Having a wonderful time reminiscing about all my past travel (and other) adventures. Hope you’ll share them with me in my blog, “All Roads Led to Russia.”
I’ve always considered myself a fairly good judge of character . . . not infallible, by any means, but pretty good. And I’ve found over the years that the eyes are, as alluded to by my old pal Shakespeare, indeed the windows to the soul.
And as examples, I offer you a glimpse into the souls of some famous — or infamous — people. I’ll tell you what I see, though I expect you will draw your own conclusions.
*. *. *
No.. 1: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin — I see deep-seated anger, hatred and determination.
*. *. *
No. 2: Adolph Hitler — Stark raving madness.
*. *. *
No. 3: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin — Bone-chilling evil.
*. *. *
No. 4: Donald Trump — Pure meanness and a sadistic streak.
*. *. *
No. 5: Elon Musk — Lost in space.
*. *. *
No. 6: Gotcha! This one is Yoda, and he’s just for fun. He’s also the only one of this bunch I would trust with my money or the lives of my children. To me, his eyes display wisdom and decency (despite being a little bloodshot).
*. *. *
Obviously, I had the advantage of already knowing a good deal about the history of each of these individuals. But I had never heard of Vladimir Putin when he first became President of Russia in 1999. And when a friend asked me what I thought about Putin at the time, I answered truthfully that I really didn’t have any information on which to judge his abilities . . . but that something in his eyes frightened me. The word I used then — and still do — was “evil.”
I think I got that one right. As for the others, what do you think?
This is a happy follow-up to an earlier story (April 27th) about a woman in danger of being imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against Vladimir Putin.
In February of this year, Russian journalist and film critic Yekaterina Barabash was arrested and charged with “spreading lies” about Russia’s war against Ukraine. In April, she was sentenced to two months of house arrest. She had already been designated a “foreign agent” by the Russian Justice Ministry, and knew that it was just a matter of time before more serious charges — likely carrying a prison sentence — would be levied against her.
Yekaterina Barabash
As a film critic who has worked for Radio France Internationale, and has been an occasional guest on RFE/RL’s Russian Service programs, she has been openly critical of Vladimir Putin’s clampdown on any and all criticism of his war against Ukraine.
On April 13th, when authorities went to her apartment to carry out a routine check, Barabash was not at home — a violation of the terms of her two-month confinement — and a warrant was issued for her arrest. Nothing had been heard from her since then.
And finally, yesterday — May 5th — Barabash appeared at a news conference in Paris, organized by advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), to reveal that she had fled Russia across multiple borders, by way of secret channels arranged by unnamed activists, and remained in hiding for two weeks before making her whereabouts known.
RSF’s director, Thibaut Bruttin, said: “Her escape was one of the most perilous operations RSF [has] been involved in since Russia’s draconian laws of March 2022.” [RFE/RL, May 5, 2025.]
While it is certainly encouraging to know that resources exist through which people like Barabash are able to escape Putin’s purge of those who dare to speak out against his repressive regime, it is nonetheless heartbreaking to realize what his measures have meant to his victims. In Barabash’s case, she had to leave behind her 96-year-old mother, whom she could not even contact before fleeing.
“I just understood that I’d never see her again,” she said.
And she told the news conference thatnow, “There are no Russian journalists. Journalism cannot exist under totalitarianism.” [Id.]
*. *. *
As I congratulate Yekaterina Barabash on her courage and her successful escape, at the same time I fear for all of the others still in harm’s way.
Vladimir Putin says he “hopes” it won’t be necessary to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Putin has just starred in a film for state television titled “Russia, Kremlin, Putin, 25 Years.” In it, he is interviewed — in English — by a Kremlin-approved reporter, while being given a tour of Putin’s luxurious Kremlin apartment, and served kefir (a sort of liquid yogurt) and gourmet chocolates.
While seated next to a portrait of Tsar Aleksandr III — himself a tyrannical 19th-century autocrat — Putin is asked by the reporter about the risk of nuclear escalation resulting from the “military operation” in Ukraine. His response:
“They wanted to provoke us so that we made mistakes. There has been no need to use those weapons … and I hope they will not be required. We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires.” [Reuters, May 4, 2025.]
With Aleksandr III in the Background
And then he shows the reporter his small private chapel, in which he supposedly kneels and prays on occasion.
In the Chapel
This, from the man who still believes the breakup of the Soviet Union was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century” . . .
. . . who cites Ukraine’s desire to be admitted to NATO as the cause of his — Putin’s — invasions of 2014 and 2022 . . .
. . . who claims that it is Russia’s divine right to “take back” Ukraine as its territory . . .
. . . who declares an Easter ceasefire while continuing to bombard Ukrainian cities . . .
. . . who kidnaps and holds captive thousands of Ukrainian children for the sole purpose of turning them into model Russian citizens . . .
. . . who hypocritically attends church services while simultaneously ordering the destruction of a sovereign nation and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of combatants and civilians.
A Russian Ceasefire
*. *. *
In the obviously choreographed film — nothing more than a public relations attempt at presenting himself as the savior of the Russian people — he speaks of his 25 years in power:
“I don’t feel like some kind of politician. I continue to breathe the very same air as millions of Russian citizens. It is very important. God willing that it continues as long as possible. And that it doesn’t disappear.” [Id.]
What he should be praying for is that he doesn’t become the instrument of his own, and his country’s, disappearance. Because if he ever deems it “necessary” to resort to the use of nuclear weapons, he might want first to think back to the effect of the explosion at Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear facility in 1986, which led to the contamination of some 58,000 square miles throughout Europe — the highest radiation levels being measured in Ukraine, Belarus . . . and Russia itself.
The use of nuclear weapons — even the lower-yield, tactical ones — could result in incalculable fallout . . . both physical and political . . . and an escalation from which the world might never recover.
*. *. *
There is a cautionary instruction that is taught to people first learning to use firearms: Do not put your finger on the trigger unless you intend to shoot.
Happily, Dwayne Johnson hasn’t gone away, and doesn’t need to return.
But this one — notorious Alcatraz Island — appears to be making a comeback as a federal prison:
Alcatraz Island, a.k.a “The Rock”
Donald Trump said yesterday, in a message on his ironically-named Truth Social site, that he is directing the government to reopen and expand Alcatraz — the notorious prison of yesteryear, located on an island off the coast of San Francisco and currently in use as a tourist attraction. His message said that:
“ . . . for too long America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat criminal offenders,” and that the reopening of Alcatraz would serve as a “symbol of law, order, and justice. Today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ . . . [to] house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.” [Gabriela Pomeroy, BBC News, May 4, 2025.]
Obviously, I have no way of knowing how much study or — perish the thought — research Trump may have put into this, so I decided to do a bit of it myself.
In principle, the idea has merit. If it were to serve its proper purpose as a federal prison, then it might be worthwhile. But it’s not without some major “ifs” and “buts.”
Alcatraz Prison was closed in 1963 due to the economic unfeasibility of maintaining it . . . it cost triple what other major prisons across the country cost to operate. It was thereafter claimed by a group of Native American activists who occupied the island without authorization until finally being evicted by U.S. Marshals in 1971. In 1972, it became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and is now open as a public tourist attraction, despite the fact that no efforts have been made to repair the buildings. In addition to general decay and weathering, four of its buildings were destroyed by fire in 1970. [Britannica.com.]
So restoring it won’t be easy, or cheap. One unofficial estimate is that it would cost between $235M and $370M to restore, and $40-60M annually to operate as a prison. [John A. Daly, x.com, May 4, 2025.]
As a tourist attraction, Alcatraz currently draws about 1.2 million visitors per year, at an average charge per ticket of about $45 (less for children), thus grossing around $54,000,000. But the National Park Service estimates the cost of maintaining the island as a tourist attraction is around $36,500,000, plus overall daily operational and maintenance costs, which are substantial due to its isolated location, exposure to sea spray, etc. Thus, it really isn’t what one would call a money-maker.
But at least it pays for itself. Conversely, bringing it back up to speed and operating it as a prison would require a tremendous outlay of cash, year after year. So the big question is: Would it be worth it?
And that all depends on two things:
First, where in the federal budget would those funds come from? What would have to be cut in order to afford it?
And second, what will it really be used for? Is it just an excuse to be able to round up more “undesirables” — i.e., anyone Donald Trump considers a threat to “his” country? Or will it house actual, dangerous criminals, thus relieving overcrowding in existing prisons? And will it stop the mass deportation of immigrants . . . many of them guilty of nothing other than being from another country?
Of course, we will hear promises that it will all be accomplished in the most economical way, without further pain to taxpayers . . . and with complete transparency as to its operation. But will it?
First there was Virile Vlad, trying to impress the world with his strength and masculinity. Or maybe he just hoped that sitting astride a horse would make him appear taller. That Napoleon complex can be hard to live with.
And now there’s Daring Donnie. He’s a Jedi. No, he’s a Sith Lord. Or a Rambo impersonator. He’s not sure. But why would he be? He doesn’t even know how to construct a coherent sentence . . . or whether he’s required to obey the Constitution.
And together, these two rule the world.
Holy . . .
Just sayin’ (and may the Fourth be with us all) . . .
There was an old joke — long before the days of political correctness — that went like this:
First person: “What is the shortest book ever written?” Second person: “I don’t know. What is it?” First person: “Polish War Victories.”
It was a cruel reminder of Poland’s centuries-long history of invasion, occupation and partition, including three partitions in the 18th century alone that divided Poland and Lithuania amongst Russia, Prussia and Austria; numerous conflicts with various neighboring countries, including the Polish-Bohemian Wars, the Polish-Ottoman War, and the Polish-Teutonic Wars; the invasion by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, marking the start of that little upset known as World War II; and the 44-year Communist occupation from 1945 to 1989.
So it’s understandable that they might be a bit skittish when they hear sabers rattling from one of their nearby neighbors: in this case, of course, Russia . . . the bulk of which is located just one degree of separation away, to the east of Putin-friendly Belarus and already-invaded Ukraine. But there is also that tiny wedge (in purple, below) between Poland and northeastern neighbor Lithuania, called Kaliningrad, that belongs to Russia and puts the enemy right on Poland’s doorstep.
Eastern Europe
But this time, having learned from experience — and being privy to advanced communications and intelligence-gathering — the Poles are not sitting around, blindly hoping for the best. They are preparing to defend their country if . . . or when . . . it becomes necessary.
There is, for example, a military training ground near the city of Wroclaw, where ordinary citizens — men, women and children — are being handed guns and taught how to shoot them. There is also a Saturday morning program called “Train with the Army,” that teaches them hand-to-hand combat, first aid, and how to use a gas mask. [Will Vernon, BBC News, May 2, 2025.]
Training With the Army
The project’s coordinator, Captain Adam Sielicki, says, “The times are dangerous now, we need to be ready. We have a military threat from Russia, and we are preparing for this.” [Id.]
Military Training Program for Adult Males
The program is already oversubscribed, and the Polish government plans to expand it so that every adult male in the country will receive training. Poland is spending nearly five percent of its GDP on defense this year — the highest percentage among its fellow NATO members. And Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last week that his country’s goal is to build “the strongest army in the region” — a fact supported by the number of planes, ships, artillery systems and missiles they’ve been buying from the U.S., Sweden, South Korea, and elsewhere. [Id.]
One woman attending the camp told the BBC that the U.S. election of Donald Trump to a second presidential term has caused serious concern for the people of Poland: “He wants to pull out [of Europe]. That’s why we feel even less safe. If we’re not prepared and Russia attacks us, we’ll simply become their prisoners.” [Id.]
*. *. *
Poland is not alone among European nations gearing up against a possible Russian invasion. Vladimir Putin’s empire-building ambitions are well-known . . . to everyone, it seems, except Donald Trump, who still chooses to believe that settling the conflict in Ukraine to Putin’s satisfaction will keep him happy indefinitely . . . while the world knows that the reverse is true.
And Trump — not known for his particular acumen in geography or history — also seems to overlook the fact that Russia and the United States are separated, not by an ocean, but by a mere 55 miles of water known as the Bering Strait.
But you can be damned sure that Putin hasn’t forgotten.
While there are happily no new reports of arrests this week, I’m sorry to say there is one devastating story of a Ukrainian journalist who died while in Russian captivity.
Included in a recent exchange of bodies of victims on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war were the remains of a young Ukrainian journalist, Viktoria Roshchyna, who had gone missing in August of 2023 during a reporting trip and had been held incommunicado for months. She is said to have died in or around September 2024, though her family were not notified by Russian authorities for another month.
Viktoria Roshchyna
When her body was finally returned to Ukraine in February of this year, forensic examination showed “numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment … including abrasions and hemorrhages on various parts of the body, a broken rib and possible traces of electric shock.” [Ivana Kottasova, Victoria Butenko and Daria Tarasova-Markina, CNN, April 30, 2025.]
Yuriy Belousov, head of the war crimes department of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, said that the injuries were inflicted while Roshchyna was still alive. [Id.]
He added that her body had arrived labeled as “an unidentified male,” and it was only through repeated DNA analyses that her true identity was able to be determined. According to her colleagues at Ukrainska Pravda, she was returned with missing organs, including her brain, eyeballs, and parts of her trachea (windpipe), in an apparent attempt to disguise the cause of death. [Id.]
Colleagues’ Vigil for Viktoria
A colleague, journalist Evgeniya Motorevskaya, said about Viktoria:
“For her, there was nothing more important than journalism. Viktoria was always where the most important events for the country took place. And she would have continued to do this for many years, but the Russians killed her.” [Id.]
A young life, full of promise, snuffed out in the most horrendous way by the brutal regime of a man who cares nothing for humanity . . . but only for his own political gains.
Viktoria never made it onto our hostage list because we didn’t know about her until it was too late. Tragically, she is far from the only victim of Vladimir Putin’s mad killing spree.
*. *. *
And in continuing support of those hostages still confined to Russian prisons and penal colonies, we remember them once again:
The Azov 12 David Barnes Ales Bialiatski (in Belarus) Gordon Black Andrei Chapiuk (in Belarus) Antonina Favorskaya Konstantin Gabov Robert Gilman Stephen James Hubbard Sergey Karelin Ihar Karney (in Belarus) Vadim Kobzev Darya Kozyreva Artyom Kriger Uladzimir Labkovich (in Belarus) Michael Travis Leake Aleksei Liptser Ihar Losik (in Belarus) Daniel Martindale Farid Mehralizada (in Azerbaijan) Nika Novak Marfa Rabkova (in Belarus) Igor Sergunin Dmitry Shatresov Robert Shonov Eugene Spector Valiantsin Stafanovic (in Belarus) Siarhei Tsikhanouski (in Belarus) Laurent Vinatier Robert Romanov Woodland Vladislav Yesypenko (in Crimea) Yuras Zyankovich (in Belarus)
The fact that the AI-generated picture of Donald Trump, dressed in Papal vestments, was posted on official White House social media defies comprehension.
I am not Catholic; I am Jewish. And I am appalled beyond words.
The other day, I spent ten minutes studying a picture of the British royal family’s second and third generations — William, Katherine, George, Charlotte and Louis (with an unidentified fourth child) — trying to determine whether they’re really that beautiful, or if the picture was the product of artificial intelligence. (Hint: Always look carefully at the hands.)
Well, there went ten minutes of my life I’ll never get back. But that’s nothing compared to the panic that might ensue if some idiot were to post a fake story — complete with AI “photos” — of, say, a mass shooting in a neighborhood near you, or a “War of the Worlds” alien invasion in Outer Mongolia.
And that started me thinking about the daily barrage of unreality to which we are all exposed as we go about the routine of checking our social media accounts and our email Inboxes and trying to sort the real news items from the fake, the legitimate advertisements from the come-ons, and — worst of all — the genuine public service announcements from the potential viruses . . . like the one I’ve been receiving daily for weeks, telling me that I’ll lose all my data if I don’t make an immediate online payment on my iCloud account — an account that is paid to Apple monthly by automatic withdrawal.
Most of us develop an instinct over time that allows us to detect and avoid the bad stuff. But in clearing out my email Junk box the other day, I was reminded of some of the more amusing attempts to gain access to my personal information. And I have to wonder how stupid these people must be in order to think that I, or anyone, would actually respond to:
— “Payment-Declined” — Telling me, without identifying themselves, that this is my “LAST REMINDER” (in all caps) that my payment method has expired and I need to update my payment information. But who are they? Do they think I don’t know when my credit cards have expired and been renewed? Seriously?
— And I really love the messages purporting to be from actual friends of mine . . . friends who have long since passed away. There’s one with pictures attached, that I would have to click on to open. I assume those would be photos of my deceased friend living her best life in Heaven, right?
— This is one of my favorites: “DOGE Alerts VDB” — teasing me with an opening line that says “DOGE GIVING $5,000 REFUNDS?” (Note the question mark — a dead give-away that this is not real.) But I’m supposed to believe that the pernicious organization that is slashing the federal budget to bits is now giving back money? Do people really buy into this crap?
— I’ve also seen ads purporting to be from Ukrainian women seeking companionship, presumably anywhere outside of Ukraine. That has to be illegal, doesn’t it?
— And all the ones that tell you you’ve won something, or start out with “Congratulations,” “Last chance to claim,” “You’ve been chosen,” etc. Get real, people . . . Surely you’ve lived long enough to know that no one is giving away anything of value to total strangers. No one. End of story.
“Bah, humbug!”
Sadly, though, there must be thousands of people who fall for these hoaxes each day, and by the time they realize it’s a scam, they’ve already clicked on a link that gives some low-life access to their personal information.
*. *. *
Inevitably, this train of thought — learning to distinguish the real from the unreal — led me to the more existential question of how we humans, on this tiny planet floating around in the midst of an immeasurable vastness, can be sure that anything is really real?
In a world in which Artificial Intelligence has become commonplace, how do we know, for example, that the events of the past three months have actually happened as we think they have? Or are they, in fact, the creation of some Machiavellian 13-year-old, hunkered down in his basement with an iMAC and a lifetime supply of junk food, gleefully creating artificial people with names like Donald Trump, JD Vance, Elon Musk, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un?
Is that brilliant and twisted 13-year-old the one who is really in control, guiding his creations to take the most outrageous actions, making choices that no sane human being would ever make? And if so, when is he going to confess, un-create his monsters, and let us get back to our real lives, when everything was — if not perfect — at least manageable, and sometimes even joyful? Wouldn’t that be the best possible outcome of all?
Even before taking office in January, Donald Trump had begun trying to force . . . sorry, negotiate . . . a peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine. He campaigned on a promise that he was the only person in the world who could succeed in doing just that . . . and that he could accomplish it within 24 hours of taking office.
Trump Diplomacy
Well, he’s had over 100 days, and he’s still trying to juggle Russia’s outrageous demands with one hand, and Ukraine’s refusal to simply lie down, and allow itself to be raped, with the other. And he’s finding it more difficult than he had ever imagined to keep his balls up in the air.
For three months, Trump has clearly exhibited a strong preference for Russian President Vladimir Putin, while denigrating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at every opportunity. He has pressed Ukraine to give away 20% of its territory, and to forego any hope of ever joining NATO. And in return, he has tried to convince Zelensky that it would be a tremendous “concession” on Putin’s part merely to end the war he started — no withdrawal from occupied land, no restitution . . . nothing more.
But Putin isn’t satisfied with nearly everything; he wants the whole enchilada. And so he has stalled, and stalled, and stalled some more, while his murderous attacks continue killing and wounding Ukrainian civilians, and thousands of kidnapped Ukrainian children remain in his “re-education camps.” But he screams “terrorism” as he declares the killing of one of his officers in Moscow to be the work of Ukrainian intelligence.
Lately, though, Trump’s tone has moderated a bit; in fact, he has expressed impatience with Putin’s stalling, warning that he would pull out of negotiations if there were no appreciable progress . . . and soon. His vice-president, JD Vance, has said that while he was optimistic about securing a ceasefire, it would ultimately be up to Kyiv and Moscow:
“They’re the ones who have to take the final step. [It is] going to be up to the Russians and Ukrainians now that each side knows what the other’s terms for peace are. It’s going to be up to them to come to an agreement and stop this brutal, brutal conflict. It’s not going anywhere … It’s not going to end any time soon.” [RFE/RL, May 2, 2025.]
And on Thursday, Trump and Zelensky, through their respective representatives, finally signed a modified mineral rights agreement that was considerably more favorable to Ukraine than the original deal offered by Trump earlier this year. It still requires ratification by the Ukrainian Parliament, and there are a number of fine points that need to be ironed out. But it appears to be a major step forward, specifically setting forth U.S. “support for Ukraine’s security, prosperity, reconstruction, and integration into global economic frameworks, [and a] long-term strategic alignment” between Washington and Kyiv. [Id.]
Not surprisingly, Moscow is clearly unhappy at this turn of events. In a post on Telegram, Sergei Markov, a Kremlin-connected lawmaker, called it a “Big Deal,” saying it was bad for Moscow:
“The fact is that the Big Deal will shift the US position away from Russia and towards Zelenskyy.” [Id.]
But U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it sent a clear message to Moscow:
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.” [Id.]
*. *. *
So what does it all portend for the future? I’d be surprised if anyone would seriously try to second-guess either Putin, who remains steadfastly committed to his ever-increasing demands, or Trump, who is as mercurial as the weather . . . and who — even now, as I write these words — could very well be lying in bed, plotting an entirely new tactic.
But how long can he keep up the juggling act before it becomes painfully obvious, even to him, that he is simply not the showman he thinks he is?
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 