the long game

Digg directs us to a fascinating article from The New Republic that traces the deep history of the KGB and successor organisation’s preening of their unwitting Manchurian Candidate, possibly going all the way back to Trump’s 1978 marriage to Ivana and subsequent visits to Czechoslovakia, with the real estate mogul becoming a person of interest who might provide insights into the soft power of celebrity.
Indeed, however, their plant turned out to be something like The Americans, only tawdry and dim and in reverse with the realisation that Trump and his circle had not only the potential for ingratiating themselves to politicians with the power to influence policy-makers but had were fools for flattery and the American oligarchs, the parasitical rich whose fortunes would not have materialised without heavy government subsidies and corporate bequests of to hollowed out institutions and services that the state used to provide, might be enlisted as statesmen themselves—either directly or indirectly.  There’s an exchange from 1986 recounted that would have otherwise appeared too dumb and conceited to be believed until this year with Trump fishing for information on nuclear weapons as a way to get a primer on how Gorbachev so he might be able to convince Reagan to invest Trump with plenipotentiary powers as an ambassador to the Soviet Union and of course, to open a hotel.  Arrogantly, Trump laid claim to his familiarity and confidence by linking himself to the administration through the lobbying firm of Black, Manafort & Stone who had helped orchestrate Reagan’s 1984 re-election victory who Trump had recently retained. It’s easy to concede that such vanity wouldn’t make for a plum asset. 

janteloven

We’re grateful to TYWKIWDBI for the introduction to the “Law of Jante,” originally a satirical way to codify Scandinavian social foibles and group behaviour but now something taught in schools to reinforce social mores.
Setting his observations and reflections on small town life in a 1933 humorous work called “A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks” (En flykning krysser sitt spor), author Aksel Sandemose creates the fictional village of Jante and prescribes ten rules, which all echo the prevailing sentiment that overt ambition and rebellion—within certain tolerance—are selfish and inappropriate and one ought to adopt the Golden Rule to have the empathy and self-awareness to know that one is not better than everyone else. Outside the classroom, the term has taken on an idiomatic sense of disdain for over-achievers and agitators for agitation’s sake, and the attitude is testament to the social cohesion, tolerance, equity and compassion demonstrated by the Nordic culture. Visit the link above to review the full rules and learn more.

nightswimming

Photographer Christy Lee Rogers gives her subjects a distinct Pre-Raphaelite, Baroque quality not with gauzy filters and tuning but by submerging them, fully swathed and swaddled with colourful fabrics, in a floodlit pool. This ethereal composition is part of Rogers’ series called “Muses” and you can learn more at Colossal at the link above.

[ʊ]

Via the always excellent Nag on the Lake, we are treated to writer and composer Aaron Alon’s gradated deconstruction of English orthography.  Because of English’s pedigree and influence, there are a lot of counter-intuitive formulations that really bedevils learners and makes the cultural hegemony more than a bit fraught and maybe a little suspect, betraying a reluctance to synthesise new influences any more.  This short demonstration normalises (previously) vowel and consonant sounds in stages to give us an illustrative demonstration of what the language might sound like if spelling and pronunciation were consistent.  A weirdly intelligible dialect comes out of it.  Do give it a listen and let us know what you think.