Five days ago, Arend Feenstra posted a short video from a train on the way to their mysterious visit to Crimea. (See my post of 6/13/26: “We Interrupt This. Sabbatical . . .”) He offered no explanation as to the purpose of the trip, other than a quick mention of checking out some farming-related matters; no apparent concerns about leaving the homestead in Nizhny Novgorod at the busiest season of the year; and, as usual, no indication of the actual date on which the video was being made.

Two days after that, there was a second quick communique, this time from Crimea, saying how excited they were to be there, looking forward to visiting some “agricultural places.” That’s all.

And the following day, Arend shows up again, now back in Nizhny Novgorod, apologizing for the delay in posting videos of the Crimea trip — delays that he attributed to “technical difficulties . . . out of our control.” He said there were unexpected problems with the videos, which needed “some more stuff to be done” to them, and thanked their viewers for their patience while “we wait for these unforeseen things to pass.”

Now, that could mean any number of things, and he was clearly having difficulty finding the right words to explain the problem without actually explaining it. But considering where they are — and what has been going on in Russia since the war against Ukraine has come home to bite the Putin regime in their big Russian yagoditsiy (buttocks) — my best guess is that there are two things going on: first, the well-known interruptions and shutdowns of social media and other communications by the Kremlin; and second — though this is purely speculative — the need for some official editing of the videos before their release can be authorized.

Consider:

Vladimir Putin invaded Crimea in 2014, and has illegally occupied the entire peninsula ever since. From the time of his second invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the usually peaceful Crimean Peninsula has been dragged into the ongoing conflict.

Perhaps the Feenstras were witness to some of the effects the war has had on the Ukrainian residents, observed the heavy-handed behavior of the Russian occupiers, and even expeienced some of the retaliatory attacks by Ukraine’s forces. If so, I can think of a number of reasons why their videos have been delayed, and why Arend Feenstra appears hesitant to say more.

And I have to wonder whether the Feenstra family, who left Canada because it was too “woke,” may be starting to realize that the choice of Russia as their new home could turn out to be the biggest mistake of their lives.

In any event, I will keep an eye out for further word from them. So stay tuned, friends. Because I think there is a lot more to this story.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/18/26