While UK and EU leaders met in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky; while the United Nations presented a joint statement, signed by 50 member nations, demanding Russia’s immediate cessation of hostilities against Ukraine; and while CIA Director John Ratcliffe suddenly and secretly flew to Moscow for as-yet-undisclosed reasons; Vladimir Putin, through his Permanent Representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, once again dug in his heels and attempted to lay the blame for his war at Ukraine’s doorstep.

What Nebenzia had to say at the August 24th UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine is so perfectly illustrative of Putin’s intentions that it bears repeating here in pertinent part:

“Today’s meeting is being held under the grand banner of the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s ‘independence.’

“But is there really anything to celebrate?

“Over these decades, under successive leaders, the country has been brought to the brink. Those who have loudly proclaimed Ukraine’s independence and bright prospects have in fact, whether deliberately or otherwise, been destroying it.

***

“Having failed to achieve its objectives on the battlefield, the Kiev [sic] regime has now descended into outright terror against Russia’s civilian population.

“Its Westrn patrons, not to mention Zelensky himself, still cling to the dangerous illusion that further escalation, strikes deep inside our territory and terror against civilians will force us to accept an ultimatum disguised as ‘peace.’

“The negotiating demands being put to us are, to say the least, strange.

***

“There will be no agreements at the expense of Russia’s security interests.

“Any attempt to impose a freeze on the conflict under the guise of a ceasefire, merely to give Kiev [sic] a temporary respite to regroup and rearm, is doomed to fail.

“As long as we are addressed in the language of ultimatums, terror and threats, while realities on the ground are ignored, there will be no basis for political and diplomatic dialogue.”

[Excerpted from report at russiaun.ru, August 24, 2026 . . . well worth reading in full.]

It would be tempting, and much too easy, to write this off as merely the delusional ramblings of a person seemingly in the grip of dementia. But this is the Putin regime talking, and Mr. Nebenzia is, from all available evidence, perfectly sane. These are not misstatements of fact; they are the deliberate twisting of the truth in order to justify the continuation of a brutal and illegal war of attrition started nearly five years ago by the one who now accuses his victims.

Vladimir Putin may be overestimating his country’s ability to fulfill his goals; but he knows perfectly well what he and his representatives are saying.

Make no mistake: the Russian Bear is alive and well, and will continue to menace the world until someone stops it.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/26/26

Once again, I jumped the gun.

Earlier today, I commented on the mysterious presence of an American military transport plane at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow, said to be carrying CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and I contemplated what possible reason there could be for such a sudden, unexplained visit.

My two immediate thoughts — both optimistic — were a possible breakthrough in negotiations for an end to the war in Ukraine, and/or a long-overdue return of American political prisoners still being held in Russia.

But not long after posting my remarks — as I sat awaiting my turn to be helped at the local Motor Vehicle Department — I received an alert on my phone, which read as follows:

“Putin adviser warns UK factories face attacks from ‘unknown sources’ for helping Ukraine.” [Rich Booth, Independent UK, August 25, 2026.]

And that familiar little bell began ringing in my head as I read that Andrei Fedorov, a former deputy foreign minister for Russia, said that he could not “100% exclude” the possibility of “semi-military” operations directed at Britain . . . a pronouncement made simultaneously with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s trip to Kyiv.

In addition to Burnham, a multi-national delegation meeting this week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv issued a firm pledge of continuing support for Ukraine in its battle against Russia’s aggression.

And meanwhile, at the United Nations, a joint statement issued by 50 member states was presented by Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, calling on Russia to agree to a full, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, among other stringent terms certain to be met by Putin with something less than pleasure.

Significantly, the United States did not join in the UN statement, for reasons that may be known only to these two:

So what the hell is CIA Director Ratcliffe doing in Moscow? I certainly don’t know; but I’m feeling somewhat less optimistic this evening than I was this morning.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/25/26

It’s the question of the day, eclipsing even the looming trade war with Canada, the remains of the Epstein files, and the whereabouts of Mitch McConnell:

What is that U.S. military transport plane doing at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport, who is its principal passenger, and what is going on behind the Kremlin gates?

First reports are saying the man of the hour is CIA Director John Ratcliffe . . . though the Kremlin has yet to comment on the presence of the plane itself, let alone its purpose. In Washington, a “person with knowledge of the matter” confirmed that it was Ratcliffe, but declined further comment. [Dan De Luce, et al., NBC News, August 25, 2026.]

The White House has also failed to respond to media inquiries. All we really know from flight tracking data is that the Boeing Globemaster departed U.S. Air Force Base Andrews in Washington on Sunday, flew to Riga, Latvia, and then on to Moscow, landing around 10:00 a.m. local time today.

And that, of course, leads to all sorts of speculation. Could this, at last, signify a break in the stalemate on negotiations for a settlement of the war in Ukraine? Are we about to see another significant prisoner swap involving American citizens being held on political charges? Is Vladimir Putin about to defect to the United States?

Just kidding about that last one, obviously. But either of the other two would be incredible news. Or it could be something entirely different.

As always, while we await updates, we can only hope for the best.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/25/26

These words, from a true American hero, speak for themselves:

“Only now in retrospect do I fully appreciate what a disaster Trump was as president. This applies not only to his policies, but to the fact that he diminished the dignity of the presidency enormously.”

– Dr. Anthony Fauci, Diary entry dated July 27, 2021.

Thank you, Dr. Fauci, for all you have done and all you tried to do.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/25/26

It’s a sad, sad day when arguably one of the most influential people in the world is also the most clueless. And sometimes the impact of their words and actions can be so startling it’s impossible to ignore them.

A few days ago, Donald Trump bade farewell to departing press secretary Karoline Leavitt, whose official reason for leaving is to spend more time with her two very young children than her White House job allowed.

While he did describe her as a “great, great press secretary” (translation: a devoted sycophant and willing truth-twister), he couldn’t resist tempering the brief praise with a guilt trip worthy of my Jewish mother, who managed to refine guilt-tripping to an art form. What he said was:

“And our press secretary, mother of two. And, well, she decided she loved her children more than she loved Donald Trump. I’m very upset about this.” [Occupy Democrats, August 24, 2026.]

“Come again?”

Apparently, he tried to pass it off as a joke; but we all know what a disaster he is as a stand-up comic. And that whole obnoxious thing of referring to himself in the third person probably didn’t help, either.

Anyway, he may not have gotten enough of a laugh from that line, because he felt compelled to add:

“She has to go home and spend time with her children. That does happen on occasion with some people, when they love their children, and she does.” [Id.]

“On occasion”?!! “When they love their children”??!!!

The thing that really surprises me is that I continue to be surprised by his insane utterances. But I don’t think I could ever live long enough to become accustomed to that level of narcissism, insensitivity, and outright stupidity.

Nor would I want to.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/25/26

It’s always encouraging to find that there are still people out there who didn’t dismiss Russia as no longer being an existential threat when the Cold War supposedly ended with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

One such individual is former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, who is quoted as having said the following:

“There’s a tendency on the part of Americans, all of us, to say, ‘Hey, the Cold War is over, the Soviet Union is gone, we don’t have to worry about these guys again.’ We always have to be worried about them, we always have to be concerned about them, and we have to be well-informed.”

Current events — in fact, events since the first election of Vladimir Putin to the presidency of the Russian Federation in 2000 — have validated Senator Feingold’s warning, and have illustrated too clearly the dangers of complacency.

We must never allow ourselves to be blinded by the rhetoric. We need to listen to the experts, and not to those who would place their trust in friendly overtures from leaders such as Putin and other “strongmen.”

You know who I mean.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/24/26

His name is Dmitry Medvedev.

It’s one of those names you probably know you’ve heard before, but you can’t quite recall what he is (or was) known for. So allow me to remind you.

In 2008, Medvedev was a liberal, pro-Western politician who had worked his way up the ladder to the post of First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia under President Vladimir Putin. According to the Russian Constitution as it was written at the time, the president could only serve two consecutive terms, meaning that Putin had to step down — at least for the next four years. So he engineered the election of Medvedev to serve as nominal president from 2008 to 2012, while he (Putin) pulled the strings from behind the scenes as Prime Minister. Then, when Putin was again eligible to run for the presidency in 2012, he was easily elected, and Medvedev was appointed his Prime Minister.

That worked very nicely until 2020, when Medvedev suddenly stepped down as PM and landed in the very significant role of Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia . . . the Council’s Chairman being Putin himself.

And somewhere along the way, this seemingly West-leaning liberal managed to reinvent himself as the Kremlin’s most foul-mouthed, threat-spewing, war-mongering spokesperson.

To all appearances, the man seemed to have gone batshit crazy . . . and he’s only gotten worse over the past six years.

Medvedev’s name is not in the news every day; but when it is, it is most often in the context of threatening another country with hellfire and damnation for having committed some alleged transgression against Russian interests.

For example, last week he had this to say about Japan’s Prime Minister and the Kuril Islands, the ownership of which has been in dispute since the end of World War II:

“Japan’s PM Takaichi can prattle on all she likes about the Kuril Islands being ‘historically Japanese,’ but this chatter won’t change a thing. They were, are, and will remain Russian land. Anyone who fails to understand this will face the monstrous consequences of their delusion.” [Posted on @MedvedevRussiaE.]

That, of course, is the same argument Putin keeps repeating about Ukraine “historically” belonging to Russia. And just three days ago, on the subject of Putin’s continuing demands that Ukraine cede large portions of its sovereign territory to Russia, Medvedev reportedly said that “more and more territories that previously accidentally ended up with Ukraine will be returned to Russia. The valiant army of Russia confirms this.” [Russian News, August 22, 2026.]

“ . . . accidentally ended up . . .” What does that even mean?

And about that “valiant army” . . . has he not read the real reports of the casualties, the desertions, and the young men fleeing the country to avoid conscription?

But on he went, calling Ukraine’s representatives “aggressive cynical scoundrels,” “remnants of Nazi scum,” “drug addicts,” and “sell-out friends of Russophobia,” while referring to leaders of the collective West as “extremists, direct descendants and ideological heirs of fascists, as well as simply “stupid people.” [Id.]

*. *. *

It makes one wonder why Putin keeps him around. Is he the unofficial court jester? The distraction to draw attention from whatever is going on behind closed doors? The one who knows too many secrets to be cut loose? Or is all the bluster simply a front for a clever operator with his eye on another chance at the presidency?

I don’t know . . . but I will say that — whether he is indeed as crazy as he sounds, or is actually more shrewd than he seems — he is someone to keep an eye on as Putin’s hold on power fades with each day of the continuation of his Ukrainian misadventure.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/24/26

On August 23, 1939, German Chancellor Adolph Hitler hastily dispatched his foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, to Moscow to meet with his Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov, bearing written authorization to sign into effect a ten-year non-aggression pact stating, among other things, that the two countries would “desist from any act of violence, any aggressive action and any attack on each other, either individually or jointly with other powers,” for the next ten years. [“This Day in History,” History.com, August 23, 2026.]

Hitler had urgently pressed Stalin to put aside their years of political hostility in order to enable his planned invasion of Poland without the threat of Soviet interference. Stalin, on his part, found the peace deal attractive because his country was already engaged in battle on its eastern front with Japan, and was fighting that conflict with an army depleted of commanders as a result of Stalin’s own purges of 1937-38.

So the treaty was signed, with Stalin personally assuring Ribbentrop that “The Soviet Government take the new pact very seriously,” and that he could guarantee on his “word of honor that the Soviet Union would not betray its partner.” [Id.]

The Supreme Soviet unanimously ratified the pact on August 31st; and just hours later, Hitler realized his dream when his armies attacked Poland, marking the start of World War II.

When Ribbentrop phoned Hitler at his Bavarian mountain retreat following the signing, Hitler’s delighted response was: “That will hit like a bombshell.” [Christopher Klein, “European History,” August 22, 2014.]

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed, but from a different standpoint. He later wrote about that day that: “The sinister news broke upon the world like an explosion.” [Id.]

But ten years is a long time in a world where things change quickly, and often without notice. On June 22, 1941 — less than two years after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact — Hitler unilaterally broke the agreement by launching Operation Barbarossa: three parallel offensives, consisting of 19 panzer divisions, 3,000 tanks, 2,500 aircraft, and 7,000 artillery pieces, across a 1,000-mile border into the Soviet Union.

Pact? What pact?

Each man — the fascist Hitler and the communist Stalin — knew that the other could not be trusted. Yet they entered into an agreement on the basis of the need of the day, choosing immediate expediency over long-term probability.

That agreement wasn’t worth the price of the paper it was written on — nor is any agreement backed by the word of a tyrannical, autocratic, self-serving, greedy, egomaniacal, power-mad, amoral, malignant narcissist.

That never changes.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/23/26

None of us knows how long we will live; we don’t come into this world with expiration dates stamped on our bottoms, like cans of soup or cartons of yogurt. But when you reach my age — and, in the interest of full disclosure, I am way up there — you know that you’re definitely on the downslide, and you don’t want to waste a minute of it.

But I’ve been thinking lately that, if I could be sure I’d still be alive on November 7, 2028, I’d be willing to give up the intervening 807 days of my life just to hasten the arrival of that target date.

And yesterday’s news simply reinforced that thought. Because that was when I read that my country’s closest neighbor, our staunchest ally, and our most generous and reliable trade partner, had been so shabbily treated that they simply walked away from the table, declaring that they would not be bullied into accepting an agreement that would be detrimental to their country.

You know, of course, that I’m talking about Canada, and the shameful manner in which Donald Trump treated Prime Minister Mark Carney in their White House meeting on Friday.

Following what should have been civilized, mutually-beneficial trade talks, Carney told reporters:

“In recent days, the United States proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits for Canada, and called into question the reliability of any deal. In short, they asked too much, and they offered too little.” [Steve Kopack, NBC News, August 21, 2026.]

That was all it took for Trump, in a petulant posturing of pique, to impose new 50% tariffs on some $20 billion in Canadian goods.

Am I surprised? No. Is anyone? Not likely. Because this is what Donald Trump always does, and what he has done to the reputation of the United States — once the most trusted nation in the world, and now universally despised, not so much by our known adversaries, but by our traditional allies.

And I — along with millions of others — am deeply ashamed, angry, depressed, and willing to give up two years of what is left of my life to get this horror show over with, let my country begin the long healing process, and hopefully restore our honor in the eyes of the free world.

Maybe, if we’re very lucky, it won’t take 807 days. Maybe 72 days until the midterm elections will be enough to kick-start a return to some semblance of normalcy. But whatever the number, it can’t come soon enough for me.

Because I miss my America. And I know I’m not alone in that.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/23/26

Not all of Putin’s political prisoners are adults.

According to a report issued in June of this year by the now-banned Russian human rights group Memorial, they have documented “427 cases of politically motivated criminal prosecution of minors . . . [of which] 299 people under the age of 18 were deprived of their liberty. Right now, 107 children are in detention.” [RFE/RL’s Russian Service, August 19, 2026.]

One such case is Arseniy Turbinin, now 18, who has been imprisoned since his arrest in 2023 when he was just 15 years old, after distributing flyers criticizing Vladimir Putin, sharing posts by opposition politicians, and expressing his opposition to the invasion of Ukraine. [Id.]

His defense lawyer at the time told Arseniy’s mother not to worry . . . that he was just a child, and would most likely not be seen as a threat by the authorities.

The lawyer was wrong. Arseniy was convicted in June of 2024 of being a member of a terrorist organization, and sentenced to five years in prison. What he had actually done was send an email to the Free Russia Legion — an exile Russian group that has fought alongside Ukrainian forces — saying he was “ready to stick up posters and fight Putin’s propaganda.” [Id.]

But prosecutors claimed that he was planning to travel to Ukraine and engage in sabotage against Russian targets — a charge that Arseniy denies, though he did admit distributing some flyers critical of Putin to neighbors’ mailboxes. He was also an admirer of the late dissident Aleksei Navalny, whose grave he had visited in Moscow.

Arseniy was first sent to a correctional facility in Perm, where efforts were made to incriminate him in additional illegal activities. And on January 7, 2026, when a riot broke out at the Perm facility, he was accused of taking part, which could bring a further sentence of three to eight years. He says he was in his cell watching TV during the uprising.

His family has said they were told by an officer of the FSB (successor to the KGB):

“We won’t release your child . . . we’ll think up another case.” [Id.]

It is believed that these actions against Arseniy are reprisals for his refusal to plead guilty to the original charges.

A 15-year old boy — old enough to be aware of the war in Ukraine and to have developed a social conscience, but young enough to allow his emotions to outweigh his better judgment — is now spending some of the best, most formative years of his life in a Russian prison for speaking his mind against a brutal regime. And he is only one of many.

I do not know the names of the other youngsters sharing Arseniy’s fate. But at least I can add his name to our list of those wrongfully serving time in Putin’s GULAG.

*. *. *

And this being Sunday, here again is the list of those political prisoners known to me:

Prisoners of War:

The 20,000+ Kidnapped Ukrainian Children
The People of Ukraine

Immigrant Detainees in Russia:

Migrants from the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

Endangered Exiles:

Pavel “Pasha” Talankin
Mikita Losik
Yulia Navalnaya
Oleg Orlov
Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents

Political Prisoners:

In Afghanistan:

Mahmoud Habibi (Afghan-American)
Paul Overby (American, missing since 2018)

In Azerbaijan:

The “Azerbaijan 7”:
– Farid Mehralizada
– Ulvi Hasanli
– Sevinj Abbasova (Vagifqiai)
– Mahammad Kekalov
– Hafiz Babali
– Nargiz Absalamova
– Elnara Gasimova

In Belarus:

Andrei Chapiuk
Uladzimir Labkovich
Andrzej Poczobut
Marfa Rabkova
Valiantsin Stafanovic
Yuras Zyankovich

In Georgia:

Mzia Amaglobeli

In Russia:

The “Crimea 8”:
– Oleg Antipov
– Artyom Azatyan
– Georgy Azatyan
– Aleksandr Bylin
– Roman Solomko
– Artur Terchanyan
– Dmitry Tyazhelykh
– Vladimir Zloba

James Scott Rhys Anderson (British)
Aleksandr Andreyev
David Barnes (American)
Yevgenia Berkovich
Gordon Black (American)
Hayden Davies (British)
Yury Dmitriyev
Anastasia Dyudyaeva
Antonina Favorskaya
Konstantin Gabov
Robert Gilman (American)
Stephen James Hubbard (American)
Sergey Karelin
Timur Kishukov
Vadim Kobzev
Darya Kozyreva
Artyom Kriger
Michael Travis Leake (American)
Aleksei Liptser
Mikhail Loshchinin
Grigory Melkonyants
Boris Nadezhdin
Nika NovakSvetlana Petriichuk
Leonid Pshenychnov (in Russian-occupied Crimea)
Ilya Remeslo
Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler)
Lev Schlossberg
Sofiane Sehili (French)
Igor Sergunin
Dmitry Shatresov
Robert Shonov
Grigory Skvortsov
Eugene Spector (American)
Joseph Tater (American, disappeared)
Karina Tsurkan
Arseniy Turbinin (age 18)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland (American)

You have not been, and will not be, forgotten. Stay strong.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/23/26