Wednesday, October 30, 2019

National Security Council's Top NSA Ukraine Expert Testifies That President Trump's Ukraine Phone Call Raised National Security Concerns





Daily Mail: Purple Heart vet tells Congress the White House REMOVED words and phrases from the transcript of President Trump's call with the Ukrainian president and claims his efforts to make the corrections were ignored

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that the White House transcript of the July call between President Trump and Ukraine’s president was ‘mostly accurate’ but missed key words or crucial phrases that he tried – and failed – to have corrected.

Such omissions, Vindman said, included Trump’s proclamation that there were recordings of former Vice President Joe Biden discussing Ukrainian corruption, and the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, directly mentioning the energy company who employed Hunter Biden to its board, Burisma Holdings.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The above headline implies one thing, but when you read into the story you find the following ....

.... Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that the White House transcript of the July call between President Trump and Ukraine’s president was ‘mostly accurate’ but missed key words or crucial phrases that he tried – and failed – to have corrected.

So if the phone call was "mostly accurate", why the fuss?

Here is my perspective as someone who has been involved in translation. When translating a discussion we always find ourselves in a situation where some words and phrases are interpreted differently by different people. It is even more difficult when English is being used but it is not the translator's first language .... as in my case (Russian is my first language), or in the case of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (his first language is Ukrainian). It is why translating instantaneously is always difficult, and why we can never be 100% accurate. Personally, I have seen over the years my fair share of people becoming very frustrated at the translator when they felt that their remarks were not being conveyed properly. Here is another point. When I was translating and/or listening into a conversation where translation was an integral part of the discussion, I can never remember later on the precise details on what was discussed (just the generalities). After-all, my focus was on translating and not remembering precisely what was discussed. But somehow Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman did remember precise details? It makes me wonder if he really did say that what the media is telling us he said. And that is why I find the media reports on Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's testimony questionable. This testimony was held behind closed doors for ten hours, and what we are hearing from the media are just leaks that they got from Democrats on what they want us to hear. Can that be accurate? In my book the answer is no.

More News On The National Security Council's Top Ukraine Expert Testifying That President Trump's Ukraine Phone Call Raised National Security Concerns

Colonel testifies he raised concerns about Ukraine, Trump -- AP
White House adviser tells lawmakers Trump Ukraine call raised national security concerns -- Reuters
'Extremely disturbing': Top Democrats alarmed over Vindman's testimony on Trump-Ukraine call -- NBC
Trump impeachment: Officer Alexander Vindman raised alarm over Ukraine call -- BBC
Senior House Democrat calls Purple Heart vet's closed door impeachment testimony 'extremely disturbing' as Donald Trump blasts witness as 'Never Trumper' and allies accuse Ukrainian language speaker of dual loyalty and 'espionage' -- Daily Mail
Republicans and Democrats face off in 'shouting match' over 'plot to out whistleblower' during impeachment hearing behind closed doors -- Daily Mail

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

WNU - Big difference between you and Vineman. Your first language was truly Russian, you being well into adulthood when transitioning to North America. He on the other hand was 3 when he left Ukraine and had perfect fluency in English from and early age, probably only speaking his native tongue in family situations. So he was a great and accurate conduit for translation.

War News Updates Editor said...

Anon,
I have met many eastern Europeans like him. They arrived to Canada or the U.S. at a very young age speaking their first language. From there they then transitioned to English, but they still spoke their mother tongue at home. This is hard for me to explain. But trust me on this. Your mother tongue will influence in a subtle way how you perceive and interact in another language. In my case it is a lot. In Vindman's case even lesser. But it is there. It will always be there.

Language is a funny thing.

Anonymous said...

language aside, he raised the issue before this situation became an issue and Nothing was done about it

Anonymous said...

The most recent account came Tuesday from Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine adviser at the White House, who witnessed the meetings and listened to the subsequent phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“The Ukrainians saw this meeting as critically important in order to solidify the support of their most important international partner,” Vindman said, according to a copy of his opening statement released to the public.

But after seeing Sondland outline political demands that Trump would reiterate in his July 25 call, Vindman said, he became worried that what he had witnessed was improper, imperiled Ukraine’s ability to withstand Russian aggression and “would all undermine U.S. national security.”

The July 10 meetings have become a focal point for congressional investigators in part because Sondland articulated a seeming quid pro quo — a Zelensky visit to the White House in exchange for investigations beneficial to Trump — before a room full of witnesses, providing evidence that elements within the administration were working to pressure Ukraine well before the Trump-Zelensky call.

Anonymous said...

Trump will not be able to fix all the sins of Obama.

Crimea was administratively added to Ukraine during Stalin's time. It has a Russian majority. It should have had a plebiscite. It did not. Obama let it happen on his watch (March 2014). We cannot go to war with China or Russia without it perhaps leading to a nuclear exchange. We especially cannot have it when the Democrats are so disinterested in winning war against the 2nd and 3rd tier aggressor allies of Russia and China.

Normally, Libs, Dims and hard left hate, absolutely hate Russia hawks. But they salivate when they pronounce the name of Vindman.

I don't know about you but I did not vote for Vidnamn to conduct american foreign policy. I voted for Trump.

It seems as though you shameless libs have retroactively voted for Vindman to disenfranchise me. That is very gracious of you.

Another point. The Bidens are corrupt. They can yank slow Joe's chain any time by exposing the corrupt negotiation with Hunter and Joe. You don't think that the Chinese do not have vid.

Different class of sock puppet posting. the Dims are going all out.

Anonymous said...


Trial by leaks

aka

Democrat water torture


Stalin would have been proud!

Anonymous said...


Sins of Obama


The Crimean Peninsula was annexed by the Russian Federation in February–March 2014 and since then has been administered as two Russian federal subjects—the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol.[38] The annexation from Ukraine followed a Russian military intervention in Crimea that took place in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and was part of wider unrest across southern and eastern Ukraine.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annexation_of_Crimea_by_the_Russian_Federation


Do we want to got to war over the sins of Obama?

Blackdog said...

Editor please don’t try and change the narrative. This is not an article about translation. This is an article about omission. You focused on “mostly accurate”. What that means is that it is not accurate. As a writer you know it’s very important what you put in and what you leave out. Truth it was pointing out a long time ago that the transcript was taken off “notes” and not the recordings and not an “accurate “ depiction of what really happened. What was left out here is truly important. What this man says was left out is truly important and should not be discounted.

Anonymous said...

Trump military Aid to Urlkaine

"The Trump administration did approve the provision of arms to Ukraine, including sniper rifles, rocket launchers and Javelin anti-tank missiles, something long sought by Kiev."


Obamish military aid

Medical kits, night vision a few humvees and counter battery radar.


Obama. Putin's Bottom, purposely did not provide anything that could shoot back.

Blackdog have you served? I have.

I am a Russia hawk. But I do not remember voting a low level NSC staffer as president to make policy.

Blackdog said...

Anon I usually don’t respond to nonsensical off the topic post but since some good things have been mentioned here I’ll keep it going. Let start from the bottom up. This is not about some “low level” NSC staffer are making policy. This is about an honorable veteran who was there making sure the truth comes out About the abuse of presidential powers for personal gain. Let’s do our best not to forget that fact. Secondly yes, because of that privilege and opportunity I had a great chance to travel to other parts of the world and see many things. I believe this greatly influence my opinions and the person that I am today. I think I’ve mentioned on this blog before that I am a believer in the American empire and the systems that we have built since World War II. I will not apologize for that. That said I do believe America has made some mistakes and do not think it’s a sign of weakness to say so. Lastly this post was about The transcript that trump put out and what was left out of it. Not about Ukrainian military aid or Obama.

Anonymous said...

The Bidens and others used Ukraine to go after Trump when he was a candidate.

That it helps Trump while he is upholding the law by investigating their collusion with Ukraine and their family dealings dies not make the latter off limits.

Also Trump has provided more aid to Obama and it was lethal aid instead the the MRE type aid the Obama provided.