A serendipitous interlude

There are only so many synonyms for the word "Prison", so when inspiration strikes, seize it with both hands. Such a word is Gulag, which is Russian. But, before I could safely season my scripts with it, first I had to check it out in a dictionary.

Being the transliteration (a word written with a foreign alphabet that uses the regular ABC of English to translate), and a foreign word to boot, my Webster's app couldn't find it. Unlike the poor sods still banged up, I had an alternative, Wikipedia. This was that entry:



Gulag (Russian: ГУЛАГ, tr. GULAG; IPA: [ɡʊˈlak]; acronym of Главное управление лагерей, Glavnoye Upravleniye LAGerej, "Main Camps' Administration" or "Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps") was the government agency created under Lenin which reached its peak as Soviet forced-labor camp system during Joseph Stalin's rule from the 1930s up until the 1950s. The term is also commonly used to reference any forced-labor camp in the Soviet Union, including in post-Stalin times.




The camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners. Large umbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas (secret police) and other instruments of extrajudicial punishment. The Gulag is recognized as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union.



Were I confident enough, I'd add my own correction to the closing sentence: "and, clearly Dieland. ut some parties consider that the UK could be said to qualify also. Particularly so, when one considers previous restrictions imposed upon inmates by former justice ministers, Blind Pugh and Chris Fail-ing, Mssrs. Blunkett and Grayling".




It was the chance (hence the title of this interlude) discovery that I enjoy some 42 feeds into Russia with the Blog. So come on my Russian friends, let's hear from you. In Dan 2 (Building 2) we had a former Bank Robber, Felix from Russia. Do any of my Russian followers know of Felix's whereabouts nowadays?

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