A Mark In Time
Mark Knopfler Discussion => Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum => Topic started by: Leprechaun on March 18, 2022, 10:42:18 PM
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Brothers in arms - a song that could not better describe a terrible war like the one now in ukraine. :'(
On youtube you can already find some clips from ukraine accompanied by the classic DS tune. Very moving.
In this special situation MK should bring th band back together to to re-record BIA for charity reasons. A new Live Aid concert would also be wishful.
I think, it remains only a dream.
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I love the version Mark recorded for the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War in 2007:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuzGEq0ja9Q
Mark said he wrote the song because his father said something like how it's quite ironic that Russians were brothers in arms with fascists in the Falklands War. But now Russia IS a fascist country in its own right, it literally ticks all the boxes for a fascist country and I don't care about anyone who thinks anything else. It's a fact. I think the stupidity of the situation needs another song about it, and not just re-recording. This war is the stupidest thing I have ever seen in my whole life.
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MK:
"'I'm touched that my song 'Brothers in arms', which I wrote at the time of the Falklands war, has been chosen to support the many veterans who are still suffering from the effects of that conflict."
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I love the version Mark recorded for the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War in 2007:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuzGEq0ja9Q
Mark said he wrote the song because his father said something like how it's quite ironic that Russians were brothers in arms with fascists in the Falklands War. But now Russia IS a fascist country in its own right, it literally ticks all the boxes for a fascist country and I don't care about anyone who thinks anything else. It's a fact. I think the stupidity of the situation needs another song about it, and not just re-recording. This war is the stupidest thing I have ever seen in my whole life.
Stay strong my friend, I hope you are OK.
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This war is the stupidest thing I have ever seen in my whole life.
So true! What a madness!
All the best and stay strong, Pavel.
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All we can hope is, one day, that Russia will become a real democracy.
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All we can hope is, one day, that Russia will become a real democracy.
I can hardly believe that this is possible at all. History shows that Russia doesn't change, and after many decades of political repression, genocide towards Russians from their own government, after the murder of intelligentsia and middle class, after 25M deaths in WWII, most of which was cannon fodder, after gulags and mass immigration, and after long years of adverse selection where the worst people gets to the top of the food chain, we have what we have right now. Russians need decades, if not centuries, to recover from all that, and chances are this is not going to happen.
With that said, though, and even after all this, despite all this, there are still people in Russia who are against war, who believe in good, who want democracy. There are still a lot of good, genuine people here, but unfortunately, also a lot of brainwashed and mad people. So personally, I don't think it's going to change. I think we're doomed to become second Turkmenistan.
But I want to be wrong.
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Oh, and don't forget the cosmic scale of corruption in Russia. I understand that corruption exists in every country, but in Russia it has become as common as air. It transformed from a humble 5% taken off PROFITS to oligarchs and their pockets in the 90s, to 80-100% of funds being stolen in broad daylight today. Everything, including the military funding, is being stolen. Roads, pension, medicine, education, it can wait.
Take Moscow and Saint Petersburg, two of the largest cities in Russia. Get this — the only highway between these two cities is 1) a toll road and 2) is mostly only TWO LANES. When in your country two biggest cities with population of 20 mililion of people combined are connected by a toll road with two lanes, I think you don't need to say anything else. It just screams for itself. The other lanes apparently are in the form of yachts and homes in "hostile" Europe.
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The other lanes apparently are in the form of yachts and homes in "hostile" Europe.
Pavel, such poignant wording reminded me of Ilf and Petrov.
I used to admire your musical talent but now I have a lot more admiration for you. Stay safe and be well.
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Pavel, Many thanks for your very enlightening posts - it is much appreciated. I wish you well and hope and pray that this terrible war will soon come to an end. Take care.
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Actually I won't call this a war, but an invassion. In my opinion two sides are needed in confrontation for a war, and this is Putin (not Russia) invading Ukraine, and they are defending themselves from the Putin invassion.
It's brave how they are defending themselves from the attack of a crazy egocentric man, but sometimes I wonder if won't be better to save lifes to surrender as this maniac is not going to stop until he achieves his criminal goal.
I feel very sorry not only for all the Ukranians but also for the Russians that are totally against this egomaniac crazyness that is causing so many deaths in both sides because one egomaniac.
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Actually I won't call this a war, but an invassion. In my opinion two sides are needed in confrontation for a war, and this is Putin (not Russia) invading Ukraine, and they are defending themselves from the Putin invassion.
It's brave how they are defending themselves from the attack of a crazy egocentric man, but sometimes I wonder if won't be better to save lifes to surrender as this maniac is not going to stop until he achieves his criminal goal.
I feel very sorry not only for all the Ukranians but also for the Russians that are totally against this egomaniac crazyness that is causing so many deaths in both sides because one egomaniac.
I have also thought that it would be better for the Ukrainians to surrender in order to save lives, but it wouldn't stop there, it would only give Putin even more determination to invade other countries bordering Russia and and so it would go on and who knows where it would end?
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Actually I won't call this a war, but an invassion. In my opinion two sides are needed in confrontation for a war, and this is Putin (not Russia) invading Ukraine, and they are defending themselves from the Putin invassion.
It's brave how they are defending themselves from the attack of a crazy egocentric man, but sometimes I wonder if won't be better to save lifes to surrender as this maniac is not going to stop until he achieves his criminal goal.
I feel very sorry not only for all the Ukranians but also for the Russians that are totally against this egomaniac crazyness that is causing so many deaths in both sides because one egomaniac.
I have also thought that it would be better for the Ukrainians to surrender in order to save lives, but it wouldn't stop there, it would only give Putin even more determination to invade other countries bordering Russia and and so it would go on and who knows where it would end?
If they invade any country of the EU or NATO, then we can could it a war, the so-called WW3 as there would be Russia against the world!
That wouldn't stop an egomaniac psyco anyway, so it doesn't matter if you defende yourself or not, he's going to contonue pushing, specially since they have nuclear weapons, that the NATO also has, so, we can stop worrying about if MK would tour or not again, sadly...
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Actually I won't call this a war, but an invassion. In my opinion two sides are needed in confrontation for a war, and this is Putin (not Russia) invading Ukraine, and they are defending themselves from the Putin invassion.
It's brave how they are defending themselves from the attack of a crazy egocentric man, but sometimes I wonder if won't be better to save lifes to surrender as this maniac is not going to stop until he achieves his criminal goal.
I feel very sorry not only for all the Ukranians but also for the Russians that are totally against this egomaniac crazyness that is causing so many deaths in both sides because one egomaniac.
Ukrainian people can't surrender because that means simply that Putin will take the whole Ukraine under his bulletproof vest (can't say wings). So it means Ukraine will be part of the Soviet Union again... So they are literally fighting their final battle for independence from the USSR, that Putin tries really hard to build back. He clearly has a personal grudge with Ukraine and never understood their people. I don't know why, but he thinks that Belarus, Ukraine and Russia are all one people. But clearly, they aren't one people. It's three separate nations with some common Slavic roots and that's all!
I'm writing this from Saint Petersburg, it was called Leningrad in WWII. The Siege of Leningrad, by low estimates, cost Russia 1 million of civilian people, and all my grandparents were either killed, evacuated or died from starvation there. Just in that one city Russia lost more people than a lot of countries in WWII combined.
But more and more experts come to the conclusion that Leningrad could've just surrendered. But because it was LENINgrad, they could never ever surrender the city, so basically, the government was willing to put the lives of millions of people over not surrendering LENINgrad because the Soviet Union couldn't afford the surrender of the city with THAT name. And it's not like Russia never surrendered their cities. Heck, during the War of 1812 it was Moscow that was abandoned and surrendered.
People never were a priority of this regime, and this tradition continues to this day. The Soviet Union never collapsed, it still exists in the heads of government officials. Average age of decision makers in Russia is like 70. Putin is 70, so they're all the product of the Soviet Union, were raised there, were part of it in all senses of that word, and want the USSR back.
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If they invade any country of the EU or NATO, then we can could it a war, the so-called WW3 as there would be Russia against the world!
That wouldn't stop an egomaniac psyco anyway, so it doesn't matter if you defende yourself or not, he's going to contonue pushing, specially since they have nuclear weapons, that the NATO also has, so, we can stop worrying about if MK would tour or not again, sadly...
The trouble is, WWIII is already going on, but not everyone knows about it though. NATO is already fighting Russia by supplying Ukraine with ammunition, training their soldiers and everything else, it's just NATO never confronted Russia directly. A joke is floating around, something like this:
— Putin said that Russia is fighting NATO...
— So how is it going?
— Russia has already lost 10,000+ men and a lot of military equipment.
— And what about NATO?
— Still never joined the war.
At this moment, NATO wants Ukraine to end this conflict so it would not continue further. If Ukraine fails, Putin will go further and invade Moldova first.
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The other lanes apparently are in the form of yachts and homes in "hostile" Europe.
Pavel, such poignant wording reminded me of Ilf and Petrov.
I used to admire your musical talent but now I have a lot more admiration for you. Stay safe and be well.
Thank you! Living in Russia is not for wussies that's for sure. Life has taught me a lot of lessons already and you age pretty fast here. Always finding solutions to all sorts of problems, avoiding hazards and traps. Living in Russia is like a lifelong boot camp. Unless you were born in the "right" family, then you're all set to be on the top of the world from the get-go and live in a completely different country. That gap between "elite" and everyone else is what divides this country the most, in my opinion.
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Thank you for explanations, and we all feel with you! I try to read articles from people close to what is going on, in addition to those who can history, to try to understand. It is difficult to understand for me, I live in a safe country and have never been told to dislike people from other countries. East is a direction in the sky for me, not an enemy. It all seems so absurd. It doesn't get any less absurd to hear what some people believe though :'(
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Yes, Quizzy, we are all with you!