What a great feeling! No, I didn’t win the lottery, and I didn’t glance in the mirror this morning to find myself looking ten years younger. But what I did get may be even better.

I have offered my unsolicited opinion numerous times as to the woeful inadequacy of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as negotiators between two countries — Russia and Ukraine — about which they know virtually nothing. It’s not their fault; the ancient and complex history and politics of Russia and Eastern Europe simply are not within their areas of expertise. They’re businessmen. Yet they were appointed — and accepted the appointments — as special White House envoys to try to settle the most contentious, sensitive, and urgent of issues as though they were simply closing a deal on a hotel in New York.

On January 24th, in an article bemoaning the lack of progress in negotiations for a solution to the conflict in Ukraine, I wrote:

“Thus far, all we’ve seen is a lot of people burning up untold amounts of jet fuel as they hop around the globe in search of a resolution. And I’m beginning to think we (the U.S.) may need to send in a whole new team of negotiators, with an entirely new modus operandi.”

And — lo and behold! — last evening I read the following post from Ukraine:

“Talks on Ukraine will continue this week — but notably without Steve Witkoff or Jared Kushner.

“U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that negotiations will proceed in a bilateral format [between Ukraine and Russia]. A U.S. presence remains possible, but neither Witkoff nor Kushner will be involved. Rubio also acknowledged a central reality: for Ukraine, even the discussion of changing borders is politically and morally untenable.

“That admission quietly exposes a deeper problem with how some outside figures have approached this war.

“Witkoff, like Kushner, arrived with access but without grounding. Neither has demonstrated a serious grasp of why this war began, how it is being fought, or what conditions make peace possible — beyond the abstract language of ‘deals’ and ‘movement.’ In a conflict defined by occupation, mass displacement, and daily strikes on civilians, that gap matters.

“And it shows. . . .

“Removing figures who lack expertise does not stall diplomacy — it strengthens it.

“Without Witkoff and Kushner in the room, there is finally space for people who understand security gurantees, deterrence, escalation control, and the realities on the ground. Peace talks require more than access or confidence; they require competence.

“Ukraine does not need intermediaries who treat war like a transaction. It needs partners who understand that peace without accountability is just a pause before the next invasion.

“If progress is to be realized — not cosmetic — then the table must be occupied by those who know what is at stake.

“And for the first time in a while, that may actually be possible.” [Ukraine:News, January 28, 2026.]

*. *. *

So thank you to the folks at Ukraine News for stating the truth so openly and eloquently. And a huge thank you to the person or persons in Washington who finally saw the light and made that tough decision. I don’t know what prompted it, and I don’t need to know. I just feel certain that it was the very best decision anyone has made concerning these negotiations in a long, long while.

Now we need to follow through with the right people at the table. Perhaps some elder statesmen with relevant experience and no political axe to grind . . . ?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/29/26

And why have we never heard of it before?

Most likely because it is a recent invention being sprung on the world from the deepest, darkest recesses of Vladimir Putin’s mind: a smoke-and-mirrors device intended to save his political backside from a complete loss of credence with his own people, and his country from total economic collapse.

And with a little help from his American friend, he might just be able to pull it off.

We all remember the high hopes we had for the face-to-face meeting between Putin and Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15th of last year. That was when a trio from each side — Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov — sat down behind closed doors with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and foreign policy newbie Steve Witkoff, and . . .

Well, we don’t know what happened, exactly. All we heard from Trump after the conclusion of the much-touted summit at Anchorage was that he would be meeting the following Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington. He also told European leaders that Putin still wanted all of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in exchange for a freeze of the current front lines.

And from Moscow, Putin had this to offer:

“Russian-American business and investment partnership has huge potential.” [Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, August 16, 2025.]

But nothing about a peace treaty, or even a ceasefire.

Talks about Ukraine quieted down for a while, as Trump busied himself with potentially more lucrative matters — Venezuela, Greenland, Cuba — until suddenly, following a disastrous couple of days at Davos, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner took off from there for Moscow, where they met with Putin for three hours on January 22nd in discussions about Ukraine described by Yuri Ushakov as “exceptionally substantive, constructive, and, I would say, extremely frank and confidential.” [Helen Regan and Darya Tarasova, CNN, January 23, 2026.]

What emerged from that session, as far as the public was told, was an agreement for negotiators to meet a few days later in Abu Dhabi — which they did, again without any resolution other than an agreement to try once more, on February 1st. And I asked myself, not for the first time, why we should expect anything different to emerge from this gathering.

A clue to the answer came on Monday, January 26th, in the form of a statement from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

“The territorial question, which is part of the ‘Anchorage Formula,’ of course carries particular significance for the Russian side.” He added that “our negotiators continue to defend our position.” [Clare Sebastian, CNN, January 27, 2026.]

And in one voice, the world responded: “Anchorage Formula? What Anchorage Formula?”

Well, two days earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov had mysteriously also brought up that long-ago meeting in Alaska, saying that Moscow wanted a peace deal “that fully corresponds to the fundamental understanding reached by the presidents of Russia and the US during their meeting in Anchorage.” [Id.]

But here’s the thing: We have never heard of an “Anchorage Formula,” or of any sort of agreement reached during that red-carpeted, hail-fellow-well-met summit. So is it something Putin is now claiming to have happened? Or was there some sort of off-the-record understanding reached that has, for whatever nefarious reasons, been kept under wraps for the past five months? And — whichever turns out to be the case — why?

One Ukrainian war reporter, Illia Ponomarenko, believes it is the former. Writing on X, he said:

“They’re [the Russians] literally constructing reality on the fly, Orwell-style, counting on the average consumer of Russian mass propaganda having the attention span of a guppy.” [Id.]

And analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War agree. In a post on Saturday, they opined that Russia is looking to “exploit the lack of clarity about the outcome of the August 2025 US-Russian Alaska Summit to claim that the summit achieved a joint US-Russian understanding and agreement to end the war in Ukraine, and present the agreement in ways that benefit Russia — including by obfuscating Russia’s own efforts to impede the peace process.” [Id.]

*. *. *

I, for one, am looking forward to the answer. Not that I expect anything earth-shaking to emerge from Abu Dhabi this time; I’m just curious to see how long Putin can stretch this out before the Russian masses get sick of all the bullshit and decide to storm the Kremlin . . . again.

Tragically, while we wait, the people of Ukraine continue to suffer.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/28/26

It’s difficult to find humor in politics these days. But a little over a century ago, American author and journalist Ambrose Bierce managed to do just that, with an added touch of cynicism to top it off.

Mr. Bierce appears to have been moderate in his political leanings, as this definition from his “Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary” evidences his equal disdain for both the left and the right:

“Conservative, n: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others.”

It’s always interesting to note that the more things change, the more they seem to stay the same. We never learn, do we?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/28/26

It’s not easy for people with disabilities to get around, regardless of where they live. Even here in the United States, where we have the benefit of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requiring easy access in public buildings, wheelchair ramps built into sidewalk curbs, and the like, there are many places that are just not navigable to people using wheelchairs or walkers.

And in northern climates throughout the world, when winter adds to the difficulties, disabled and elderly people are pretty much confined indoors for the duration, unless they have help.

Then there are the financial burdens to be contended with. How does a person who can’t work afford a scooter, a wheelchair, or transportation to and from their medical and physical therapy appointments? Aids — and aides — cost money. The fortunate ones may have family members to help; but the burden on them can quickly become onerous as well.

Luckily for many, there are disability benefits available to ease the pain somewhat. But if you live in Russia and have the misfortune of being disabled — even if you are a war veteran who lost a limb, your eyesight, or your general health in Ukraine — you are royally screwed.

Because the rules governing qualification for disability status have been tightened since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine four years ago. As the federal budget began allocating more and more money into military spending, and hundreds of thousands of severely wounded troops started returning home in need of care, the government began crunching the numbers and found that they could save an estimated 120 billion rubles ($1.6 billion) a year by simply reducing the rolls of the officially-designated disabled.

According to a former medical and social assessment specialist, who declined to be identified for fear of repercussions:

“The authorities understood that the war would increase the number of people with disabilities. So they decided to make the statistics look better — and save money.” [Valery Panyushkin and Systema, RFE/RL, January 26, 2026.}

Changes had already been made several times since the 2014 invasion of Crimea. But the decree issued in April of 2022 has taken matters to an even more draconian level. That decree lists three conditions for recognizing a person as disabled: the persistent impairment of bodily functions; the “complete or partial loss of a citizen’s ability or capacity to care for themselves, move independently, orient oneself, communicate, control their behavior, study, or engage in work activities”; and the need for rehabilitation. [Id.]

Any one of those conditions should be enough for an individual to have to live with. But the decree also stipulates that one condition alone is not sufficient grounds for a disability classification; a combination of conditions is required, which means that authorities are able to deny disability status to nearly everyone.

And even the most severely disabled (classified as Group One) must regularly collect documents, undergo repeated examinations, and pass medical and social assessments every two years. Those with less severe conditions are required to confirm their status every year.

There is — theoretically, at least — such a thing as permanent disability status; but again, the wording is so vague as to make it virtually impossible to attain. One 70-year-old woman said that she was advised to hire a private consultant to help her gain permanent disability status, at a cost of 100,000 rubles ($1,310). She has heart stents, but still must undergo an annual exam to confirm her condition. As she said:

“As if the stents will just disappear. If I undergo coronary angiography every year, I’ll die from the tests sooner than from a heart attack.” [Id.]

*. *. *

Life is hard enough. And it becomes harder as we grow older, or become handicapped due to injury or illness. We lose abilities we took for granted; we lose our accustomed source of income; and if we live long enough, we lose our friends because we simply outlasted them. But when governments make it exponentially more difficult for us to go on . . . well, I can only compare it to culling a herd of wild animals that has become too populous for the land to sustain.

What was it Ebenezer Scrooge said about the poor?

“If [they] would rather die . . . they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.

You’d better hurry, tovarishchi. Because that seems to be what Comrade Putin is thinking about the old and infirm.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/28/26

It’s caught up with me again: NEWS OVERLOAD.

So I’m giving my brain and my psyche a rest for the remainder of the day, while I catch up on a few mind-numbing household chores. I know things are tough when I find myself actually looking forward to doing laundry.

So, barring something huge — such as Russia withdrawing its troops from Ukraine, or the Taliban in Afghanistan deciding to embrace a “woke” philosophy — I’m out of here.

‘Til tomorrow, then.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/27/26

The Buddha said:

“However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act upon them?”

– Buddha Siddhartha Guatama Shakyamuni

Indeed.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/27/26

How do you solve a problem like Minneapolis?

Well, if you’re smart, you will never have created the problem by sending in your goon squad in the first place. But, since it’s obviously too late for shoulda-woulda-coulda in this case, what you do in order to squirm out of a tight spot is what you always do when you’ve screwed up: find a fall-guy (or several) to take the blame for you.

And it seems that the first person to be thrown under the bus in this case is Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino.

Not that he doesn’t deserve it. Of course, he’ll tell you he was “just following orders” (where have we heard that before?). But in the wake of two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens — one trying to leave the scene and the other attempting to help a woman who had been knocked down by ICE agents — even Bovino had to realize that things were out of control.

And so on Monday — when it was clear that the public and the federal courts weren’t buying the administration’s lies, and the problem wasn’t going to go away of its own accord — Trump did one of his whiplash-worthy U-turns: he recalled Bovino from Minneapolis, sent in his Border “Czar” Tom Homan, said he would withdraw some of the troops from the city, and had a “very good call” with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, thereafter posting on social media:

“Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength. I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession. The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future.” [Julia Manchester, The Hill, January 26, 2026.]

I’d be willing to bet that the Governor’s “request” was more of a demand that Trump get his hit squad out of Walz’s state, whereas Trump will gaslight it as a victory — perhaps even the ninth “war” he’s managed to settle in his second term. But whatever works to end the madness . . .

Then word came out yesterday evening that Gregory Bovino had not only been pulled out of Minnesota; he has been removed from his role as Border Patrol “commander at large,” and will be returning to his former job in California — where, according to a DHS official and “two people with knowledge” of the matter, he is expected to retire soon. [Nick Miroff, The Atlantic, January 26, 2026.]

Score one under the bus.

By the way, did Trump offer to bring back Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti? Oh, that’s right . . . he can’t. They’re still dead.

*. *. *

So now it’s damage control time, wherein someone is sacrificed on the Altar of Trump. If I had been allowed to make the choice, I know who it would have been: the ICE Queen herself.

Although, if some Democrats in Congress have their way, she may already be on her way out the door. One can only hope.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/27/26

I have just been informed by a sharp-eyed reader that I goofed.

In an earlier post today — “The Inevitable Collapse of Empires” — I included a photo of the French Emperor Napoleon and erroneously described him as the last Roman Emperor, Flavius Romulus Augustulus.

Here, in the interest of accuracy, is the real Romulus Augustulus, or the best available representation of him . . . in which, interestingly, his name is written as “Augustus.”

So thankful for readers like Jillian who keep me on the straight and narrow!

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/26/26

Ordinarily, a nationwide snowstorm of historic proportions — cancelling flights, closing schools, causing power outages, highway accidents, and even a number of deaths — would be enough to deal with.

But in the Oval Office, it’s doubtful that the focus is on the weekend’s weather woes. Donald Trump is buried under a bigger load of problems today than that pile of snow outside his front door.

Judging from the morning news, things are not going his way. Where to begin?

> Well, on the domestic front, there are the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Despite the frigid weather, the political climate there is heated to the point of erupting, following the murders of two innocent citizens by ICE agents and the attempted cover-up by the government. It has reached the point where Trump has found it necessary to dispatch his so-called “Border Czar,” Tom Homan, to try to find a way out of the mess his troops have created. And Trump is said to be considering reducing the number of ICE agents on site, though that hasn’t been confirmed.

The White House rhetoric, as usual, is anything but helpful. Trump posted on Truth Social this morning:

“I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight. He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.” [Kit Maher and Kristen Holmes, CNN, January 26, 2026.]

So far, so good. But then he mentioned an investigation he has launched into alleged fraud in Minnesota, which he claims “is at least partially responsible for the violent organized protests going on in the streets.” And, just for kicks, he threw in a comment that the Justice Department and Congress are “looking at” Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, saying that “Time will tell all.” [Id.] (Surely it is just a coincidence that Omar happens to be a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia . . . right?)

Then that font of all White House wisdom, Karoline Leavitt, had to add her two cents’ worth of venom:

“Tom Homan will be managing ICE operations on the ground in Minnesota and coordinating with others on the ongoing fraud investigations” . . . adding in a post on social media that Homan’s mission will be “to continue arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.” [Id.]

Of course. “Illegal aliens” like Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti.

*. *. *

Then there are the foreign entanglements.

> NATO and the European Union: I’m sure Trump is wishing he could turn the clock back just one week, when he would still have been able to cancel his trip to Davos . . . or at least to re-think that disastrous hour-long diatribe in which he insulted and demeaned every single ally he could think of. Because he crossed so many red lines that day, that now our friends are pushing back. They’ve had enough. The UK, France, Germany and Italy have flatly refused to join his “Board of Peace,” and have spoken out against his belittling remarks. Even his threats of increased tariffs are being met with talk of retaliatory measures that would cause total chaos to the U.S. economy.

And even the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, said on Sunday that she had had “Enough already of Washington’s orders over politicians in Venezuela. Let Venezuelan politics resolve our differences and our internal conflicts. This Republic has paid a very high price for having to confront the consequences of fascism and extremism in our country.” [Laura Sharman, CNN, January 26, 2026.]

Trump thought that invading Venezuela, kidnapping President Maduro and his wife, and decreeing that he would “run” the country until a successor could be chosen would be enough to frighten Rodriguez into submission. And for the past few weeks, she has been trying to balance between leading her nation and keeping Trump happy. But even she is growing sick of his bullying.

> Iran has similarly refused to knuckle under to Trump’s threats, continuing its massacre of anti-government protesters, with one estimate of those killed being as high as 30,000 since December.

> China, while not directly issuing threats, is in the midst of a military purge that could bode ill for the U.S. and a number of other countries, including Taiwan, as President Xi Jinping takes complete control of the country’s military.

> And Greenland . . . well, bless their 55,000 souls, they have simply stood up and said “NO!” They love their “piece of ice,” and they’re not giving it up to anyone — and least of all to Donald Trump.

*. *. *

Add to all of that the fact that even some of his most loyal Republican leaders are beginning to realize that it’s time to face reality and think about the future of the country they took an oath to protect and defend — not to mention their own political futures — and you’ve got a picture of a very, very worried man.

As well he should be.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/26/26

Once again I turn to the words of German-born Holocaust survivor and naturalized-American writer Hannah Arendt for words of wisdom drawn from her own lived experience, to warn us of what the future will bring down upon us if we — like so many in 1930s Europe — fail to heed the warning signs.

This is what the young woman who fled Nazi Germany had to say:

We are seeing it now — not only in the halls of government, but in the streets of some of our finest, most peaceful cities: Minneapolis, St. Paul, and two Portlands on opposite coasts. The vicious, barbaric, senseless cruelty, covered up by lies designed to instill in us an acceptance of such behavior as “normal.” And — like the violence portrayed in movies and TV shows — to immunize us against its effects; to kill the natural human tendency toward empathy for the victims as long as it doesn’t touch our family.

Hannah Arendt witnessed it firsthand, and had the foresight and the courage to speak out against it. We need to listen to her, before it is too late.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/26/26