Just the other day some Russians were sending their regards and
praises to Lavrov for his birthday. I bet that they ignored, forgot or
never paid attention, for example, to this:
Russia wants Donbass to remain part of Ukraine - Lavrov
December 15, 2014 Interfax, Interfax
"
Moscow is the only force calling for Donbass to remain part of Ukraine
in resolving the crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in
an interview with Interfax."
"Currently, we are
the only ones
seeking it ... At the same time the minister said that the southeast of
Ukraine should be "allowed to financially meet its needs at the expense
of a deal with the center over tax issues, so that they can use their
language, c
elebrate their commemorative dates and not the ones imposed
by one part of the country." The idea of
celebrating the birthday of
Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevich as a national holiday is
unacceptable for Ukraine's southeast, Lavrov said. "I do not see how
these holidays can be celebrated in the east and south of Ukraine,
they
mark May 9 there [
note: not any more on the all those parts controlled by the new fascist regime]. One should proceed from this reality: you cannot
impose some ideology on the entire country when there are several of
such ideologies represented in the country," Lavrov said." http://rbth.com/news/2014/12/15/russia_wants_donbass_to_remain_part_of_ukraine_-_lavrov_42265.html
Lavrov's idea that Donbass must be part of otherwise Nazi
Ukraine required, in Lavrov's mind besides some linguistic and financial
tinkering, further only some accommodation that would let parts of
eastern Ukraine commemorate May 9,
while the rest of Ukraine would
celebrate their fascist holidays and be otherwise a thoroughly fascist
state.
According to Lavrov, Ukraine needs to control Donbass and keep
its regime [----] whatever it is (beholden to the fascist spirit,
tradition, and policies, but he was merely asking them not to "impose
the [fascist] ideology on the entire country" at the same time or right
away. In this, Lavrov perfectly represents the anti-national and
anti-Russian character of Russian comprador, rotten oligarchy.
The unwillingness and inability of the Kremlin to take a principled and
serious position toward, that is, against the fascist anti-Russian
Banderas coming to power and settled in power in Ukraine goes deeper
than just its will to kiss and make up with the West and to get back to
"business as usual" and it goes deeper than just political
shortsightedness or strategic miscalculation, not to mention naivete.
As Heraclitus taught one's character is one's fate. In this regard, the
Russian elite cannot deny its particular oligarchic character with all
its deeds, genesis, ties, and addictions. The Russian oligarchic elite,
to borrow Lenin's phrase once applied to imperial capitalism, emerged
both as a child and gravedigger of the rotten, dying and decomposing
communist elite, which, almost as one man, became seemingly overnight
devout, zealously hedonistic, money-chasing anti-communists and thieves.
Sometimes, as Surkov's occasionally psychologically and politically
candid twitter, which has been recently deactivated, the oligarchic
character of the late, deceased Soviet bureaucrat sends a beam of light,
which illuminates the moral, ideological, and political cavern (the
Cave of Plato's
Republic) from within. Such is also Sergey
Lavrov's program and prophetic statement encoded in his poem "The Year
of the White Horse" written in January of 1990, just few months before
his 40th birthday when he was already a high ranking official in the
Russian Foreign Ministry. The poem was, however,
published only in February of 2012 by Russkiy Pioner
The poem in its argument, wording, political message, and its openly
Russophobic or anti-Russian character is fundamentally fascist. Yes, it
is a fascist poem, and in that poem, while decrying and denouncing all
the cruelty and oppression of the Russian state, Lavrov prophesies
fascism, the rule of "the Uberman" over "the peoples
of
lower ethnic types," among which he does also seem to include the
Russians themselves who are thus being carried to their national death
(see the last strophe and the poem's last line). Otherwise, the White
Horse stands for most of the poem for the Russians who are thus reduced
to a beast of burden on which, in the end, only one Uberman is to ride
and ride it to death.
Three half-Armenians are thus
holding a good portion and potion of Russia's fate in their hands:
Arsen Avakov in Kiev in charge of the Nazi "volunteer battalions,"
Sergey Kurginyan who had almost a stroke when he learned that Strelkov
and his soldiers did not let themselves be wiped out at the hands of the
fascists in Slavyansk, and Sergey Lavrov.
In my translation of this
awful, fascist poem, I tried less to preserve Lavrov's choppy style than
its ideological substance and message.
The Year of the White Horse by Sergey Lavrov (January 1990)
The clock reads it’s twelve right now,
And from the holy Spassky door
The New Year’s regal whitish mount
Moves to fill the masses’ awe.
Though inspired by the Chinese lore,
The figure keeps the minds for its home:
With their firm knees, Russia’s kings and queens
Forever squeeze nothing but the white steeds.
The conqueror sits on the white beast,
And that means: “Triumph and crackers!”
And again, “Hurrah!” And “Urraaahs!”
Thus foreigners are bound to hail the king,
So grateful that they are neither spoiled nor spilled.
A worship-ride of their defeater may begin,
And the Tzar on the white back will receive
The Nobel Prize for winning such Peace.
But truth to be told, after the grand tour,
For lunch on his throne the Tzar will leave.
And the horse? Back in the stable and dung
There to wait and see whom his master will defeat.
White horses’ fates are never women’s fun,
Either Gypsies steal them out into the night,
Or the Tzar gets them neutered, unmanned, fixed,
Or, under a slave’s collar, their spine is nixed.
What else will the year’s sign raise and breed?
Perhaps the whole State will neigh as one?
Or will there be a pageant, a long parade,
Of beautiful boys with stallion gags, straps and beaks?
Or for luck they’ll serve people with horseshoes,
Or will they clink and clank in other kicks and boots?
Or will they be crucified or released?
Or will they fetter this time more than their feet?
Under the gaze of the “Old Fine White Horse”
—our kind whisky from abroad—convicts,
Our new mates, overturned the Socialist Camp
And so they are free for the past freedom at last!
The police can’t help it, they have no clue.
What will their black magician make them do?
Should the cart go where it ought to be,
Or, again, will the horses be marching behind?
But our soul will never be baffled
When the white charger reaches Baku.
The steed will make butcher’s red meat,
Groaning a wheeze of “merci beaucoup!”
And so the the mare howls throughout the ages,
When, at terrible pace, blinkers are down,
And the fatherland is lying in ashes
Made of carbonized hides.
People of lower ethnic types
Will roll and mire in this mud,
Though Russia has paid in full
To be other than this horse’s food.
Our beloved country pulls and moves
Over the bones of such symbols, forms,
And spits and spews and cries and groans
With power of a mare that befalls a mount.
With whatever Chinese beast
Should we mark this day and age,
The people will choose just one
To be the Horse’s Übeman.
My belief is firm: the symbol, the fashion,
Will not stand for treason this year.
The horse is the hearse, whose corpse
And coffin must reach its land high up and free!
Here is the original:
ГОД БЕЛОЙ
ЛОШАДИ
Бьют двенадцать куранты на площади,
И из Спасских священных ворот
На величественной белой лошади
Выгарцовывает Новый год.
Хоть навеян китайской традицией,
Образ этот прижился в умах —
На Руси завсегда царь с царицею
Выезжали на белых конях.
Белый конь — атрибут триумфатора.
Значит, снова триумф и салют.
Значит, снова «ура!» многократное
Иноземцы царю пропоют.
Благодарны, что их не угробили,
Триумфатора станут качать.
Значит, премию мирную Нобеля
Нам на белом коне получать.
Правда, после турне грандиозного
Царь — к себе во дворец на обед,
Ну, а конь — на конюшню навозную
Ждать грядущих царевых побед.
Судьбы белых коней не измерены —
То ль цыгане в ночи украдут,
То ли сделает царь сивым мерином,
То ли шею раздавит хомут.
В чем еще символ года проявится?
Может, дружно держава заржет?
Или будут встречаться красавицы
С лошадиною мордой весь год?
То ль одарят на счастье подковами,
То ли лязгом не конских подков,
То ли будут все кони раскованы,
То ль наладится ковка оков.
Заграничные «Белые лошади»
С этикеток глядят вискаря,
Как зека возвращаются в прошлое,
Опрокинувши соцлагеря.
А охрана не знает, не ведает,
Что прикажет ей год-чародей:
То ль телегу поставить, как следует,
То ль опять впереди лошадей.
Не смутить нашу душу контрастами —
Белый конь, доскакав до Баку,
Обернулся кониною красною,
Прохрипевши: merci, мол, beaucoup.
Громыхает кобыла по вечности,
Шоры сорваны, страшен аллюр,
А вокруг — до небес дым отечества
От обугленной кожи и шкур.
И повалятся в грязь перед клячею
Люди низших этнических форм.
Хоть сполна за Россию заплачено,
Не в коня исторический корм.
Лошадиной единственной силою,
Изрыгая то стоны, то плач,
Наша Родина тащится, милая,
На костях символических кляч.
Но какой бы китайской животною
Ни назвать этот год или век,
Лишь один будет избран народами
Года Лошади Сверхчеловек.
Твердо верю: символика модная
Не обманет в нахлынувший год —
Обязательно в царство свободное
Белый конь катафалк довезет.
Москва, январь 1990 года
When it was published, those words were added by the editor:
Сергей Лавров
давно обещал написать для «Русского пионера» колонку. Но в итоге на страницах
«РП» появились его стихи. Двадцатилетней давности, но оттого еще более
актуальные. С настоящей поэзией всегда так ГЛАВНОМУ РЕДАКТОРУ ЖУРНАЛА «РУССКИЙ ПИОНЕР» А. КОЛЕСНИКОВУ
Уважаемый Андрей Иванович,
продолжая наш разговор об авторской песне, готов вынести на суд прогрессивной
общественности пару текстов из того, что я написал в прошлом веке и показывал
друзьям под три аккорда на семиструнке.
Первый текст посвящен празднованию наступившего в тот момент 1990 года — Года
Белой Лошади.
Второй — застолью с друзьями в том же году.
Третий — сочинен под впечатлением от сказочного похода по Алтаю, сочетавшего
сплав по бурным водам Катуни, пешие и конные прогулки. Именно в этом смысле
прошу воспринимать словосочетание «водка, пешка, конка».
Искренне, Сергей Лавров
And readers' comments:
Вискарь is a jargon word for whiskey. There is a kind of whiskey
called "White Horse." Today it is a synonym of cheap whiskey (500
roubles). But in 1990 when the poem was written it was very (VERY) expensive
for the citizens of the dying Soviet Empire. It was also impossible to buy it.
Only Lavrov and his friends—higher on the pyramid (both the official and the
unofficial ones)—drank it. Besides other "strange" personifications and
identifications of the White Horse, Lavrov here compares the White Horse and
the whiskey to prison inmates.
White Horse Scotch Whiskey is a blended Scotch whiskey from Edinburgh.
White Horse is also the brand of scotch preferred by Jackie Gleason's character
Minnesota Fats in The Hustler (1961). Imbibed White Horse to excess is said
to be “riding the white horse.”
Lavrov is referring here the Baku Pogrom, which then led to „January
Massacre“ or „Black January.“ During the Baku Pogrom, almost 100 Armenians
were brutally killed and others ethnically cleansed from Baku by Azerbaijani
right-wing nationalists. This was followed by Gorbachev’s declaration of a
state of emergency and deployment of military and police forces. The quelling of
the anti-Armenian riots led to 100-300 dead among the people of Baku and some
20-30 dead among the Soviet troops. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku_pogrom
Армянский погром в Баку — беспорядки
на этнической почве в городе Баку, столице Азербайджанской ССР, 13—20 января 1990 года, сопровождавшиеся массовым насилием в отношении
армянского населения, грабежами, убийствами, поджогами и уничтожением
имущества. Жертвами погромов стали, по различным данным, от 48 до 90 (согласно
некоторым источникам — до трёхсот) человек. Согласно докладчику Human Rights WatchРоберту Кушену, «погромы не
были полностью (или, возможно, полностью не) стихийными, так как погромщики
имели списки ар\мян и их адресов». Иногда армянский погром рассматривается как
часть событий «Чёрного января», приведших к вводу
советских войск в Баку.
