No sooner do I publish articles bemoaning the totally isolated situation in which Alexei Navalny now finds himself, some 40 miles above the Arctic Circle in far, far, far-away Siberia, than some wise guy (or gal) at Politico, citing an Associated Press article dated yesterday, blows me out of the water. That article begins as follows:

“Alexei Navalny resurfaces with darkly humorous comments. ‘I am your new Santa Claus,’ Navalny said in a tweet.”

Navalny said??!!! In a freakin’ tweet???!!!!!! What the hell . . . ??!!!

How is this even possible? In a place at the farthest reaches of nowhere, where inmates are kept incommunicado, how does Navalny manage to tweet? Is there even wi-fi in the Arctic Circle? Is he really at that magical place where Santa Claus lives and all things are possible?

Seriously, for the sake of my sanity, I need to know. The only possibility that occurs to me is that the tweet was actually sent — at Navalny’s instruction — by his attorney, who apparently has been permitted one visit with him since his arrival at the world’s biggest ice floe. (And by the way, that attorney deserves a medal just for making the journey!)

Am I right about that? And if not, what is the answer? Does anyone out there know, and could you please enlighten me before I go totally nuts?

In the Politico piece, Navalny is further quoted as saying that he was in a good mood following his transfer, but that the northern winter darkness is discouraging, and that: “I don’t say ‘Ho-ho-ho,’ but I do say ‘Oh-oh-oh’ when I look out of the window, where I can see night then the evening, and then the night again.”

With an attitude and a sense of humor like his, perhaps he can survive after all. One can only hope.

And wouldn’t that be the biggest “yob vas” (“up yours”) of all to Vladimir Putin!

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/27/23