Having a wonderful time reminiscing about all my past travel (and other) adventures. Hope you’ll share them with me in my blog, “All Roads Led to Russia.”
Some people’s actions simply defy belief. Like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel; or letting your child go rollerblading on the Long Island Expressway; or having so much to drink, you think a game of Russian roulette might be an amusing way to end the evening . . .
. . . or broadcasting to the world the exact opposite of what your boss has just announced as your country’s current stance on the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Are you freakin’ kidding me?!!”
No, I’m not kidding. And it blows my mind.
I can’t imagine, for example, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov being stupid enough to do that to his boss. (That would be Vladimir Putin, of course.) But it is exactly what JD Vance did on Thursday when he told the Wall Street Journal that the option of sending U.S. troops to Ukraine was “on the table,” in addition to possible economic punishment, if a peace deal doesn’t guarantee Kyiv’s long-term independence.
“There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage,” he told the Journal. [Jessie Yeung, CNN, February 14, 2025.]
U.S. Vice President JD Vance
Now, that in itself sounds okay — tough talk in favor of a victimized nation, aimed at a murderous dictator who has refused to negotiate a settlement of the war he illegally started three years ago. Fine.
Except that, just two days earlier, Vance’s boss — that would be Donald Trump, remember — had had a long one-on-one conversation with Putin, in which they supposedly agreed to begin immediate negotiations. Trump said he wants to “work together, very closely” with Putin to end the war in Ukraine, and even added that he hopes they will be “visiting each other’s nations.” [Steve Rosenberg, BBC, February 12, 2024.]
Right or wrong, Trump was obviously trying to sweet-talk Putin into being at least somewhat more reasonable. No mention was made (so far as we know), by either Trump or Putin, of any threat of recriminations or “punishment” if Putin failed to cooperate. And Trump has always maintained that U.S. troops would never be sent to Ukraine. So, where did Vance’s verbal diarrhea come from?
And more importantly, do we or do we not even have a Russia policy at this point? If so, it might be nice if Vance were privy to it, and if he were to understand that it’s his job to support it.
And if we don’t have one, I’d like to know why not. Because it seems to me it should take precedence over the whole plastic-versus-paper-drinking-straws issue, or whether to pave over the historic White House rose garden.
Once upon a time, there was a U.S. Congressman from the 14th District of New York by the name of Fred Richmond . . .
Congressman Frederick W. Richmond (1923-2019)
This is not a love story; it is, rather, the tale of a flawed but well-intentioned man named Fred whose path crossed mine more than 40 years ago, and whom I remember fondly to this day . . . especially each year on Valentine’s Day.
Originally from Boston, he supported himself through college by playing piano and forming the Freddie Richmond Swing Band. He was a U.S. Navy veteran; a self-made millionaire who had built a successful business conglomerate; a liberal Democrat when it was okay to be one; and an openly gay man when it wasn’t okay.
He was instrumental in creating the Urban Gardening Program, and fostered numerous programs to advance support for the arts. He liked to help people, and was a loyal friend. But sometimes he cut corners where he shouldn’t have, in order to achieve a higher purpose.
Fred was a friend and client of my boss, prominent international attorney Walter Sterling Surrey, which is how we met.
*. *. *
One day, a mean old journalist — the ogre of this tale, whose name I have forgotten but who worked for a newspaper known then (and now) for its “yellow” journalism — decided to launch an investigation of some of Fred’s business dealings. For whatever reason, he didn’t like Fred; maybe the journalist was a conservative Republican, or possibly just an unhappy homophobe. But he dug and he dug and he dug, until he found something Fred had done that was technically unethical, even though it hadn’t actually caused harm to anyone.
And the mean old journalist published his findings, whereupon Fred was charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced to a year and a day in Allenwood Penitentiary — then a minimum-security, so-called “country club” prison for white-collar and other non-violent criminals.
Poor Fred. He always meant well; but he committed the crime, and he did the time — or eight months of it, anyway. And even while he was tucked away at Allenwood, he was thinking of others.
Allenwood Penitentiary
It would have been February 14th of 1983, I believe. I was at work, as usual, and giving some thought to my evening plans, when our receptionist rang my phone to tell me that there was a delivery for me at the front desk. “How nice!” I thought . . . “Someone has sent me flowers for Valentine’s Day.”
But it wasn’t a bouquet or a floral arrangement. Instead, it was a big box of gourmet chocolates and a single red rose, with a hand-written card from . . .
Fred Richmond.
I could not have been more surprised, or more tickled, if the gift had come from the White House. Even behind bars, Fred took the time to think of others. This was his way of saying thanks for whatever help I had been able to provide during the course of his legal proceedings.
And, to this day, I don’t personally know another individual who has received chocolates and a red rose from a prison inmate on Valentine’s Day. In some strange way, I find that a source of pride.
*. *. *
After Walter Surrey passed away in 1989, I never saw Fred again. I read that he had died, at age 96, in 2019. And last night I dreamt about him, for the first time ever. I suppose it was the Valentine’s Day connection; I don’t know . . . I’ve long since given up trying to analyze my dreams.
Fred never married or had children; but perhaps — on some higher plane — he knows that someone thought of him today. I like to think so.
From international pariah to co-president of the world, in the course of a single phone call. And all at the invitation of your old friend Donnie. Patience really pays off, doesn’t it Vlad?
Never mind the illegal invasion of Ukraine and the hundreds of thousands of resultant casualties; forget about the punishing sanctions that have thrown your own economy into a tailspin; and don’t worry about that pesky arrest warrant issued against you by the International Criminal Court. Because Donnie has your back. He’s even suggested that you visit him in Washington, and that he would love to hop across the Atlantic for a little get-together on your home turf.
And all you had to do was wait until President Joe Biden — who called you a “pure thug,” a “brutal tyrant,” and a “murderous dictator” — was no longer in office.
All in order that you and your buddy can decide the fate of a third nation, carving it up to your satisfaction . . . and to hell with the Ukrainian people and their right to sovereignty. So that you, despite your protestations of willingness to negotiate, will ultimately get all, or at least most, of what you want: about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, including all of that valuable Black Sea coastline; the hope of NATO membership being snatched away from Ukraine; a re-written Ukrainian constitution; and a new, more friendly president sitting in Kyiv. In other words, an impotent shell of the proud country its people worked so hard to build.
And what will Ukraine get in return? A withdrawal of your troops? Your assurances that they will hereafter be left in peace? Big f**king deal! You know what that’s worth, don’t you?
Not a bloody kopek!
Because what they’ll really get is forced Russification.
*. *. *
And, even more important than the ability to declare victory in your barbaric war of attrition, you get to step out onto the world stage again, front and center.
Just as you wormed your way from KGB apparatchik stationed in East Germany; to chief scrounger for Mayor Sobchak in St. Petersburg; to indispensable bagman for Boris Yeltsin in Moscow; to the top of the KGB’s successor security agency, the FSB; and right on into the “oval office” in the Kremlin . . . so have you now slithered back into the good graces of the new guy in the real Oval Office in Washington.
Well, congratulations to you both — you’re a well-matched pair. It’s just a tragedy that your coupling means the rest of the world gets royally screwed.
Another day to celebrate! RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty journalist Andrey Kuznechyk has been freed from prison in Belarus where he had been held for more than three years (of a six-year sentence) on unsubstantiated charges of “hooliganism” and “creating an extremist group.”
Another wrongfully imprisoned hostage to cross off of our list . . . a list I hope to see reduced to zero in the very near future.
In the meantime, setting aside political considerations for just a little while, I’d like to offer my congratulations to the Kuznechyk family and to RFE/RL. This is why we never give up.
It’s always been political, you know, never about legal considerations: the round-up of dissidents and journalists on specious grounds, to be held as collateral in Russian (and now, also Belarusian) prisons.
But since late January — with the sudden, completely unexpected release of three hostages in just three weeks, timed to coincide with the equally sudden announcement of discussions between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin regarding Ukraine — the motive behind all of those arrests and lengthy imprisonments has become clear enough for even the most politically naive individual to discern, which is that . . .
Putin will now be able to get what he wants in Ukraine.
Was there ever any doubt?
The fact that Trump will get credit for engineering the release of the hostages, and ultimately for negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine . . . that’s just political gravy.
And the fact that Ukraine will be the sacrificial lamb . . . well, that will simply go into the next generation of history books as another interesting part of the story of a once-great land.
Kievan Rus’
*. *. *
Putin was never going to lose, of course. He never expected the Ukrainian people to put up such a valiant defense; or that Volodymyr Zelensky would become such an heroic, unifying president; or that the Western nations would join together so firmly in defense of a country that was neither a member of NATO nor the EU.
But once he realized that the Biden administration would never turn its back on Ukraine, and would fight to keep the rest of the free world on their side as well, he knew he would have to change his tactic. All he had to do was wait . . . let the war drag on until Ukraine was weakened; the Western allies were feeling the pinch of supporting Ukraine’s defense; and someone — preferably someone more malleable, like, say . . . oh, I don’t know . . . maybe Donald Trump? — was in the White House.
And in the meantime, he had all those prisoners to hold for ransom. Yes, there was that historic prisoner exchange back in August; but that wasn’t generosity on Putin’s part; he got back eight of his most prized criminals . . . sorry . . . citizens.
But what did he get for these last three? Interestingly, we only know of one Russian — Aleksandr Vinnik — who was arrested in 2024 and was being held in the U.S. on charges of money laundering connected to his cryptocurrency exchange, BTC-e. He got to go home this week.
Aleksandr Vinnik
From the Russian side, it seems like a lopsided exchange. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, said:
“I think it’s also important to note it was not in return for anything. There wasn’t some deal here where we had to release, like, 10 spies.” [Louise Radnofsky, Georgia Kantchev and Alex Leary, The Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2025.]
Oh, well then, like . . . okay.
Donald Trump said that the agreement was”very, very fair, very reasonable. Not like deals you’ve seen over the years.” He added that Russia had shown goodwill “in terms of the war … It’s a very important evening for ending that war.” [Id.]
But then we heard from dear old Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who can always be counted on to contradict whatever anyone other than Putin says, thus putting a major damper on the party. He said that the deal was the result of “meticulous negotiating work,” and added, for good measure:
“Of course, such agreements are not capable of becoming a turning point, but at the same time, bit by bit, these are certain steps towards building up that very mutual trust, which is now at its lowest point.” [Id.]
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov
Well, there you go. Trust Dmitry Peskov to deliver that touch of realism guaranteed to extinguish any glimmer of optimism. Thanks, Dima.
But he’s not wrong. It is only a step, and a tiny one at that. It doesn’t portend an imminent end to the war in Ukraine, because Vladimir Putin still won’t give in on his demands, and Volodymyr Zelensky won’t willingly give his country away.
Talk about the irresistible force and the immovable object!
That was a pledge my sister Merna and I had made to each other. We called it “The Ribbit Pact,” after the croaking sound that frogs make, after we discovered — on one of our many shopping excursions — these adorable decorative pillows with two little frogs sitting side by side, saying . . . you guessed it . . . “Together ‘til we croak.”
Only she ultimately croaked without me.
“Ribbit . . . Ribbit”
I cared for her during those last couple of years when she was so sick, and she was so worried about who would take care of me when my time came. I’ll let my kids fight about that. In the meantime, I just miss her.
We spent our early years fighting, mostly — as sisters tend to do; but if any outsider dared say a word against one, the other was there to defend her to the death. Fortunately, it never came to that. And in our later years, we got smarter and became best friends, ignoring our differences and building on the things we enjoyed in common: going to the theater, trying new restaurants, shopping, taking cruises . . . and dissing our late mother. And we laughed a lot, because we knew things about our respective and collective pasts that no one else did.
After Binge-watching “Downton Abbey” Together
Yesterday, as I saw two sisters — young adults — sharing a private joke, I felt that pang of . . . what? . . . Jealousy? Loneliness? Loss? Yes, to all three. And at the same time, I smiled at the closeness of the two young women, and the thought of all they will share in the years ahead.
Because there is no relationship quite like that of sisters. You keep each other’s secrets from your parents; you swap stories about your boyfriends; you seek one another’s advice about what to wear to Saturday’s party, or how to style your hair, or whether to take a particular job. You share a bedroom when you’re young, and borrow each other’s jewelry when you’re older.
And when one is no longer there, the other one is incomplete. You can enjoy the company of other relatives and close friends, but it’s not the same. You can’t just pick up the phone to call them 20 times a day when you need help remembering the name of your third-grade teacher, or if you’re bummed because Revlon no longer makes your favorite shade of lipstick, or because there’s a great new musical coming to town next month and you absolutely must get tickets.
Or just because you’re bored and need someone to talk to.
So you resign yourself to going it alone for whatever number of years you have left. But you still find yourself reaching for the phone to call her, or thinking about buying her that new book on the Civil War for Christmas. And sometimes you talk to her . . . afraid she might answer, but wishing she could.
And you go to sleep thinking about her . . . again.
I don’t remember why, but I always called her “Merny.”
People are dying in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and the on-again-off-again-on-again war between Israel and Hamas. Other people are dying from famine in Somalia, and the brutality of the current regime in the Central African Republic. And still more people have been left homeless by natural disasters all over the face of the globe. Then there’s that global warming issue, and something called foreign relations.
But I’m sure you’re all as happy as I am to know that, despite all of the chaos, one vital issue has been successfully resolved: those “disgusting” paper straws that “don’t work” are once again being replaced by the sturdier, cleaner — though non-biodegradable — plastic ones.
“These things don’t work, I’ve had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode. If something’s hot, they don’t last very long, like a matter of minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds. It’s a ridiculous situation,” says the man in the White House about the paper variety. [Bernd Debusmann Jr., BBC News, February 10, 2025.]
And so, with a few strokes of his bold-tipped Sharpie, he has declared it holy writ: Bring back the plastic.
Wow! I feel so much better now, knowing that I won’t be in danger of possibly losing an eye from an exploding paper straw. And that I can drink a cup of steaming hot tea or coffee through a straw now . . . although it’s not something I’ve ever thought of doing in the past, or seen anyone else do. But still . . . at least I know I could if I wanted to.
And I’ll sleep better tonight, because my government — amidst all of the crises out there to be dealt with — has got my back in the matter of paper vs. plastic straws.
His name was Yevgeny Prigozhin; his nickname was “Putin’s Chef.” He had built a commercial empire that included a catering business that counted among its customers Vladimir Putin himself.
But his real business was murder.
Yevgeny Prigozhin
He was the founder and head of the notorious Wagner Group, headquartered in his native St. Petersburg, Russia. It openly operated as a mercenary paramilitary force, despite such organizations being technically outlawed in Russia.
But when Vladimir Putin is your best customer, and your good friend, laws are of no consequence.
Wagner Group HQ, St. Petersburg, Russia
The Wagner Group was known to operate in a number of African and Middle Eastern countries that regularly receive “assistance” from Russia, including Syria, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic (C.A.R.). But they were not limited to that region, and sent troops to serve alongside the Russian military when Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, where their unimaginable atrocities came to the attention of the world press.
Prigozhin himself was in favor of the war; but he felt that Putin’s generals were not managing it properly — he considered them to be too soft, not aggressive enough for his taste. So he staged a revolt, leading a group of his men from Rostov toward Moscow, where he intended to confront Putin and demand changes in the military command. The history of that revolt is well documented: to put it most succinctly, it failed. Somewhere along the way, Prigozhin gave up, and many weeks of confusion followed as to his status, and even his whereabouts from one day to the next.
And on August 23, 2023, his private jet took off from an airport near Moscow with ten people aboard . . . and crashed just 100 km. away in Tver Oblast, killing Prigozhin, several of his top Wagner officers, and the plane’s crew.
Gravesite of Yevgeny Prigozhin
Officially, the crash was written off as an accident due to “structural failure,” though Western intelligence said the evidence pointed to a bomb explosion. It is widely accepted — nearly everywhere in the world other than in the Kremlin — that it was a politically-motivated assassination.
No matter how close your friendship, or how good your catering may be, you simply do not make Putin look bad . . . not if you value your life. I thought everyone knew that.
Prigozhin must have forgotten.
*. *. *
In any event, that left the Wagner Group with a beautiful new HQ building, a lot of battle-ready troops, and — from all reports — a substantial list of assets, but no leader. After a period of uncertainty during which various names were tossed into the ring as possible successors to Prigozhin, with his son being the most likely contender, Wagner Group eventually became known as The Africa Corps (not to be confused with Rommel’s Afrika Korps from WW2). It is now said to be under the direct control of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
And they are still raising hell in Africa.
*. *. *
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s far-flung business interests have survived their founder. In the C.A.R., they bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from diamond and gold mining, timber harvesting, weapons trafficking, and other sources — revenue desperately needed by the impoverished country — in exchange for services that include providing security for the nation’s autocratic president. [Jean-Fernand Koena, Maja Zivanovic and Mike Eckel, RFE/RL, February 9, 2025.]
Africa Corps in the Central African Republic – Training Local Government Forces
But raping the country of its natural resources isn’t enough to keep the Wagner troops busy. They have become a paramilitary police force, guilty of the most atrocious human rights violations and other crimes, and operating completely outside the law. According to a 2023 report by The Sentry (a U.S.-based research organization):
“Wagner has perfected a blueprint for state capture, supporting a criminalized state hijacked by the Central African president and his inner circle, amassing military power, securing access to and plundering precious minerals, and subduing the population with terror.” [Id.]
The people of C.A.R. live in constant fear of the Russian troops. A shopkeeper in a village two hours from the capital of Bangui — identified only as Adam — said in a September interview:
“Imagine what [little] power you have when people come with weapons and they don’t speak your langage. Am I supposed to just wait until they come back again? Who knows what’s going to happen if they do come back?”
Adam’s store has been ransacked and robbed by “white guys with tattoos and face masks” who spoke Russian. “Outside of the capital … a lot of people are suffering there and no one seems to know [about it]. It’s my case but it’s also the case of many more people in different places and regions.” [Id.]
“Tent City” in the Central African Republic
Originally brought to the C.A.R. in 2018 to provide security and training services to the Touadera government, evidence gathered since then by activists, reporters and the United Nations has revealed criminal acts including murder, torture, execution, abductions, rape and theft on the part of the Wagner/Africa Corps forces. [Id.]
In 2021, when a coalition of rebel groups attempted a coup against the Touadera regime, it was Wagner who helped to defeat the rebels. Afterward, the Russian ambassador to the C.A.R., Vladimir Titorenko, had this to say:
“ . . . the Russian soldiers will remain until the [opposition] rebels and the bandits of the armed groups are completely wiped out.” [Id.]
The Russians are still there.
Vladimir Titorenko – Russian Ambassador to C.A.R.
Under the umbrella of Russia’s Defense Ministry — and thus under the control of Vladimir Putin — the Africa Corps operates with impunity to prop up the brutal Touadera regime. And all of that money from diamonds, gold, timber, and whatever else they can get their hands on keeps rolling in to the Kremlin’s coffers to support its economy . . . including its ongoing war in Ukraine.
Business as usual.
Presidents Touadera and Putin – Sharing the Wealth
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 