I have followed this young woman's work for many, many years. Some of her work occasionally can be found on V Kontakte
Good to see she is getting recognition and acknowledgement now. by Evgeniy Konovalov
[REGNUM] Her poems are echoes of war that penetrate into the very heart. Stories about how war changes a person, makes one appreciate simple things and hardens the spirit. She is a resident of Lugansk who survived the siege and the mother of a soldier who fought for the liberation of Lysychansk. Her son is a veteran of the SVO, her father is a militiaman of the first wave, and her hometown is like a splinter on a map where explosions can still be heard.
However, there is no room for fear or despair in her words. Only fortitude, love for the Motherland and faith in the future.
Elena Zaslavskaya is a poet and children's writer born in Lisichansk and living in Lugansk. Her work is imbued with the spirit of war and personal experiences. The events of 2014 and 2022 became a deep fault line in her life, radically changing her perception of the world and her outlook on creativity.
"I look at my life before 2014 and after. This is a point on my life's path that changed a lot. Now I try to live in such a way that I can do everything I can every day. Say I love to those I love, help those I can help. And, of course, poems on military themes have become an integral part of my work," says the poetess.
Her first poem on a military theme, "Black Bread", appeared in May 2014, and includes the following lines: "There has been no trouble for a long time, there has been no war for a long, long time." Since then, her poetry has become a reflection of the events taking place in Donbass and Novorossiya.
"The Year of War", "Novorossiya of Thunder. Novorossiya of Dreams", "Donbass Imagineer" - these are the books that became milestones in Zaslavskaya's work. In them, she shares her experiences, observations, and reflections on the war and its consequences.
“My work is essentially my poetic diary,” the poetess notes.
In it, she writes not only about herself, but also about the people she meets, about those who found themselves in the center of tragic events. There is an author's preamble to one of Zaslavskaya's poems: "All heroes are real, all coincidences are not accidental, all rights are defenseless."
Her works also include stories about a father and son who went to defend their homeland.
"My father confronted my mother with the fact: 'That's it, I'm wearing the uniform.' At first, it was something like a people's militia. Then, when the SBU was taken, my father was among those who formed a human shield in front of the building. And we came then, too. I remember it was a point of attraction for Luhansk passionaries and those who supported the Russian Spring. My son Ivan was there, too. He said then: 'Mom, I hope this doesn't end before I grow up,'" Zaslavskaya recalls.
The war, according to her, became part of reality for her family, as it was for all residents of the liberated territories. The poetess's son is a reenactor, always interested in history and military affairs. Ivan went to the SVO, following his grandfather's example.
"On February 18, 2022, two decrees were issued: on general evacuation and on general mobilization. Ivan immediately went to the military registration and enlistment office, but he was unable to get into the unit where his friends served. So he decided to go with all the students and teachers of the Luhansk Matusovsky Academy," Elena recalls.
Seeing the men off from the walls of the academy, no one could have imagined that this farewell would be so tragic and at the same time historical.
"The SVO broke out — the world turned upside down. For me, a person who lived in the conditions of an unrecognized republic, every day was a test. The severity of this state, the constant uncertainty were unbearable. But when Russia recognized the republics and the SVO began, I felt something like a breath of fresh air. On the one hand, it was joy, and on the other, it was justice, for which we had fought for so long," the poetess admits.
Ivan took part in the battles for Krasny Liman, Severodonetsk, Lisichansk. He went through encirclement, wounds, losses. His military experience became an integral part of his personality, and his return to civilian life was a turning point that left an imprint on his future destiny.
To survive the horrors of war, Zaslavskaya's son, while in the combat zone, wrote down his experiences in a notebook that his mother had given to the combat zone as humanitarian aid. It contained poems and diary entries full of emotion and pain.
"He wrote poems before this, but it was more like a toy. And during the war he approached creativity more seriously," the poetess notes.
Ivan's diary was not published as a separate collection, but its publications appeared in various literary magazines and anthologies dedicated to the war, such as "Velikiy Blokpost" and "Za Drugi Svoya." Zaslavskaya hopes that a selection of Ivan's poems, which is called "Zapiski iz dugoutazh", will be published as a separate book.
"The hardships of military life that he endured, I think, strengthened his character. Although the post-war syndrome is felt even now. For example, he did not resume his studies. He was a student at the beginning of the SVO, but now it seems to him that studying is something frivolous after the war. The turning point came prematurely," says Elena.
Lysychansk is a special pain in the poetess's heart. She remembers the sign "Lysychansk" (in Ukrainian), which she saw at the location of her son's regiment. Then she understood - liberation is near. Joy for her son, pride in his feat and relief for his father, who could not return to his hometown for many years, merge into a single feeling.
"I was happy not so much for myself as for my father, who since 2014 has not been able to come to his hometown, where he was born, where the graves of his loved ones are, where his friends and classmates are still alive. And I lived there for 16 years. For me, it is my hometown, we were waiting for liberation, and I am proud that my son took part in this. Ivan was also happy and called my dad, said: "Grandpa, you wanted it, but I am doing it," says Zaslavskaya.
But the war is not over. The front line is close, drones fly over the city, and the Internet and communications are lost. Her hometown, where she spent her youth, lives under constant threat.
"Entry into the city is only possible with a residence permit, which I don't have. I've been a resident of Lugansk for a long time, so I don't go there, but my mom and dad do. My aunt lives there, so I know what my hometown is going through and how the restoration is going. You can still feel the breath of war there," says the poetess.
Despite all the hardships, Zaslavskaya finds the strength to create. She writes poetry, teaches at the Lugansk Academy of Culture, and shares her experience with her students. She believes that beauty and peace can overcome even the most terrible trials.
"Life gives us balance. Everything is mixed up in our life. In one day you can see a war - there goes a soldier, there goes a car with "200" written on it, and then you see a couple sitting and kissing, you go to a class, tell students how important it is to live, create and not give up. You go - and inspiration strikes you. So everything is close by, you just need to be able to see beauty," Zaslavskaya is convinced.
She believes that war will not break our society, but will make it stronger. She also believes in victory, in peace, and that light always conquers darkness.
"The war will not just change society - it has already changed it. We have many who are now at the front, plus their families. There are already veterans: the old guard, militiamen, SVO participants. These are people who understand what a common misfortune is and what it means to win in it.
This consolidates society, gives people a slightly different perspective on life. They begin to value what previously seemed ordinary and natural to them: family, home, native language, Victory Day holiday and the Motherland,” says the poetess.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] On November 1, the Federal Security Service published archival documents on the identification and capture of Ukrainian nationalist, SS man and punisher Vasily Malazhensky, who was a member of the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists — a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) and operated in Volyn and Yugoslavia.
FSB declassified document on participant in OUN massacres of Poles in Volyn
In the spring of 1940, Malazhensky left for Germany, where he joined the nationalist organization "Ukrainian National Association" (a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation). In the summer of 1942, he left for the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Wehrmacht and joined the police.
In the spring of 1943, Malazhensky joined the OUN, participated in collecting clothing and food for the gangs of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA - a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation), and in the summer he joined the Melnyk gangs operating in Volyn - supporters of Andrey Melnikov, OUN (m).
The FSB cited excerpts from a report that, as part of the investigation into the crimes of Ukrainian punitive forces, was received in December 1967 by the head of the Investigative Department of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Major General of Justice A. Volkov.
It states that in the summer of 1943, Malazhensky established contact with the leader of the OUN (m) gang, Bily, and attracted members of the gang he had created to cooperate with Melnykivtsi. Together with Bily's gang, on July 11, 1943, he took part in an attack on the villages of Gurov and Vyhranka in the Ivanichevsk district of the Volyn region, where Poles lived.
"Armed with a rifle, Malazhensky and others broke into the village of Gurov and Vihranka, where bandits committed a brutal massacre of civilians, shooting more than 100 citizens. The bandits plundered the property of the dead and burned their farms. Malazhensky appropriated a horse from the plundered property," the documents say.
In July, during the retreat of the Nazis from the Sokal and Hrubyshevsky districts, Malazhensky voluntarily joined the Ukrainian punitive battalion that was part of the Wehrmacht troops.
After the German officer Asmus was killed in a shootout with Soviet partisans near the village of Chlanów in the Lublin Voivodeship on July 22, 1944, the punitive battalion burned down the villages of Chlanów, Wladyslawki and the Chlanów farm, and 45 residents were shot.
The massacre was led by a centurion under the pseudonym Vovk (Wolf) Mikhail Karkots.
“In September 1944, Malazhensky, as part of Vovk’s squad of the same [Ukrainian] legion, took part in the suppression of the anti-fascist Warsaw uprising, and later, in the autumn of the same year, twice took part in raids against Polish partisans in the area of the city of Mekhova,” the documents say.
After that, he took part in punitive operations against the partisans of Yugoslavia and military actions as part of the 14th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division "Galicia" against units of the Red Army in Austria.
After the end of World War II, Malazhensky was captured by the Allies and was held in a prisoner of war camp in the Italian city of Rimini. There he continued to collaborate with the OUN (m) and in the summer of 1946 he was released and went to Munich. Here he received the task from the organization to go to Poland and organize an illegal transfer of OUN emissaries to the USSR on the Polish-Soviet border.
Malazhensky was detained by Soviet border guards in January 1949 while attempting to illegally cross the Polish-Soviet border. Since he concealed information about his punitive activities at the trial, he was sentenced to only one and a half years in a corrective labor camp.
In the summer of 1959, he was summoned for a conversation to the Ukrainian SSR KGB Directorate for the Vinnitsa region. He went into hiding, fearing that his wartime crimes had been exposed.
The KGB learned of Malazhensky's crimes in January 1967. He was arrested on February 3 in the Lviv region. In early October 1967, Poland handed over investigative materials incriminating him in the crimes he had committed.
The Lviv Regional Court heard the criminal case against Malazhensky in an open court session from December 8 to 15, 1967. He was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment (the first five years of which were in prison).
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin on January 27, at the opening ceremony of a memorial in memory of the civilians of the USSR who were victims of the Nazi genocide during the Great Patriotic War, said that Russia would make every effort to completely exterminate Nazism. There is no statute of limitations on Nazi crimes. Each one will be investigated.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The decision to strike Georgian troops in August 2008, when they attacked South Ossetia and Russian peacekeepers, was made only after this information was confirmed. This was stated on November 1 by the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
He noted that by that time Moscow had expected aggressive actions from Georgia, whose president was then Mikhail Saakashvili, but the outbreak of war on the opening day of the Olympic Games was a surprise. After receiving information about this, Medvedev ordered the then Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to check it.
"After some time there was another call, he (Serdyukov. - Ed. IA Regnum ) said that they were really trying to attack and even hit our peacekeepers. I had to give the order to launch a retaliatory strike, and a missile strike, on the Georgian troops," Medvedev told the RT television channel.
He recalled that after that there was a five-day war and Georgia lost relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. According to him, before the attack on South Ossetia, Saakashvili secured support from the United States.
Medvedev said that Western politicians called Russia's intervention in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict an invasion of Georgia, but in private conversations they admitted that this was not the case.
"They whispered in my ear: 'No, of course, we understand, he (Saakashvili. - Note from Regnum News Agency ) is crazy, he is sick, which means he did all this in vain. But, excuse me, we will not talk about this publicly,'" Medvedev said.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, in September 2024, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze admitted Saakashvili's guilt in unleashing the war with South Ossetia. The head of government named external forces as the customers of the conflict. He also stated that the former president's associates are again trying to unleash a war in the country.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said in October that a senior Western official had suggested to former Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili that he start a war with Russia. In response to the fact that the Georgian army would be defeated in a few days, the Western representative suggested resorting to guerrilla warfare.
[AmericanThinker] Earlier on, I argued why I think it's useful to debate Leftists online, knowing that it's unlikely they'' change their minds on anything.
It's good practice as it forces us to learn their arguments and how to counter them, and there are usually others silently following along who can be convinced.
But another Leftist tactic is psychological projection, which is ascribing to another person one's own feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.
Projection is used to relieve a sense of guilt or other unpleasant feeling. Blaming your own problems on someone else seems to be de rigueur in our society of late.
It's worth noting that there is a great deal of overlap between lying and projection.
In some cases the circles on the Venn diagram would exactly coincide.
Accusations of hypocrisy are also common and it’s worth pointing out the difference between it and projection.
In brief, hypocrisy reflects on one's own behavior while projection concerns oneself and one's behavior towards others.
It would be hypocritical for person (A) who frequently rolls past stop signs to say that person (B) should always observe stop signs. It would be projection for person (A) to silently assume person (B) rolls past stop signs. It would be both hypocritical and projection for person (A) to falsely accuse person (B) of rolling past stop signs.
In today’s heated socio-political climate I contend that we’re seeing both hypocrisy and projection being utilized on a daily basis. How many times have we heard a Leftist claim that Donald Trump is "a threat to our democracy"?
The better question to ask is, “Who on the Left has not made that claim?”
The people attesting to this have been noticeably silent on the case of the FBI lying to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in their quest for surveillance warrants on Carter Page.
How much of a threat to democracy was it to conduct what amounts to a coup to remove a sitting president in the final months of his campaign and replace him with someone who never earned a single primary vote? Has that ever happened before in America?
Practically every outlet in the Democrat Media Industrial Complex (DMIC) has accused Trump of being an authoritarian, a tyrant and a dictator. They cite examples such as President Trump is "tearing up trade deals and stepping back from global institutions." The Paris climate greement placed unfair restrictions on Americans, even while "U.S. emissions of criteria air pollutants that impact human health and the environment declined by 74% between 1970 and 2018."
President Trump cancelled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran which enriched the regime while doing little to nothing to curb their nuclear ambitions.
The people who decried these decisions either cheered or were silent when President Biden transferred student loan obligations to the taxpayers despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that it was unconstitutional to do so.
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris supported the impeachment of President Trump for his telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with "no one is above the law."
When the transcript of that phone call was released, it was found that President Trump did not, in fact threaten to withhold military aid in exchange for an investigation into Burisma Holdings. At the time, Burisma was paying Hunter Biden $85k/month for … what, his expertise in the extraction, processing, sale and distribution of petroleum products? Joe Biden is on video bragging about withholding U.S. aid to Ukraine unless they fired the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma Holdings.
Response from the Left? Crickets.
The same Leftists who pilloried President Trump for an innocent phone call to President Zelensky gave a pass to then Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton when she illegally used private electronic devices to send and receive classified information, and then destroyed both the messages and the devices after they were subpoenaed by Congress.
Snip.
In all of these examples the accusations against Republicans are false (lies) while Democrats have engaged in those or similar behaviors themselves.
So where do we go from here? Speaking for myself, whenever I come across a claim against conservatives or Republicans from Leftists or Democrats I immediately assume that not only is the opposite true, but that their accusation is probably more accurately applied to the Left. This means that to determine the truth I need to investigate the story and find out what isn’t being told. I spend a great deal of time every day sifting through news stories on various news sites. I no longer get my news from the television or print media. This is what I think we all need to do in order to be properly informed.
[BBC] Two Australian mathematicians have called into question an old adage, that if given an infinite amount of time, a monkey pressing keys on a typewriter would eventually write the complete works of William Shakespeare.
Known as the "infinite monkey theorem", the thought-experiment has long been used to explain the principles of probability and randomness.
However,
you can observe a lot just by watching... a new peer-reviewed study led by Sydney-based researchers Stephen Woodcock and Jay Falletta has found that the time it would take for a typing monkey to replicate Shakespeare's plays, sonnets and poems would be longer than the lifespan of our universe.
Which means that while mathematically true, the theorem is "misleading", they say.
As well as looking at the abilities of a single monkey, the study also did a series of calculations based on the current global population of chimpanzees, which is roughly 200,000.
The results indicated that even if every chimp in the world was enlisted and able to type at a pace of one key per second until the end of the universe, they wouldn't even come close to typing out the Bard's works.
There would be a 5% chance that a single chimp would successfully type the word "bananas" in its own lifetime. And the probability of one chimp constructing a random sentence - such as "I chimp, therefore I am" - comes in at one in 10 million billion billion, the research indicates.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[AmThinker] 
Two Australian mathematicians have called into question an old adage, that if given an infinite amount of time, a monkey pressing keys on a typewriter would eventually write the complete works of William Shakespeare.
