Pacific Views

Thank you for reminding me of this quote. Where did you find it? I know I have read it somewhere before (a Matt Taibbi piece, perhaps), but I can't find the source.

A Russian I know who's at the university here repeated it to me and I thought it was the funniest thing I'd heard in ages. Funny, precisely because it's too often true, obviously. I googled it, but I liked the sound of my friend's translation better than the one I found.

As the aforementioned Russki, let me try to CMA on the translation: I think I said "We wanted to do better, but it turned out as always." Not that the distinction is huge. Apparently, the quote was in context of the 1995 budget. :)

Chernomyrdin has entire Russian sites devoted to his aphorisms. Among other gems:

"Government is not that organ, where you can just use your tongue!"

"Principles which were principal, were not principal."

"The engine of economic growth is like an elephant in a certain place."

Aha! I think I found where I have read this: an article about Chechnya and the rise of Putin in the New Yorker a few years ago.

Anyways, I'm enjoying your thoughts of the day, more so now that I'm not spraining my brain trying to fit them to current events.