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BREAKING DOWN THE
Found in translation
The usual suspects have
BUREAUCRATIC OLIGARCHY
become part of our language
WHERE DO THE MANNERISMS OF HUMAN SPEECH COME FROM? IN
ANY LANGUAGE, PEOPLE WILL INSTANTLY RECOGNISE CERTAIN FAMIL-
IAR PHRASES UTTERED FAMOUSLY IN BOOKS, FILMS OR BY PUBLIC FIG-
URES, AND CAN ALSO BE A FREQUENT HEADACHE FOR TRANSLATORS.
KIRILL KABANOV
EXPERT
lish: movies, showbusiness
Corruption has become one of Russia’s (“the show must go on” – from
most profi table businesses. Some experts a song by Queen but used by
believe the corruption market is worth circus performers long be-
$300bn a year. President Dmitry Medvedev fore), or book titles (Ian Flem-
understands corruption has reached un- ing’s From Russia with Love,
acceptable, dangerous levels and that for example), not to speak of
something must be done at the top eche- Yogi Berra (“it’s not over ’til
lons of government to control the situa- it’s over” and “it’s déjà vu all
tion.
DRAWING BY DMITRY DIVIN
over again” ). But the most
As part of his anti-corruption programme, abundant source is politi-
Medvedev introduced a number of bills to
PAVEL PALAZCHENKO
cians. Theodore Roosevelt’s
the State Duma in late 2008. The law was
RUSSIAN TRANSLATION COMPANY
“the lunatic fringe” and Harry
supposed to come into force in 2009, but Truman’s “the buck stops
instead has been extended to 2010. Un- When I was growing up, my here” are fi rmly embedded. I
fortunately, this extension shows the elders used a lot of what lin- expect some phrases uttered
country’s bureaucrats are very effective guists call “phraseology”. My by Bill Clinton and George W
lobbyists. grandmother’s speech, for ex- Bush will make it too.
In March, Medvedev submitted a public ample, was full of proverbs, Russian politicians have also
declaration of his personal income and sayings and metaphors. It’s done their bit. Former prime
property, as well as those of his family. not the same anymore: one minister Victor Chernomyr-
Other top officials were bound to follow rarely hears those colourful din’s quip which I translated
suit. Members of the government, the ad- phrases, some of which were as “We tried our best, you know
ministration and regional governors also so Russian I would probably the rest” (literally it would be
submitted declarations, an important fi rst have been stumped to fi nd a more like “we wanted to make
step in the anti-corruption campaign. good rendering in English. it better but it came out as al-
There is a large loophole, however, that Fortunately, at that time, it ways”) is known to every Rus-
needs to be closed. According to was the last thing on my mind. sian. Some colourful phrases
Medvedev’s anti-corruption plan, officials I was just enjoying listening from Vladimir Putin’s rep-
only need to declare the income and prop-
DRAWING BY DMITRY DIVIN
to grandma. ertoire have – let’s put it this
erty of themselves, their wives and their It would seem in English, too, way – made the cut. However,
underage children. They don’t have to de- use of phraseology has de- the biggest source of Russian
clare the income or property of their adult An independent media is also very impor- ever curbing corruption, mistakenly at- one else will fi ght bureaucracy on their be- clined, but people in all coun- quotes is – you’ll be surprised
children – to whom they can easily trans- tant to the anti-corruption battle. tributing it to an incorrigible national half. tries fi nd ways to make their – old Soviet movies.
fer ownership. Decree No 810, which President Boris character. I don’t agree. Society needs to support Medvedev’s anti- speech more colourful. One These catchphrases have
Another problem is that public officials Yeltsin signed in 1996, said that after a Look at Finland, which was part of the corruption initiatives regardless of initial way is to use familiar quo- amazing resilience. The old
clearly did not declare all of their wealth. media outlet submitted a corruption alle- Russian Empire for nearly a century. imperfections. To his credit, the President tations (in Russian we some- time movies are still favou-
After all, many of them are directors of gation to the Prosecutor General, investi- If this explanation was correct, Russia’s made an important step when he declared times call them “winged rites; even people who haven’t
leading state-owned companies and re- gation had to be completed within 10 “culture of corruption” would have infect- his own income and property. words”). seen them are using their
ceive bonuses valued at millions of dol- working days with a full written report re- ed Finland as well. Russian society has no choice but to use Are such quotations per- phrases.
lars. These officials, who earn salaries on turned to the media outlet that initiated But according to ratings by Transparency the chance it has been given. If corruption ceived by native speakers as Just one film – The White Sun
a par with Russia’s most successful busi- the claim. International, Finland has consistently continues to grow as it has over the past still attributable to their au- of the Desert, a story of early
nesspeople, are “oligarchs” in public per- Unfortunately, then-President Vladimir been at the top of rankings of the least cor- eight years, Russia’s basic government in- thors, or as phrases that are Soviet years in Central Asia
ception. This is one reason why the public Putin annulled this decree in 2001. rupt countries in the world. stitutions and civil society could soon be part of the language and, as – contains half a dozen gems,
are so sceptical. As a result, investigative journalists today Since 1991, small and medium-size busi- destroyed.
-
it were, live on their own? The including “Za derzhavu obid-
For Medvedev’s campaign to work, he can still largely write about corruption nesses have been complaining about how
First published in
line is blurred. no” (“I hurt for my country”)
needs to institute a strict audit system and cases, but they have little power to pres- corruption suffocates their enterprises.
The Moscow Times
Take, for example,“the usual and “Vostok delo tonkoye”
impose punishments for false reporting. sure law enforcement agencies to prose- Even the economic crisis has not decreased suspects”. Many remember it (“The East is tricky”). To Rus-
Of course, everyone understands that cute corrupt officials. This is one reason bureaucratic corruption. Kirill Kabanov is chairman of the Na- from Captain Renault in the sians, these phrases mean a lot
such a mechanism can work only when there is no risk to the reputation of corrupt But this is not sufficient for small busi- tional Anti-Corruption Committee, a movie Casablanca: “Round more than what’s on the sur-
combined with political competition and bureaucrats. nesses to unite to promote their interests Moscow-based non-governmental organ- up the usual suspects.” Some face. The fi rst implies a some-
active civil society. Many Russians believe there is no hope of in a civilised way. Instead, they hope some- isation. have seen a more recent fi lm, what resigned sense of hurt
The Usual Suspects. I suspect, national pride, and the sec-
however, that many haven’t ond a healthy respect, coupled
seen either but would un- with a little irony, for“the east-
Reviewing
derstand a sports commen- ern mindset”.
the newspapers
SONGS, SECURITY
tator speaking of prospects Pity the poor translators and
the newspapers
for the coming season: “There interpreters. Does one give a
are prime suspects among the more or less literal transla-
usual suspects.” Some teams tion, with a brief explanation
are likely to do well and a few or attribution, or is it better
AND CORRUPTION
are very likely.This phrase has to come up with something
entered the language. Google conveying the same idea? I’ve
it and you’ll see: it is there and, done both, with varying de-
as they say, it is having a ball. grees of success, and I cer-
There are several sources of tainly gave it my best effort
familiar quotations in Eng- (“I tried my best”).
-
BritBritish scandal without ani y sense of the number of winners who’ve gone on to agnosis’: the list of risks threatening Rus-
SScchadenfrh eude, and indeed, probably become serious artists is not just low, but sia could be called accurate. Where they
wiwith a touch of envy at the fact that the laughably so. In the 53 years the festival are less successful is in ‘writing the pre-
mimisdeeds ars e being widely publicised. has been running, there have been just scription’: instead of specific ways of
AsAs one Moskovsky Komsomolets read- two: ABBA (35 years ago) and Celine avoiding strategic misfortune, the docu-
The expat files
er ire onically put it: “At last! They’ve Dion (21 years ago). The paper goes on to ment offers words that may be right and
got the same prg oblem! What joy!” note: “With the possible exception of fi ne-sounding but nevertheless are only
In the last few daIn ys Izvestia has been Ukraine, no country has taken hosting general. Major powers usually expect a
Bread and circuses
publishing extensipub ve information about the Eurovision fi nal as seriously as Rus- national security strategy to include plans
how frw eely Russian government officials sia. The event was virtually on a par with for the future: what the country specifi -
OUR NEW COLUMNIST PRESENTS HER PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON LIFE
spend taxpaspend yers’ money: “Neither the cri- the Olympics or the Champions League cally needs to do to avoid geopolitical
IN RUSSIA, SOME OF WHICH MAY EXASPERATE RUSSIAN READERS. WE
WELCOME YOUR OWN STORIES.
SERGEY MERINOV
sis nor appeals fsis no or stringent economies final. The arrival of Prime Minister snares. But this new document has noth-
RUSSIA NOW bbty the Prh esident and the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at Moscow’s Olympic sta- ing to say about that.”
have taught our officials anything. Many dium was unprecedented. Probably only “Day of Unity and Accord”, a
of them continue to spend taxpayers’ the leadership of Ukraine has ever shown Start treaty talks recycled holiday from the
This month provided plenty of food for money on luxury items or unnecessary more serious interest in the contest: in A round of Russian-US disarmament traditional early November
thought for the Russian press. The most purchases, laying on festivities and ban- 2005 in Kiev it was President Viktor Yush- talks – the fi rst for seven years – took place anniversary of the “Great Oc-
noise came from the long-awaited Eu- quets costing up to 32m roubles ($1m).” chenko himself who presented the prize in Moscow on May 19–20. The aim is to tober Revolution Day”.
rovision contest, which was the most Many examples are cited, including “three to Greece’s Helena Paparizou.” prepare a new Strategic Arms Reduction “Old New Year?” I hear a kid
expensive in the history of the event. Emo- chandeliers costing a total of 1.2m rou- Treaty (Start 2) to replace Start 1, which say.“Wh y do you celebrate an
tions flared over its participants and politi- bles for the parliament of Kabardino- The national security strategy gets ev- expires in December. October Revolution in No-
cal significance, particularly in Russia. Balkaria, a Russian republic in the North erybody talking Gazeta quotes the view of the political ob- vember?”
Also, with Barack Obama’s Moscow visit Caucasus dependent from top to bottom Russian newspapers have taken a close server Sergey Karaganov, who believes This confusion originates
imminent, many are questioning transat- on state subsidies. Staff of the head of the look at the Russia’s national security that “reducing nuclear capacities does not from the fact Russia didn’t
lantic relations in a security context. Republic of Kalmykia, in southern Rus- strategy to 2020 approved recently by really benefi t Russia, since the USA is sig- adopt the Gregorian calendar
sia, ordered curtains worth 721,000 rou- President Dmitry Medvedev and come up nifi cantly ahead of it in conventional non-
JENNIFER EREMEEVA
until 1923, while the rest of
bles for themselves, and then a further with confl icting views. nuclear arms”.
WRITER
the world got on board in the
1.4m roubles’ worth last autumn.” The state news agency RIA Novosti notes Izvestiya, quoting experts, says that under mid-18th century.
The Russian press is reporting in “the West’s reaction of near panic to the the future treaty “nuclear capacities are “So,” says my friend Sveta.“If There is now a 13-day dis-
detail the UK media’s coverage of Eurovision: worth its weight in gold section dealing with strategic assessment reduced to 1,500 or 1,300 warheads. Car- Tuesday is the holiday, we get crepancy: Russians have a dif-
the British MPs’ expenses scandal. The Moscow Eurovision was the most ex- of Russia’s place in the world and the rier systems will also go under the knife Wednesday, Thursday, Friday ferent Easter, a very late
The tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets pensive in the history of the contest, says threats facing it, which does not rule out of these reduction talks, together with the and Saturday off…” Christmas (January 7) and
notes that “the British people have never Novye Izvestia, pointing out this was at using military force in possible future ‘surplus’ nuclear warheads. An institute “No,” interrupts Katya.“Sat- more than one New Year – all
had great respect for politicians… Peo- the height of the economic crisis. “Mos- raw material confl icts on Russia’s bor- for joint monitoring of the treaty’s imple- urday and Sunday are work- excellent excuses to open a
ple’s reaction to their elected represent- cow splashed out in an unprecedented ders.” mentation will also be set up.” ing days – it’s the following vodka bottle. Russia’s rulers
atives’ behaviour is not so much disap- way on this contest,” the paper says. “In “Despite the fact that the Russian Min- What might invalidate all the efforts of Sunday that’s off, but the Sat- have subscribed enthusiasti-
pointment as blatant anger. There’s par- 2006 Greece spent 12m euros, and last istry of Foreign Affairs made it clear Rus- the negotiators is the American missile urday after is a work day.” cally to the “circus”, if not the
ticular indignation at the fact that year Serbia limited it to 9.3m euros. Rus- sia does not plan to use military force in defence system in eastern Europe.Vr emya Another Russian holiday. A “bread”, part of the “bread and
they’ve been ‘living it up’ during the dark sia’s hospitality exceeded all conceivable the Arctic shelf, Moscow stated it would Novostey is sure that “Moscow will try to time for merriment, public circus” school of government,
days of a crisis.” limits: we’re talking about as much as defend its interests in the Arctic ‘to the link the Start treaty with the issue of the celebration and total time and spare no expense on mas-
The independent Kommersant quotes 30m [euros].” If we take into account the end’,” wrote the independent newspaper American missile defence system deploy- management anarchy. The sive partying: fi reworks, folk
political observer John Ball: “When so rouble’s recent substantial fall, it means Rossiya. ment in Europe. And if Barack Obama’s result is a number of six-day dancing and fun runs, all de-
many MPs turn out to be involved in the costs are another 50pc on top of that, Moskovsky Komsomolets has its administration fails to reconsider the working weeks, somehow re- signed for enjoyment of the
something so unethical, people begin to Novye Izvestia calculates. own view: “The way it deals with Rus- George Bush administration’s plans to sulting in one four-day break. masses.
doubt the integrity not just of individual Kommersant reckons Eurovision is a sia’s security is completely clear – but deploy a third tier of missile defences in This plays havoc with every- This is the clarion call to get
MPs but of parliament as an institu- strange event. On the one hand the con- unintelligible.” The paper fi nds the doc- the Czech Republic and Poland, it will ef- one. out of town. Public holidays
tion.” test claims to be the biggest event in Eu- ument lacking specifi c detail: “Kremlin fectively become impossible to conclude It’s the calendar equivalent of are the only times I advocate
The Russian papers are covering the ropean cultural life, but on the other hand analysts have given a very accurate ‘di- a new Start treaty.”
-
the Grand Canyon for some- a trip to the dacha, or, better
one with an ambitious to-do still, Italy. Actively partici-
list: everything from dentist pating in national celebra-
appointments to bilateral tion is not worth the hassle.
treaties is postponed until In Moscow streets are cut off,
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