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December 14, 2003STALIN AND SADDAMThe capture of the butcher of Baghdad brought to mind the great Russian Osip Mandelstam's poem about Saddam's role model, Joseph Stalin written in 1933. "Ossette" is a reference to the rumour that Stalin was from a people of Iranian stock that lived in an area north of Georgia.: The Kremlin Mountaineer We live, deaf to the land beneath us, All we hear is the Kremlin mountaineer, His fingers are fat as grubs His cockroach whiskers leer Around him a rabble of thin-necked leaders - They whinny, purr or whine One by one forging his laws, to be flung And every killing is a treat Posted at 06:01 PM by
 
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Greetings & jubilations! Whatever weather one’s under, a glorious day.
Thank you for the hattip. Regarding the ten lines (from out of Mandelstam’s poem) that I posted at my lazy blog (& at the exultant Mesopotamian http://messopotamian.blogspot.com “Mother of Days” & among a thousand happy posts at Lucianne http://lucianne.com/routine/archives/12-14-039.htm ), I originally found them at NRO many months ago, maybe over a year ago. There, too, the context was discussion of Stalin & Saddam. I’ve liked the poem (or the part I knew!) because Stalin somehow defies imagining, but the poem opens a way. Saddam’s role model, an emperor cockroach.
Posted by: ForNow on December 15, 2003 01:34 AMGreetings & jubilations! Whatever weather one’s under, a glorious day.
Thank you for the hattip. Regarding the ten lines (from out of Mandelstam’s poem) that I posted at my lazy blog (& at the exultant Mesopotamian http://messopotamian.blogspot.com “Mother of Days” & among a thousand happy posts at Lucianne http://lucianne.com/routine/archives/12-14-039.htm ), I originally found them at NRO many months ago, maybe over a year ago. There, too, the context was discussion of Stalin & Saddam. I’ve liked the poem (or the part I knew!) because Stalin somehow defies imagining, but the poem opens a way. Saddam’s role model, an emperor cockroach.
Posted by: ForNow on December 15, 2003 01:34 AMDarn the mouse key! Please feel no compunction about deleting my duplicate post, if it’s no trouble. Sorry!
Posted by: ForNow on December 15, 2003 01:36 AMWhat a coincidence.
I had never heard of Mandelstam two days ago. Yesterday I read of him in a bio of Stalin that I'm reading. Now you mention him.
Didn't run across that name in 49 years, now twice in two days.
Posted by: The Commissar on December 15, 2003 04:33 PM