it doesn’t depend on the…

[infinitesofnought]

When they got out of the droshky at Oreanda they sat down on a bench not far from the church, and looked down at the sea, without talking. Yalta could be dimly discerned through the morning mist, and white clouds rested motionless on the summits of the mountains. Not a leaf stirred, the grasshoppers chirruped, and the monotonous hollow roar of the sea came up to them, speaking of peace, of the eternal sleep lying in wait for us all. The sea had roared like this long before there was any Yalta or Oreanda, it was roaring now, and it would go on roaring, just as indifferently and hollowly, when we had passed away. And it may be that in this continuity, this utter indifference to life and death, lies the secret of our ultimate salvation, of the stream of life on our planet, and of its never-ceasing movement towards perfection.

Side by side with a young woman, who looked so exquisite in the early light, soothed and enchanted by the sight of all this magical beauty — sea, mountains, clouds and the vast expanse of the sky — Gurov told himself that, when you came to think of it, everything in the world is beautiful really, everything but our own thoughts and actions, when we lose sight of the higher aims of life, and of our dignity as human beings. Someone approached them — a watchman, probably — looked at them and went away. And there was something mysterious and beautiful even in this. The steamer from Feodosia could be seen coming towards the pier, lit up by the dawn, its lamps out. “There’s dew on the grass,” said Anna Sergeyevna, breaking the silence. “Yes. Time to go home.” They went back to the town.

– Anton Chekhov, "The Lady with the Dog", trans. Ivy Litvinov

[searuss8]

Ялта вид на город. Парусный бриг Херсонес на рейде ялтинского порта. Тай...

[deadpresidents]

Unfinished: April 12, 1945

As March 1945 drew to a close, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was exhausted. At the beginning of February, Roosevelt had attended the Yalta Conference with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin -- a meeting which required the American President to undertake a physically punishing and extraordinarily dangerous trip halfway around the world to the Crimean Peninsula in the middle of a raging world war. At Yalta, Roosevelt’s appearance had shocked the foreign leaders and their aides. In his last face-to-face meeting with Churchill, on February 18, 1945, FDR was seen as a dead man walking. Churchill’s personal doctor, Lord Moran, told a friend that Roosevelt had “only a few months to live”.

Being President of the United States for just one term is taxing enough on a young man or a healthy man. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had been President for twelve years. He had campaigned for the Presidency and been victorious in four national elections. His Administration faced one of the greatest domestic crises in American History -- the Great Depression -- and the greatest crisis and bloodiest conflict in world history -- World War II. FDR had attacked these problems (and other issues that arose during his terms) with energy, creativity, and a relentless pursuit of victory.

A healthy and athletic man who stood nearly 6′2″ and weighed about 200 lbs. as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt had been stricken by polio in 1921. The disease robbed him of his ability to walk and, at the time, looked as if it had robbed him of a political future. He rebounded politically but physically he was never the same. Confined to a wheelchair, the muscles in his legs withered like the branches of a tree in winter. Although he could not walk under his own power, FDR taught himself to stand while wearing heavy steel braces around his shins. He needed the assistance of a muscular partner -- sometimes one of his sons, sometimes a military aide -- in order to feign the appearance of walking. Through sheer will, however, Roosevelt learned to take a few steps without anyone’s help -- a handy skill that he would show off at important campaign rallies. But as he began his unprecedented fourth term in the White House in the early months of 1945, FDR no longer had the energy to show off.

Roosevelt was as gravely ill as Lord Moran suggested. The successful 1944 Presidential campaign had severely drained his already tapped-out reservoirs of energy and stamina. His fourth inauguration was low-key, partly because it took place in the midst of war and partly due to the President’s failing health. Instead of the traditional inaugural ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol, Roosevelt took the Oath of Office at the White House and gave his brief fourth Inaugural Address from a balcony at the Executive Mansion. The famously verbose Roosevelt gave the second-shortest Inaugural Address in American History. By the time the crowd realized that he was talking he had already finished. Only George Washington’s four-sentence-long second Inaugural Address in 1793 was shorter than the address given by FDR on January 20, 1945.

FDR now looked entirely different than the man who had told the nation that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” in 1933. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, which seemed sunken into his skull. Since his first Inauguration, Roosevelt had lost 40-50 pounds. His hands shook so violently at times that some observers wondered how he was able to eat. He smoked constantly, but rarely finished his cigarettes. Most shocking of all, FDR no longer went to great lengths to conceal his disability. Frail and tired, he found it almost impossible to wear the heavy braces that he long wore on his crippled legs. On March 1, 1945, Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress on the results of his Yalta Conference with Churchill and Stalin. In an unprecedented move, the President sat in a chair on the floor of the House of Representatives and apologized to Congress, beginning his speech by saying, “I hope that you will pardon me for this unusual posture of sitting down during the presentation of what I want to say, but I know that you will realize it makes it a lot easier for me not to have to carry about ten pounds of steel around on the bottom of my legs.” It was the first time that President Roosevelt had ever publicly acknowledged his physical disability.

Twelve years of the Presidency, economic depression and war had strained Roosevelt’s health, but the 14,000-mile trip to the Yalta Conference on the Black Sea had pushed FDR to the limit. On March 30, 1945, Roosevelt arrived in Warm Springs, Georgia for a few weeks of relaxation and, hopefully, recuperation. Roosevelt loved Warm Springs. He had started visiting the small town in western Georgia in the 1920s, hoping that the warm waters from the natural mineral springs nearby would help him regain the use of his legs. When he was Governor of New York, FDR purchased a small house that he used when he visited Warm Springs. As President, the home was called the “Little White House” and although FDR only visited it sixteen times during his Presidency, many of those trips were for 2-3 weeks each. When his train pulled into Warm Springs at about 1:30 PM on March 30, 1945, many longtime residents said that things seemed different. Roosevelt looked terrible and while he waved to onlookers, it was with noticeable weakness.

The first few days in Georgia were tough. FDR was obviously ill and seemed to struggle making it through a church service on Easter Sunday. Roosevelt also avoided his beloved Warm Springs pools. Instead, the President rested, caught up on sleep, and visited with guests. The goal was for FDR to regain enough of his health to make a trip to San Francisco for the charter meeting of what would become the United Nations. At the Little White House with Roosevelt were some personal aides, military attaches, and cousins Daisy Suckley and Polly Delano. During his first week at Warm Springs, Roosevelt did very little work, dictating a few letters and reading briefings, stronger and more animated in the mornings and evenings but completely drained in the afternoon. Another goal for Roosevelt was to gain weight -- by the time he left Warm Springs, he hoped to be up to 170 lbs.

Still, there was no noticeable improvement in FDR’s health or spirits. Then, on April 9th, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd arrived. As President Wilson’s Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt had become involved in a passionate love affair with his wife’s social secretary, Lucy Mercer. It was 1918 when Eleanor Roosevelt discovered the affair between Franklin and Lucy and threatened to divorce him unless he promised never to see or speak to Lucy again. FDR agreed to the ultimatum -- an ultimatum that was strengthened by his mother’s threat to cut off his inheritance if he and Eleanor were divorced, as well as the fact that Franklin’s budding political career would be crushed if the affair was revealed. The relationship between FDR and Eleanor was never again passionate or loving after the discovery of the affair, but Eleanor kept her word and remained married to Franklin. Franklin, however, didn’t keep his word to Eleanor.

The Franklin-Lucy affair probably resumed shortly after Roosevelt’s first Inauguration in 1933.  By that time, FDR and Eleanor had more of a professional relationship than a personal one. He respected the First Lady’s political viewpoints, supported her activism, used her as a sounding board, and tried to act on many of her suggestions. Personally, however, there was no passion or tenderness or intimacy between the First Couple. It was FDR and Eleanor’s daughter, Anna, who helped rekindle Franklin’s relationship with Lucy. She arranged for Lucy to visit the President in the White House when Eleanor was out of town. And on April 9, 1945, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd was in Warm Springs, Georgia visiting President Roosevelt due to Anna Roosevelt’s invitation.

FDR was so excited to see Lucy that he didn’t wait for Lucy to make the drive all the way from Aiken, South Carolina to Warm Springs. The President and his cousin Daisy decided to meet Lucy’s car en route. At Manchester, Georgia, 85 miles away from Warm Springs, the highway rendezvous took place. FDR looked happier than he had in months as Lucy got into FDR’s car along with her friend, painter Elizabeth Shoumatoff. Lucy had brought Shoumatoff along to paint a portrait of the President -- a portrait that she hoped would be an improvement on the recent photographs that had made Roosevelt look “ghastly”.

For the next two days, Roosevelt and Lucy enjoyed their time together, going on small drives, eating happy meals, and sitting together while Shoumatoff prepared to paint the President’s portrait, studying photographs and making preliminary drawings. Daisy Suckley had the opportunity to observe the unique relationship between FDR and Lucy Mercer and also had some private conversations with the President’s longtime mistress. In her diary, Daisy recorded her thoughts about the two after she accompanied them on an automobile drive that they took: “Lucy is so sweet with F(ranklin) -- No wonder he loves to have her around -- Toward the end of the drive, it began to be chilly and she put her sweater over his knees -- I can imagine just how she took care of her husband -- She would think of little things which make so much difference to a semi-invalid, or even a person who is just tired, like F(ranklin).”

On April 12th, President Roosevelt woke up and ate a light breakfast. He had a slight chill despite the warm, humid weather that day and wore his cape draped over his shoulders throughout the early afternoon. Roosevelt did a little bit of work, reading the Atlanta newspapers and dictating some correspondence. Elizabeth Shoumatoff had set up her easel in the living room where the President worked behind a card table that served as his makeshift desk. As Shoumatoff painted, FDR continued reading, and at about 1:00 PM, Roosevelt said, “We have got just about fifteen minutes more to work.”

In the quiet of the room, Daisy Suckley thought that the President had dropped his cigarette and was searching for it because his head slumped forward suddenly. Roosevelt could barely lift his head when Daisy asked what was wrong. He placed his left hand gently against the back of his head and, in a barely audible voice, told Daisy, “I have a terrific pain in the back of my head!”

Roosevelt quickly slipped into unconsciousness as the women in the room summoned help. They called for a doctor who was staying in a cottage close to the Little White House and they helped two of FDR’s valets carry the President into the bedroom. Roosevelt’s hands and feet were ice cold, but he was still breathing. Smelling salts were administered but FDR was unresponsive. As the doctor and aides tried to help the President, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd and Elizabeth Shoumatoff recognized the hopelessness of the situation. They also recognized the potential scandal that was possible if it was learned that the President collapsed in the presence of his longtime mistress.

Shoumatoff packed up all of her paints and the unfinished portrait she had been working on. Lucy Mercer grabbed her belongings and took one last look at her beloved Franklin. He was still alive when they left, but he was breathing laboriously and his eyes no longer recognized Lucy. Lucy and Elizabeth Shoumatoff had been on the highway back to Aiken, South Carolina for an hour when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died in Warm Springs at 3:35 PM. The official cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage. FDR was 63 years old.

Eleanor Roosevelt was notified of her husband’s death a few minutes after 4:00 PM. She summoned Vice President Harry Truman to the White House while he was having a drink at the U.S. Capitol with House Speaker Sam Rayburn. Truman wasn’t told why he needed to hastily come to the White House, but he knew it sounded urgent. As Truman left the Capitol, he ran into a young Congressman who questioned the Vice President about his speedy exit -- a young Congressman named Lyndon Johnson.

At the White House at 5:30 PM, Eleanor Roosevelt broke the news to the Vice President simply a directly: “Harry, the President is dead.” Truman was stunned and asked what he could do for the widowed First Lady. Eleanor smiled sadly and asked, “Is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now.” At 7:00 PM, Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone administered the Oath of Office to Truman as the 33rd President of the United States.

By that time, Eleanor was on her way to Warm Springs to claim her husband’s body. At about midnight, she arrived at the Little White House in Georgia where she asked about her husband’s last hours. It was then that she learned news almost as shocking as the President’s death. Eleanor found out that FDR had been with his former mistress Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd when he was stricken. She spent 45 minutes alone with his body, picked out the clothing for his burial, but never lost her composure despite the shocks that she experienced that day.

A funeral train returned FDR’s body to Washington, D.C. the next day. Roosevelt was embalmed by morticians who found that the President’s arteries were so hardened that they could barely inject the embalming fluid into his body. FDR’s body laid in state in the East Room of the White House almost 80 years to the day that Abraham Lincoln’s body rested in the very same place following his assassination. On the 80th anniversary of Lincoln’s death -- April 15, 1945 -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt was buried in the garden of his beloved estate Hyde Park on the Hudson River in New York. Upon his death, the New York Times wrote of the deceased President:

“Men will thank God on their knees a hundred years from now that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House. It was his hand, more than that of any other single man, that built the great coalition of the United Nations. It was his leadership which inspired free men in every part of the world to fight with greater hope and courage. Gone is the fresh and spontaneous interest which this man took, as naturally as he breathed air, in the troubled and the hardships and the disappointments and the hopes of little men and humble people.” 

Elizabeth Shoumatoff’s Unfinished Portrait of President Roosevelt -- which she was working on when he died -- now hangs in the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia.

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Sunday 10 May 1840

8 ¾

1 40/..

finish morning R10 ¼° at 10 a.m. about before breakfast at 10 ¼ to 11 – then had Mr. Besoc and then Captain Tolstoy who staid after Mr. B- and till after 1 – I had just turned all my things out of my bag and began packing before they came – all the rest of the day packing and putting away my papers etc. (to be left behind) in the top of my Moscow portmanteau and put my own dresses and A-‘s in the portmanteau to be left behind – about 8 went down to see about the kibitka packing – tis now 9 and we have not dined or had tea – Madame Latchinoff sent the translation of her voyage to Erivan by 10 this morning (before breakfast) – It seems, after all, that Mr. T- (not captain – only Lieutenant as yet) [likes] better reading than that of light travels etc. etc. his favourite work Mignards’ French revolution 4vols. 8vo. and likes Hume and Gibbon and Robertson – the black sea said B. and T. very stormy from 1 September to 1 May – short hay-cocky waves – government bought 5 steamers in London – one of 130 horse power lost – could not contend against the storm – but from 1 May to 1 September 4 months of summer the sea stormless (storms have been known in May) and beautiful – one goes from Kertch [Kerč’] to Yalta and thence to Odessa but regular post road by land – vessels have been 3 months instead of 30 hours (or 2 or 3 days with wind) from Constantinople to Odessa – B- himself was a month and all but lost – 1 ½ day from Constantinople to Trebizond – the Tcherkess pirates [?] to [?] vessels – fine day – felt queer from not having walked out for several days – Read Madame L-s’ little work after dinner – Sense well enough – French bad –

[arkadiy-sidorenko-blog]

На #квизиумялта в ресторане #gussi.yalta. Пиво просто огонь!!! #пиво #бокал #blanchedebruxelles #beer #cerveza #bier #pint #rest #restraunt #fujifilm #fujifilmeu #fujifilmru #xt2 #yalta #color #crimea https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Y0yl1JWk8/?igshid=4cjd021a77kn

[weirdestarrow]

The next two chapters of Secrecy and Deception are taking a long time so here is a snippet

————

America’s POV

Event: Iranian Crisis of 1946-Resolution 3

Location: Westminster Central Hall, London, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Date: April 4, 1946

I was pissed. It had been months since the deadline and Soviet had yet to pull out of Iran. I had already gotten UN and the rest of the current Security Council, China, France, Dad, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, and, slightly to my surprise, Soviet, to pass a resolution that told them to pursue negotiations.

A resolution that seemed to have done nothing, as we had once again need to pass a resolution addressing this problem. Thankfully, Soviet wasn't here at this meeting, as I'm pretty sure he would be doing his best to slow down the passing of the resolution if he was. I wasn't sure what he was doing to cause him to be absent, but it most likely had something to do with his actions in Iran.

“Resolution of 4 April 1946, obviously, we know the date." UN said as he began reading out what was written in the resolution before we voted on it. UN was interesting. He was nice, but always seemed very nervous. Then again his father, League of Nation, had failed to stop a world war, so he might just be nervous that he would fail at that as well. Still, UN was a very hard worker, even if he did have an annoying habit of calling everyone by their full names.

"The Security Council, taking note of the statements by the Iranian representative that the Iranian appeal to the Council arises from the presence of USSR troops in Iran and their continued presence there beyond the date stipulated for their withdrawal in the Tripartite Treaty of 29 January 1942." UN began.

I had been the first country to withdraw from Iran, followed by Dad. We had started to get worried when Soviet hadn't withdrawal by the date he was supposed to, but I had been alarmed when he expanded his military presence there, and when he had helped set up those two puppet states.

Soviet was after influence, that much has been made clear.

And now I was getting worried over what that influence would mean. I now regret what I had let Soviet get away with at Yalta and Potsdam, but I wasn't looking to provoke a conflict, and for the sake of peace I was willing to let him have what he wanted.

But if Soviet was going to start conflicts because what he had been given wasn't enough for him, I should've just started a fight right there and then we wouldn't be in this mess.

Still, hopefully this pressure from UN would help convince him to back down, although I was willing to help Iran if he didn't.

If only Kennan's telegram had been created earlier. Perhaps things would be different. But now wasn't the time to focus on the past. I had other concerns to deal with.

[solipseismic]

day 17 an2022 update: 1k added, 8k more to go

“Yes.” Fin resumed his back rubs. Yalta sighed in exhausted content. “I have… a graph.”

“I’ll take a look when we get back.” Lu sighed and unsheathed her swords, their curves glinting like twin crescent moons. “Do we have a plan? Do we want a plan?”

“Plans are for pansies,” Vega said. “My plan has two steps. Step one: kill the monster. Step two: don’t die.”

“You’re a real intellectual,” Malice told Vega. “No wonder why we get along so great.”

Vega pretended to preen and Fin rubbed his temples in misery. Malice had found that out of all of them, Fin was the smartest—his thoughts ran at a thousand miles an hour every second of the day and he was as distractible as a freshly-rested chihuahua.