I suppose it’s still used from time to time, but it was more prevalent during the years of the Cold War: training attractive young Russian women to seduce foreigners whose jobs gave them access to strategically vital information. Euphemistically known as a “honey trap,” it was all part of the ongoing spy wars, and it netted a fair amount of otherwise unobtainable intelligence.

It also destroyed a great many lives . . . and ended more than a few.

That same methodology is being used by the Russian government today to recruit foreigners to fill the ranks of the military fighting in Ukraine. Instead of sex, however, the lure is money; and the targets are naive, desperately poor young men from Middle Eastern countries — mainly Syria, Egypt and Yemen.

In one specific case, Omar (not his real name) — a young, unemployed Syrian man — was approached by a Russian recruiter in Syria who was supposedly offering civilian work guarding oil facilities in Russia. Omar and a few other men jumped at the opportunity, but upon arriving in Moscow in March of 2024, they found that they had been scammed and were stranded at the airport with little money. One of their group searched online for help, and found a site offering work.

The site belonged to a woman named Polina Aleksandrovna Azarnykh. Within hours of being contacted, she met the men at the airport and took them by train to a recruitment center in Bryansk, some 250 miles southwest of Moscow, where they were given one-year contracts — written in Russian, which they did not understand — providing for a sign-up payment equivalent to $5,000 and a monthly salary of around $2,500. [Nawal Al-Maghafi and Sheida Kiran, BBC, January 12, 2025.]

Thinking they had hit the jackpot, they signed the contracts and handed their passports over to Azarnykh, who promised to arrange Russian citizenship for them. She also said that they could avoid being sent into combat if they paid her $3,000 apiece from their sign-up bonuses.

Instead, Omar was given ten days of military training and sent into battle. When he refused to pay the $3,000 to Azarnykh, she burned his passport. When he complained to his commanders, they threatened to imprison or kill him. [Id.]

Omar later discovered another fact that Azarnykh had failed to mention: that a 2022 Russian decree allows the military to extend soldiers’ contracts automatically until the end of the war in Ukraine. His contract has since been renewed.

A BBC investigation of Azarnykh determined that she had previously run a Facebook group helping Arab students come to Moscow to study. In 2024, she started a Telegram channel through which she operated her recruitment activities, and is said by one source to have become “one of the most important recruiters” for the Russian army, allegedly receiving the equivalent of $300 from the army for each person she recruited. [Id.]

In mid-2024, her posts began referring to the fact that recruits would be “participating in hostilities.” In one video, posted in October 2024, she says:

“You all understood well that you were going to war. You thought that you could get a Russian passport, do nothing and live in a five-star hotel? . . . Nothing happens for free.” [Id.]

And in a voice message sent to the mother of a soldier, she accused the woman of “publish[ing] something horrible about the Russian army” and threatened the soldier’s life, further warning the woman, “I’ll find you and all your children.” [Id.]

The BBC World Service has identified nearly 500 cases in which Azarnykh has “invited” young men to come to Russia to join the military in (allegedly) non-combatant positions, obtained their passport details from them, and failed to mention that they would not be allowed to leave in a year. Twelve families have told of young men recruited by her who are now dead or missing.

While it is unknown how many foreigners have joined Russia’s war against Ukraine since it was launched nearly four years ago, studies suggest the number may be as high as 20,000 or more, including from countries like Cuba, North Korea and Nepal. [Id.] Basically, they are nothing more than cannon fodder, sent into combat with just a few days of training, in a language they can’t understand, to replace the hundreds of thousands of Russian casualties.

And “entrepreneurs” like Polina Azarnykh are earning a living by leading the lambs to their slaughter.

I have to wonder whether the governments of these targeted countries are taking steps to warn their young men of the truth behind these recruitments, and if not . . . why not?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/13/26

Ambrose Bierce was an American journalist and author of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, famed for both the volume and the wide variety of his literary output: he wrote realism, horror, poetry, fables, and satire.

He had fought in numerous battles of the Civil War (Union side), and in 1913, at the age of 71, he decided to depart Washington, D.C., on a tour of his old Civil War battlefields. He was last known to have passed through Texas and crossed into Mexico, which was then in the midst of revolution, but soon thereafter fell off the grid. He was last heard from around Christmas of 1913; the mystery of his disappearance has never been solved.

But he left behind a legacy of literature spread across several genres, of which my personal favorite is his gift for satire. And here is just one small sample, in which he artfully sums up the problem with politics as it existed then . . . and continues to plague us even now, more than 100 years later:

“In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.”

– Ambrose Bierce

Indeed so, Mr. Bierce . . . indeed so.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/13/26

They’re incredibly beautiful, with pale fur and black faces, and described as very intelligent and social. But they’re native to Africa . . . not to Missouri.

Yet an unknown number of them — estimated between two and four, according to witness reports — are presently at large in St. Louis.

They have been identified by the St. Louis Zoo’s primate expert as Vervet monkeys, but no one knows where they came from or how they got loose . . . except, of course, their most recent owner, who hasn’t as yet come forward, most likely because they know it is illegal for individuals to own primates or other exotic animals in Missouri.

These little cuties are obviously smart enough to have evaded capture despite several sightings, and presumably they are finding food and shelter somewhere. I’m relieved that ICE agents haven’t managed to track them down, as they are clearly illegal immigrants — which also means they are in danger of being classified as domestic terrorists if they try to defend themselves.

I, for one, hold out hope that they will find their way to Washington (perhaps following in the footsteps of the Buddhist monks), where they — the monkeys, not the monks — will invade and take control of the White House, send its present occupant via oil tanker to Venezuela, and return a semblance of sanity to the federal government. After all, we could do worse than having a couple of monkeys running things.

Oh, wait . . . we already have.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/13/26

It’s a matter of public record that the epicurean delight we know as the sandwich was named after one John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, in 1762. That nobleman is said to have been an inveterate gambler — so much so that he did not appreciate having his card games interrupted by anything as mundane as mealtime. So he ordered his servants to arrange some meat between two slices of bread, enabling him to hold onto his cards with one hand and his food with the other, without getting either of them greasy.

Of course, the sandwich as we know it today has evolved to the point where it wouldn’t be recognizable to the Earl — usually consisting of many layers of a variety of ingredients, often slathered in some sort of dressing, rendering it impossible to hold with one hand while doing anything else with the other except perhaps wiping one’s chin . . . thus defeating the Earl’s original purpose.

And what, you may be asking yourself, led me to this discussion of 18th-century British nobility and the equally noble gastronomic concoction we all love and consume by the truckload? Well, it was, of course, something I stumbled across while surfing the net.

As it turns out, Montagu did not originate the idea of convenience food; he merely popularized it. In fact, it had existed for centuries in one form or another, such as the Middle Eastern wrap made with flatbreads, and the highly improbable — and seemingly impossible — “Hillel sandwich” devised by the Jewish people who were not allowed to eat leavened bread during the eight days of Passover.

I say the Hillel sandwich seems impossible because what they had to use in place of the usual bread was unleavened matzo, which, as you may know, is as stiff as a board and crumbles into crunchy little shards when you touch it. So how, I wondered, would one eat a matzos sandwich? And I concluded: Very carefully.

But of course that wasn’t enough for me, so I went on a search for more information, and found actual AI instructions for a matzo wrap, described as “a versatile meal or snack made by gently softening a sheet of matzo so it becomes pliable enough to fold around various fillings like a tortilla.”

And I wondered what my grandparents would have thought of a Jewish tortilla, because I know — I am absolutely positive — that I never saw anything like that when I was growing up.

Oy!

But having lived nearly half their lives in 19th-century Russia (the part that is now Ukraine), they had to be clever in order to survive. So perhaps such a thing did exist there, and they simply preferred to leave it behind them when they came to the promised land of America in 1905.

Anyway, in the certainty that I have aroused the reader’s curiosity, I will share with you an abridged version of the instructions I found:

1. Dampen the matzo: Briefly run a square of matzo under cool water for about 20-30 seconds, ensuring the entire surface is wet.

2. Soften it: Immediately wrap the dampened matzo in a clean kitchen towel and let it sit for about 7-10 minutes. It should be flexible enough to fold like a tortilla or wrap around fillings.

3. Fill and fold: Add your desired fillings. [Here AI goes on to describe a “tortilla hack” fold. If you really care, you might just Google “matzo wrap” and give it a try.]

4. Cook (optional): [This contains instructions for a “warm, crispy wrap,” using an oven, air fryer, or skillet.]

So now, after you’ve gone to the considerable trouble of softening the matzo to make it pliable, they’ve just told you how to make it crispy again. Don’t ask . . . just assume it’s an old-world Jewish thing. That’s what I always do.

But wait . . . there’s more. The bots (or whatever they are) at AI go on to offer suggestions for fillings, including hot dogs (kosher, no doubt); beef brisket; eggs and cheese (hold the bacon); pizza sauce with cheese and veggie toppings; and a tuna, cheese and sliced tomato combo for those who can’t go eight days without a tuna melt.

And there are other sites with recipes that actually look delicious. But I’m getting hungry just thinking about them, so I’m going to close now, try to forget about food, and get some actual work done. If you’re interested, though, feel free to start scrolling.

Also, if you’re up for a little extra-credit research, check out the history of why we don’t eat bread during Passover. It obviously took a great deal of ingenuity to keep up with God’s requirements in biblical times.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/12/26

In 1997, New Line Studios released a film titled “Wag the Dog” — a political satire in which a Hollywood producer (played by Dustin Hoffman) and a spin doctor (Robert De Niro) are hired by the U.S. government to fabricate a war with Albania in order to distract the public from a presidential sex scandal expected to break just weeks before an election.

If you think the plot sounds vaguely like art imitating life, you’re not wrong. But that’s just the beginning; check out these lines from the script, as spoken by Dustin Hoffman’s character:

“It’s all, you know, thinking ahead thinking ahead. . . . Yeah, it’s like a plumber: do your job right and nobody should notice. But when you fuck it up, everything gets full of shit.”

Or this . . .

“Look at that! That is a complete fucking fraud and it looks a hundred percent real. It’s the best work I’ve ever done in my life, because it’s so honest.”

. . . and my particular favorite:

[gunshot]
“Oh, god, he’s dead. Oh, my god . . . oh, my . . . oh . . .”
[opens door]
“Wait a minute, wait a minute, he’s not dead. He’s all right . . .”
[second gunshot]
“Strike that.”

*. *. *

That’s more than just art imitating life; it’s real life being played out on a screen 28 years before it actually happened, with only the names changed to protect the guilty.

I really need to watch that movie again. Care to join me?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/12/26

No . . . it isn’t likely that Marco Rubio would ever inherit the presidency of the United States, as he is fourth in the line of succession. Although, if Congress were to impeach and convict Donald Trump, JD Vance, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, that would leave only 92-year-old President Pro Temp of the Senate Chuck Grassley between Rubio and the Oval Office . . .

But seriously, the odds are slim. However, there’s always Cuba.

No, wait. This is not a joke. It’s also not my idea. A little background:

In his mania to realign the entire western hemisphere, Donald Trump has threatened Cuba with a complete cutoff of oil from its main source — Venezuela — screaming in ALL CAPS on Truth Social yesterday:

“Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE! THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” [George Wright, BBC, January 11, 2026.]

Typically, he didn’t offer specifics of any deal he might have in mind, or the possible consequences in the event of Cuba’s refusal. (By the way, he also failed to mention the 32 Cuban nationals who were reportedly killed during his little invasion of Caracas . . . but they had most likely slipped his mind as being of no importance.)

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez responded that his country had the right to import fuel from any exporter that would sell to them, “without interference or subordination to the unilateral coercive measures of the United States,” and that, allegedly unlike the U.S., Cuba does not lend itself to “blackmail or military coercion against other States.” [Id.]

How quickly they seem to have forgotten the Castro years, the decades of control by the Soviet Union, and that little matter of the Soviet missiles on their island aimed at the U.S. mainland in 1962. But never mind . . .

Then, as tends to happen on social media, some clown who obviously finds the threat of war amusing posted a message suggesting that Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, might become president of Cuba. And Trump saw this as a great idea, re-posting that bit of idiocy with the comment:

“Sounds good to me!” [Id.]

*. *. *

Setting aside for the moment the complete absurdity of the idea, I have a serious question: Has Trump — or anyone else in his administration, for that matter — ever considered what his immigration policies would have meant a generation ago for people like the parents of Marco Rubio, Usha Vance, and Kash Patel . . . or, even more recently, for his own wife Melania?

Nah . . . I didn’t think so.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/12/26

It almost seems designed to distract us from something even more threatening . . . this deluge of ongoing or imminent catastrophes called Venezuela, Greenland, Iran, Colombia, Gaza, Syria, Mexico, Cuba, Minneapolis, Portland, and wherever else you might stick a pin in the world map.

Perhaps to distract from the Epstein files? Maybe.

But the one continuing cataclysm we cannot allow ourselves to overlook is the war in Ukraine, about to enter its fifth year of unrelenting death and devastation.

And we are in danger of doing just that. What has happened — since Donald Trump’s unforeseen invasion of Venezuela and kidnapping of its president — to the flurry of negotiations that had been taking place among Ukraine’s allies? While Europe’s “Coalition of the Willing” continues to scrape together aid, Washington and Moscow are silent . . . except, of course, for the constant barrage of Russian missiles and drones on Ukraine’s cities and villages.

Neither should we overlook the gift that has been handed to Vladimir Putin by Trump’s recent attempts at empire-building — besides the opportunity to delay peace talks, that is. I’m talking about the carte blanche he, and his fellow autocrats in China, North Korea and elsewhere, have been given to move forward with their own expansionist plans. Certainly, if Donald Trump can get away with grabbing Venezuela, why shouldn’t China take Taiwan, or Russia set its sights on Moldova, Poland, or the Baltics? What’s sauce for the goose . . . right?

So this is a shout-out — another one — to Congress, beseeching them to get off their collective fat ass and keep the fight for Ukraine moving in the right direction. For the sake of the rest of Europe, and indeed the rest of the world, we must not let Ukraine burn to the ground while we’re occupied with keeping Trump’s other brush fires under control.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/11/26

Let’s face it: we are living in a history-making Time of Troubles, daily facing unimaginable exhibitions of stupidity and unbearable acts of evil on a monumental scale.

Author Jim Butcher, in his urban fantasy novel series “The Dresden Files,” writes of his preference — a Solomonic choice at best — between the two:

“Evil isn’t the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it’s a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference.”

– Jim Butcher – “Vignette (The Dresden Files, #5.5)”

But what if Stupid and Evil come wrapped together in one hideous, mentally unstable, seemingly unstoppable force of nature with cankles and a really bad comb-over? And our only “choice” would be to disable that force . . . knowing that what lurks in the wings is just as bad, or worse?

Jim Butcher’s crusade against Stupid sounds good on its face. But he writes fantasy, while we are trapped in the real world. We need a third choice.

Sorry, folks; but upon analysis, today’s quote doesn’t really provide any solace or the sort of insight we need. I’ll try to do better tomorrow.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/11/26

On June 10, 2025, I reported on the mysterious case of Joseph Tater, an American citizen who had been arrested in Moscow for “petty hooliganism,” or what appeared to have been disorderly conduct, in August of 2024.

In April of 2025, when he was scheduled to stand trial, he was instead apparently moved to a psychiatric facility, and was said to be on a list of Americans whose release the U.S. government was attempting to negotiate. But on June 6, 2025, the Russian news agency TASS announced that Tater had been discharged because “the clinic had no reason to keep [him] and released him for outpatient treatment.” [RFE/RL, June 6, 2025.]

The article then added, confusingly, that “Tater was no longer in Russia but that his current whereabouts were unclear.” [Id.]

And that is where the trail goes dark. No further word was received from Russian sources as to Tater’s destination when — or if — he left Russia. Similarly, there has been no comment from U.S. sources.

So where is Joseph Tater? The early reports of his detention indicated that he was, at best, suffering from confusion and disorientation. He had apparently committed some relatively minor infractions of the law. So why was he suddenly, and without explanation, released — seemingly on his own recognizance?

Russia does not allow foreigners — particularly those who have run afoul of the law or who may be suffering from some mental disorder — to roam randomly around the country, seeking “outpatient treatment.” The most likely scenario would have been his transfer into the custody of U.S. officials. But why has there been no further word from him or from the U.S. government? And if he did indeed leave Russia, why won’t anyone say how he exited the country, or where he was headed? Is he even alive? Did he not have a friend or relative somewhere who would be looking for him?

Until these questions are answered, Joseph Tater — in my mind, at least — appears to have been disappeared by a person or persons unknown, which qualifies him for an unenviable spot on my hostage list.

*. *. *

And for those known hostages remaining in limbo, here they are again, with no reported changes since last week:

Victims of Greed:

The President, First Lady, and citizens of Venezuela

Europeans Under Threat:

The people of NATO and EU member states

Prisoners of War:

The 19,500 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:

Mikita Losik
Yulia Navalnaya
Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents

Political Prisoners:

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 China:

Chenyue Mao (American)

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)
David Barnes (American)
Gordon Black (American)
Hayden Davies (British)
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
Grigory Melkonyants
Nika Novak
Leonid Pshenychnov (in Russian-occupied Crimea)
Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler)
Sofiane Sehili (French)
Igor Sergunin
Dmitry Shatresov
Robert Shonov
Grigory Skvortsov
Eugene Spector (American)
Joseph Tater (American, disappeared)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland (American)

You are not forgotten.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/11/26

Those who take their religious beliefs seriously will tell you that killing another human being, other than in self-defense, is a sin. And even those who do not adhere to a particular religion are more likely than not to accept the premise that the survival of civilization depends upon a code of ethics designed for the overall benefit of mankind: a sense of morality, if you will . . . of simply treating one another as we would wish to be treated.

As a result, in virtually every nation, there are laws aimed at the protection of the innocent and the deterrence and punishment of those who would do harm to others — murder being considered one of the most heinous of crimes. And those laws allegedly apply to all persons equally.

But, human nature being what it is (i.e., imperfect), it always turns out that some are more equal than others. And those at the pinnacle of command will inevitably find a way to justify their illegal and immoral actions.

War, it seems, is always a good excuse for a little homicide.

And the 18th-century philosopher known as Voltaire understood this, and summed up the phenomenon with this ironic comment:

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”

– Voltaire

Thus are the trumpets sounding today in such far-reaching lands as Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, and Venezuela; on the waters of the Caribbean, the eastern Pacific, and the Atlantic; and — to a lesser degree though for an equally nefarious reason — on the streets of Portland, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis.

The perpetrators of these atrocities would have us believe that they are being committed in self-defense, or defense of country. But in not one single recent instance has this been proven to be true. In reality, it is the work of those who consider themselves “first among equals” staking their claims to the position of leader, much as a lion fights to become “king” of his pride.

But aren’t we humans supposed to be above that?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/10/26