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Ukrainian Riots Participant Answers Questions on Reddit

posted by LaminatorX on Wednesday February 19 2014, @11:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-going-to-make-light-of-this dept.

romanr writes:

"The situation in Ukraine was pretty wild yesterday. Over twenty dead protesters have been reported, and many more have been injured. One student, a supporter of peaceful demonstrations and a participant in the riots, answers questions about the current situation in Ukraine."

[ED Note: Background on the Ukraine situation from the BBC.]

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Daniel Dvorkin on Thursday February 20 2014, @12:18AM

    by Daniel Dvorkin (1099) on Thursday February 20 2014, @12:18AM (#2996) Journal

    From the BBC article:

    At times, the confrontation seems almost medieval - complete with a catapult (albeit one with the modern touch of its own Twitter account), fighters bearing home-made shields with crusader-like crosses on them, and robed priests praying with icons to the side.

    But, make no mistake: Hrushevskyy Street is a very serious zone of combat - one where anger on both sides is mounting with each wave of attacks.

    Catapults certainly used to be serious weapons, and there have been few military forces in history more serious than the crusaders. I get the impression the reporter was going for "oh look, how quaint" but didn't grasp the important point that their willingness to confront a modern army with medieval weaponry is a sign of exactly how serious the protesters are.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by kbahey on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:30AM

    by kbahey (1147) on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:30AM (#3127) Homepage

    There was an attempt to build a trebuchet in Tahrir, during the uprising against Mubarak (Jan/Feb 2011). It did not work though.

    A year and a half after the event, the Ministry of Interior (pretty much still the old regime) leaked alleged phone calls blaming this on Hamas, linking them to the Muslim Brotherhood. They could not get the lie right and called it a "slingshot".

    Here is a picture [twitpic.com].

    • (Score: 1) by Daniel Dvorkin on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:27PM

      by Daniel Dvorkin (1099) on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:27PM (#3498) Journal

      "Slingshot" seems to get applied to almost any pre-gunpowder weapon designed to throw something, with the exception of hand-held bows. I've heard it applied to slings, catapults, and ballistas.

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      • (Score: 1) by kbahey on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:33PM

        by kbahey (1147) on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:33PM (#3507) Homepage

        In this context, no.

        Slingshot has a specific meaning in Arabic, which is the thing David used against Goliath: the piece of rope with a cradle used to hurl stones.

        The State Security Police in Egypt were just trying to blame the entire 2011 uprising on the Muslim Brotherhood, by linking them to the Palestinian Intifadas, hence Hamas, ...etc. so as to discredit all participants by rewriting history.

        • (Score: 1) by Daniel Dvorkin on Friday February 21 2014, @12:54AM

          by Daniel Dvorkin (1099) on Friday February 21 2014, @12:54AM (#3927) Journal

          Slingshot has a specific meaning in Arabic, which is the thing David used against Goliath: the piece of rope with a cradle used to hurl stones.

          In English, that's a sling [wikipedia.org], not a slingshot [wikipedia.org]. Are they actually the same thing in Arabic? Anyway, my point was not to defend the incorrect use of the word to describe things that clearly aren't slingshots in any language, but to point out how common the error is.

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