Like Hand and Glove...

Even when I get it right, I get it wrong...

As if it's not enough that "torture" and "flour" translate into the same word in Russian (albeit with different stresses), I found another layer to this linguistic travesty this weekend, whilst cooking from a Russian recipe.

So, I'm happily boiling potatoes, chopping cucumbers and soaking prunes when it suddenly occurs to me.

I don't know the word for "soak" in Russian.

God knows what I was supposed to do to those prunes, but I don't know the word "soak," so that can't be it! I grab the recipe in a panic. I scan the page. Oh-oh. I don't recognize this verb I'm supposed to be implementing on the prunes. I've spent 45 minutes in the kitchen soaking these bobbing fruit, and now it looks like I should have been doing something else--but what?

I study the word. Well, I finally decide, there are two possibilities of what this word could derive from: "to wet" or "to torture." I glance up at the soaked prunes again. I read the instruction again: "Torture prunes for one hour." I look up. How does one torture prunes?

I turn to my trusty dictionary. And discover that Amnesty International can rest easy. The prunes are not slated for torture, but a soaking.

I resumed feeling confident and smug, trying to forget that for one long moment I had wondered if I was supposed to torture the prunes.

And the recipe turned out smashing. :) And no prunes were hurt during its creation--other than when they were humanely chopped after their soaking.

Well, this is just ridiculous

And offensive and against his own people's interests... Unbelievable. And doesn't bode well for the mettle of the region's leadership.

February 8, 2006
Chechnya Expels Danish Aid Agency
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

MOSCOW, Feb. 7 -- The Danish Refugee Council, one of the largest aid organizations working in war-racked Chechnya and its neighboring republics, was expelled from Chechen territory on Tuesday, as anger spread yet further over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Ramzan A. Kadyrov, acting prime minister of Chechnya and the head of President Vladimir V. Putin's political party in the region, said Monday that Chechnya would not admit "anything that comes out of Denmark."

He said that any Danish social organizations already in Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim republic, would be ejected.

The Danish Refugee Council is an umbrella group for more than 30 charitable organizations. Since 1997 it has provided relief in Chechnya through food aid, registration of refugees, mine-risk education and home rebuilding.

On Tuesday representatives of the council struggled to impress upon critics that it was a private charity with no connection to the cartoons that have inflamed much of the Muslim world.

On the Danes & On Our Problem

Okay, so I'll admit that my first act upon discovering that the Danish flag was being set on fire in protest to the recent comic debacle was...to snicker. I mean, come on, I thought to myself. They're Danes. How much less threatening can you get? How must smaller of a power can you be?

And why, I wondered, is Zionism being brought up by said flag-burners? Why is Iran targeting the Jews. AGAIN. Don't they have anything better to do with their time? Anything at all?

Well, for sure the vitriolic focus on Zionism and the US is just ridiculous when one small frickin' Danish paper printed the offensive comics and the Norwegians et al followed their example. And yet it's to be expected, from a leadership that seems to derive its raison d'etre from precisely its opposition to the Jews and "the West." What a sad thing.

But then I started to think some more about the Danes. And remembered they were the only entire people who saved the Jews during the holocaust. And...how can one laugh at friends like that?

So, although I doubt there can be anything more damning to any cause than a Jew supporting it (in some people's eyes), I felt the need to stand by the Danes and share some interesting snippets regarding their goodness during the War.

Interesting Details about the Danes in this Period

No "Jewish Problem": During the early years of the occupation, Danish officials repeatedly insisted to the German occupation authorities that there was no "Jewish problem" in Denmark. ...

Independently Good: The improvisational nature of the early phases of the rescue was particularly notable. When Danish civil servants at several levels in different ministries learnt of the German plan to round up all Danish Jews, they independently pursued various measures to find the Jews and hide them. Some simply phoned friends and asked them to go through telephone books and warn those with Jewish-sounding names to go into hiding.

Not $$$ Based: Some of the fisherman assisting in the rescue charged money to transport Jews to Sweden, while others took payments only from those who could afford passage. Some profiteers took advantage of the confusion and fear during the early days of the escape, but as time passed, the Danish underground movement ousted them and took an active role in organizing the rescue and providing financing, mostly from wealthy Danes who donated large sums of money for the rescue.

Care Packages: Only around 450 Danish Jews (some 7 percent of Denmark's Jewish population) were captured by the Germans, and most were sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. After these Jews' deportation, the Danish government persuaded the Germans to accept packages of food and medicine for the prisoners; furthermore, Denmark convinced the Germans not to deport the Danish Jews to the extermination camps. Some 51 Danish Jews — mostly elderly — died of disease at Theresienstadt, but in April, 1945, as the war drew to a close, the 400 or so surviving Danish Jews were turned over by the Germans to a representative of the Danish Red Cross.

Possible Explanations (as written up by Wikipedia, source of all this)

Different explanations have been advanced to explain the success of efforts to protect the Danish Jewish population in light of less success at similar operations elsewhere in Nazi-occupied Europe.

• Logistically, the operation was relatively easy. Denmark's Jewish population was small, both in relative and absolute terms, and most of Denmark's Jews lived in Copenhagen, only a short sea voyage from neutral Sweden. Although hazardous, the boat ride was relatively short and its covert nature was easier to conceal than a comparable land journey.
  
• Since the mid-nineteenth century, a particular brand of nationalism had evolved in Denmark. The traits of this nationalism included emphasis on the importance of "smallness", local communities, and traditions — this nationalism being largely a response to Denmark's failure to assert itself as a great power and its loss of the Second War of Schleswig. Some historians, such as Andrew Buckser, believe that the Danish form of non-aggressive nationalism, influenced by Danish philosopher Nicolai Grundtvig, helped Danes identify with the plight of the Jews, even though small-scale anti-Semitism had existed in Denmark before the German invasion.
  
• Denmark's Jewish population had long been almost fully integrated into their communities. Consequently, most Danes perceived the Nazis' action against Denmark's Jews as an affront to all Danes, and rallied to their countrymen's protection.

And then again... The Negative Muhammed Imagery

Isn't quite nice at all. It wouldn't be nice if it was anti-Semitic, besmirching something sacred to Jews. Nor denigrating holy Christian precepts.

What's interesting to me is the way in which I think a lot of people are kind of desensitized to this issue, or perhaps insensitive to it. Is it because, truth be told, so many terrorists who are accepted as terrorists are Muslim? Is it because the word "Muslim" brings with it connotations of violent upsurgence and anti-Westernism? And so the comic strips actually did not say anything that people didn't already think? (Of course, if that's the case, the violent anger against them actually don't help the actual problem, which is mutual misunderstanding and apathy.)

On the one hand, I think the way to protest this is not through mass violence, but mass violence seems to be not just accepted but actually prescribed (and at the least encouraged) by certain powerful voices in the Muslim world. And on the other hand, ain't nothing like a good dose of embassy-torching, flag-burning, violent protesting, trade embargoes and threats of personal attacks to make a country rethink the wisdom of allowing anti-cultural satire.

*sigh* What shite we're all in these days. Poor Danes. Poor nonviolent Muslims. Poor Norwegians. Poor everyone. And even violent people aren't people without feelings--I know this thought will turn off some people--and I feel we (US/Islamic countries) completely lack the ability to dialogue together. And without dialogue...well, how can we really get anywhere legit and good? (Serious question) But I suppose political will is necessary, and it seems to me to be completely lacking on the other side, and probably knee-jerk on our side. But maybe not. I don't know. Not having sat in either world's deliberative councils.

A Weekend Away From the City

After a rather turbulent week, I escaped this weekend to the countryside, piled with the Good J and her eager new dog into her sparkly blue car. We meandered through the lakes and hills of Cold Springs and oddly named nearby villages, including Purdys and Fishkill. It was a much-needed trip, peaceful yet full of fun and laughter and cameraderie. A diversion that was a breath of fresh air at a time of need.

Tale of New Yorker Misplaced

On Sunday, we accidentally visited the wee town of Kent (I think) while searching for lunch. We happened upon a cute, quaint little bistro across from a lake. Magnolia's had the most fabulous clientelle, imbued with a generous good mood inspired by the board games played at half the tables.

The Good J and I played "Password," the 1970s version of "Taboo," in which one player has to guess a selected word based upon the clues of the other. It was the Good J's turn to guess. The word was "pull." I prompted with the obvious clue.

Ruth: "If you're not pushing, you're _______."

Good J: "Shoving. You're shoving."

The next table begins to chortle.

Ruth: "Right. Now. If you're not a New Yorker, and you're not pushing or shoving, you're _______."

Good J: "Standing still."

:)


The Good J even allowed me to commandeer her camera, so some funky photos ensue.

I'm addicted to rear-view mirror shots...


With the door ajar, we could capture the trees and the boats together...


These boats had a gorgeous golden tint which none of my photos captured...


And for those of us who enjoy eating our picnics nestled into the lake itself...


The Good J enjoys the view as her dark friend protects her back...