Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site whuxl.UUCP
Path: utzoo!lsuc!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!whuxl!orb
From: orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: "We will bury you." -Khruschev
Message-ID: <833@whuxl.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 20-Nov-85 10:10:56 EST
Article-I.D.: whuxl.833
Posted: Wed Nov 20 10:10:56 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 26-Nov-85 21:22:52 EST
References: <756@whuxl.UUCP> <29200244@uiucdcs> <362@whuts.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Whippany
Lines: 52

> In article <828@whuxl.UUCP> orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) writes:
> >"If you repeat something long enough, people will come to
> >believe it."  Joseph Goebbels
> >[...] 
> >Kruschev *never* said "we will bury you."  What he said was
> >"we will survive you."  This has an entirely different meaning.
> >[...]
> >                tim sevener  whuxn!orb
> 
> Granted, Tim, it has a very different meaning.
> 
> Funny, but even at the time *all* the press quoted Khruschev as saying
> "We will bury you!", with much emphasis on burial. Nary a word on "survive".
> What is your source for this apparently liberal interpretation of yours?
> William Swan  {ihnp4,decvax,allegra,...}!uw-beaver!tikal!persci!bill

This was pointed out on a show about the decline in foreign language skills
in the United States and the consequences of this decline.  The speaker
pointed out that Americans tend to be singularly ignorant of languages
other than English.  This has hurt us gravely both in terms of foreign
policy and trade with other countries.  The speaker mentioned the
mistranslation of Khruschev's "we will survive you" as one of the
premier examples of how important a correct translation can be in
terms of foreign policy.  Mistakenly translating Khruschev's phrase as
"we will bury you" has been an eminent source of hostility ever since.
 
The fact that *all* the press mistakenly reported this incorrect
translation does not surprise me one whit.  *All* the press has
mistakenly reported many other things which turned out to be wrong.
For example, *all* the press reported the US government's allegations
that the Soviets were using "Yellow Rain" as a form of chemical warfare
in violation of chemical warfare treaties in Southeast Asia.
Where has the press reported the recent Scientific American article
which conclusively demonstrates that, in fact, "Yellow Rain" is
actually bee feces?  The New York Times ran a short article on it.
Otherwise it has hardly attracted the headlines of the original
"Yellow Rain" charge, or the charge that the Sandinistas were receiving
Soviet MIG's, or the General Advisory Committee's report
(*not endorsed by ANY agency of the government*) on Soviet treaty
violations.  This is why I find it a joke when people complain about
a "liberal bias" in the media.
 
On the other hand, while Khruschev never said "We will bury you",
Ronald Reagan *did* say:
 "The bombing starts in five minutes."
 
Hopefully, the Summit Meeting may attain results just the opposite
of this sentiment
and some sort of rapprochement between  the two superpowers able
to blow up the planet.
                            tim sevener   whuxn!orb