Leaked Audio Shows Conscripts Are FURIOUS with Moscow!

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[AdamMPick]

"To throw dust in someone's eyes": To delude or deceive someone. Hyperbole: To throw bricks into someone's eyes. According to Russian folklore at the time of Ivan the Terrible, if two parties fighting in court could not convince the court either way they had to decide it with a fist fight. On one of those occasions one of the participants threw sand at his opponent's face, temporary blinding him and won the fight because of that. This is folklore, though, no one is sure where that idiom comes from. Bricks is just the hyperbole of sand/dust. It means convicing someone of something that is not true by blinding them to the truth.

[hairyjohn]

The idea of good Tsar, but bad advisors goes back centuries.

[laszlokaestner]

The whole politician as military leader thing is quite interesting. As you say the veterans of Iraq/Afghanistan have a very different outlook to most previous conflicts where the end goal and reasoning was much clearer. This is something Zelensky has got very right from day one. It is why he is always seen in olive green vaguely army looking jumpers and trousers. Okay we all know he isn't picking up a Kalashnikov anytime soon but in the early days of the war when Kyiv was under threat you could imagine him holding one fighting off Russians in a last ditch defence of the Presidential Palace. he made it very clear he wasn't going into exile (although many countries offered to extricate him) instead donning the green and making impassioned speeches from the capital. Whatever else you think of Zelensy or the wider conflict it must be said that he carries the "wartime leader" persona perfectly. This is a massive reason why the conflict didn't last 10 days and why there will be statues of him in Ukraine for hundreds of years.

[BullsMahunny]

The Dust in the Eyes quote:

Our equivalent would be "pulling the wool over our eyes". They saying, more or less, that they're completely blind. The soldier is responding by saying it's not just dust (dust being incredibly tiny), it's entire bricks.

I guess if we were to modify our own phrase, it would be something like "They're not pulling the wool over our eyes, they're pulling the entire laundry room over"

[ZarbanDerek]

It's true that it's very common to claim the enemy's leader is sick, but it's also very common for world leaders to actually be sick (or junkies or both). But they usually last a lot longer than their enemies like to imagine they will. We're all prone to wishful thinking.

[lewesc]

Your story about the French and Russians refusing to fight.
While that did occur in some circumstances, the wide spreading events of refusing to fight was more... "We refuse to attack". Particularly in the case of Verdun, they would still hold their position and defend.

[fgrodriguezqac]

In Russian, the expression "dust in the eyes" is translated as "пыль в глаза" (pyl' v glaza). This expression is often used to describe situations where someone is deceived or misled by false information or appearances, similar to the English expressions "to pull the wool over someone's eyes" or "to be blinded by something."
The other guy by saying “bricks” he is just making it more exaggerated.

[clydeosterhout]

You made some very insightful comments. Thank you!

[BrianBaileyedtech]

Fantastic, honest, unbiased analysis in this one. Man, great stuff. This is really great content. I was a radio operator in the Canadian Navy many years ago during the height of the Cold War. I remember seeing Russian Bear Bombers flying directly overhead towards Greenland and then, like clockwork, heading back in the opposite direction a few minutes later being "escorted" by American fighters scrambled out of Thule, Greenland. Those were the days, haha! (circa 1984-85). Once we all got a Christmas card from the Russians naming everyone who worked at the station, they had been able to piece that together by stealing personnel records and then identifying us by how we keyed on the teletype machines used at the time. We responded by broadcasting to planes that didn't exist, wasting the Russians resouces on wild goose chases. I sometimes worked in conjunction with Americans (ie NORAD) and was always impressed with their professionalism. Since that time I have been able to travel to over 100 countries. Love this planet but hate governments like the CCP and Putin's mafia. We will beat them, I have no doubt, because freedom is a basic human right and a basic human desire. It must be fought for, and defended.

[eddavanleemputten]

Dust in the eyes: a similar expression in Dutch. “Zand in de ogen strooien” (literally sprinkling sand in the eyes”. Meaning: to blind someone. It has a negative connotation. It implies you do something to hide something else, not caring if it’s detrimental to the other person but purely for your own agenda’s sake.

[derekbaker]

Paul. My most enthusiastic kudos to you for being very perceptive & frank regarding domestic politics as it pertains to Russia, to the U.S.A., and pretty well every other nation. It's not too often that veterans of wars speak about the big picture with a clear view regarding the 'war machine', the one-way hierarchy of power in the military, a socio-economic gap between those who run a country & those who go do the fighting in military interventions/wars, and what truly motivates governments to get involved in conflicts around the world. (..I certainly have friends who are veterans from Vietnam who can, but very few veterans of more recent conflicts..) I am quite impressed with how you took a conversation between a Russian soldier & his friend back home, and turned it into a lesson about what every person in every nation needs to understand about 'the big picture'. Your ability to take a step outside the box, and look at the foreign policies & domestic politics in Russia, the U.S.A. without a political agenda & with as little patriotic/cultural bias as possible represents some of the skills & attitudes that elevates you above many others who are analyzing the Russia-Ukraine war! Awesome!

[Shibalove]

Much obliged Paul. Great show brother! 💪🏼🇺🇦🤝🏼🇺🇸💪🏼🫡

[drovoseg]

15:05 "Dust in the eyes" can be translated like "Pull the wool over someone's eyes"

[xisotopex]

the big problem here, a very big problem, is that these soldiers are not against the war, only how it is being prosecuted...

[ubtrippin]

In the prison system the inmates drop a request in the box at the medical unit. The nurses take the out, read them, a triage them according to severity and immediacy. In the United States the only people with a constitutional right to medical care are inmates.

[catherineandpaulfuters]

Thank you for your coverage Paul
🇪🇺🇺🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇦🇬🇧

[altratronic]

The Russian conscripts are under the false impression that their treatment is a bug and not a feature, hence the naive conversation about fixing their predicament.

[yevhenkonowaletz]

Thank you and glad to see and listen to your podcast. Your detailed, interesting and incisive observations are always welcome

[MrJurgenman]

I think the phrase "dust in your eyes" is akin to "pulling the wool over your eyes"

[Alex-odnl]

you hit the nail on the head. Veterans returning home from a losing war will determine the course of the politics in that country for a generation, and in Russia--which was incurred insane casualties over the course of the year--this impact will be even more dramatic. The ultimate question is which way will they push: to the left or the right. If they are reacting the the current government in Russia, then it will be to the left.