Mikhail Korolev Jul 19, 2009:

Of course the question is closed and the answer you chose, Clive, is an excellent one, but
'backstage' is "becoming" a noun already, and, what is important, not only in Google:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/backstage

Clive Wilshin (asker) Jul 18, 2009:

If we're having a bet, I bet that all or nearly all examples you find of "international backstage" are translations from Russian (into what I call "translationese" rather than English).

The fact remains that you can't mix metaphors so bizarrely in English anyway. A "backstage" (or back stage, as it should be) cannot have "comrades-in-arms".

Rachel Douglas Jul 18, 2009:

(end of sentence) End of the previous post:

... come into widespread use.

Rachel Douglas Jul 18, 2009:

backstage / back stage Clive, I think you're right that, if somebody needed to make a noun out of "backstage," it would be "back stage." To my mind, that would denote a place (whether an actual backstage area, or a figurative one), not a set of people or institutions.

As for what Google shows, I agree with Michael that such searches don't produce authoritative results, but may reveal patterns of changing usage. In the case of "international backstage," however, no such pattern is evident. For one thing, you'll screen the results better, for this context, if you search for "_the_ international backstage." But, out of those 2700+ matches for "international backstage," I eyeballed the first 100 and found only two cases of usage _as a noun_ in political contexts, not counting a "hit" for this ProZ discussion:
1) a text about something "running around the international backstage" (i.e., a figurative _place_);
2) an attempt by a non-fluent Russian speaker (somebody who calls it "a steady euphemism") to translate, obviously, this same "мировая закулиса."

To the best of my not too horribly limited working and reading knowledge, "the international backstage" has not come in

Michael Korovkin Jul 18, 2009:

As me wus tinkin', gov: 2.700 Entries for "International Backstage". Many are admittedly by xilolingual colonials and other Yankies, and many – about theatre, cinema and other rock'n'roll, and can be discounted. Howevere, there are lots and lots on international politics and economics too. Thus vindicoyteed, I retire to a Scotch and a cracker. Cheers.

Michael Korovkin Jul 18, 2009:

Clive, I'm going public! 1. Sure, the Oxford Dictionary I keep in my study in "hardcopy" (is THAT a noun?) also doesn't list the backstage as a noun. So what? Usages change.
2. Now соратники at al. Backstage can"continuously sacrifice its devotees/permanet actors" (even grouppies) – what have you – as well and as efficiently as any other milieu, and better than some. So, I have a sneaking feeling that you're nitpicking a bit (or should I write "gnid piccking" as Doctor Johnson would have had it?).
3. As far as "Secret World Government" is concerned, it's certainly a strong sarcastic rendering, except that I don't know how facetious and fact-fancy one can afford to be in your text: after all, secret world government is but a myth (one hopes), while the international backstage exists and how. Should I google it too? Betcha, I'll find several thousand entries, or, as they call them now, "hits".
Keep the good works!