. . . and Chanukah, which actually begins its eight-day stretch at sundown on Christmas day this year and takes us right up to 2025.
Now, that’s what you call ecumenism!
So, with just five days to go, let’s see where we are on our holiday checklist:
Shopping. Done, and all orders received in plenty of time. Thank you, UPS and Amazon. – Check.
Wrapping. Um . . . no, not so much. Hope to finish today or tomorrow. But since I discovered those wonderful drawstring gift bags a few years ago, it’s much quicker — and easier on my back! – Check.
The tree. It’s in the living room and beautiful as always. – Check.
The menorah. On the buffet in the dining room, ready for the first lighting on Christmas night. And our “Chanukah bush” — in reality, a beautiful Norfolk pine bedecked with blue and white lights — standing at attention. – Check.
Baking. Cookies are scheduled for tomorrow, though not by me. That honor now goes to the next generation down the line. But I’m very good at sampling. – Check.
Imbibing. Eggnog and hot apple cider, coming up! Take it with or without the hard stuff: your choice. – Check.
And so it goes, each year a little different, but somehow the same as we hope for the world to take a breather from all the hostilities and enjoy a season of this:
Seriously. That’s your Christmas gift from Congress, if the U.S. Government actually does shut down today.
But why do we have to go through this every single year, sometimes several times during the year, as Congress placates us with yet another stopgap bill?
Why can’t the budget be kept separate from other, unrelated, special-interest issues?
Why can’t Congress be required to stay in Washington, in session, until a budget is passed by both Houses and signed by the President before the close of each fiscal year?
And why can’t we have a Constitutional amendment withholding their salaries until the job is done?
These are the people we voted into office. So why don’t we vote them back out in the next election? Quite simply, if they’re not representing our interests, they don’t deserve to keep their jobs.
In this country, we don’t need a revolution; we’ve already had one, and it has served us well for nearly 250 years. We just need to use our constitutional right — and responsibility — to elect people who will do the job they promised during their campaigns. And to hold them answerable to us if they don’t.
Unfortunately, this is not a fairy tale; there is no handsome prince or beautiful princess, no magical frog, and no “happily ever after” ending. Instead, there is a middle-aged man who headed the radiological, biological and chemical forces of Russia, and had been charged in Ukraine, in absentia, with having used chemical weapons on that country’s military as part of Russia’s continuing war of attrition.
And the day after he was convicted of those charges in Ukraine, he was dead . . . killed by a remote-controlled bomb planted in a motor scooter that had been parked outside his apartment building in an upscale neighborhood in Moscow, awaiting his exit. The bomb also took the life of Kirillov’s aide, Ilya Polikarpov.
Shockingly, Ukraine immediately claimed “credit” for the killing of the man they call a “legitimate military target.”
Or is it really so shocking that a country that has been invaded without justification; seen its civilian population, its cities and infrastructure decimated by bombs, missiles and drones for nearly three years; and lost tens of thousands of its fighting forces, would seek to fight back in its own defense?
Russia, of course, immediately jumped into action with the usual outraged recriminations and threats of retribution:
Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council: “Law enforcement agencies must find the killers in Russia and everything must be done to destroy the perpetrators who are in Kyiv.” [Maria Kostenko, Victoria Butenko, Nectar Gan, Christian Edwards and Darya Tarasova, CNN, December 17, 2024.]
Dmitry Medvedev
Konstantin Kosachev, Chair of the Federation Council’s Foreign Relations Committee, was “shocked” by the “irreparable loss” of Kirillov: “The murderers will be punished. Without a doubt and without mercy.” [Id.]
Konstantin Kosachev
Andrey Kartapolov, member of the State Duma: “[Those involved] will be found and punished.”
Andrey Kartapolov
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry: “[Kirillov had been] systematically exposing the crimes [of the West for many years, including] the deadly activities of American biolabs in Ukraine.” [Id.] She added that: “All those who welcome terrorist attacks or deliberately keep their silence are accomplices … the silence of the UN Secretariat is an obvious sign of corruption.” [Id.] And: “The terrorist attack in Moscow was a continuation and development of the spiral of approval by the West of the war crimes of the militants of the Kyiv regime.” [RFE/RL, December 17, 2024.]
Maria Zakharova
Sure . . . blame the West, as always. Never mind that it was Russia that began the war on February 24, 2022, when its armed forces crossed the border into Ukraine, without provocation. Or that Kirillov specifically was accused of having used chemical weapons — an estimated 5,000 times — against the Ukrainian military. [Id.]
*. *. *
My first thought upon reading of Kirillov’s death was to question whether picking off individuals assassination-style is a legitimate tactic in modern warfare. This is, after all, the fourth killing of prominent military figures on Russian terrritory in the past two months.
And then I read about the Russian drones that have been tracking down — hunting, if you will — individual civilians, in Ukraine. There are verified videos of drones aiming at specific vehicles, a man standing by the window inside his apartment, and a woman walking along the street who was followed by a drone that finally caught up with her and blew her foot apart. [RFE/RL, December 17, 2024.]
So, yeah . . . if Ukraine’s civilian citizens are being hunted down like so many helpless animals, then I suppose you could justify taking out a member of the opposing military.
“All’s fair . . .”
*. *. *
But Vladimir Putin can’t just sit back and appear to accept this act as one of the spoils of war. Aside from blaming the West, he needs a victory of his own. He needs to apprehend a perpetrator.
And in record time — just one day after the death of General Kirillov — a 29-year-old man named Akhmad Kurbanov from Uzbekistan was arrested and charged with the crime. Russia’s Investigative Committee said he had been recruited by Ukraine’s SBU security service and had acted on its instructions. In return, he had allegedly been offered a reward of $100,000 in cash and a new life in a European country.
The Committee said that he had “received a homemade explosive device and placed it on an electric scooter which he parked at the entrance to the residential building where Igor Kirillov lived.” They claimed he had rented a car and fitted it with a surveillance camera that was monitored by his Ukrainian bosses in Dnipro, who remotely detonated the bomb when they saw Kirillov and his aide leave the building. [Anna Chernova, Christian Edwards and Edward Szekeres, CNN, December 18, 2024.]
Akhmad Kurbanov
But who is this mysterious Uzbek man? Where are the details and the pictures of his arrest? Is he a scapegoat? Is he even real?
Knowing of Russia’s well-developed skill at playing the blame game, anything is possible. I can imagine several credible scenarios; but they would amount to nothing more than speculation at this point, so I’ll keep my imaginings to myself for the time being.
But Russia’s Uzbek and other Central Asian populations are understandably nervous right now, recalling Chechnya and fearing a possible coming purge of their own ethnic groups.
I had my regular flu shot, as always, back in September or October. But I was debating whether to get another Covid booster this year . . . until I heard from a neighborhood friend that she had been diagnosed with it and was laid up at home.
And off I went to my local pharmacy for my injection today, which took less time than filling out the required form and wasn’t nearly as annoying. (I hate filling out forms — just a personal thing.) As with the previous Covid shots, I haven’t felt the least bit sick . . . just tired. So I took a nap, and all is well.
“No, really . . . this won’t hurt at all.”
Am I a “pro-vaxxer”? Yes, I am. My mother made sure my sister and I got all of our shots when we were little, though there weren’t as many then: Smallpox (which has been virtually wiped out, thanks to the vaccine), and a three-in-one DPT — diphtheria, pertussis (a.k.a. whooping cough), and tetanus, as I recall. And a little later, the miraculous Salk polio vaccine . . . another hideous disease now pretty much a thing of the past.
And so I passed her wisdom along to my children when they were small; and I have continued to look after my own health as well. Now that I’m older . . . lots older . . . yes, I have a few health issues. But they’re due to the passage of time, not to any preventable illnesses.
Obviously, I’m not proposing that everyone run right out and get themselves and/or their children injected with every serum known to mankind. It’s a personal choice, of course.
I’m not on a crusade. I would just hope that most people are able to keep an open mind, do their research (pro and con), and talk to their doctors before making an informed decision . . . “informed” being the operative word.
Okay . . . not necessarily that informed. But you get my point.
And now, since I’m still feeling a little dragged out, it’s off to bed, where I will sleep better for having said my piece, even though no one asked for it. But that’s what free speech is all about, right?
It’s taken two years, but today I’ve reached a sort of millennial landmark: an even 1,000 posts to my blog.
Time to celebrate!!
And no, this does not mean I’m quitting. It’s on to the next 1,000 . . . as long as the news keeps coming, and my fingers (and brain) keep working reasonably well, I’ll be here at brendochka.com.
But for now, I think I’ll take the rest of the day off, help myself to a slice of cake and a nice cup of herbal tea, put my feet up, and have a snooze. I’ve earned it.
Or, as they would say on my favorite Brit flick, Midsomer Murders:
Looking back at historic events, as is my wont, I often wonder what the people involved in those events would have thought if they had been able to foresee the eventual fallout from their actions (or inactions). For example:
Would it ever have occurred to the Wright Brothers — Orville and Wilbur — back then on December 17, 1903, that a little over a century later, there would be such a thing as a Stealth bomber? Or that things called drones would be fighting our wars, and causing panic along the U.S. eastern seaboard among people ready to believe they were being propelled by Chinese-Iranian-Martian invaders?
Or . . .
On December 17, 1777, while the newly declared United States of America was fighting its war for independence from Great Britain, France formally recognized the U.S. as a sovereign nation and joined in the fight against the British, helping to win our freedom. Who would then have anticipated that, just 107 years later — on July 4, 1884 — France would also be presenting the U.S. with the Statue of Liberty, or that the outsized “Assembly Required” sculpture would become the enduring symbol of the young country? Or that the United States would go on to be the political, industrial and economic world leader that it is today?
“Lady Liberty”: The Ultimate DIY Project
Or . . .
On December 17, 1892, when the first issue of Vogue magazine was published, that it would still be around in 2024?
Or, for that matter, that there would even be a year 2024?
Vogue Magazine – December 17, 1892
Or . . .
On December 17, 1991, when Boris Yeltsin announced that the Soviet Union would cease to exist as a political entity by New Year’s Eve, giving rise to a new era of hope and optimism amongst the peoples of that country and, indeed, of the world . . . who would have believed that it would take less than a decade for a then unknown and insignificant individual to take the reins of power and bring it all crashing down again?
Handing Over a Nation
Yeltsin was as good as his word, and in fact brought it in ahead of schedule. On Christmas Day, December 25th, he unseated — quite literally, according to an eyewitness source — Mikhail Gorbachev . . . and the Soviet hammer-and-sickle flag was lowered at the Kremlin for the final time. Gorbachev was out; Yeltsin was in; and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was no more. Technically, at least.
Merry Christmas, Russia.
Down With the Old, Up With the New – Moscow Kremlin, December 25, 1991
For eight years Yeltsin tried to carry on the reforms of his predecessor, and to build on them in order to bring his country into the late 20th Century before it rolled over into the 21st . . . sometimes with success, other times not so much. But he made one enormous, irreversible, utterly disastrous mistake, for which the world is still paying.
He brought Vladimir Putin from St. Petersburg, where he was working as Mayor Anatoly Sobchak’s “go-to guy,” to Moscow to be Yeltsin’s own jack-of-all-trades. And the rest, as they say, is history.
February 24, 2022 – “Reclaiming” Ukraine
*. *. *
It makes you stop and think twice about your own actions, and about the future . . . doesn’t it?
There she was, hiding out in the restrooms on a Delta flight from New York to Paris on November 26th . . . without a ticket or a boarding pass. Her name is Svetlana Dali, and she was, of course, discovered and taken into custody upon landing in Paris.
Svetlana Dali on a Delta flight – November 2024
After one aborted attempt to return her to the U.S. on November 30th, in which Delta refused to carry her when she began raising a ruckus on boarding a return flight, she was finally brought back home on December 4th. She was charged with one count of being a stowaway on an aircraft without consent and released without bail . . . but with a number of conditions. These included not leaving a specified area, surrendering any travel documents, wearing a GPS monitor, abiding by a curfew, and submitting to recommended mental health evaluation and treatment. [Mark Morales, Taylor Romine, Aaron Cooper and Chris Boyette, CNN, December 16, 2024.]
The Russian national, who holds permanent residency status in the United States, said she had nowhere to stay. So a kind-hearted acquaintance from her church in Philadelphia — where she evidently had lived at one time — agreed to let her stay with him for the time being.
But it appears that Slippery Svetlana got the travel bug again, because on Sunday of this week, she managed to cut off her ankle monitor and catch a Greyhound bus headed for Canada on Monday. Her roommate, upon returning home and finding her ankle bracelet without an ankle in it, reported her absence to the authorities. She was later removed from the bus before reaching Canada, placed in the custody of the FBI, and was expected to be turned over to U.S. Marshals in Buffalo, New York today. [Id.]
The Old Ball-and-Chain
No further details are available regarding her location and arrest, as the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and Dali’s own attorney have thus far declined to comment. [Id.]
*. *. *
So where do we begin? My first question was why she had been released without bail on the stowaway charge. The judge in that case determined that she wasn’t a serious flight risk, because — after all — how many times can a person successfully carry off that kind of a caper . . . right?
Wrong. The judge did impose major restrictions on her movements. But ankle monitors — as now appears obvious — are not insurmountable obstacles for the highly motivated. And while Svetlana had learned her lesson when it came to sneaking onto commercial airplanes, the judge forgot to take into consideration good old Greyhound — cheap, accessible, anonymous, no-security buses to anywhere on land.
And this lady was motivated. She clearly wanted out of the United States. She had applied for asylum in France a few years ago, according to a Paris airport official. [Id.] I don’t know why she thought she needed asylum . . . unless it had to do with those two lawsuits she filed recently, claiming to have been a victim of military-grade chemical weapons and a kidnapping plot. [Id.]
Okay, sure . . . whatever. I once met a man in Kyiv — a coal miner from the Donbas region who was taking part in a demonstration — who wanted me to tell my government in Washington that the KGB had had his mother’s dentist implant a microscopically tiny transmitter in her denture so they could track her.
I try not to judge.
*. *. *
But seriously, what is this woman’s problem? I’m not a medical professional, but it’s painfully obvious that she has one . . . a problem, that is. Lacking details about her history, her family background, her life experiences, it’s impossible even to make an educated guess. But one thing is clear: she needs help.
And I hope she gets it . . . preferably before she heads for the Mexican border.
The reason there is no longer a functioning synagogue in this city in eastern Ukraine is simple: There are few Jews left in Donetsk. Most have fled the country, or taken refuge (for the time being, at least) in Kyiv; only about 3,000 of the original 15,000 — all Russian-speaking — remain. And most of the 3,000 are elderly . . . though there are reportedly still a few children who attend the one remaining cheder — the children’s religious class — in some unspecified location. Their future is uncertain. [Paul Cainer, Thejc.com, November 10, 2022.]
Children’s Cheder– Circa Unknown
The small Jewish community of Donetsk is isolated, unable to cross the war’s front lines to join their relatives or friends. There are occasional communications via Telegram or WhatsApp, though people must of course be extremely guarded in their conversations. [Id.]
Thus, along with the churches and the mosques, the synagogues are also falling victim to Vladimir Putin’s purge of all religions other than the accepted form of Russian Orthodoxy in Ukraine. This sort of maniacal crusade has happened before — in the 1930s and ‘40s under Hitler’s “final solution.”
The world wasn’t watching then, until it was too late; we’d better be more attentive this time.
As of today, Kyiv’s magnificent Saint Sophia Cathedral is still standing, despite the war raging around it . . . though there has, of course, been unspeakable damage to many other historic places of worship since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022.
Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv
And there are other ways of attacking a nation’s faithful while at the same time destroying their visible history.
While you bombard, vandalize and ransack their churches, you simultaneously go after their clergy in quieter ways . . . which is precisely what is happening in the regions of Ukraine presently occupied by Russia.
In the nearly three years since the start of Russia’s war of attrition against its neighbor, dozens of Ukrainian faith leaders in the Russian-occupied areas have been jailed. Others — priests, pastors and imams — have been threatened with lengthy prison sentences, torture, and even death by Russian authorities, or forced into exile. [Ivana Kottasova, Olga Voitovych and Svitlana Vlasova, CNN, December 16, 2024.]
Ukrainian Orthodox Church at Novoekonomichne, following bombardment on September 17, 2024
One such story was revealed by Pastor Dmytro Bodyu, founder of the evangelical Word of Life Church in Melitopol. He told CNN that around 15 armed men — identifying themselves as Russian police and FSB officers — stormed into his home early on March 19, 2022. As his wife and son watched, they took him off to a local police station. There they locked him in a small cell and threatened him with execution. He said they kept telling him they knew he was an American CIA agent hired by the U.S. government to spread anti-Russian propaganda.
“They said they knew for sure because all Protestant churches and Catholic churches are working with the American secret services, and all their pastors work for the US government, because the Protestant church is not a real church,” he said. [Id.]
He was held for eight days, but even after his release he was told he could continue preaching only if he cooperated with authorities; that his sermons would be subject to censorship; and that he would have to pass along potentially damaging information about his parishioners to the Russians.
Pastor Bodyu refused, and eventually left Melitopol. His church was thereafter shut down as part of Russia’s crackdown on any and all Ukrainian religious groups not affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church (a.k.a. the Moscow Patriarchate). [Id.]
Occupied Melitopol, Ukraine
In another southern Ukraine city — Berdiansk — Father Bohdan Heleta, a priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, tells of the 19 months he and a fellow priest spent in a notorious Russian penal colony in the occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine. Without repeating all of the horrific details here, the report says he spoke of beatings and torture that — to my mind — would not be survivable. But through a strength that is beyond my comprehension, and an obviously deep faith, both priests did survive and were freed in a prisoner swap in June. Neither had ever actually been charged with a crime. [Id.]
Father Bohdan Heleta
Thus, with a simple, two-pronged strategy, Russia has perfected the means of destroying its perceived religious enemies. Tear down the churches, and the congregations will simply move elsewhere . . . underground, if necessary. But take away their religious leaders, and you’ve taken away the glue that held them together.
Damaged Church in Lukashivka – April 22, 2022Interior Damage to Odesa Transfiguration Cathedral – July 23, 2023
It’s not a new tactic. Vladimir Putin has merely reinstated it.
With everyone screaming for answers, and U.S. officials — including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — calling for action, you’d think we’d have heard something substantive by now about all of those UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) sightings that are being tentatively identified as drones flying above U.S. military installations and Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf course. As Senator Schumer said:
“We’ve seen lots of recent sightings in New York, New Jersey, Long Island, Staten Island. So it’s remarkable, with all these sightings over the last while, why do we have more questions than answers? If the technology exists for a drone to make it up into the sky, there certainly is the technology that can track the craft with precision.” [John Bacon and Thao Nguyen, USA Today, December 16, 2024.]
“We come in peace”
On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tried to reassure us with this announcement:
“There’s no question that people are seeing drones. I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings. It is our job to be vigilant. If there is any reason for concern, if we identify any foreign involvement or criminal activity we will communicate with the American public accordingly. Right now we are not aware of any.” [Id.]
Sorry, Secretary Mayorkas, but somehow I don’t find that particularly comforting.
However, I was delighted to read this from Connecticut Representative James Himes, who seems to have an inside track to . . . well, he didn’t exactly say where, but certainly somewhere . . . and who shared with us in an interview on Fox News Sunday:
“Now, let me say something that I know with confidence. It is not the Iranians. It is not the Chinese. They aren’t Martians. I know that’s very unsatisfying for people who want a Hollywood movie out of this.” [Id.]
*. *. *
Well, Hollywood movie be damned. I’m just relieved to have it on such good authority that they’re not little green men from Mars. I’ll sleep so much better tonight!
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 