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Comment by gumby | Hacker News Reader

Whatever you want to call it, coup, rebellion, whatever, it seems clear that this event will provide a Dolchstoß explanation for the loss of the Ukraine war that will be used to keep revanchist militarism alive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stab-in-the-back_myth

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There is a TASS article from yesterday where the FSB, in english translation, literally said "stab in the back". Unfortunately swapping languages from an article doesn't get the original, so I have no idea what the idiom may be in russian.

As a native Russian speaker, can assue you it is exacly the same thing.

TIL « нож в спину » thanks! eg https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-66007068

Interesting. Something no one (at least in Swedish media) is talking about. But how would that in anyway help Putin?

War would have been won if not for stab in the back. Same as Germany post-ww1 rise of Nazis.

That won't help Putin, though (probably). He's probably fatally weakened by all this, as the Kaiser didn't remain in power past the end of WWI. What it will do is provide nationalistic fodder for the next nationalistic firebrand in 20 years.

It wouldn't help Putin to win. It only helps to keep his face and spirit up in case he loses.

There is an enormous pule of Dolchstoß explanations already collected to be used on as per needed basis. The events of today are adding to it but far from dwarfing it.

what else is there? nato weapon delivery?

No, that would be stab in the front.

I presume they mean stuff like not enough ammunition, no air support, and so on.

That being said stab in the back doesn't involve antisemitism in Slavic languages. I have the same idiom in Polish, and it's just an idiom for betrayal.

It's also a common idiom in the German language, but in a different form: The Dolchstoß is associated with WWI and antisemitic ideas, while in den Rücken fallen (literally to fall into someone's back) is the linguistic backstab figure.

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