The War in Ukraine Has Unleashed a New Word – The New York Times

When we say Russia, the double s is pronounced sh. In the middle of fascism we find the same sound, sh though this time it is generated by sc, which English borrows from the original Italian fascismo. We can render that sound with sh or, in these two words, ss and sc, but the clarifyingly simple Ukrainian orthography picks up that sound, however it is spelled in whatever language, and renders it as . So + = , also thanks to that middle sound. The sh sound in the middle, the , refers to both Russia and to fascism, but only because Ukrainians are playing with English. In neither Russian nor Ukrainian does the word for Russian have a sh sound.

P relies on English to work, but it is not easy for English to reclaim. When Russia becomes P, the vowels firm up and become more honest; they no longer quite conform to English. The same is even true for the ism, which in Ukrainian requires a more clipped and disciplined sound. These honest vowels make it hard for English speakers to pronounce p as it is supposed to be pronounced and even if we were to pronounce it correctly in Ukrainian, it would not sound like much of anything in English.

On the ground. Russiashowed no sign of easing his assault, as missiles struck the southern port city of Zaporizhzhia, a day after Russian missiles hit at least five rail stationsin western and central Ukraine.

Polands gas supply. Russias state gas company announced the complete suspension of natural gas deliveries to Polandthrough a major pipeline, in an escalation of the tensions stemming from the war. The Kremlin has been particularly angry at Warsaw for its support of Ukraine.

Russian-allied region hit. Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldovathat occupies a strategically important spot on Ukraines western flank, was struck by explosions. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of carrying them outas apretext to invade Ukraine from that side.

This is why, to claim p for English, I have to transliterate it as Ukrainians also generally do as ruscism. The mechanically correct transcription would be rashysm, which is hardly clear. We have to go back and get the u to indicate Russia, and we take the ism because we know this is about ideology. And while the Ukrainian consonant demands a sh, the resulting rushism would suggest a weakness for American talk radio or Canadian classic rock. We know that did not actually come from an sh in the first place; it came from both the ss of Russia and the sc of fascism. We choose sc, and get ruscism. As in Ukrainian, a sh sound joins the two parts. But now, in English, the visible sc recalls the unusual spelling of fascism, as it should.

In English, if you believe in racism, you are a racist; if you believe in fascism, you are a fascist. This lexical progression is similar in Ukrainian. , racism, has the associated personal form , racist. , fascism, yields , fascist. Likewise, the new word has , or ruscist. (Unlike English, Ukrainian also generates female forms of these words.) Ukrainians sometimes refer to individual Russians as ruscists, making lists, for example, of prominent Russian supporters of the war. But there is also the tendency to refer to all Russian soldiers in Ukraine as ruscists. This runs into certain difficulties: Given the imperial character of the Russian state, a very high proportion of the Russian soldiers in Ukraine belong to national minorities. This suggests a deeper problem, which is that even soldiers dying for a fascist cause need not be fascists themselves.

Whereas Russian leaders have intensified the Soviet tradition of referring to contemporary enemies as fascists, in Ukraine, the word refers more simply to the horrors of World War II, which were even deeper there than in Russia. When Ukrainians speak of ruscism, they are accusing Russians of a deep betrayal of what should have been a common inheritance and a common memory. They are accusing Russians of becoming what should have been defeated long ago.

Few beyond Ukraine seem to know that millions of Ukrainians, exercising freedom of speech in a country that allows it, have invented and are deploying a new word. Ruscism will sound strange at first. So did genocide and ethnic cleansing, other words that emerged from (Eastern) European wars. The concepts that clarify our world today were once strange and new. But when they point to something, they can take hold.

Russian fascism is certainly a phenomenon that requires a concept. The Russian Federation promotes the extreme right everywhere. Putin is the idol of white supremacists around the world. Prominent Russian fascists are given access to mass media during wars, including this one. Members of the Russian elite, above all Putin himself, rely increasingly on fascist concepts. Putins very justification of the war in Ukraine, as an act of cleansing violence that will return Russia to itself, represents a Christian form of fascism. The recent publication, in an official Russian news service, of what I consider an openly genocidal handbook, providing a plan for the elimination of the Ukrainian nation as such, confirms all this. Moscow is the center of fascism in our world.

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The War in Ukraine Has Unleashed a New Word - The New York Times