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.”
I have been following, with great wonder and admiration, the Buddhist Monks engaged in a “Walk for Peace” across America as they spread their messages of love, compassion and unity. Together with their intrepid dog Aloka, they have captured the minds and spirit of people around the world in these times of political turmoil and humanitarian failure.
“Walk for Peace”
And so today I have chosen the words of the Buddha himself, which seem to me the best possible advice for all of us as we struggle to make sense of the daily barrage of information, misinformation and disinformation being hurled at us from all sides:
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
– Siddhartha Gautama, more famously known as Buddha
The Buddha
And for those authoritarians spreading the lies and half-truths, Buddha had this additional word of caution:
“Three things cannot hide for long: the Moon, the Sun and the Truth.”
That is, unless it’s museum quality like this one, listed on eBay for $49,995:
“Matryoshka” Russian Nesting Doll
But for garden-variety souvenirs like these:
As cute as they are, they’re worthless except perhaps as sentimental memorabilia to the person who bought them or received them as a gift some 30 or more years ago.
And yes . . . that person would be me. I actually have several sets, my two favorites being these political gems:
Gorbachev, Brezhnev, Khrushchev and Stalin
Yeltsin, Gorbachev, Brezhnev, Khrushchev, Stalin and Lenin
Like most people, I have a lot of other treasured items as well, collected over a lifetime of travel, gift-receiving, and impulse buying. For me, each piece has a memory attached, and so I continue to make room for them, dusting and rearranging them as my mood dictates.
But I worry about what will happen to my collection when I’m gone: the metal statuette of the Fiddler on the Roof; the totem pole and Inukshuk from Alaska; the Russian “Babushka” and “Dedushka” figurines from the Hillwood Museum in Washington; the photographs I took in London, and Budapest, and Prague, and Moscow, that I had framed and still proudly display on my walls.
Ukrainian Babushka and Dedushka
I know what my children will do with the more expensive items — the china, crystal, and the few pieces of jewelry and antiques that I’ve bequeathed to them in my Will. They may keep one or two items out of sentiment; but most will not suit their more contemporary tastes, and will be sold.
And that’s okay, because those are not the things that mean the most to me. It’s the little things — like the small drawing of a church, bought in 1988 from the artist in the ancient capital of Mtskheta, Georgia; the blue-and-white Lomonosov porcelain egg from a monastery in St. Petersburg (when it was still Leningrad); or the malachite and ivory sailboat that was a gift from the son of the Zairian Ambassador to the U.S. back in the early ‘80s. Their monetary value is negligible; but they mean the world to me.
Malachite and Ivory Sailboat from Zaire
And now, as I sit here writing about them, I know that I can’t just leave their fate in someone else’s hands. And I can’t have them buried with me, because I have chosen to be cremated. But I can provide for them in a codicil to my Will, instructing that they be donated to the Salvation Army, where hopefully each will find a new home with someone who falls in love with them just because they’re beautiful.
Perhaps the saddest part of growing old is knowing that every trace of the person you have been will soon disappear, and eventually be forgotten by all but a few descendants. I can’t prevent the inevitable; but I can try to keep my little treasures from being tossed onto a trash heap.
Has anyone actually not seen the 1985 classic Back to the Future?
Flux Capacitor
Who could forget that mad genius, professor/inventor Doc Brown, whizzing back through time in his De Lorean automobile with his young friend, Marty McFly, changing history to prevent a personal tragedy?
I didn’t think of it in time for Christmas, but my birthday is coming up again in a couple of months, and I’d like to place my order now. Unfortunately, it doesn’t actually exist yet — not even Amazon has been able to source it — so I’m in search of a brilliant inventor to transport me back to a time before . . . well . . . this:
Ideally, I’d like to go back to around 1960, when I was young, single, and enjoying life to the fullest. But this isn’t about me; so I’ll settle for, say, the 1980s — a time before the angry man began thinking about entering politics; when our country, while not perfect, was the cradle of democracy, when we and our allies were truly friends, and we treated even our enemies with the respect mandated by international law and treaties.
And if I were able to change just one thing on that trip to the past, it would be to transport the angry man to Greenland, where he would be sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a remote fishing village, working for average wages in a fish processing plant, living among honest, strong, hard-working people who wouldn’t tolerate any of his crap.
That is, of course, if Greenland would have him.
Ikerasak, Greenland
*. *. *
Now, I don’t know whether time travel will ever be possible. And, considering the similarity between the logo on the warning sign that came with Doc Brown’s futuristic invention and another, all too real, signage, it might not be the best idea I’ve ever had.
When we read an obituary of someone we once knew, or a famous (or infamous) person who may in some way have been important to us, it’s natural to think about that person’s life, and how they are likely to be remembered.
I believe it’s safe to say that most of us would like to think we’ll be missed, and recalled with fondness for the good we have done in our lives rather than the mistakes we’ve made. But sadly, there are a great many — and let’s not mince words here — truly rotten people in this world, who have, for a wide variety of reasons, knowingly caused nothing but harm and misery to others.
The notice of the death in prison of CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames, 84, on Monday of this week brought to mind one man’s vision of the fate awaiting such people:
“The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.”
– Sir Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
For those “wretches” of whom Scott wrote, there could be no worse fate than to depart this world “unwept, unhonored, and unsung.”
And for those of us who have fallen victim to their iniquity during their lifetimes, there can be no greater satisfaction.
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka 1/7/26
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka 1/7/26
NOTE: In case anyone thinks I missed the grammatical error in Sir Walter Scott’s quote — “from whence” — I didn’t. I tried very hard to ignore it, but in the end, I kept hearing my long-ago English teachers saying “Really? From whence?”
If you’re under the age of 45 or 50, or didn’t pay much attention to the U.S.-Russian spy wars of the 1980s and ‘90s, you’re probably wondering, “Who is — or was — Aldrich Ames?”
Aldrich Ames – February 1994
Briefly, he was an American CIA counterintelligence officer who spied for the Russians from 1985 to 1994. Described as one of the most damaging spies in U.S. counterintelligence history, he sold the Russians classified information, including the identities of CIA and FBI sources, resulting in the deaths of at least nine valuable agents. Following an extensive internal investigation at the CIA and a joint operation with the FBI, Ames was finally identified . . . with the additional help of information elicited from a Russian KGB defector in 1993.
Ames was ultimately arrested outside his home in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Arlington, Virginia, on February 21, 1994. He pled guilty to charges of espionage and tax evasion (shades of Al Capone!), and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Two days ago, after serving nearly 32 years in the federal prison system, Ames died at the age of 84. No cause of death has yet been announced.
And now you’re wondering: “So what?”
From the reader’s point of view, that would be a reasonable reaction. But my interest in the case was more personal, as shared in some of my earlier posts on this blog. And learning of Ames’ death yesterday led me to look back to that earlier time, and to share a small part of my tale with you once again.
So here we go . . .
*. *. *
LOOKING BACK: A 40-YEAR-OLD SPY STORY
“Life’s a pitch, then you spy.” – John Alejandro King
On April 16, 1985, an American man walked into the Soviet Embassy on 16th Street in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., and asked the guard at the glass-protected desk if he might speak with an Embassy diplomat, Sergei Chuvakhin. When the guard called Chuvakhin to the front entry, the American man handed him an envelope addressed to Stanislav Androsov, then the KGB rezident (chief of station) at the Embassy. Unknown to Chuvakhin, the envelope contained a few documents and an offer to procure and provide more of the same in exchange for the sum of $50,000. The American then left the Embassy and returned to his office in suburban Langley, Virginia.
Former Russian Embassy, Washington, D.C.
Upon receiving and opening the envelope and reviewing its contents, Androsov summoned his deputy, Viktor Cherkashin, then the head of counterintelligence at the Embassy, to discuss the significance of the unexpected and unconventional communique.
The American waited nervously until a month later, when he finally received a call inviting him to meet again with Sergei Chuvakhin at the Embassy on May 17th. On the American’s arrival, Mr. Chuvakhin greeted him, showed him into a small fourth-floor meeting room, and withdrew as he had been instructed. In a few moments, a different gentleman entered the room and introduced himself as Viktor Cherkashin. Their meeting was brief but productive, culminating in an agreement by the KGB to the payment of $50,000 in exchange for additional documents from the American.
Cherkashin and the American next met on June 13, 1985, at Chadwick’s Restaurant, a popular watering hole in the historic Georgetown neighborhood of Washington. The American brought with him a larger package of classified CIA files, which he exchanged with Cherkashin for the agreed amount of $50,000.
Thus began the career of Aldrich Ames as a mole for the Soviet KGB inside the CIA — a career that lasted for nine years, until his eventual arrest on February 21, 1994. Nine years, during which a troubling number of U.S. human assets in Russia were lost, engendering the beginning of a years-long mole hunt within the CIA’s ranks.
Nine years, during which Ames evaded detection despite internal CIA investigations, lie detector tests, routine vetting, and his own reckless extravagance and general carelessness.
Nine years, until — with Ames already at or near the top of the CIA’s short list of suspects — a recently-arrived former KGB officer talked to the FBI and revealed, either knowingly or inadvertently, a key bit of information that allowed the FBI to make its airtight case of espionage against Aldrich Ames.
Without the CIA task force’s relentless, top-secret internal search for a mole, Ames might never have become a suspect. But the CIA has no law enforcement authority in the United States, and so they finally had no choice but to enlist the help of the FBI. It was the joint effort of the two agencies — a rather exceptional collaboration at the time — that brought down the man who still, more than thirty years later, is described by many as perhaps the most destructive U.S. traitor of the 20th Century.
Funny … He doesn’t look like a spy.
Much has since been revealed about the extent of the damage done by Aldrich Ames and the lives lost as a result of his betrayal. But still, more than thirty years later — as he continues to live out his life sentence in the Federal Correctional Institution at Terre Haute, Indiana — Ames claims to have additional information yet to be shared with U.S. intelligence authorities.
And still — three decades after the fact — the identity of the Russian defector who provided that last vital piece of the puzzle also continues to be protected, presumably for his own safety. A few names have been posited by various sources and, not surprisingly, vehemently denied or simply not commented upon.
One was an acquaintance of mine.
*. *. *
The Second Part of the Story
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet
On April 25, 1993, two former Soviet KGB officers — we’ll call them Comrade X and Comrade Z — arrived at JFK International Airport in New York and spent the night at the Connecticut home of their new literary agent. The following day, they met with book publishers in New York City, one of whom agreed to purchase and publish an as-yet-unfinished book being written by Comrade Z based on his years in Washington as a spy for the KGB. The two men then traveled to the Washington, D.C., area, where they remained until their return to Moscow at the expiration of their visas on May 5th. During that period, they met and spoke with agents of the FBI.
One week later — on May 12, 1993— the FBI opened its formal investigation of Aldrich Ames, an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency suspected of being a long-time Soviet mole inside the CIA.
I am the person who brought Comrades X and Z to the United States in the spring of 1993 for the purpose of selling that book, thus making it possible for the FBI to interview them at length, and later to pave the way for their defection to the United States.
What followed were two years of madness . . . and two of the more, let’s just say, interesting years of my life. Questions were raised, by journalists and others, as to the identity of the person who provided that final piece of the Ames puzzle needed to form an air-tight case against him. Some suggested it was Comrade X — “my” Comrade X — but that has not, to my knowledge, ever been revealed. It certainly has not been confirmed (or denied) to me.
*. *. *
Over the years, friends have asked why I haven’t tried writing a book about my experiences of those times, and my answer has always been two-fold: First, that I’ve not been sure whether the subject matter, from the U.S. government’s standpoint, might still be sensitive; and second, because it all happened so long ago, it may have ceased to be of much interest during the years of detente between the U.S. and Russia.
But now, after so many years, and with the return of Russia under Putin to the “bad old days” of totalitarian rule . . . not to mention the near-extinction of relations between Russia and the Western allies since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine . . . it seems somehow appropriate to remind people of how long, and how consistently, the spy wars have been going on while we were looking the other way.
“The whole question is: who controls whom.” – Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
That appellation was originally given by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. But the horrific event that brought the United States into World War II was planned and executed by an enemy force . . . not by our own citizens, aided, encouraged and supported by our own president.
Today is the fifth anniversary of the insurrectionist attack on the United States Capitol by mobs of violent, mindless brutes and thugs seeking to overthrow the 2020 election of Joe Biden to the presidency, in order to continue the authoritarian regime of Donald Trump.
Attack on the U.S. Capitol – January 6, 2021
That attempted coup failed. But Trump never acknowledges defeat. Four years later, he slithered his way back into the White House by a slim plurality of the vote, where he has continued — and accelerated — his coordinated assault on our 250-year-old democracy . . . not to mention his personal attacks against anyone and everyone who has ever dared to criticize him.
It is certainly not necessary to detail, yet again, Trump’s criminal acts of the past year, or his increasingly deranged behavior and obvious physical decline; that is being done on a minute-to-minute basis by the news outlets and social media. And the American people are all too aware of the personal effect his administration’s actions are having on their daily lives.
But beyond our individual problems, what is most concerning is the domino effect of his actions: the weakening of our country’s relations with our traditional allies, the reduction of our status in the eyes of the rest of the world, and, most frightening of all, the opportunities he has provided to the world’s most tyrannical governments — Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, etc. — to step in and fill the void.
In the days since Trump’s shocking invasion of Venezuela, the prevailing attitude among those other authoritarians has been, “If the U.S. can do it, why can’t we?” And they have a point. If Donald Trump can send his troops to kidnap the president of another sovereign nation, doesn’t that justify what Russia is doing to Ukraine? Doesn’t it give tacit permission to Xi Jinping to go after Taiwan? Or Netanyahu to fully occupy Gaza and the West Bank?
Even before Venezuela, Vladimir Putin had accurately assessed the possibilities presented by Trump’s political stupidity. A week after their meeting in Alaska in August of 2025, which was supposed to have been focused on settling the conflict in Ukraine, this is what Putin had to say in a speech back home in Russia:
“With the arrival of President Trump [in the White House], I think that a light at the end of the tunnel has finally loomed. And now we had a very good, meaningful and frank meeting in Alaska.
“The next steps now depend on the leadership of the United States, but I am confident that the leadership qualities of the current president, President Trump, are a good guarantee that relations will be restored.” [Reuters, August 22, 2025.]
Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska – August 15, 2025
Under this administration, our country has well and truly been sold out in exchange for the personal power of one man and the enrichment of his evil oligarchy. And it began just two weeks before he was due to leave office, when he addressed that rally on the National Mall and encouraged the crowds to march to the Capitol . . .
Rally on the National Mall – January 6, 2021
. . . and when he called the violent attack on that institution a “peaceful” gathering.
And it has continued since then, as he has pardoned the most violent of the convicted criminals who participated in that attack, and repeatedly declared the 2020 election to have been “stolen.”
So yes . . . January 6, 2021, is a day that lives in infamy within the history of the United States. Only this time — unlike that day in December of 1941 — the rest of the free world is not rushing to our aid; and our own people, rather than uniting in defense of our great nation, are divided as they have not been since the end of the Civil War in 1865.
It all seems to have started last August, with the arrival of the Pulley family: a young Australian couple with four small children, who had emigrated to Russia and originally settled in the Altai region — a remote section of southern Siberia that shares borders with Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China.
There had been a few weeks of frenzied activity on the Feenstra farm in Nizhny Novgorod as they hastily built and furnished a small “guest house” on their property, hinting at a forthcoming surprise. But the arrivals were not relatives or friends coming for a visit; they were six strangers, suddenly relocated to the more desirable Nizhny Novgorod region, to “help out” on Countryside Acres. And that was all the explanation we were given. Not why the Pulleys had moved; not how the Feenstras could afford to build the guest house and pay their new helpers; and not how, or by whom, the arrangements had been made.
The Feenstra Clan in 2024
Then, just as suddenly, Arend Feenstra announced in early December that their entire family would be leaving for an extended vacation in Canada and the United States. Again, no explanation, no reason given . . . but a repeated assurance that they would “100% for sure” be returning to their farm in Russia. In the meantime, the Pulleys — not farmers by trade or background — would be in charge of the property and the animals.
After Arend’s emotional farewell to the farm — which sounded more like a Russian “proshchai” (goodbye forever) than a simple “do svidaniya” (‘til we meet again) — we followed the family halfway around the world to a grand reunion, and a joyous Christmas celebration, with their extended family in Canada.
An Emotional Farewell to Russia
Meanwhile, the Pulleys back in Nizhny Novgorod have broadcast on their own site, speaking of daily life on the farm, but never (in any of the videos I’ve seen) mentioning the Feenstras.
And, as if all of that hasn’t been strange enough . . .
Yesterday, Arend Feenstra posted a video from wintry Ontario, titled “Everything Changed in One Snowy Day,” in which he announced that eldest daughter Cora had taken a job in a nearby restaurant — which she had done “all on her own” — and would be going to live for the next three to four months with “a good Christian family” — not with her grandparents or other relatives — while her parents and seven younger siblings head south to warmer climes.
Announcing Cora’s Rite of Passage
Arriving on the heels of their Christmas broadcast, when I commented on “their devotion to one another” and the “bond [that] gives them the strength to face whatever challenges life may bring,” the news of this split — even if only temporary — comes as quite a shock.
Yes, Cora is growing up. Younger brother Wesley just celebrated his 16th birthday, so she has to be at least 17, and possibly 18. For most 21st-century families, it would not be unexpected for a young woman of her age to want to exercise some degree of independence. But for an ultra-conservative, devoutly Christian family such as theirs — who left Canada two years ago for the explicit purpose of escaping what they call the “wokeness” of the general population — it seems highly unusual.
Not knowing what specific denomination of Christianity the Feenstras adhere to, one possibility does occur to me: perhaps this is something akin to the Amish tradition of Rumspringa — an opportunity for teens to explore the outside world for a short period of time before committing to adult baptism in the church. But that’s just speculation on my part.
Amish Teens on Rumspringa
Whatever the reason for this sudden development, a great many questions arise from the entire sequence of events over the past half-year: the hurried construction of the guest house prior to the August arrival of the Pulley family; the November issuance of Putin’s Decree No. 821 on the new requirement of military service as a prerequisite for Russian citizenship; and the sudden announcement of this very lengthy and expensive trip back home.
On each of those occasions, I wondered whether there might be something we weren’t being told. Taken together, a pattern seems to be emerging, hinting at long-term preparations for . . . well, for something we don’t yet know. Maybe it will turn out to be just a case of over-active imagination on my part. Or not.
But I intend to stay with the Feenstras to see what does happen next.
Is Donald Trump not speaking to his Secretary of State? Or is he simply — as usual — not listening?
On Saturday, following the brutal invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of its tyrannical president and his wife, Trump declared that the U.S. would now “run” Venezuela until a new regime was installed there. (Unfortunately, he did not indicate that he was quitting his present job in order to move to Caracas, but seemed to think he could ruin . . . sorry, run . . . two countries at once.)
But on Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to be in damage control mode when he suggested that the U.S. would not take over day-to-day governance of Venezuela, other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine”on the country. On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” he said:
“And so that’s the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that. We continue with that quarantine, and we expect to see that there will be changes, not just in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also so that they stop the drug trafficking.” [Regina Garcia Cano, et al., Associated Press, January 4, 2026.]
Perhaps his more diplomatic comments were intended to assuage the concerns of other nations — adversaries and allies alike — regarding Trump’s hostile and blatantly illegal actions. Or maybe his apparent contradiction of his boss’ statements indicates a growing problem within the Trump administration: a possible hint that his Cabinet members and other advisers have finally come to the realization that he is a loose cannon who needs to be restrained, for his own sake and for the good of the country.
Whatever Rubio’s intent, it doesn’t seem to have done much good. Later on the same day, while returning to Washington aboard Air Force One, Trump reiterated, “We’re going to run it, fix it.” [Id.]
He then threatened the new Venezuelan leader, Delcy Rodriguez, saying that she might “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro . . . [if she] doesn’t do what’s right.” [Grace Eliza Goodwin, BBC, January 5, 2026.]
He also said, “Don’t ask me about who’s in charge [of Venezuela] because it will be controversial. We’re in charge.” And for added emphasis, while saying that he expects the new Venezuelan government to allow the U.S. total access so that American forces can “help rebuild,” he further threatened, “ . . . if they don’t behave, we will do a second strike.” [Sophia Cai, Politico, January 4, 2026.]
Aboard Air Force One – January 4, 2026
And — like a lottery winner on a shopping spree — he moved on to other Latin American countries:
“Cuba looks like it’s ready to fall. I don’t know if they’re going to hold out.” Saying that Venezuela was Cuba’s principal economic backer, he added: “Cuba only survives because of Venezuela.”[Id.]
Then there was his comment on Colombia and its President Gustavo Petro, who has criticized Trump’s operation in Venezuela:
“Colombia is very sick too — run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and sending it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long.” [Id.]
Finally, he returned to his obsession with Greenland:
“We need Greenland from a national security situation [sic]. The EU needs us to have Greenland.”[Id.]
Clearly, he hasn’t been listening to the Danish Prime Minister or other EU members, either.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen
Surely, those closest to Trump — no matter how unqualified they are for their jobs — cannot be oblivious to the dangers of his increasingly deranged behavior. I envision Marco Rubio — like the caretaker of a very expensive race horse — running along behind him, carrying a bucket and shovel to clean up the inevitable droppings.
Only we’re talking, not about a horse race, but about U.S. foreign policy . . . and a potentially inundating pile of poop.
When you reach a certain age — and that age is different for each of us — it is natural that the turning of the calendar page to a new year brings with it thoughts, not just of new hopes and opportunities, but of one more candle on the next birthday cake.
We know we can’t stay young forever, and a glance at the reflection in the mirror only serves as confirmation. Another couple of laugh lines, a bit more slack in the jaw, the inadvertent “grunt” when we stand up . . . and let’s not even mention the waistline!
Yet in our minds, we’re still 30-something: grown-up, responsible, but with the same irreverent sense of humor, the same longing for adventure, the same joy in sharing a good time or an intense conversation with an old friend, and at least a measure of the same idealistic nature we possessed when we were young and foolish.
This quote — from a book I admittedly have not read — sums it up for me:
“I’m not ready to let the youthful part of myself go yet. If maturity means becoming a cynic, if you have to kill the part of yourself that is naive and romantic and idealistic — the part of you that you treasure most — to claim maturity, is it not better to die young but with your humanity intact?”
– Kenneth Cain, “Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories From a War Zone”
Kenneth Cain
I don’t know what emergency measures Cain had to resort to in order to survive in Cambodia and other war zones he visited in the ‘90s; but I do agree with his attitude toward aging with our values intact . . . which is fortunate, since it’s already far too late for me to die young.
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 