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‘Nutcracker’ Is a Casualty of a ‘Quarantine’ of Russian Culture in Lithuania

Lithuania’s national opera house had stopped showing Tchaikovsky’s 1892 masterpiece in solidarity with Ukraine over the war with Russia. Then a new minister expressed fondness for the Russian composer, igniting a furor.

© Andrej Vasilenko for The New York Times

Lithuanian’s National Opera and Ballet Theater during intermission at the ballet “Les Millions d’Arlequin” in Vilnius this month.

Amid Russian Attacks, Ukraine Seeks New Ways to Power Its Cities

The Ukrainian energy network has been so battered by Russian attacks that officials are seeking out new options to prevent a crisis, like renting floating power plants and scavenging scrapped ones from the region.

© Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

The control room of a thermal power plant — in November in an undisclosed location in Ukraine — that has been repeatedly targeted by Russian strikes.

Biden Administration Weighs Putting Up Roadblocks to Trump’s Deportation Campaign

The administration may extend protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants whose legal status is set to expire near the start of the Trump administration.

© Todd Heisler/The New York Times

A family of refugees from Sudan arriving in Connecticut last year. People from the war-torn country are eligible for a program that allows them to live and work legally in the United States.

Zelensky Raises Prospect of European Peacekeepers in Ukraine

But many European leaders say that with no sign that Russia is interested in peace, it is too early to discuss the presence of peacekeeping forces.

© Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

A destroyed Ukrainian tank hit by a Russian drone last May remained in pieces alongside the road between villages not far from the front line in the Kharkiv region, in northern Ukraine, this month.

fun with flags

有个新闻,我这一年闲聊时经常提起。从各方面都切合了我的审美。

2022 年 12 月 18 日,乌克兰国防部在 twitter 发文,感谢来自 52 个国家的军事及个人援助,视频中列出了这些国家的国旗。其中,没有大陆的五星红旗;有台湾、有香港,而代表香港的旗子,是时代革命运动中的黑紫荆旗。

(视频里有 8×7=56 面旗子,推文里说是 52 个国家,其对应关系,大家有兴趣可以连连看。)

随后,香港官方各种抗议,具体后续不了了之。原始的推文已经被删除。

这些国旗的出现,可以追溯到 2022 年 6 月,在基辅独立广场(Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kiev)上的一个展示项目。

从网上搜的图片可以看到,中间有一小段时间,是已经挂上了台湾国旗,但还没有挂上黑紫荆。第一批在乌克兰参加志愿者的台湾导游「莊育瑋」,也在这个期间,就去合影

后来黑紫荆旗怎么挂上去的,无从考证。但是很容易想象:有个来自香港的家伙,也在乌克兰做志愿兵,看到挂了台湾旗,就跑去说:我来自香港,所以你们也要挂香港的旗帜啊,就挂黑紫荆吧!


这个事情让我觉得很嗨的原因,在于:以往涉及国旗的场合中,那些对于个体,构成被迫的身份绑定,甚至是负担的层面,在这个事件中,消失了。参战的志愿者,可以凭借自己的意愿,来决定我所属的「国家」的旗帜,应该用什么样的方式展示。

而且,我们经常面对的,同一类身份的人,在另一个层面上意见不一致,而带来的割裂感,这里似乎也消失了。

就是说,理论上会有这样的情况:一个爱国小粉红,也去乌克兰参战,看到这种场面,坚持要改成五星红旗、或者红紫荆旗,怎么办?——但现实中,真会有这样的人,去乌克兰参战吗?没有啊。只有几个脑残,跑去俄罗斯那边当炮灰

即使有中国大陆籍贯的人,在乌克兰做志愿者(我相信是有的),也不介意国旗被改成什么样吧。这样的人,看到黑紫荆旗,会与之争吵吗?不会的啊。大概只会为此感到欢乐。

这种在现实层面实现的同温层过滤,感觉很好。

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