Actually, it’s a good news / odd news day.

This rather strange story comes, not from Russia, as one might expect, but from Belarus, where politically-motivated arrests have been on the upswing in recent years.

Word has been received that American citizen Anastasia Nuhfer was released from detainment in a Belarusian prison on January 26th. That’s the very good news.

The odd news is that no details of her arrest, imprisonment or release are available at this time . . . because Belarusian officials had never publicly disclosed her name. Who she is, what she was doing in Belarus, why she was arrested, why it was kept quiet, and why she was suddenly released all remain unknown, for whatever reason.

What has been made quite public, though, is the immediate claim of credit by the current U.S. administration for having (allegedly) engineered Ms. Nuhfer’s release. Admittedly, it is difficult to judge, when no details are available; but it seems logical that the Biden administration must initially have been involved, as the U.S. State Department said on Sunday that Ms. Nuhfer was detained in early December of 2024. Thus, it would have been more than a month before the current administration stepped in to pick up any ongoing negotiations.

I can’t help but think back 44 years to January 20, 1981, when President Jimmy Carter was deprived of the full credit he deserved for the release of 52 American hostages held in Iran for 444 days . . . on the very day of Ronald Reagan’s inauguration . . . after more than a year of intense negotiations. As a result, the historical records show that the prisoners technically were released during Reagan’s administration, despite the arrangements having already been concluded by President Carter and Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

And now, in a classic instance of “deja vu all over again,” brand-new Secretary of State Marco Rubio has posted this smirking bit of self-aggrandizement:

“Thanks to @POTUS leadership, Belarus just unilaterally released an innocent American, ANASTASSIA [sic] Nuhfer, who was taken under JOE BIDEN! @ChrisWelbySmith from our team did a great job on this. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH” [RFE/RL, January 26, 2025.]

Sickeningly reminiscent of the Tweet-fest that emanated from the White House between 2017 and 2021, it would seem that either Secretary Rubio has been studying his boss’ writing style, or the boss is doing his writing for him — misspelling, all caps, and exclamation point included.

One final thought: Perhaps neither administration deserves credit for this happy event, since both Rubio and Lukashenko have stated that the decision to release Ms. Nuhfer was a “unilateral” one. We might just be able to chalk this one up to the Belarusian tyrant’s sucking up to the new guy in the Oval Office.

So, please . . . can we all just rejoice, welcome Ms. Nuhfer home, and leave the strutting to the peacocks?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/28/25