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.”
At least they haven’t changed in China for the past 76 years. On this date, September 21st, Mao Zedong announced at the opening of the 1949 Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Peking (now Beijing) that the new Chinese government would thereafter be “under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.” [“This Day In History,” History.com, September 21, 2025.]
Mao Zedong
Since the 1920s, Mao and his communist supporters had been fighting to wrest control from what he called the corrupt and decadent Nationalist Chinese government. Despite U.S. support for the Nationalists, Mao’s forces finally claimed victory in 1949, and the Nationalist government was driven out of China onto the island of Taiwan.
Yes, that is the same Taiwan that today’s Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, claims is the rightful property of his country and threatens to take by force. So, other than 76 years of technological and economic advancement, not much else has changed in China.
Amidst much flag-waving and cannon-firing, Mao vowed on that autumn day in 1949 to establish a constitutional and governmental framework to protect the so-called “people’s revolution,” announcing:
“Our state system of the People’s Democratic Dictatorship is a powerful weapon for safeguarding the fruits of victory of the people’s revolution and for opposing plots of foreign and domestic enemies to stage a comeback. We must firmly grasp this weapon. The era in which the Chinese were regarded as uncivilized is now over. We will emerge in the world as a highly civilized nation.” [Id.]
He labeled those who opposed the communist government as “imperialistic and domestic reactionaries,” and said that in the future, China would foster the friendship of “the Soviet Union and the new democratic countries.” [Id.]
Chairman Mao – Peking, September 1949
For China, this is old news, ancient history. What is disturbing, however, is the echo of his words that we are hearing today — three-quarters of a century later — right here in the United States: “plots of foreign and domestic enemies” . . . “imperialistic and domestic reactionaries” . . . “We will emerge in the world as a highly civilized nation.”
In 1949, it was Mao “making China great again.” And we all know how that has turned out.
Xi Jinping (C) and Friends – Beijing, September 2025
*. *. *
“Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”
How many times have we heard that? Truisms become truisms, not simply because they are repeated, but because they prove themselves over time to be true.
We cannot afford to forget today’s history lesson; we are already seeing it repeated . . . but on this side of the Pacific.
And with it go the hopes of thousands, perhaps millions, of aspiring refugees seeking what was once the American dream for themselves and their children. Because that dream has also vanished.
A portion of Emma Lazarus’ sonnet, “The New Colossus,” is inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty:
Perhaps it should be replaced with a new plaque reading:
“Give me your White, your straight, Your wealthy masses who can pay the fee.”
Because now — in addition to his mad frenzy of deporting, not only the “worst of the worst” as he describes them, but also the best of the best if they happen to be Hispanic, Latino, Middle Eastern, African, Asian, or Mediterranean — Donald Trump has signed an executive order mandating that even educated, highly-skilled foreign workers who manage to meet his racist standards will only be applicable for H-1B work visas upon payment of a $100,000 annual fee by their prospective employers.
According to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, the fee would only apply to new requests, but the companies would be obligated to pay the same amount for each applicant annually for six years. In his words:
“The company needs to decide … is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000-a-year payment to the government, or they should head home, and they should go hire an American. All of the big companies are on board.” [Bernd Debusmann, Jr. and Danielle Kaye, BBC, September 20, 2025.]
However, White House Press Secretary What’s-Her-Name issued a correction on social media, stating that the $100,000 fee would actually be a one-time payment. Apparently, as the order was signed over the weekend and goes into effect immediately (today), Secretary Lutnick hasn’t had time to familiarize himself with a program for which he is responsible.
Another fine example of our tax dollars at work.
Howard Lutnick
In a separate order, Trump also established a new “gold card” to fast-track visas for certain wealthy immigrants in exchange for fees beginning at the low, low cost of One Million Dollars. That’s $1,000,000 — with six zeros — to be paid by the individual, or $2,000,000 if sponsored by a corporation.
All right, so a one-time fee sounds a bit better. But it still prices out of the market those smaller enterprises that now rely on foreign workers to fill jobs for which there is a shortage of American applicants. Even the biggest corporations, like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google — for whom $100,000 doesn’t seem like a steep price — would be seriously impacted because of the large numbers of H-1B workers they employ. And, contrary to Lutnick’s allegation that “all of the big companies are on board,” they’re not necessarily happy about it.
Attorney Tahmina Watson of Watson Immigration Law told the BBC that this ruling might be a “nail in the coffin” for many of her small-business and start-up clients:
“Almost everyone’s going to be priced out. This $100,000 as an entry point is going to have a devastating impact,” . . . as many small or medium-sized companies . . . “will tell you they actually can’t find workers to do the job. When employers sponsor foreign talent, more often than not, they’re doing that because they have not been able to fulfil [sic] those positions.” [Id.]
Trump claims that his goal is to open up more job opportunities for U.S. citizens. But if those citizens are not applying for the positions now — likely because they lack the specific requisite education and skills — what makes him think they’re going to be qualified to apply for them later? Does he have some sort of massive, government-financed training program in mind? And how long would it take to train someone like . . . oh, say, me . . . to develop AI technology, or design next year’s Tesla, or perform surgery?
Trump should ask himself where the U.S. space program would have been without Wernher von Braun. Or the study of modern physics without Albert Einstein. Is he convinced the next Einstein or von Braun is hiding somewhere in a small midwestern town just waiting for a job opening? Or does he plan to re-educate his Proud Boys and other MAGA followers?
Does he really believe that people can simply be retrofitted to serve any need? Perhaps he’d like to try his own hand at quantum mechanics. I’d pay to see that.
The largest beneficiaries of H-1B visas last year were India and China, accounting for 71% and 11.7%, respectively, of total approved applications. Nasscom — India’s leading non-governmental trade association and advocacy group — has said that it is concerned by the order, and that the one-day deadline creates “considerable uncertainty for businesses, professionals, and students across the world.” [Id.]
Even the world’s richest man — former Trump BFF Elon Musk — has long supported the existing H-1B visa program, arguing that it allows the United States to attract top talent from around the world (much like himself, in fact). Perhaps Trump isn’t aware that those visas are issued to well-educated, highly-skilled scientists, engineers, medical practitioners and the like, who have firm job offers in place before coming to the U.S. Maybe he’s thinking in terms of laborers, food service workers, and nannies . . . who, by the way, are every bit as essential to our economy and our society as any Einstein or Musk.
And he obviously hasn’t thought far enough ahead to envision the effect his brainstorm will have on the country as a whole. As Jorge Lopez, chairman of the immigration and global mobility practice group at Littler Mendelson PC, said:
“[A $100,000 fee] will put the brakes on American competitiveness in the tech sector and all industries.” [Id.]
This whole idea has clearly not been well thought out by the stable genius in the White House — that is, unless it is actually his intention to turn the United States into a third-world country.
Well-known French cyclist and filmmaker Sofiane Sehili has been arrested and placed in pretrial detention in Russia’s Far East as he was nearing the end of his 13,000-km. bicycle tour through Eurasia, from Lisbon to Vladivostok, aiming for the world speed record.
French Cyclist Sofiane Sehili
Sehili is awaiting a hearing on charges of illegally crossing the Russian border from China — an infraction that is punishable by a fine of up to $2,400 (200,000 rubles), up to two years of compulsory labor, or up to two years in prison.
Vladimir Naidin, an official of the Primorsky region’s prison monitoring organization, told the French AFP news agency that Sehili did have a Russian e-visa, but that he had “tried to cross the border on foot at a checkpoint only accessible for Russian and Chinese citizens.” [RFE/RL, September 19, 2025.]
“Then he went to another crossing, where it is forbidden to cross on a bike, you need to go on train or bus,” Naidin said. He added that Sehili is in good health, but is having difficulty communicating with the detention center’s officials due to the language barrier. [Id.]
Sehili’s route had taken him into Russia earlier, when he crossed the border from Georgia. He then left Russia in the Astrakhan region, traveling through Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia and China before attempting to re-enter Russia on the last 400-km. stretch of his journey.
But, despite holding a legal visa, he was stymied by the conflicting regulations at different border crossings and arrested, rather than being redirected to a viable entry point . . . making him the newest addition to Vladimir Putin’s collection of human collateral.
*. *. *
And — as the U.S. Congress works on the passage of a bipartisan bill that would declare Russia to be a state sponsor of terrorism due to the forced removal and “rehoming” of some 19,500 Ukrainian children since the start of its “special military operation” in February 2022 — I have added those unnamed young people to the list of known hostages.
They have been stolen from their homes and their families. taken to a strange country, and are being “educated” — i.e., brainwashed — to become obedient Russian citizens and future military conscripts. Because of their ages, they are the most vulnerable of all of Putin’s political prisoners, and must not be allowed to remain in his grip any longer.
Ukrainian Children at the Change Camp in Russia
*. *. *
And, yet again, here is the list of political hostages I know of:
Immigrant Detainees in Russia:
Migrants from the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
Prisoners of War:
The 19,500 Kidnapped Ukrainian Children The People of Ukraine The Azov 12
Endangered Exiles:
Mikita Losik Yulia Navalnaya Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents
Ales Bialiatski Andrei Chapiuk Marya Kalesnikava Uladzimir Labkovich Marfa Rabkova Valiantsin Stafanovic Yuras Zyankovich
In China:
Chenyue Mao (American)
In Russia:
David Barnes (American) Gordon Black (American) 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 Grigory Melkonyants Nika Novak Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler) Sofiane Sehili (French) Igor Sergunin Dmitry Shatresov Robert Shonov Grigory Skvortsov Eugene Spector (American) Laurent Vinatier Robert Romanov Woodland (American)
*. *. *
And for the 89th time, here’s wishing each and every one of you a safe — and early — return home.
It doesn’t change a thing; but it does reinforce what we already know about Vladimir Putin, which is that he is a tyrant, a mass murderer, and a war criminal.
So what is different? Simply that the Russian State Duma has now passed a formal bill withdrawing from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture — a treaty of the Council of Europe that is an international commitment to maintain human rights.
Not that the Convention, to which Russia has been a signatory since 1997, has meant anything to Putin in any case. Complaints of torture and maltreatment in Russian police stations, detention centers and prisons are legion, and have only increased since the passage of more onerous and restrictive laws following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer with human rights group Department One, said in August:
“In practice, tearing up this agreement will have no consequences. Russia has already stopped implementing anything connected with [the convention] … in fact, no conventions that Russia has signed in previous decades are actually working.” [RFE/RL, September 18, 2025.]
In February 1996, Russia joined the Council of Europe, but was blocked from participation in Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Initially suspended, Russia was later expelled from the Council . . . although the Kremlin claimed they were withdrawing of their own volition. No surprise there.
“I Quit!”
Ukrainian prisoners of war who have been released in exchanges have also told terrifying stories of torture while in captivity in Russia. Smirnov said that:
“They have none of the guaranteed rights which Russian law (formally) provides for. They are not allowed to see human rights activists, observer missions, lawyers, or relatives. The convention wasn’t being observed and will continue to not be observed for these people.” [Id.]
So it’s business as usual for Putin . . . a clear sign that he has every intention of continuing to pursue his goal of re-creating the repressive, totalitarian society that he misses so much, as he so bluntly announced to the Federal Assembly in 2005 when he described the breakup of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.”
It isn’t often that I find a reason to praise either house of the United States Congress these days. But it appears that the Senate is presently on the right track with a bill — a bipartisan bill, no less — that involves a matter near and dear to my heart: a swift return of the kidnapped children of Ukraine.
Senators Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, Connecticut) and Lindsey Graham (Republican, South Carolina) are advancing a bill to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism due to the forced removal and “rehoming” in Russia of an estimated 19,500 Ukrainian children since the start of the war in 2022.
Senators Blumenthal (L) and Graham
Only four countries — Iran, North Korea, Syria and Cuba — currently bear the designation of state sponsors of terrorism. This is the second time Congress has proposed adding Russia to the list since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and is prompted by U.S. lawmakers’ growing frustration with Vladimir Putin’s stalled peace negotiations and the increased number and ferocity of his military’s attacks on Ukraine.
The new bill — titled “Designating the Russian Federation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act” — would, if adopted, require that the U.S. Secretary of State submit a report to Congress within 60 days, certifying that children “who were kidnapped, deported, or forcibly removed from Ukrainian territory,” including Russian-occupied areas, had been safely reunited with their families or guardians and that their full reintegration into Ukrainian society was underway. [Todd Prince, RFE/RL, September 19, 2025.]
I can’t think of an issue more compelling than the lives of nearly 20,000 children. But even if the bill passes smoothly through Congress, will it be approved by the White House?
Ukrainian Children Being “Educated” at the Change Camp in Russia
Adoption of the bill would make it “very difficult for [anyone] to do any above-board business with Russia,” Senator Graham said. It would also make it more difficult for the U.S. to lift or ease sanctions already imposed on Russia — something Donald Trump has said he would want to do if a peace agreement were reached. [Id.]
So in a sense, those innocent children are not only being held hostage by Vladimir Putin; they may also become collateral in Trump’s efforts to negotiate lucrative trade deals with Putin while still appearing to the world to be holding his adversary’s feet to the fire in relation to Ukraine.
It’s quite a balancing act. And in the meantime, those vulnerable children are being indoctrinated into Russian life, and prepared for Russian military service. If we wait too long, we may be too late.
So please keep fighting, Senators. Do something you can be proud of.
The Russian Foreign Ministry denies that their military intentionally deployed drones into Poland and Romania during the last two weeks. Of course, they do.
Map of Eastern Europe
As of this writing, there has been no comment from Moscow regarding the three MIG-31 fighter jets that were rapidly intercepted by NATO defense units this morning over Estonia. Will the Kremlin remain silent, or will they conjure up some lame excuse for this event as well? We shall see.
But denials and silence cannot mask a clear pattern emerging from these blatantly aggressive and increasingly frequent actions on Russia’s part. First aiming directly west into Poland, then southwest to Romania, and now northwest to Estonia, Vladimir Putin has been testing — without causing any actual casualties — NATO’s defensive capabilities and willingness to defend its member states as well as allied non-member Ukraine.
Is Putin actually hoping to incite NATO into firing a first shot, thus precipitating a “defensive” response from Russia? Let’s hope not . . . although where Putin is concerned, one can never be 100% certain. More likely, though, he is using the fear factor to induce NATO’s members to retreat from their active defense of Ukraine, and to accede to more of Moscow’s demands for a settlement of its “special military operation” in the country they baselessly claim as theirs.
And keep an eye on the Suwalki Gap — that strategic little strip of land marking the border between Poland and Lithuania, which also happens to be the only direct route between Russia’s puppet state of Belarus and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. (See my post of 9/15/25: “The Suwalki Gap: The Most Important Strip of Land You Probably Never Heard Of .”)
Suwalki Gap
Formerly part of German East Prussia and known then as Koenigsberg, it was annexed by the Soviet Union following World War II and is now a vital military outpost containing nuclear-capable missiles and hosting Russia’s Baltic Fleet. Its importance to Russia cannot be understated.
*. *. *
The incursion into Estonian airspace lasted for 12 minutes. Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said:
“Russia has already violated Estonia’s airspace four times this year, which in itself is unacceptable. But today’s incursion, involving three fighter aircraft entering our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen.” [Ray Furlong and Rikard Jozwiak, RFE/RL, September 19, 2025.]
Just hours earlier, the EC had proposed a 19th package of potentially crippling sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine. Referring to the drone attacks on Poland and Romania, EC President Ursula von der Leyen had this to say:
“Again and again, President Putin has escalated, and in response, Europe is increasing its pressure.” [Id.]
EC President Ursula von der Leyen
Donald Trump has been pressuring the EU to increase its punitive actions against Russia as a condition to his own escalation of sanctions. Those increased actions on the part of the European allies are in the works; now let’s see what Trump has to offer.
Earlier this week, Donald Trump announced — on his ironically-named Truth Social platform — that he was designating “Antifa” as a terrorist organization. Once again, either he’s been hallucinating, or he hasn’t done his homework.
“Goin’ after those Antifa terrorists next.”
You see, the problem is that there is no such organization. “Antifa” is a made-up, cobbled-together, abbreviated word used to describe anyone who is against fascism, or anti-fascist. It’s not a structured group; it has no officers or members or bylaws. Being called “Antifa” is akin to being called “freedom-loving,” or “humanitarian.”
And since Trump himself vehemently denies that he supports fascism — and in fact has hurled that very same epithet at his liberal opponents — is he not then, by definition, “Antifa”? And shouldn’t he be proud of that?
Or does it make him — by his own description — a member of a terrorist organization? He can’t have it both ways. He’s either fascist or anti-fascist; he has to choose.
And until he understands that there’s no “sick, dangerous, radical left disaster . . . major terrorist organization” named Antifa for him to prosecute [Donald Judd, Kevin Liptak, Alayna Treene, CNN, September 17, 2025], there are some real gangs of sickos out there that would more appropriately fit the designation of “terrorists” — like those so-called “Proud Boys” who tried to overthrow our government on January 6, 2021 — that he could set his sights on.
Oh, no . . . wait. They’ve already been tried, convicted, and sentenced by our federal courts. And pardoned. By Trump.
You may be wondering, “Who on earth is Jerry Greenfield?” But you do know of him — he’s the Jerry in Ben & Jerry’s. Or he was, until he told their parent company, British multinational consumer goods giant Unilever, to go to hell.
Jerry Greenfield
Actually, Jerry was much more gentlemanly than that. He simply resigned after nearly half a century with B&J’s, because Unilever had decided to put a stop to the ice cream makers’ well-known social activism.
This was despite an agreement made with Unilever at the time of the two companies’ merger some 25 years ago, which protected B&J’s well-known social mission. They had long been known for their advocacy of numerous social and political justice issues, such as climate change and LGBTQ+ rights.
In a letter shared on social media by Greenfield and co-founder Ben Cohen, Jerry said that leaving the company was “one of the hardest and most painful decisions” he had ever made, but that he could no longer “in good conscience” work for the business now that it had been “silenced” by Unilever. [Peter Hoskins, BBC, September 17, 2025.]
Ben and Jerry
Ben said that “Jerry has a really big heart and this conflict with Unilever was breaking it. My heart leads me to continue to work inside the company to advocate for its independence so that it can actualise the social mission, the values that it was founded on and has maintained for over 40 years.” [Id.]
And Ben added that Unilever “has not been abiding by the terms of the acquisition agreement [and that] they’ve essentially been usurping the power of the independent board of directors which has legal authority over the social mission of the company, and now Magnum* is proceeding in the same fashion. They’ve also been muzzling the company.” [Id.]
* Magnum Ice Cream Company is a spin-off from Unilever, and is taking some of its brands — including Ben & Jerry’s — with it.
A spokesperson for Magnum said:
“We disagree with his [Jerry’s] perspective and have sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position in the world.” [Id.]
In other words, they’ve tried to persuade both Ben and Jerry to change their lifelong core principles to fit Magnum’s.
But Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, each in their own way, aren’t giving in. While Jerry has chosen to leave in protest, Ben is determined to keep up the effort from the inside.
Two strong, principled men being sidelined by the rapidly-spreading scourge of censorship. And I wish them the best of luck.
In the meantime, I’ll miss buying their Cherry Garcia. Consider it my little contribution to their protest.
You would have been 92 today, if your life hadn’t been cut short nearly eight years ago by something called malignant pleural effusion — that damned cancer.
Merna, with Emily and Nate, c. 2001
As always on this date, I’ve been thinking back to our semi-annual birthday celebrations together. Your birthday was my half-birthday, and vice-versa, so the half-birthday person also received a gift — nothing big, sometimes humorous, but always chosen with a lot of thought and care.
And I would have been taking you out to dinner at one of our favorite places — probably that wonderful little French bistro in Old Town Alexandria, Le Refuge. In the really old days, back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, it would have been a heartier meal of prime rib at Costin’s Sirloin Room in downtown D.C.; but that’s been gone for a long time now. Remember the year I passed out there on my own birthday? That was classic.
If the big day happened to fall on a Friday or Saturday, we might have treated ourselves to whatever was playing at the Kennedy Center, the National, or the Signature Theater. Those were the days when people dressed up for theater evenings: men in suits and ties, women sparkling as their bejeweled jackets caught the lights of the gigantic chandeliers overhead. How I miss those days of good manners and elegance!
In your last few years, when you were so sick, we had quieter celebrations. I would cook one of your favorite dishes, or we would order delivery from your choice of restaurants — usually Chinese or Italian — and watch a movie or two. Until that last time, in 2017, when you didn’t want to eat at all and fell asleep during the movie, snuggled under the big, soft, furry blanket I had just given you for your final birthday.
And I remember our “Ribit Pact” — inspired by the little pillows you had bought for each of us, with two embroidered green frogs and the legend, “Together ‘til we croak.” I haven’t croaked yet, but when it’s my turn, I expect you to have dinner reservations and theater tickets waiting. It doesn’t even have to be one of our birthdays.
“Together ‘til We Croak”
Meanwhile, happy birthday, “Merny,” yet again. Love you and miss you . . . more than I ever thought I would.
And, apparently, unless Donald Trump has it in for you.
Remember his cruel, vicious jabs at Joe Biden? Not just the blatantly untrue ones about having “stolen” the 2020 election . . . but, even more inexcusable, the personal ones: calling him “Sleepy Joe,” and “cognitively impaired,” and — most horribly — a “decrepit corpse” that had been used as a “frontman” during his term as president.
Former President Joe Biden, Age 82
Yes, Joe Biden had physical conditions consistent with aging: arthritis, GERD (reflux), and non-valvular atrial fibrillation (A-Fib). (Hell, I have all three of those, and with proper medication, I’m just fine, thank you.)
But Biden was completely up-front about his medical conditions, sharing the results of his regular physicals with the American public. He never claimed — as Trump does — to be “the healthiest president this nation has ever seen.” [Ali Velshi, MSNBC, September 8, 2025.]
Donald Trump, Age 79
Instead, the cadre of sycophants surrounding Trump — including his own physician — offer only the most opaque, glowing comments, saying that his lab results are “astonishingly excellent” and “his physical strength and stamina is [sic] extraordinary.” [Id.]
And when questioned about his appearance — the huge bruises that appear sporadically on his hands, his swollen ankles, the excess of facial makeup, or his bent posture and hesitant gait — they make excuses. There is no transparency, and no admission that at 79 — just three years younger than Joe Biden — Trump is understandably not as healthy or as vital as he was just a few years ago.
It’s not only heel spurs anymore. Take a look at these candid shots on the golf course and boarding Air Force One:
And listen to his garbled sentences when he’s not reading from a prepared speech or a teleprompter. He rambles, he wanders off-topic into the most absurd irrelevancies, he forgets names and mispronounces words.
I am not a physician or a psychiatrist. But I have eyes, ears, and a brain, and when I look at Donald Trump, I see a man in decline. How far that decline has progressed, I am not qualified to judge.
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