Russia releases convicted mass murderer to fight in Ukraine, then awards him ‘for bravery’

Ivan Neparatov, leader of a Russian criminal gang, was serving 25 years for five murders and multiple other crimes when he was offered his freedom and money in exchange for fighting Russia’s war against Ukraine.  He was one of at very least one thousand convicted criminals who have agreed to fight in the Wagner unit, and one of an unknown number who have already been killed.  It is likely that all such ‘fighters’ are intentionally used as cannon fodder, to avoid questions upon their return to Russia, but Neparatov did, nonetheless, posthumously receive a state award ‘for bravery’ from Russian leader Vladimir Putin.  One assumes that certain details about this ‘defender of Russia’ will be omitted from any official documentation.

The issue is not only Neparatov’s criminal past.  It is illegal in Russia to be a mercenary, yet the so-called ‘Wagner private military company’ [the Wagner unit] are openly recruiting convicted criminals, offering substantial amounts of money, as well as the promise of freedom in exchange for agreeing to fight against Ukraine.  The prisoners are visited in prison, with the Wagner unit recruiters accompanied by Penal Service officials and members of the FSB [Security Service].  At least some of the recruiting visits are reported to be with the head of the Wagner unit, Dmitry Utkin and its financer, Yevgeny Prigozhin, or ‘Putin’s chef’, the millionaire under western sanctions who is himself a convicted criminal, imprisoned twice for violent crimes.

Source: Russia releases convicted mass murderer to fight in Ukraine, then awards him ‘for bravery’

I’ve been on the battlefield

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

A poem in Vietnamese by Thanh Dang

Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm


I’ve been on the battlefield

Through our eyes, a lifetime is not enough to forget

Ukraine, who’s pushed you into such sadness

How could one human to another make an ocean of tears

.

I want to hold you child, together we’ll cry

No longer could I volunteer to be by your lover fight

The young people of Vietnam did once lay down their lives

The bitterness resided in our heart may it be North or South

.

You will die child, out on the battlefield you will die

What’s left of your wins will be a nation of decimated cities

Shredded villages

The graves long with more graves

The entire nation’s a graveyard

.

I feel sorry for your loss and mine to have been…

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The Book of Life

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

A poem in Vietnamese by Thanh Dang

Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm


For some

Waiting are the mountains and rivers

Otherwise it will be a long road

/

The Book of Life

Fire and ice

The awakening of human fate

/

But to him it’s simple

Flowers means life

Across the land is sunlight…

May 2022

—–

Ở đó sông chờ và núi đợi

Ai khác

Con đường thành thăm thẳm xa

/

Quyển sách ngàn đời mở

Băng tan lửa đỏ

Thao thức phận người

/

Chỉ tội chàng đơn giản

Hoa của đời và nắng của trăm phương…


Thanh Dang, the poet from Vietnam currently resides in Houston, Texas, U. S. A.

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm, the blogger, poet and translator, born 1971 in Phu Nhuan, Saigon, Vietnam. The pharmacist currently lives and works in Western Sydney…

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The long journeys are the turning points in one’s life

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

A poem in Vietnamese by Thanh Dang

Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm


The long journeys are the turning points in one’s life

You’ve come home, or have I

Forgot how to come home…


June 2022

_

Trang đời những chuyến đi xa

Em về, hay chỉ

Còn ta, quên về…


Thanh Dang, the poet from Vietnam currently resides in Houston, Texas, U. S. A.

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm, the blogger, poet and translator, born 1971 in Phu Nhuan, Saigon, Vietnam. The pharmacist currently lives and works in Western Sydney, Australia.

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The Vietnam War and me

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Bắc Sơn

Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm


The Vietnam War and me

Boulders propped up in the dried up stream

The breeze cut across the new grass at the edge of the jungle

Our unit advanced like crouching tigers

Bloodshot eyes cold and chilling

The exhausting manoeuvers, four times a day

Caught in moments of rest in jest and banter

Our backs relaxed against tree trunks, looked up at the sky…

Imagined ourselves on a picnic

Oh enemy oh guerrilla

Move aside, forget about firing you guns

Move aside, I’m begging you

I’m in no mood for a fight

Pining for a bottle of beer, a puff of cigarette

Pining for the bird song from the lips of my sweetheart

Oh my tattooed enemy

Consuming rock salt thirsting for a fight

Like you I’m a soldier…

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MEMORIES

NANMYKEL.COM

I won’t say I’m old any more.  I’ll say “well-seasoned”.  Well, in my state of being well-seasoned my mind continues to pop up ancient jingles.  Sometimes they are followed by memories associated with them.  For instance, the phrase “would you rather be a mule?”  Thanks to Google, I found the line to be from a 1944 Bing Crosby song, “Swinging On A Star”:

Would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a mule…   https://www.youtube.com › 
The phrase reignited  an early school memory.  In my mind’s eye I was in the first grade, but if it was really 1944 then it must have been in the fourth grade.  Somehow I was singing (aloud) to myself in the classroom and sang “Or would you rather be a queer?”
For some reason there was…

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Relationships and Voting, on Day 26/67?

Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

      My thoughts on  Day 26 of my 67 night-school class set of lesson plans for GED/HiSet learners, where the lesson 26 discussion is on relative relationships, mathematical and societal, are on how to build better availability for voting, for all of our citizens.
RectangleGeo

   Voting in the upcoming midterms is crucial to our relationship with our republic, and with our future.  Thanks to Annie for this info:

League of Women Voters. The LWV does voter registration via local and state chapters. They also encourage people to share voter registration tools by promoting http://www.vote411.org. And if you enter your state in the “Nationwide Voting Rules Quick View,” you can learn the voting options in your state and how they compare with those in other states.

Shira

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Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/Protector & Sihirli AnnemLupin, or La Casa de…

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Inside ourselves

Raffaello Palandri's Blog

We do not find happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment around us, and we cannot copy them from others. They are inside ourselves, we just need to become aware of it.

How many times do you see it?

People who are struggling to find happiness, to be joyful, to be able to say that they feel satisfied with their lives, and fulfilled by their jobs.

And these same people are looking everywhere, they are even trying to copy what others do.

Everything, to be happy, Everything to say that they are living a happier, healthier, and wealthier life. In every possible aspect.

Yet, they get disappointed. Every single time.

And this happens because whatever we may be looking for is inside ourselves.

All it takes is starting a life-long journey into ourselves, growing awareness, compassion, and understanding.

And you? Where are you, now?

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