Technically speaking, they’re not hostages. They’re not living in barred prisons or Siberian penal colonies. But they might as well be, because there is no way into or out of their town of Oleshky. They are stuck there . . . and they’re dying.
Aerial View of Oleshky – April 25, 2026
Situated in the southern Ukraine region of Kherson, it has been occupied by Russian invaders since the early days of the war in 2022. In 2023, the nearby Kakhovka Dam was destroyed, the city was flooded, and most residents left. Those who remained — an estimated 2,000 in the city proper, a total of 6,000 including surrounding areas — are mostly elderly people, people with disabilities, and families with nowhere to go.
There is no electricity, no gas, no running water, and no access to medicine. The last food delivery arrived on May 26, 2026. Whatever food the people can find is prepared over open fires. Roads around the city are mined and susceptible to drone attacks, making it nearly impossible to bring in supplies and aid or to evacuate those who wish to leave.
On September 25th, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha addressed the situation in a post on X:
“There is almost nothing left to eat. Reports indicate that civilians are being forced to survive on grass and weeds, while medicines, clean water, electricity, and medical care are increasingly out of reach. Children are trapped in these conditions too.” [Kateryna Hodunova, The Kyiv Independent, September 26, 2026.]
Ukraine has prepared an evacuation plan, and the International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed its readiness to assist. But Russia has not indicated its willingness to allow the plan to proceed — in effect taking some 6,000 people hostage without having to lift a finger.
So, until their city is finally free to receive aid and evacuate those who wish to leave, The 6,000 Starving Citizens of Oleshky have been added to our list of Putin’s hostages . . . because that is indeed what they are. They’re just not behind bars.
*. *. *
And as always, let us again remember the other prisoners still being held hostage by Putin and his cohorts:
Prisoners of War:
The 20,000+ Kidnapped Ukrainian Children The People of Ukraine The 6,000 Starving Citizens of Oleshky
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)
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 Svitlana Loi (in Ukraine) Mikhail Loshchinin “Madame Z” (in Ukraine) Grigory Melkonyants Boris Nadezhdin Nika Novak Svetlana 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.
Earlier this month, I had a routine appointment with my primary care physician. One of the things we discussed was a medication I take — a blood thinner called Eliquis — and how expensive it is, even with my insurance coverage. The doctor asked if I had ever considered a procedure involving a device called “Watchman,” which would eliminate the need for the Eliquis. I had not heard of it, so he gave me a brief tutorial on how it worked.
That was the extent of it, except that he suggested I should check further with my cardiologist if I was interested. End of discussion.
During my time in his office, my iPhone was not turned off. However, it stayed safely tucked away in its wallet; I did not activate it, and no one called me.
But when I got home from that appointment a short time later, and checked my emails as I do a few times a day, there were several ads for . . . would you like to take a guess? . . . Watchman!!! And they have continued to pop up every day, several times a day, since then.
“WTF?!!”
Now, I know that the industry and the researchers assure us that our smart phones do not have the capacity to spy on us. And I do get dozens of email ads . . . Every. Single. Freakin’ Day . . . for all sorts of oddities. But those are generally triggered by an online search that I’ve done, or another ad that I looked at. This was not that.
The timing of this ad — one I do not recall having seen before — popping up an hour after I discussed the product in the presence of my phone is just . . . well . . . spooky.
Maybe it was coincidental. But I don’t trust the tech industry any further than I can throw an anvil. And you know how terrified I am of the whole AI thing. So I’ve made a decision, in what may be an excess of caution, but I don’t care: From now on, when I’m having a private conversation with anyone, my phone is going to be switched off. Not just silenced . . . completely off.
If the machines are coming to get us, I’m at least going to put up a fight.
For nearly three years, I have followed the Feenstra family of Canada as they settled into their new life on a farm in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia. From a frighteningly rocky start to unexpected social media stardom, they have worked hard, followed the rules, and built a comfortable life for themselves in the most unlikely place they could have chosen to relocate.
But when they arrived in early 2024, the territory of Russia had not yet been touched by Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. Since then, things have changed drastically, and at a greatly accelerated pace.
Last November, when Putin signed into law Executive Decree No. 821, “About temporary procedure for acceptance in citizenship of the Russian Federation and issue of the residence permit in the Russian Federation,” Arend Feenstra released a YouTube video in which he and his Russian immigration attorney discussed what the decree might mean to him, his family, and others like them.
He was clearly concerned, as he should have been. I posted an article expressing my thoughts on the matter (reprinted below) on November 17, 2025, but then heard nothing more about it as the entire Feenstra clan took off for an extended visit back home to Canada and the U.S., followed by a couple of weeks in Crimea.
Still, I worried. And yesterday, my fears were realized when a new YouTube video appeared in which Arend Feenstra openly expressed his worries about the future.
As though understanding for the first time how the ongoing war in Ukraine, and specifically Executive Decree 821, might throw a monkey wrench into his family’s plans for their entire future, he interrupted a tour of his farm’s grazing pastures with a comment that “I really hope we can stay here.”
To my great surprise, he continued . . . first saying that he still believes in Russia, and that their decision to move there had been the right one. But the man who has spent the last couple of years proselytizing for Putin’s “family values” immigration program now admits that he has stopped encouraging people to come there, at least for the time being.
According to Feenstra, there is “no path forward” any longer; there used to be, but “they keep changing things.” And the biggest change is the requirement of Decree 821 that, in order to attain temporary residency (which he and his family already have), or to advance from temporary to permanent residency (for which they would normally be eligible in about a year and a half), he — and presumably his 17-year-old son Wesley — would have to sign a contract with the military.
The problem is that no one seems to know what that contract would entail, and whether it is permanent or only effective until the end of the war in Ukraine. His attorney is trying to get clarification from the authorities, but without luck so far.
Thus, they feel as though they are stuck in limbo.
In the meantime, the family — having sold their farm in Canada in order to be able to afford the move — are heavily invested in their new home. They built — mostly with their own hands — a lovely house, barns and other outbuildings, purchased machinery and equipment, and lived on their savings while waiting for the farm to begin to show a profit . . . which he says is just around the corner.
But, assuming they stay, how do they know whether the government will move the goal posts yet again? Will he — and/or young Wes — be required to leave the farm for a year or more to serve in the military? If so, what will happen to the farm during that time? And even if they manage to fulfill the legal obligations, and survive their military service, will the rules for obtaining permanent residency, and ultimately full citizenship, be changed yet again?
On the other hand, if they were to decide to leave, how much of their investment — if any — would they be able to recoup? (My guess would be very little, since the land itself does not belong to them.)
This is obviously more than a conundrum — it is a life-changing crisis for ten people who were promised a peaceful, secure life doing the work they love. They have followed all of the proper procedures, and have done everything right. Their mistake was in not taking into account the nature of the person making the promises.
Arend Feenstra says he continues to “hope something will change.” I’d say there’s a very good chance that it will . . . but the question is: Will it be a change for the better?
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka 9/26/26
***
RE-POST
11/17/25: A Cloud on the Feenstra Horizon?
Obviously, no one can accurately foretell the future. But we can think ahead to the most likely possibilities . . . and in the case of young Wesley (“Wes”) Feenstra — the 16-year-old Canadian living with his parents and seven siblings on their farm in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia — there are some big “ifs” to be considered.
Wes Feenstra in Nizhny Novgorod – November 2025
Because on November 5th, Vladimir Putin signed into law Decree No. 821: “Executive Order On the Temporary Procedure for Granting Citizenship of the Russian Federation and Issuing Residence Permits in the Russian Federation.”
And no one seems sure exactly what it means, to whom it applies, what is meant by “temporary,” or whether it was intentionally left ambiguous or was the result of hasty, sloppy drafting. But one thing is clear: It involves military service as a prerequisite to obtaining Russian citizenship or permanent residency.
And Wesley’s dad, Arend Feenstra, is understandably concerned, both for himself and his sons.
The Feenstras — Arend, Anneesa, and eight of their nine children — moved from Canada to the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia nearly two years ago, to build a farm and a new life away from the perceived “wokeness” of their native country in a place they thought would be better suited to their conservative beliefs. After a rough start, things began to fall into place for them, and they have been doing surprisingly well, with a great deal of hard work and an abundance of social media promotion for Putin’s immigration drive.
The Feenstras Receiving Their Temporary Residency Visas in 2024
About a year ago, they obtained temporary residence status, meaning that in another three years’ time, they would be eligible to apply for permanent residency. With two years still to go, that would bring young Wes to his 18th birthday — the age of eligibility for military service.
And the new Decree No. 821 states that :
“ . . . [in order] to obtain Russian citizenship and a residence permit in Russia, certain categories of capable men aged 18 to 65 must now provide one of two documents:
– A discharge certificate from military service in the Russian Armed Forces or the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.
– A certificate confirming unfitness for military service.
[Eng.confidencegroup.ru, November 10, 2025.]
Without either of those, they would be required to serve at least a year in the military.
A clear exception is made for citizens of the Republic of Belarus. Not clear, however, is what other exceptions or requirements may exist under 821.
Nor does the decree specify what is meant by a “Temporary Procedure for Granting Citizenship.” Is it intended to be effective only for the duration of the “special military operation” in Ukraine? Or is it open-ended?
Certainly, Arend Feenstra needed answers. So he called upon Timur Beslangurov, a leading Russian expert on immigration law, who appeared with Feenstra on social media. And after watching the broadcast twice, all I was able to discern were a lot of “ifs” and “maybes” and an occasional “probably.”
For example: Beslangurov “hopes” the unclear portions of the decree will be amended; said that “supposedly” they won’t take anyone who doesn’t speak Russian; and “believes” the decree is intended to apply primarily to citizens of the Central Asian “Stans,” of whom there are millions in Russia.
He also spoke of a pending decree on immigrants who came to Russia because of “shared values” — as did the Feenstras — and said that, in any event, their family was “probably” all right for at least the next two years, when their temporary residency permits expire.
Screen Shot From YouTube
*. *. *
Throughout Beslangurov’s attempt to allay everyone’s fears, Arend Feenstra appeared uncharacteristically serious and increasingly concerned . . . as well he might. But he managed to close the broadcast with his customary promotion of life in Russia, saying it’s still a “really good place” with a “pile of opportunities.” He said he continues to feel that immigrants are welcome there, that it is a safe place to be, and that a “traditional value” visa is the best way to go.
But his customary enthusiasm was missing, and it was obvious to me, after observing this family for nearly two years, that Arend Feenstra has suddenly been hit with one of the realities of life in Putin’s Russia: the unpredictability and capriciousness of the government.
So he now faces the possibility of military conscription for himself and/or his eldest son . . . or alternatively, losing all of the money and hard work they have invested in their thriving new farm and having to start over again, back in Canada or elsewhere.
I know I’ve focused on Volodymyr Zelensky a lot lately, but he is so irresistibly quotable, I just had to add one more today.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
While Donald Trump builds gold-plated monuments to himself, imprints his name on buildings to which he has no legitimate claim, and splashes his face on every available vertical or horizontal space he can find, this is what Volodymyr Zelensky had to say this week about the legacy he would choose for himself:
“I just want to walk the streets after the war so that they [the people of Ukraine] don’t want to kill me and hate me.”
– Ukraine: News, September 24, 2026.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, he acknowledged that he has made mistakes, and said that a wartime president is required to make hundreds of decisions and agreements, many of which are difficult or uncomfortable, but are necessary for the good of the country.
He stressed that friends, colleagues, personal relationships, and individual loyalties cannot be placed above the needs of the country, and that no decision will satisfy everyone.
He also said that presidents should not be immune from criticism. He does not expect monuments or universal praise when the war is over and he leaves office; what he wants is simply “to remain in Ukraine, walk among his people and know that — despite his mistakes — he did not betray them when their country needed leadership most.” [Id.]
When I was a little girl, my mother’s mother was a big part of my life. I don’t recall ever seeing her sitting down to relax — she was always cooking, sewing, cleaning, gardening, canning, plucking a fresh-killed chicken, ironing, baking, scrubbing, cooking some more . . . and then standing by to watch everyone else enjoy her incredible food.
(For years I wondered why she was never hungry, and then one day I figured out it was because she kept tasting the food all day as she prepared it.)
Seeing her family at her table, sharing a meal she had created — that was her greatest joy in life. And because she loved us, she also dispensed opinions and advice.
Only once do I recall hearing her make a derogatory remark about anyone. It was a young woman who lived in our neighborhood, who frequently passed our house on her way to the little grocery store up the street. And each time my Bubbe happened to see her walking past, she would mutter under her breath a single word: “kurva.”
Now, I had no idea what it meant, or even what language it was; but from the tone of her voice, and the disapproving look on her face, I knew it wasn’t good. And I knew that that young woman was someone not to befriend.
Much, much later, when I began studying Russian, I bought a wonderful little book (which I still have), called “Dictionary of Russian Obscenities.” And there it was, that mysterious word: “kurva.” Once I knew what it meant, I understood what my grandmother had been telling us: that, fairly or not, we are judged by the company we keep.
It’s just a shame that Donald Trump never knew my grandmother. She would have set him straight in a New York minute. But that never happened; and today he is hosting Xi Jinping in Washington, and has invited Vladimir Putin — for the first time since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine — to participate in the G20 meeting in Florida in December.
If my Bubbe were alive today, and she were asked to decide which was the lesser of two evils — a two-bit small-town hooker, or a man like Donald Trump — I do believe she would choose that young woman. In fact, she probably would have invited her to dinner and tried to “talk some sense into her,” whereas Trump . . . well, she would have seen him for the waste of space he is and turned him in to the proper authorities.
To my old-world grandmother, who loved unconditionally, a “fallen woman” still had a heart, and feelings, and a soul worth saving. But Bubbe had grown up Jewish in Tsarist Russia, so she also knew real, deeply-rooted, unreachable, irredeemable evil when she saw it. And she would have had no difficulty in judging Donald Trump by the company he has always chosen to keep.
At the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was surrounded as he left the venue by a phalanx of journalists, including a few from the Russian media. As they followed him, they continued to shout, “Volodymyr Aleksandrovich, when are you going to Moscow?” “When are you heading to Moscow?” “When to Moscow?” [Kyiv Post, September 24, 2026.]
The questions were in reference to Vladimir Putin’s having just reiterated his demand that any face-to-face meeting with Zelensky would have to be held in Moscow, and not in a neutral location as the Ukrainian president had logically suggested.
For a while, Zelensky ignored the Russian reporters. But finally — more or less under his breath, and without breaking stride — he replied:
In all honesty, I can’t recall a year when I have followed the reporting from a United Nations General Assembly meeting with such . . . well, not just interest, but a combination of anticipation, inspiration, horror, amusement, and fear for the future.
It’s been one hell of a roller coaster ride, from Donald Trump’s insulting, hate-filled, war-mongering shit show . . . to the walkout when Benjamin Netanyahu approached the podium . . . to Volodymyr Zelensky’s no-holds-barred condemnation of Vladimir Putin.
One speaker who didn’t garner as much publicity as the world leaders was Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who addressed the U.N. Security Council on a subject that I have been following closely for some time now: Russia’s ongoing hybrid war against an array of European countries.
As Putin continues to deny the obvious, those NATO member countries have been scrambling to build their defenses against a worst-case scenario. And Sybiha summed it up for the Security Council in a single paragraph:
“Russia already wages war on Europe — arson, assassination, cyberattacks, disinformation, election meddling, the weaponization of energy, food, and mmigration, drones and missiles crossing into NATO airspace. This is not ‘hybrid.’ Drop this word. Russia’s war against Europe is no longer hybrid. Instead of safeguarding peace, Russia is spreading war. That is everyone’s problem.” [Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, September 24, 2026.]
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha
It doesn’t get any clearer than that. Yet Donald Trump — the stable genius who knows more about everything than anyone — has been rolling out the red carpet in Washington this week for China’s communist leader Xi Jinping. And, as if that weren’t enough, he announced that he has invited Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in December — at his Doral Country Club in Miami, Florida.
While his own Congress increases sanctions against Russia; and while Putin continues to rack up thousands upon thousands of military and civilian casualties in Ukraine; and while the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant hangs over Putin’s head; Trump unabashedly treats him with the respect and friendship he denies to our proven allies.
How can a president of the United States undermine the very foundations of his own country’s Constitution, simultaneously playing up to the world’s most tyrannical leaders, while the people who have the power to stop the madness — the members of Congress — do nothing?
It is inconceivable . . . yet it is happening before our very eyes.
An Unholy Triumvirate
Still, there is a power greater than the president, and greater than Congress. It is we, the people, who elect them to their privileged offices. And in 39 days, we have the opportunity to exercise that power.
This is not “just” a midterm election; this is the future of our country. I’ll see my American friends at the polls on November 3rd.
On a September 24th some 237 years ago, the Judiciary Act of 1789 was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by President George Washington, establishing the first Supreme Court of the United States.
Supreme Court of the United States of America
It was initially comprised of six justices, who would serve until death or retirement. That same day, Washington nominated John Jay as Chief Justice, and five Associate Justices: John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, Robert Harrison, and James Wilson. All six were confirmed by the U.S. Senate two days later, on September 26th. The Court’s establishment had been codified by Article 3 of the U.S. Constitution just six months earlier. [“This Day in History,” History.com, September 24, 2026.]
Now, that is how you get things done.
According to the Constitution, the number of justices is set by Congress, and varied from time to time during the 19th century until finally settling in 1869 at a total of nine. [Id.]
The six men on that first bench would not recognize the Supreme Court of 2026. Today’s nine justices, like the original six, were sworn to uphold the Constitution, and to remain apolitical — the judiciary arm of the government, separate from the executive and legislative branches. Not a rubber stamp of the sitting president.
Today’s Supreme Court
But there is a way to alleviate the problem with the present Court’s Trump-controlled, ultra-conservative, 6-3 majority: We can’t change them or their political leanings, but we can utilize the Constitutional authority of Congress to increase their number in order to create a more balanced ratio of conservative-to-liberal justices. And the way to do that is to elect, in just 40 days from now, Senators and Representatives who will dedicate themselves to restoring the checks and balances mandated by the Constitution, which have been ignored and overridden for far too long.
George Washington — the “Father of our Country” — would expect nothing less.
A very long time ago, in a land far away, God gave Moses ten simple rules for His people to live by.
Those Ten Commandments began:
“I am the LORD your God . . .
“You shall have no other gods before me.”
-Exodus 20:2-3, NIV
Moses Delivers the Tablets
Much more recently, shortly before James McCrery resigned as principal architect of Donald Trump’s controversial new White House ballroom, he told Trump of his concerns over safety code violations in the proposed plans.
But the all-knowing , almighty Trump dismissed the expert architect’s advice and overruled him, saying simply:
“I am the code.”
– Washington Post, September 23, 2026
Well, that fits this self-image rather nicely, don’t you think?
Why does Donald Trump keep trying to convince us that, if the Republicans manage to retain control of both houses of Congress after the November 3rd midterm elections, the war in Iran will instantly be brought to a screeching halt? Does he really believe that the Iranians will only deal with him and his Republican-majority Congress?
Or does he think we haven’t already asked the hard questions, such as:
> What happened to all those times he said it was already over?
> If a solution is so predictable, why hasn’t it already been accomplished?
> How can he be sure the Iranian government will be more amenable to a settlement on November 4th than they have been so far?
> Or — worst-case scenario — is he seriously planning to obliterate an entire country?
And so on.
Of course, we’ve asked them, and more. So have the members of the media — the ones who are still allowed in his rarefied presence, that is. And the answer is obvious: Because he’s dangling this — and a $5,000-per-person bonus that will never materialize — under our noses as a “carrot-on-a-stick” incentive to vote Republican . . . hoping we will somehow magically forget all of his past unfulfilled promises about lower food and fuel prices, more affordable health care, zero inflation, lower taxes, higher wages, and an end to government corruption.
Personally, I would find it insulting to think that anyone had such a low opinion of my intelligence. But then I consider the source . . .
