rump

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

 Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Yahoo! News:
>
> "According to the separatists currently holding control of the Ukrainian
> town of Slovyansk, the observers were thought to be NATO spies. The
> self-proclaimed mayor of the rump city added:..."
>
> Seems like it's supposed to mean "separatist" or something. Hey! Maybe it's
> "divided!"

A commentator on PBS recently used the following phrase: "a bunch of
little rump states in Eastern Ukraine". It is possible that the phrase
"rump city" was employed because the writer was labeling a city within
a potential or nascent "rump state". Note that I am presenting an
explanation for the usage and not an endorsement. Also, this may be
known to JL so he left it unstated.

PBS Newshour
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/u-s-cautious-diplomatic-deal-calm-conflict-ukraine/
U.S. cautious about diplomatic deal to calm conflict in Ukraine
April 17, 2014 at 6:10 PM EDT
[Begin excerpt]
TRANSCRIPT...
MARGARET WARNER: ...
And when I followed up with a question about, well, were you reassured
at least that in this agreement it talks about constitutional reforms
that will protect the rights of minorities, he said, what we want is
federalization in the constitution. That’s a Russian codeword for
essentially creating a bunch of little rump states in Eastern Ukraine
so disconnected from Kiev that they are easily manipulated by Russia.
[End excerpt]

Merriam-Webster
rump, noun
:  a small or inferior remnant or offshoot; ...
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rump

Garson

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