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.”
For the second day in a row, today’s quote comes — not from an ancient philosopher or playwright — but from a present-day politician and diplomat.
While attending the NATO meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, this week, Donald Trump (as usual) saw fit to use the opportunity to insult everyone he could think of, including a continuance of his ongoing criticism of Spain for — in his opinion — not contributing enough to NATO. He called Spain a “terrible partner,” and even suggested a halt to trade and visits with the country.
But Spain’s Health Minister, Monica Garcia, was no pushover. She responded with the following, absolutely perfect put-down:
“Trump calls Spain a ‘terrible partner’ because it accepts neither blackmail nor threats. Because we are a sovereign, democratic country that defends multilateralism and peace. What is terrible is to confuse diplomacy with bullying.”
– Source: McGill Media, July 8, 2026
Monica Garcia Gomez
That’s telling him. Unfortunately, the truth doesn’t seem to register with him. It never does with bullies, tyrants, or narcissists.
After about two months of waiting to learn what this Crimean trip was about — from the time Arend Feenstra first mentioned it back in May, through their online apologies for not having reported on it sooner — I have assumed that the delay was caused by the need for official (i.e., governmental) editing and approval to ensure that no negative comments or unauthorized photos slipped through.
Finally, the first chapter of their Crimean adventure has aired on YouTube (and presumably elsewhere) and . . . well, I can best describe it as resembling those short movie travelogs they used to show in the theaters back in the 1940s and ‘50s before the feature film: filled with happy people, doing happy things, in a perfectly happy world.
Come to think of it, it was also like the old Soviet propaganda films of those millions of happy collective farm workers . . .
Happy Soviet Farmers
Well, you get my point. And that is not very different from what Arend, Anneesa, and the seven littlest Feenstras have once again shown us here.
Yes, I know there are eight children, but oldest son Wesley stayed behind to take care of the farm in Nizhny Novgorod. (Sorry, Wes.) And that makes me wonder what has happened to their tenants, the Pulleys, who proved themselves perfectly capable of managing things while the Feenstras were in Canada and the U.S. for four months. But that’s another story for another day.
So off they went. The majority of this first episode was taken up by the 45-hour train ride, which — having twice ridden the overnight train from Moscow to Kyiv myself in 1993 — I found mind-boggling to contemplate. I must say, their train was a huge upgrade from the ones I remember. But spending two days and nights in train compartments, sleeping four to a compartment, with several very young children, is not my idea of a good time. However, the Feenstras always try to make the best of everything, and Arend had nothing but praise for the train accommodations, this being their first such experience.
I should say here that the two “friends” they had mentioned weeks earlier who were slated to travel with them turned out to be a couple named Irina and Bradley from Nizhny. Their relationship with the Feenstras was never explained, but it appears to me that Irina is Russian, but Bradley — based on his name alone — is not. My guess: they’re the hired watchdogs, assigned to make sure everything goes smoothly. For the remainder of this video, they were out of the picture.
Other than a virtual tour of the train, and one stop at a station where they were able to disembark and buy some food and beverages, there wasn’t much happening. But you never would have known that, judging from Arend’s frequent comments about how wonderful and “gorgeous” everything was, how privileged they were to be taking this “trip of a lifetime,” and sending a big “thank you to everyone who made it possible.”
Beginning the Journey
Quick Stop for Supplies
Now, about that: Just who did make it possible? You know that the hard-working, frugal Feenstras aren’t given to such extravagance.
That became the bigger question when they finally reached their destination in Crimea (the city was never identified), where they were met by a driver and a cameraman — yes, the video crew was ready and waiting — with a big van to accommodate everyone.
Being Welcomed to Crimea
Then it was about an hour’s drive, with a stop for a romp in a field of poppies . . .
On the Road
A Plethora of Poppies
. . . to their ultimate destination — again not identified by name — where they were deposited at a multi-level guest house that blew them away. And quite frankly, I had the same reaction. There were pictures of the house and grounds:
Living in Luxury
Followed by a long walk to a nearby lake, with the cameraman never far behind:
A Stroll to the Lake
By this time, I hear some of you asking, “What the hell . . . ?”
But any hope of an answer to that, I’m afraid, will have to wait for Chapter 2, which is already available on YouTube, though I’ve run out of time to watch it today. In the meantime, Arend did mention that two things on their agenda are a visit to a goat farm and another to a berry farm.
And why? I mean, this is a lot of time — and expense on someone’s part — for a little documentary about a Canadian farm family leaving their new Russian farm to tour even more farms in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
It’s clearly propaganda; I don’t think there can be much doubt about that. But to what end? Surely not just to show how well the Feenstras are being treated. Perhaps to entice other foreign farm families to emigrate to this paradise-cum-war zone? Or to give the impression that it isn’t actually a war zone at all?
In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, it’s impossible to be sure of anything. But I can’t wait to watch the next installment tomorrow. And of course, I’ll be back to you after that with an update.
Greetings on my first day of posting from Virginia. For my readers from outside the U.S., that is about halfway up the Atlantic coast between Florida and Maine, but only a few degrees cooler than where I just came from in Georgia. It’s a hot summer everywhere.
But not nearly as hot as those war zones around the globe: most notably, of course, Israel vs. Gaza and Russia vs. Ukraine. Yet, at this week’s NATO meeting in Türkiye, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky found an opportunity to dig deep into his past life as a humorist, taking a jab at Vladimir Putin’s stubborn insistence that any meeting between them should take place in Moscow.
A rare moment of levity
When Donald Trump — trying once again to placate Putin and nudge Zelensky toward making further concessions — asked Zelensky if he might consider going to Moscow, the heroic president of Ukraine wryly replied:
“It’s difficult. There are a lot of Ukrainian drones there.”
And indeed there are. Here is Ukraine’s latest strike on a Russian oil refinery, this one reaching all the way to Omsk, in Western Siberia:
Oil Refinery in Omsk
Thanks, President Zelensky, for the smile . . . and for the reminder of who is really turning the tide of this war.
Well, I made it to Virginia, arrived around 4:00 p.m. yesterday, and managed to find the energy for a walk around the neighborhood with my daughter and her pup, Daisy.
And then I was pooped, and headed to bed early.
Me, last night . . . and this morning
I’ll be taking the rest of the day off from any serious writing in order to get some unpacking done. But I’ll be back tomorrow with my regular snarky comments on the daily news. I’m sure the world can do without me for another few hours.
I’m preparing this in advance, to be posted with the click of a button as I try to catch a few hours of sleep before hitting the road.
My next post will probably be a progress report from somewhere on Interstate 95, perhaps in South Carolina or North Carolina, but definitely when we reach Virginia.
Bye-bye, Georgia. It’s been nice getting to know you, but it’s time to be moving on.
As I prepare to embark on my move northward from Georgia to Virginia tomorrow, I’ve been thinking a great deal about the many major life changes I’ve experienced, and the fact that I never expected to undertake another one at this stage.
But I’ve always faced changes with optimism, looking forward to whatever new adventures await me. I get bored with sameness.
As one of our more eloquent U.S. Presidents once said:
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
– John F. Kennedy
President John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963)
And since the length of our futures is uncertain, I don’t want to miss a minute of mine. So off I go.
As a friend said to me the other day, the world is going to hell in a hand basket . . . and all I can think of are the last-minute details of my move before Departure Day on Tuesday.
But a couple of headlines caught my eye recently. The first article said that both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky had held phone conversations with Donald Trump on July 4th, and that — surprise, surprise! — the stalemate continues. Both sides are sticking to their guns (pun intended) on the major issue of Russia’s demand that Ukraine cede a substantial chunk of its sovereign territory to Russia. Nothing new there.
Sadly, the end of the war is still not in sight . . . unless Putin’s oil crisis finally breaks him. And if things are as bad as recent reports indicate, that is not an impossibility.
The Adversaries
The second story, which I had somehow missed earlier, was somewhat less disturbing but — if you can imagine it — even more complicated than the Russia-Ukraine negotiations. The headline read:
“Who’s Shipping Bananas To Russia, And Who’s Shipping Cocaine?” [RFE/RL, by Systema, July 3, 2026.]
Bananas and cocaine? You have to admit, that sounds enticing. And it is — but not only because someone has been smuggling massive quantities of drugs (in the most recent shipment, about 1.5 metric tons of cocaine, with a street value of about $257 million), supposedly under the noses of the authorities. What was most fascinating was the tale of the interwoven relationships among the principals of the shipping company, the vendors of the fruit, the recipients of the shipment, etc.
The Offending Ship
I couldn’t possibly begin to unravel it here, but it involves, at the very least, a former Russian shipping industry operator from St. Petersburg now based in Cyprus, a port agent in St. Petersburg, shareholders who went to school together, associates of Vladimir Putin (aha!), and ties of several of them to the same residential real estate development near St. Petersburg. And that’s just for starters. They all seem to be involved in a myriad of other businesses, with their paths intersecting numerous times. This little misadventure has more nefarious characters than a Dostoevsky novel.
And this is not some random event; the smuggling has apparently been going on for some time. Yet Putin — unlike Donald Trump — has not seen fit to blow the ships out of the water to prevent the influx of illegal drugs.
It can’t be that he has developed a sudden aversion to killing people. Perhaps the difference is that Trump hasn’t found a way to profit personally from the U.S. drug trade, whereas Putin . . .
Well, that’s all conjecture. So maybe it’s best to simply drop it.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to the last of my packing. See you on the far side.
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
To some, that might sound intellectually snobbish. But I believe that Mrs. Roosevelt — rather than insulting people who may not have had the benefit of advanced education — was in fact criticizing those who engage in gossip and slander.
And I would like to take the liberty of adding a fourth observation:
“Demented minds spew hatred and vitriol on social media at three o’clock in the morning.”
Yesterday, July 4th, was Independence Day in the United States — the 250th anniversary of the founding of a nation that would one day become the world’s model of what a democracy can be, and a welcoming refuge for victims of persecution from all corners of the world.
But this year’s celebrations were muted by the unmistakable signs of a growing threat of tyranny in our own house, even as we claim to oppose authoritarian regimes in other lands. And I ask myself how we can criticize those others when our own people are losing their jobs for opposing the official government line, or being locked up for appearing to be of the “wrong” ethnicity.
Still, we have not yet sunk to the level of totalitarianism; and as long as our courts continue to uphold the laws of the nation, and the majority of people continue to fight the evil forces that threaten to overtake us, there is hope that we will emerge from these times of trouble better, stronger, and wiser than before.
But it remains obvious that my country’s problems should in no way distract us from the suffering of the hostages of other blatantly corrupt systems. So, in solidarity with those prisoners of the Putin regime, I share the enduring spirit of this holiday — a day dedicated to freedom and independence — with the following political prisoners, and with all of the others whose names I do not know:
*. *. *
Prisoners of War:
The 20,000+ Kidnapped Ukrainian Children The People of Ukraine
Immigrant Detainees in Russia:
Migrants from the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
Endangered Exiles:
Pavel “Pasha” Talankin Mikita Losik Yulia Navalnaya Oleg Orlov Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents
Political Prisoners:
In Afghanistan:
Mahmoud Habibi (Afghan-American) Paul Overby (American, missing since 2018)
Andrei Chapiuk Uladzimir Labkovich Andrzej Poczobut Marfa Rabkova Valiantsin Stafanovic Yuras Zyankovich
In Georgia:
Mzia Amaglobeli
In Russia:
The “Crimea 8”: – Oleg Antipov – Artyom Azatyan – Georgy Azatyan – Aleksandr Bylin – Roman Solomko – Artur Terchanyan – Dmitry Tyazhelykh – Vladimir Zloba
James Scott Rhys Anderson (British) Aleksandr Andreyev David Barnes (American) Yevgenia Berkovich Gordon Black (American) Hayden Davies (British) Yury Dmitriyev Anastasia Dyudyaeva Antonina Favorskaya Konstantin Gabov Robert Gilman (American) Stephen James Hubbard (American) Sergey Karelin Timur Kishukov Vadim Kobzev Darya Kozyreva Artyom Kriger Michael Travis Leake (American) Aleksei Liptser Mikhail Loshchinin Grigory Melkonyants Nika NovakSvetlana Petriichuk Leonid Pshenychnov (in Russian-occupied Crimea) Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler) Lev Schlossberg Sofiane Sehili (French) Igor Sergunin Dmitry Shatresov Robert Shonov Grigory Skvortsov Eugene Spector (American) Joseph Tater (American, disappeared)Karina Tsurkan Laurent Vinatier Robert Romanov Woodland (American)
You have not been, and will not be, forgotten. Stay strong.
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