If you hadn’t already guessed, that would be in Russia. And the $51 was paid — not to anyone in Russia — but to a U.S. charitable fund for the benefit of Ukrainian victims of Vladimir Putin’s war against their country.

The generous donation was made by dual U.S.-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina, a resident of Los Angeles, California, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. About two years later, in January of this year, she was visiting her family in Yekaterinburg, Russia, when she was arrested for “hooliganism” — specifically, swearing in public. She was later charged with, detained for, and ultimately convicted of treason, and sentenced to a 12-year prison term after it was found that she had transferred $51 to the Ukrainian aid charity.

Supporting — either physically, financially, or even verbally — any Ukraine-related organization is considered treason in Russia.

Karelina freely admitted having made the donation — which, as a U.S. citizen, was perfectly legal. Evidence of the donation was found on her cell phone only after she was arrested for the ludicrous “crime” of hooliganism, conveniently creating an opportunity for the Russian authorities to lodge the additional charge of treason against her. But her U.S. citizenship status, and the fact that the contribution was legally made in the United States, were ignored by the Russian court.

Following the original verdict, her attorney appealed, and the Second Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction entered its ruling yesterday . . . not surprisingly, upholding the guilty verdict and the 12-year sentence. [RFE/RL, November 11, 2024.]

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department, which has been aware of Karelina’s case from the very beginning, said that Russia “has a track record of … not recognizing their [dual nationals’] American citizen status and frankly being uncooperative when it comes to … meeting their obligations under consular conventions.” [Id.]

And so, Ksenia Karelina, a U.S. citizen, remains incarcerated in a Russian prison for committing an act — while on the territory of the United States — that is only considered illegal under a ludicrous Russian law that runs counter to every international standard of freedom of speech.

Ksenia Karelina has been on my hostage list for many months, and sadly will have to remain there for the foreseeable future. Whether the new incoming Trump administration will see fit to press for prisoner exchanges as has the Biden administration, only time will tell.

As citizens, it is our job to see that they do.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/12/24

A little music, Maestro, if you please:

“Seems like old times . . .”

*. *. *

At least, that was how this post was intended to begin. Until I read this morning’s news, that is. But let’s begin at the beginning.

Yesterday, November 10th, it was reported by more than one leading news source that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had, on November 7th — just one day after speaking with Ukrainian President Zelensky — had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Citing a Washington Post report, the talk with Putin was said to have included a caution by Trump “not to escalate the war in Ukraine.” [RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, November 10, 2024.]

The Post also referred to “unnamed sources,” who said that Trump had supposedly told Putin during that call that they should have further talks on “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon.” [Id.]

Allegedly, “people familiar with the call” had also told the Washington Post that “Kyiv had been informed of the Putin call and did not object.” [Id.]

And based on those reports, I was preparing a few comments of my own (as usual). Until . . .

*. *. *

I never cease to be amazed at what a difference a day can make, not just in a single individual’s life, but in the entire world population’s state of mind. And today turns out to be one of those “but that’s not what they said yesterday” days.

And we’d better get ready to live through a lot of them, because we’re talking about Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin here: two of the . . . how to put this as diplomatically as possible? . . . least predictable people ever to hold the highest office of any country.

And two who enjoy only a passing acquaintance with the truth.

So, about today’s news: It’s a complete backtrack on yesterday’s report. Because the always dependable, allegedly unimpeachable (really?), and undeniably irrepressible Kremlin spokesman — my old standby, Dmitry Peskov — says: It never happened!

I beg your pardon??!!!

I read it again, and that is indeed what he said. In fact, he appears to have been totally gobsmacked by the whole idea.

His exact words were: “This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, it’s just false information. There was no conversation.” [RFE/RL, November 11, 2024.]

Holy crap, Dmitry! But that wasn’t all. Apparently blaming the media for the purported bit of misinformation, he went on to say:

“This is the clearest example of the quality of the information that is being published nowadays, sometimes even by quite reputable outlets.” [Id.]

He also commented that there were “no concrete plans yet” for any such call. And then he gratuitously added that the Kremlin had observed “a certain nervousness” in Europe since Trump’s reelection [id.] . . . thereby also attempting to plant early seeds of discord between the U.S. and our European allies (not that he was necessarily mistaken).

Well, thanks a lot, Dima. You’ve certainly made everyone’s Monday more interesting.

Now, would someone please hand me a coin I can toss, so I’ll know whom to believe.

Actually, I’ve already decided . . . but I’ll keep it to myself for now, in case I’m wrong.

And as a loyal American, I can’t tell you how painful it is to have to admit that that possibility even exists.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/11/24

Let’s pause, if only for a few moments, to remember those who served and have passed on, and to thank those who are still with us — both veterans and active members of all of our armed forces and reserves — for giving their all on our behalf.

They have devoted themselves to safeguarding a country that they know doesn’t need to be made great again . . . because it already is great, and always has been. We just forget sometimes.

Stay safe, everyone.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/11/24

And this monkey business has nothing to do with politics, for a change. It does, however, have everything to do with real monkeys: 43 female rhesus macaques who escaped last week when someone apparently failed to latch a door to their enclosure at the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemassee, South Carolina.

And given that the Research Center had bred the precious primates for sale to medical and other research facilities, I don’t blame them for taking a powder. I only wonder why the other seven monkeys . . . well . . . chickened out.

But it turned out that the 43 escapees didn’t go far. One was captured fairly quickly, in a tree-filled area outside the facility’s perimeter fence. The rest were spotted in the same region, but eluded capture for several more days. They are agile little critters, after all.

And while at liberty, they were said to be “engaging with those still inside by cooing to them,” according to the Yemassee Police Department. [Hilary Hanson, HuffPost, November 9, 2024.] Whether they were trying to convince the others to join them in their treetop hangout, no one knows for sure; but I’m guessing that “cooing” was actually a chorus of “Hit the Road, Jack.”

However, these savvy simians know what side their bread is peanut-buttered on. By staying close to home, they ensured that their keepers would continue feeding them, while still being at liberty to jump and swing and climb to their hearts’ content. [Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, November 10, 2024.]

As of yesterday, 24 more — a total of 25 — had been caught and brought back into their group home, with 18 more still at large. [Id.]

And I am bummed, because I wanted those gals to make a clean getaway. All I need to hear about any animal is that “they’re being bred for medical research,” and I go ballistic.

Yes, I know that medical research is vital. And yes, I realize that there are different types of research. But I envision myself in the place of one of those adorable, hairy humanoids, and my first instinct is to run like hell too.

(Actually, that’s my second instinct. The first is to chomp down on the arm of the guy with the hypodermic needle.)

Experimentation of any kind has its risks, and these animals — in fact, all animals — deserve better.

There has to be another way.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/11/24

Enough about the U.S. presidential election. Enough — for a while, at least — about Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and how Melania Trump plans to get through the next four years. (Although, admittedly, I am curious about that last one.)

Nope . . . I said enough already.

There really is more to life than the election. As the walrus said: “The time has come . . . to talk of many things, Of shoes, and ships, and sealing wax, Of cabbages and kings, And why the sea is boiling hot, And whether pigs have wings.” *

[* Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass: The Walrus and the Carpenter.]

Let’s get back to some good, old-fashioned, though no-less-depressing world news. And today we have three items of interest to those of us who haven’t quite given up on the world. Yet.

We’ll start with the kings . . .

Iran. Oh, that can’t be good. At least, it seems as though there hasn’t been good news from there since the last Shah married Farah Diba. This past week, there were charges of a foiled plot by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to assassinate Donald Trump prior to the election.

So how did the very serious folks in Iran take this accusation? Actually, surprisingly well, and with a touch of humor . . . more or less. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, of course denied that there was a plot, and said:

“A new scenario is fabricated. . . . As a killer does not exist in reality, scriptwriters are brought in to manufacture a third-rate comedy.” [Reuters, November 9, 2024.]

I find that almost witty. Anyone else?

Then Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif carried the ball a few yards farther, urging U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to adopt new policies and to reassess his first-term policy of “maximum pressure” against the Islamic Republic. Speaking to reporters, Zarif said:

“Trump must show that he is not following the wrong policies of the past.” [AFP, November 9, 2024.]

Right. We’ll take that under advisement.

*. *. *

And next we have . . .

Russia. Well, what did you think — that I’d forgotten about them?

How is that even possible, with Putin’s name and picture popping up in the news at least once a day? On Thursday, it was more of the same-old-same-old where Ukraine is concerned, when — speaking at the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia — he said once again that Ukraine must remain neutral in order for there to be any possibility of peace. [Vladimir Soldatkin and Dmitry Antonov, Reuters, November 7, 2024.]

We know he’s determined to keep Ukraine out of NATO and the EU. But now, when asked about Ukraine’s future borders, he added:

“The borders of Ukraine should be in accordance with the sovereign decisions of people who live in certain territories and which we call our historical territories.” [Id.]

The “people” to whom he refers are separatist groups in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine who have been controlled by puppet governments established and armed by Moscow since its earlier invasion of 2014. In addition, since the start of the current war in 2022, Moscow has claimed hegemony over the regions of Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolayiv, and Zaporizhzhya.

And note his phrasing: “ . . . which we call our historical territories.” I suppose if he laid claim to Dallas, Texas, that would make it his, too.

Well, whadda ya say, “Big D”? Y’all want your oil wells taken over by that dude in Moscow?

Nah . . . didn’t think so. But now you know how Ukraine must feel.

*. *. *

And finally, there is . . .

Burkina Faso. Never heard of it? Well, it used to be called the Republic of Upper Volta, until its name was changed in 1984, for whatever reason. It’s a landlocked West African nation of about 23 or 24 million people, wedged in by Mali, Niger, Togo, Benin and Ghana. Historically, it had maintained close ties with France. But since a 2022 military coup, and a more recent Islamist insurgency, it has broken with Paris and turned to Moscow for support — which has been forthcoming in the form of Russian military instructors. No surprise there.

Burkina-Faso’s Foreign Minister, Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore, attended a Russia-Africa summit in the Russian resort city of Sochi, where he said that Russia was “a partner with whom we can make progress,” and that there was “no fear” of becoming militarily dependent on Moscow. [AFP, November 9, 2024.]

“No fear”?!! Well, that’s not good either, on so many levels.

The Burkina-Faso government certainly isn’t about to ask my advice; but if they were, I would tell them: “Au contraire, mes amis. Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

Because Moscow doesn’t do favors like that without expecting something in return.

*. *. *

And thus we close with the cabbages.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/10/24

The caveat being that you cannot take as gospel everything — or much of anything — you read on the internet. And I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this particular bit of “information,” either. But I thought it was fun, though I was less than impressed by my knowledge of European geography/history.

I did recognize more than half of the old names, but that’s just barely a passing grade — and maybe not even that. Still, I think I can be forgiven for not having heard of Vardar or Rascia. (You may need a magnifier for those.)

Give it a try, then start Googling the names you don’t know. If nothing else, you might acquire another random bit of trivia to toss out next time there’s a lag in the conversation.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/10/24

And it has been just that — a quiet week — in regard to Americans and other foreigners being held in Russian prisons for purely political reasons. But we must not become complacent simply because no new names have been added.

So, for the hostages remaining in Putin’s prisons, we continue to remember them and to fight for their return. They are:

David Barnes
Staff Sergeant Gordon Black
Marc Fogel
Robert Gilman
Stephen James Hubbard
Ksenia Karelina
Michael Travis Leake
Daniel Martindale
Robert Shonov
Eugene Spector
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland

And all of the others whose identities are not known to me. They are not merely prisoners; they are HOSTAGES, who must be brought home as quickly as possible.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/10/24

I had never heard of “4B” before. To me, it sounded like a child’s shoe size, an answer to a multiple-choice question, or a compartment in the sleeper car of an Amtrak train. But it was none of the above.

It is, in fact, a women’s movement that originated in South Korea — a feminist movement in which straight women refuse to marry, have children, date, or have sex with men. It is the ultimate payback.

It was started around 2015 or 2016, mostly involving young women in their 20s as an offshoot of #MeToo and similar feminist movements, in protest of the rampant gender inequality in their country. While the movement has splintered over the years, in part due to disagreements about the role of queer and trans women, it did help to draw attention to gender inequality in a country where women are often abused, are paid about one-third less than men, and are only minimally represented in senior and managerial positions. [Harmeet Kaur, CNN, November 9, 2024.]

And now — since the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States last week — there has been a surge of young liberal American women on TikTok and Instagram, discussing the South Korean 4B movement. These women say that they are furious at the majority of American men who voted for a candidate found guilty of sexual abuse, and whose Supreme Court appointees were responsible for overturning women’s abortion rights protections. [Id.]

So they’re swearing off men, and encouraging others to join in the movement. Ashli Pollard, 36, of St. Louis told CNN:

“We have pandered and begged for men’s safety and done all the things that we were supposed to, and they still hate us. So if you’re going to hate us, then we’re going to do what we want.” [Id.]

The name “4B” derives from four Korean words — bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae and bisekseu — which translate to “no marriage, no childbirth, no dating, no sex with men.” While there is no way to predict how far, or even if, it will spread in the U.S., it has already generated a good bit of online chatter among young women.

Ashli Pollard said that it has inspired her to “examine what a life looks like without centering men so deeply.” [Id.] She is able to support herself, and her future plans include having a child alone. She says it is less about revenge, and more about putting herself first; and she wants other women to realize that they have options available to them:

“You push people far enough and they’re done. How will that affect politics? We’ll see . . . but I think that women and their joy is going to be something that can’t really be overlooked anymore. Women are choosing themselves in droves.” [Id.]

Another young woman, 27-year-old Abby K., broke up with her boyfriend over some dismissive comments he made about Trump’s sexual abuse history. When she posted a video about it, and about her decision to join the 4B movement, her DMs were flooded with death threats and hateful comments from men. About that, she said:

“It doesn’t exactly entice you to re-enter the dating pool.” [Id.]

A masterpiece of understatement, Abby.

*. *. *

It’s too late to un-elect Donald Trump. Those who voted for Kamala Harris are too civilized to storm the Capitol, or run through the streets screaming “Stop the steal.” But perhaps a movement such as 4B will finally have a positive effect on the futures of women who have had enough of being treated as chattels, serving at the pleasure of their menfolk.

I wonder how Melania Trump would feel about that.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/10/24

November 9, 1938: Kristallnacht. The Night of Broken Glass.

It was the beginning — though no one could then have anticipated the horror of it all — the beginning of what would come to be known as The Holocaust.

It lasted through the night and the next day: German Nazis smashing their way through the homes and businesses of the Jews of Germany and Austria, later dubbed “Kristallnacht” after the piles of glass from the countless broken windows to be seen everywhere. The rampage left around 100 Jews killed, some 7,500 Jewish businesses damaged, and hundreds of synagogues, homes, schools and graveyards vandalized. An estimated 30,000 — thirty thousand! — Jewish men were arrested, many sent to concentration camps for several months and only released when they promised to leave Germany. [This Day In History, November 9, 2024.]

What was the reason — the excuse, really — for the sudden explosion of violence that night? It had begun with the deportation of tens of thousands of Polish Jews from Germany back to Poland. Among them were the parents of one Herschel Grynszpan, who took revenge by shooting to death a low-level German diplomat named Ernst vom Rath. [Id.]

Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels took advantage of the situation and ordered his storm troopers to lodge “spontaneous demonstrations” against the Jewish population; local police and fire departments were instructed not to interfere. [Id.]

But that wasn’t enough for the Nazi regime. They blamed the Jews for the death of vom Rath. They were fined the equivalent of $400 million dollars (in 1938 money), their property seized to cover the payment of the “debt.” [Id.]

There were worldwide expressions of outrage, and some countries went so far as to break off diplomatic relations with Germany. But the Nazis escaped any serious consequences, and went on to commit the genocide now known simply as The Holocaust.

The rest, you already know.

*. *. *

And this is a reminder of the end of it: the Memorial To the Murdered Jews of Europe, better known as Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial. The ground there is intentionally not level; it rises and falls unexpectedly, creating a sense of disorientation, of trepidation.

As I walked among those nameless stones some 65 years after the fact, I tried to imagine six million of them — one for every Jewish victim of Adolph Hitler’s mad plan of extermination. But I couldn’t.

It was the one painful day of an otherwise beautiful vacation trip. And it was the day I remember most clearly . . . as we should all remember that time in history.

So that we never forget. So that it never happens again.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/9/24

Why, it’s Elon Musk, of course — already clinging to Donald Trump like a powdery mildew fungus on a crabapple tree — taking part in a seven-minute congratulatory phone call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Trump following the U.S. election.

Musk was at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago mansion when the call was received, which — according to “a source briefed on the call” — was described as “positive and cordial.”

Well, isn’t that special!

Actually, yes . . . a cordial conversation between Trump and Zelensky is a good thing, and a hopeful sign for Ukraine. Zelensky later said about Wednesday’s call:

“We agreed to maintain close dialogue and advance our cooperation. Strong and unwavering US leadership is vital for the world and for a just peace.” [Tara John, Victoria Butenko, Nic Robertson and Kristen Holmes, CNN, November 8, 2024.]

But why would Trump put the call on speaker phone so that Musk — not an elected official, or even an appointed anything as yet — could participate? Zelensky is said to have diplomatically thanked Musk for having provided the use of his Starlink internet service throughout the course of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

But therein lies a problem. With all of Musk’s companies’ contracts with the U.S. government — and other dealings with foreign countries, such as the Starlink agreement with Ukraine — are there not likely conflict-of-interest issues to be considered and dealt with before he becomes privy to any potentially classified government information?

And as a simple matter of courtesy, did Trump even think to ask Zelensky if he would agree to have Musk join their conversation? Fortunately, this was a call from the president of a friendly country. What if it had been, say, Vladimir Putin on the other end of that call?

If this is a small sample of the way our country’s business is going to be conducted by the incoming administration . . . well, that makes me . . .

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/9/24