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.”
My regular readers know how fond I am of quoting the collective wisdom of my many literary and intellectual superiors; in fact, searching out quotes that are relevant to today’s world events is a large part of the fun of writing this blog.
Recently, with all of the lunacy and horror raining down on the world daily — much like Donald Trump’s utterly tasteless, AI-created, dive-bomber-shit-storm cartoon — I’ve challenged myself to see how many gems I can find to share with you that continue to speak to us today.
And since much of the world’s grief seems to emanate from Russia, I thought it only fitting to start with a few words from one of that country’s greatest 19th-century writers: Leo Tolstoy — perhaps best known for “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina.”
This, though, is from one of his lesser-known works: a short autobiographical tale of his own struggle with a mid-life existential crisis. As he searches for answers to his own questions about the meaning of life, he comes to many conclusions, including this one . . .
. . . which I hereby dedicate to the entire Executive branch of the U.S. government, both houses of the U.S. Congress, the six lily-livered Republican-appointed members of the U.S. Supreme Court, and every single owner of a red MAGA baseball cap:
“Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.”
The “N” word in question is “Nuclear.” And the “He” would, of course, be . . .
No, not Vladimir Putin. And not Kim Jong Un or Xi Jinping, or even Benjamin Netanyahu.
The “He” is none other than that self-styled “Peace President,” Donald J. Trump.
While he didn’t definitively threaten to use America’s vast arsenal of nuclear weapons against anyone in particular, he did announce on October 29th that he had instructed the Pentagon to “immediately” resume nuclear weapons testing, after a hiatus of some 33 years.
(The moratorium of nuclear detonations was instituted by then President George H.W. Bush, and the U.S. signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since 1998, only North Korea has detonated any nuclear weapons.)
To make matters even more . . . well . . . explosive, Trump told the world about his decision just prior to a scheduled face-to-face meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
The Meeting in South Korea
On his Truth Social platform, he warned that China’s nuclear weapons building was on track to place their nuclear arsenal on an equal footing with the United States and Russia “within 5 years,” and added:
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.” [David Winkie and Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA Today, October 30, 2025.]
And since his meeting with Xi — which he called a “great success” and rated as a 12 on a scale of 1-10 — he has claimed to have come to an agreement with Beijing on trade, tariff and rare-earth mineral issues, though the Chinese government has been considerably less enthusiastic.
On his way home from Asia on October 30th, when asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One whether he thought the world was becoming more dangerous with regard to nuclear issues, he said he didn’t think so:
“I think we have it pretty well locked up. But I see them testing. I say, well, they’re going to test, I guess we have to test.”[Id.]
Aboard Air Force One
This tactic seems very similar to his attempted manipulation of Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky with regard to the war in Ukraine, when he unexpectedly spoke with Putin the day before his scheduled White House meeting with Zelensky. He promises progress, threatens serious action if the other side fails to deliver, hopes to get what he wants, and prematurely claims victory . . . only to eat his words later, always blaming anyone but himself when his alleged “deal” falls through yet again.
Only this time he’s playing with his finger on the nuclear button. And that is one hell of an escalation from tariffs and sanctions.
*. *. *
So what actually prompted this sudden leap toward Armageddon? Was it indeed a preemptive move designed to give him an edge in his negotiations with China? Or might it conceivably have been a reaction to this headline:
“Putin Says Russia Tests New, Nuclear-Capable Remote Torpedo Dubbed ‘Doomsday Machine.’” [Mike Eckel, RFE/RL, October 29, 2025.]
And here it is: Called Poseidon, or Status-6, it was introduced to the world on October 29th after a reportedly successful testing a day earlier. During a visit with soldiers wounded in Ukraine, Putin announced:
“For the first time, we succeeded in not only launching it with an engine from a carrier submarine, but also to start the nuclear power unit on it. There is nothing like this. This is a huge success.” [Id.]
Poseidon, a.k.a. Status-6
While there has been no independent confirmation of the test, there has been talk of such a weapon — what Russia described as “an intercontinental nuclear-powered nuclear-armed autonomous torpedo” — being developed as long ago as 2015. Western analysts have said that, if such a torpedo exists and were to be detonated off the U.S. east coast, it would shower radioactivity on major cities and render huge swaths of territory uninhabitable. [Id.]
And not to be overlooked is the continued testing of Russia’s Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile (dubbed “Skyfall” by NATO) on the Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya, as reported this past summer. [Mike Eckel, RFE/RL, August 28, 2025.]
Burevestnik, a.k.a. Skyfall
And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, we are transported back in time to the years of the U.S.-Soviet arms race . . . only with bigger, “smarter,” and even deadlier weapons.
Does anyone know who asked for this? Because if we can identify them, I suggest we take them up to Novaya Zemlya, strap them to the nearest Burevestnik, and shoot them into space.
(This is a re-post of an earlier article, as a reminder that things have only gotten worse)
Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Putin: Three of a Kind
On February 2, 1933, three days after becoming chancellor of Germany, Adolph Hitler told the members of the Reichsrat — a federal body of state representatives charged with monitoring the relationship between the German Reich and the state governments — that the states were the “historic building blocks of the German nation,” and that he would not intrude on the sovereignty of the states, but would assert Reich control only “where absolutely necessary.” [Timothy W. Ryback, The Atlantic, June 10, 2025.]
Three weeks later, on February 27th, the Reichstag building was burned, allegedly by a sole arsonist caught in the act as an attempt to start a Bolshevik revolution. That was all Hitler needed as an excuse to suspend civil liberties and suppress the voting rights of the German Communist Party, and for his supporters in the Reichstag to pass legislation granting him full authoritarian power.
Citing an “eternal battle” between the German states and the central government, he pledged to solve it by dismantling the federated system and creating a “unified will” for the nation. He told the press that imposition of a central authority was not the “raping” of state sovereignty, but an “alignment” of state policies with those of the central government. [Id.]
Hitler convinced President Paul von Hindenburg to issue an emergency decree known as “Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State,” which, among other things, suspended civil liberties. Hitler was thus able to suppress any and all political opposition ahead of the elections scheduled for March 5th. [Id.]
The decree also stated: “If any state fails to take the necessary measures to restore public safety and order, the Reich government may temporarily take over the powers of the highest state authority.” [Id.]
The Reichstag Fire – February 27, 1933
Beginning to sound familiar?
*. *. *
Joseph Stalin — in a frenzy of paranoia — began his Great Purge (also known as the Great Terror) with the assassination in 1934 of Sergei Kirov, head of the Bolshevik party in Leningrad and once a personal friend of Stalin, who had become too popular and was thus deemed a threat to Stalin’s autocratic rule. That murder was then used as Stalin’s excuse to begin a series of show trials to rid himself of all suspected dissenters from the Bolshevik and Communist parties.
Between 1937 and 1938, he carried out a purge of his own military, ordering the arrest and execution of a large number of high-ranking officers . . . thus seriously weakening his country’s forces.
And then, in an anti-Semitic rage, he went after the nation’s doctors — a substantial number of whom had the misfortune of being Jewish — by fabricating a “doctors’ plot,” for which they were rounded up and shot.
Finally, from 1936 to 1938, under NKVD head Nikolai Yezhov, hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens were accused of espionage, sabotage, wrecking, anti-Soviet agitation, conspiracies to start uprisings and coups, and the like. While the entire population of Russia was affected, certain ethnic minorities were specifically targeted, including those of Polish or German origin.
Stalin Show Trial– c. 1930s
*. *. *
I hardly need to remind the reader what Russia’s current president, Vladimir Putin, has proven himself capable of. Over the years, he has targeted ethnic groups, such as the people of Chechnya and the Central Asian regions; political adversaries, including Aleksei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and countless others; and the entire nation of Ukraine . . . creating conditions to be used as excuses to eliminate them.
There were the four 1999 apartment building bombings in three cities, triggering the second Chechen war; the Dubrovka Theater hostage situation in Moscow in 2002; the Crocus City Hall terror attack in 2024; the Beslan school terror attack of 2004 . . . all fomented as excuses for Putin’s consolidation of power.
And of course, his most recent accusations of the alleged mistreatment of Ukraine’s Russian-speakers by the country’s “nazi” government, leading him to launch his “special military operation” in February of 2022 . . . the excuse he himself created in order to seize control of a sovereign nation that he considers the rightful possession of Russia.
Putin’s “Special Military Operation” – Kharkiv, Ukraine – June 2025
*. *. *
We all know what happened to nazi Germany, to the Soviet Union, and to 21st century Russia. In each case, there were warning signs: sudden crises, used as excuses to consolidate power in the hands of a single dictator and deprive the citizenry of its rights. And each time, the warning signs were overlooked, or ignored until it was too late.
How many times will we allow it to happen before we cry out . . .
“For right and wrong change places; everywhere So many wars, so many shapes of crime confront us . . . Unholy Mars bends all to his mad will; The world is like a chariot run wild.”
– Virgil, “The Georgics”
The Roman Poet Virgil (70 B.C. – 19 B.C.)
Two millennia later, and nothing has changed. What a sorry lot we are!
It’s that time of year again — costumes, trick-or-treating, and kids wired on all the sugary treats; outlandish parties for the grown-ups; and the first pumpkin pies of the season. Happy Hallowe’en, everyone!
But it’s also the start of the fastest-moving two months of the year. We no sooner get the skeletons and fake jack-o-lanterns put away, than we’re working on our guest lists and menus for Thanksgiving dinner, and wondering what on earth we can buy to top last year’s holiday gifts for the kids who already have everything, and for the older folks who claim they don’t need or want anything.
This used to be my favorite time of the year, as it is for many people. But I’m finding it hard to work up the usual enthusiasm this year — not so much because I’m one of those seniors who really doesn’t need any more stuff (which I am); but because of the overall depressing state of the world.
Still, it’s times like these that we need to work a little harder to find the joy in life. So tonight I’m going to light a spice-scented candle; pull out the catalogs that have been piling up in the corner to start the search for inspiration; tune in to some Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music; and add a jug of apple cider and some cinnamon sticks to my grocery list.
Because I’m not letting the Grinch ruin what should be “the most wonderful time of the year.”
It’s lovely for our children to believe in fairy tale princes and princesses, and happily-ever-afters. But, along with magic genies and dolls that become sentient at midnight, we soon learn that — alas! — they are not real.
How lovely it would be . . .
And that reality was again pointed out to us this week when Andrew Mountbatten Windsor ceased to be known as Prince Andrew. He is, of course, still the brother of King Charles, but he has been stripped of his title and all other perks of British royalty as a result of his connection with the continuing scandal surrounding the late Jeffrey Epstein.
That mess has been covered ad nauseam in the press and on social media, and won’t be discussed here. But the fate of Andrew as the result of his long-ago friendship with a subsequently-convicted sex offender is in itself a sad tale — not only for Andrew, but for his family, who have had to make the excruciating choice between family loyalty and service to the Crown.
Charles is not the first British monarch to have been placed in this position. His great-uncle, King Edward VIII, was forced to choose between his position and the love of his life, the American socialite Wallis Simpson, who — as a foreigner and a divorcee — was considered unsuitable marriage material. As a result, Edward chose to abdicate the throne, leaving his unprepared (but ultimately capable) brother, George VI, to step into his shoes.
Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII
George VI was, of course, the father of the late Queen Elizabeth II, who dealt with many an errant family member throughout her long reign: a sister (Margaret) who would not be tamed; the scandalous affair of son Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles (now Queen Camilla); and the acrimonious divorce of Charles from his first wife, Diana, and her subsequent tragic death.
And, of course, Andrew.
Charles himself has found himself caught up in the battle between his only two sons, William (heir to the throne) and Harry (married to a divorced, mixed-race American — that’s three strikes against her — and living in California).
Being a member of the British royal family is not a bed of roses. As an American, I am gobsmacked by the rules, regulations, traditions, laws, Church of England restrictions, and other minutiae that govern their every move and every word. And while I think that honoring tradition is lovely, and even necessary to preserve one’s history, I am also a firm believer in the necessity of adapting to societal changes over time.
But what do I know? As I said, I’m an American, where we do not have kings and queens. In fact, our country was founded by people escaping monarchal rule.
So I find it difficult to understand how a ruler, such as Charles, can make a decision that requires him to choose between his brother and the good of the Crown. Regardless of what Andrew may or may not have done years ago, he is still Charles’ (and Anne’s and Andrew’s) brother. This situation must be agonizing for all of them.
I had only one sister and no brothers. She and I fought, as sisters do, for half of our lives; but we always made up. And even when we were angry at one another, if a third person dared to criticize or threaten one of us, the other one jumped in to defend and protect. We both lived fairly principled lives; but we were hardly perfect. I ask myself now how I would have reacted if she had become embroiled in anything as abominable as the Epstein affair, and my answer is simple: I would have been greatly displeased, to say the least; but I would never have disowned or deserted her, not even to save my own reputation. And, were she alive today, I know that she would say the same about me.
I do not criticize King Charles for his decision; I’m sure that it was one of the most difficult ones he has ever had to make. But I feel saddened that he was forced to make it.
First it was a White House ballroom a la the Palace at Versailles:
Versailles Palace
Now he’s considering a triumphal arch, replicating France’s Arc de Triomphe:
l’Arc de Triomphe
What’s next . . . one of these?
The Eiffel Tower
Perhaps he’d like to tear down the Washington Monument to make room for a new sort of “Trump Tower.” After all, George Washington was one of the people responsible for signing that pesky Constitution into law. Who needs a monument to him?
Those magnificent edifices — Versailles, the Arch, and M. Eiffel’s masterpiece — belong in France; they are part of the great history of the French people. But America has its own history, and is celebrated by its own buildings, monuments and memorials: the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, the Statue of Liberty, the Alamo, and more. We don’t need imitations of other countries’ glories.
The Lincoln Memorial
But Donald Trump’s gold-plated imagination has no limits. And now that he has summarily fired all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts — the independent federal agency charged with advising the president, Congress and the city of Washington on “matters of design and aesthetics” — he is free to inflict his gaudy, glittery, garish, cheesy taste on the citizens of the United States as he sees fit.
He has already terminated other boards and organizations during this term, including the National Capital Planning Commission and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council . . .
No, no, no, no, no, no, NO-O-O-O-O!!!!!!!
Do NOT tell me that Trump is now planning to mess with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in his mad campaign to rewrite history according to his twisted imagination, or to suit the crazed beliefs of his Jew-hating, Holocaust-denying MAGA base.
Because that would go beyond mere trashy bad taste. That would be sacrilege, plain and simple.
That is what people like Josef Stalin, Adolph Hitler and Vladimir Putin do. It is not what people who profess to be president of the United States do.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff
But why else would he have fired the entire Board of Trustees, including former Second Gentleman of the United States Doug Emhoff, if not to replace them with loyalists who will do his bidding? In a statement earlier this year, Emhoff said:
“I was informed of my removal from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. Let me be clear: Holocaust remembrance and education should never be politicized. To turn one of the worst atrocities in history into a wedge issue is dangerous — and it dishonors the memory of six million Jews murdered by Nazis that this museum was created to preserve.
“No divisive political decision will ever shake my commitment to Holocaust remembrance and education or to combatting hate and antisemitism. I will continue to speak out, to educate, and to fight hate in all its forms — because silence is never an option.” [Arlette Saenz, CNN, April 29, 2025.]
A Pictorial Record of Genocide – Holocaust Museum, Washington, D.C.
*. *. *
Now he is doing the same to the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission: purging them of anyone and everyone who might try to stand in the way of his bulldozing of our nation’s history in order to create his gigantic, gold-plated monument to himself.
And through all of my sadness for what we are losing and my disgust at what is being thrust upon us, I am bothered by one other thought on a more practical level: What it is going to cost the country to tear down his handiwork and restore what he has destroyed, once he is no longer in office.
We are all too familiar with this man’s mental acumen (or lack thereof):
DHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
And now this guy has caught it from him:
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (No, Ken, it is not written in the stars.)
Although, in all fairness, Paxton did have a running start in the stupidity department. This is the guy who helped in the effort to overturn the 2020 election; was indicted for state securities fraud, but managed to get the charges dropped in exchange for making restitution to the victims and engaging in ethics training and community service, while still protesting his innocence; was accused by several assistants of bribery, abuse of office and other crimes; was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives and suspended on charges of giving preferential treatment to a political donor, misapplying pubic resources, and making false statements against whistleblowers . . . and so on. All in all, not a smart man (nor, obviously, an honest one).
But his latest bout of madness can be traced directly back to Kennedy, from whom he clearly received the inspiration for his recent law suit against the makers of Tylenol.
Yup, that Tylenol — the brand-name acetaminophen, over-the-counter pain-and-fever-relieving medication that Kennedy, employing his non-existent level of medical expertise, has declared to be a cause of autism in children born to women who have ingested it during pregnancy.
Never mind that years of scientific and empirical research have declared it to be the safest OTC antidote for pain and fever for pregnant women, whereas aspirin and ibuprofen are known to have caused serious adverse effects. But Kennedy has somehow become focused on autism, having also declared that it is caused by babies and young children being given too many early vaccines.
In fact, there is absolutely no proof that either acetaminophen or the life-saving vaccines routinely administered to children in the U.S. has any connection to autism. In fact, no one really knows what causes autism, which isn’t a “disease” in the traditional sense, but is a neurodivergent condition that is believed, but not yet proven, to be the result of a complex combination of genetic, environmental, and/or physical factors.
And yet he is suing Johnson & Johnson — the original manufacturer and marketer of Tylenol — and Kenvue, the corporate subsidiary that acquired it in a spin-off from J&J in 2023. Paxton claims:
“Big Pharma betrayed America by profiting off of pain and pushing pills regardless of the risks. These corporations lied for decades, knowingly endangering millions to line their pockets. Additionally, seeing that the day of reckoning was coming, Johnson & Johnson attempted to escape responsibility by illegally offloading their liability onto a different company. By holding Big Pharma accountable for poisoning our people, we will help Make America Healthy Again.” [Website of Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, October 28, 2025 Press Release.]
The site continues:
“For decades, Johnson & Johnson willfully ignored and attempted to silence the science that prenatal and early-childhood exposure to their acetaminophen products can cause Autism and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (“ADHD”) in children. Despite being well aware of this fact, Tylenol was marketed as a completely safe medication for pregnant women, violating Texas’s consumer protection laws. The considerable body of evidence demonstrating these dangers was recently highlighted by the Trump Administration.” [Id.]
There have been earlier lawsuits filed against Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue alleging adverse neurodevelopmental effects on children whose mothers took Tylenol when pregnant. But independent studies have shown mixed results; and the largest studies have failed to pinpoint a definitive correlation between acetaminophen and autism — as was also the case with Kennedy’s specious claims that vaccines were the culprits.
But some people will sue anyone for any imagined wrongdoing, looking for a scapegoat to blame and a possible big payday. I recall the actual case of a woman who sued McDonald’s because the hot coffee she had ordered — which she clumsily spilled on herself — was too hot, causing her to sustain burns.
Yet, absent Paxton’s claimed “considerable body of evidence,” and relying largely on those earlier lawsuits, he has rushed to judgment and filed a suit that, no matter who prevails, will be costly — perhaps even devastating — to a company that has provided the public with high-quality products from baby powder to pain relievers to mouthwash since 1886, in addition to the more recent prescription medications and vaccines.
And all because noted conspiracy theorist, recovering heroin addict, and psychedelic-drug-promoter Bobby Kennedy, Jr., says it’s true.
Therefore, following Kennedy’s and Paxton’s examples, and despite the fact that there is no scientific proof that stupidity is contagious, I hereby declare, based solely on my own unqualified opinion, that it is true . . . and that Ken Paxton has contracted a raging case of it.
As Prime Minister of a country that fought so valiantly for freedom and democracy 35 years ago and has since become a member of both NATO and the EU, Viktor Orban has been uncomfortably seated on the fence between Hungary’s obligations to the West and his personal alliance with Vladimir Putin.
Not to mention his country’s dependence on Russian oil and gas.
Viktor Orban: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
In office since 2010, and as leader of the ruling Fidesz party since 2003, Orban has used his unique position to promote himself as the perfect mediator between Russia and the West. And he believed his moment of glory had come when Putin suggested Budapest as the site of a bilateral summit with Donald Trump earlier this month. But when Trump called off the meeting, Orban’s dream suddenly faded.
Equally upsetting to him is the effect on Hungary of Trump’s and the EU nations’ latest sanctions against Russia’s two largest oil and gas companies. Demands are now being made upon Russia’s remaining customers — specifically, Hungary and Slovakia — to cut their purchases of Russian oil, as the others have already done.
And Orban is scheduled to meet with Trump in Washington next week, where he knows that further pressure will be exerted for him to join in the sanctions. Doing so, however, would obviously — to put it mildly — place him in a difficult position vis-a-vis his relationship with Putin. He needs Russia’s oil . . . and not because he can’t buy it elsewhere, as much of the rest of Europe is already doing.
Viktor Orban’s problem is that he is up for reelection in April, and he is not a shoo-in this time around. The leader of the opposition Tisza party, Peter Magyar, has recently staged an unexpected surge in popularity, soaring ahead of Orban in most of the opinion polls. And one of Orban’s biggest selling points has been his promise to the people of a continuing source of “cheap Russian energy.” In fact, asked recently whether he thought Trump’s latest sanctions might have been excessive, he replied:
“ . . . from a Hungarian point of view, yes.” [Nick Thorpe, BBC, October 28, 2025.]
And that certainly is not what Trump wants to hear . . . nor will he be likely to overlook it at their upcoming meeting. Orban is hoping to buy a few more months, until after the election, before having to stop or reduce his purchases of Russian oil. But if he is counting on his supposed friendship with Trump, he would do well to remember that he is dealing with a man to whom loyalty is strictly a one-way proposition.
It appears that Viktor Orban has suddenly found himself walking a very thin political high wire, and without a visible safety net. At best, he may have five months to find his perfect balance . . . or to begin planning for an early retirement.
On this date in 1886 — 139 years ago — the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.
Statue of Liberty – New York, U.S.A.
Originally known as “Liberty Enlightening the World,” she was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States, commemorating the alliance of the two nations during the American Revolution more than a century earlier.
And there she has stood, tall and proud, her torch lighting the way to countless immigrants seeking refuge from persecution and poverty. In 1903, a bronze plaque was mounted inside her pedestal, inscribed with the now-famous sonnet by American poet Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus,” which reads in part:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Those “huddled masses” included the likes of Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Enrico Fermi, Joseph Pulitzer, Irving Berlin . . . as well as my grandparents, and probably yours. These were people who thrived and worked to make America what it is today.
Or what it has been, until recently, when those words ceased to have meaning, and the torch in New York Harbor lost its light.
To Lady Liberty, and to the world: We Americans are so, so sorry. With luck and perseverance, may her next birthday be a happier one.
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 