Throughout the ages, wise leaders — whether in politics, science, academia, or business and industry — have surrounded themselves with aides and advisors whose experience and wisdom have served to help their bosses appear even smarter. Julius Caesar had his Mark Antony; Richard Nixon had Henry Kissinger; Pierre and Marie Curie had each other; and so on.
Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger
But you can’t fix stupid. And stupid people believe that they will appear intelligent if they associate only with total idiots. And thus we have today’s U.S. administration.
Albert Einstein understood a great deal more than just the theory of relativity; he understood people as well. And he had this to say about his fellow man:
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
And stand-up comedian George Carlin — neither a scholar nor a scientist, but devilishly (and cynically) wise to the ways of the human species — had this bit of advice:
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”
George Carlin (1937-2008)
How right they both were. And wouldn’t they have had a field day with the current gang of Mensa rejects in Washington!
Just when I thought life was beginning to get boring down on the farm, the Feenstras pulled off the surprise of the year: They’re going home. To Canada. With a side trip — another 2,500 miles — to Florida.
Anneesa and Arend Feenstra
It’s just a vacation, mind you . . . or so Arend Feenstra, in his latest online video, kept reassuring his audience (and the Russian authorities), repeating that they will, “100% for sure,” be coming back to Nizhny Novgorod. But they’ll be gone for quite a while — about four to six weeks — though he was skimpy on the details.
So how did all of this come about? The bureaucratic red tape alone must have been a nightmare. And he failed to mention certain details, like what passports they would be using. I assume the answer is their Canadian ones, as they are still technically Canadian citizens, and they would likely have had a difficult time getting into both Canada and the U.S. on any sort of Russian passports.
Arend began the video with a little tour of the farm they have built over the last 16 months: 280 acres on which they have constructed, from scratch, a large house, shop, barn, guest house, and other accoutrements. He emphasized that it had been a family effort, and that — while they are very happy there — they are exhausted. They also miss the family and friends they left behind in Canada (including their eldest son, whom he didn’t mention).
The Farmhouse and the Shop
Anticipating some probable questions from his viewers, he said they had considered vacationing within Russia, but that it was extremely difficult, and expensive, to find accommodation for ten people. Back in Canada, they have a motor home that they did not sell when they left, and they can supposedly all fit comfortably into it . . . though I have a hard time visualizing myself sharing even the most luxurious motor home with nine other people, no matter how much I might love them. Maybe some of the kids will bunk with relatives.
So their accommodations will be free. But what about the plane fare? A Google search indicated that the average cost of a single round-trip ticket from Moscow to Saskatchewan can cost anywhere from US $1,000 to $2,000. Multiply that times ten, and you’ve got . . .
Holy crap! That’s between $10,000 and $20,000, just for air fare. That would buy a really nice month-long vacation on, for example, the Black Sea coast . . . if it weren’t for that pesky “special military operation” in the region.
But never fear . . . because the intrepid, fiercely independent Feenstra family was all too happy to accept the generosity of family and friends who offered to cover the bulk of their travel costs. (Remind me to hire the Feenstras for my next fund-raiser.)
There were some brief shots of the family getting organized and packing for the trip, which is a logistical nightmare of its own. I well remember my years of overseas travel, and the lists I made so that I wouldn’t forget anything important . . . and I was only packing for myself, not for ten. Then there’s the thought of traveling that distance with eight children; changing planes, presumably in Istanbul (one of the few countries still friendly to both Russia and the West); keeping track of the luggage; and dealing with jet lag x 10.
Anneesa and Cora, getting organized
Shrink-wrapping to save space. Smart.
*. *. *
The video closed with yet a further assurance that the family’s viewers would be kept apprised of their travels, and that they were looking forward to another successful year on the farm when they — 100% for sure — return.
But it left me, inevitably, with questions.
First was the matter of the farm. It’s winter, so the gardens are dormant. But there are animals to be cared for — chickens, geese, calves, pigs, goats, and the family’s dog. The house and farm equipment have to be looked after. Who will do all of that?
Why, the Pulleys, of course: the Australian emigre family who currently occupy the guest house on the property. But Justin Pulley is not a farmer by trade, and as preparations for the big departure were underway, he was being given lessons in the operation of the tractor and a crash course in animal husbandry. I wish them all — the Pulleys and the livestock — the best of luck.
Justin Pulley in the Tractor
Second question: Arend mentioned “helping some people” while they were back home, but didn’t specify what kind of help, or whether the people were in Canada or the U.S. He even spoke of having to pack some work clothes. I thought this trip was supposed to give the whole family time to relax.
Third: Why Florida? He said they were looking forward to some warm weather. But southern California is closer by about 800 miles . . . Oh, wait — I’ve got it. California is too “woke,” whereas Florida is politically more conservative. Okay . . . next question.
And that would be a “what if” question: namely, what if, once they get back to Canada, they realize that’s where they really belong? Do they just chuck the effort and expense of the last two years and start all over again?
Or, more ominously, what if — having developed 280 acres of fallow property into a working, profitable farm — they are told by the Russian government that their property is being confiscated and they’re not welcome to return? It doesn’t seem likely, of course; but in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, nothing can be taken for granted.
*. *. *
Perhaps I’m seeing problems where there aren’t any, and this is just a really good opportunity for a hard-working family to enjoy a little down time. I hope so.
In any event, I look forward to following the adventures of the Feenstras as they leave tomorrow (Tuesday) on that long trek home for Christmas. Here’s hoping it’s a merry one.
On a somewhat different note, today’s quote is inspired, not by a long-dead philosopher, poet or statesman, but by a living singer-songwriter: the great Paul Simon.
Paul Simon (1941 – Present)
Attending his 1991 concert at the football stadium in Prague in celebration of the withdrawal of the last of the Soviet military occupiers is one of my fondest memories. Who doesn’t know — even 34 years later — “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” “Homeward Bound,” and the delightful “Mrs. Robinson”?
But my personal favorite has always been one that remains as popular today as it was in the ‘90s — not only for the original Simon & Garfunkel recording and the soundtrack of The Graduate, but for the more recent, and most surprising, smash-hit cover of the song by David Draiman, lead singer of the heavy metal group Disturbed.
I am, of course, speaking of “The Sound of Silence.” And I’ve chosen just two lines from that song today because they sprang spontaneously to mind as I followed the latest agonizing U.S.-Russia negotiations concerning Ukraine.
Simon doubtless had something entirely different in mind when he wrote his lyrics; but these are my mental images of . . .
“People talking without speaking”:
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow – December 2, 2025
* * * and * * *
“People hearing without listening”:
Yuri Ushakov (L) and Vladimir Putin – Same Meeting
For the past 100 weeks — just four weeks shy of two years — I have been reporting on the fates of journalists and others being arrested and imprisoned by Vladimir Putin and some of his allies for having done nothing more than speaking or writing in opposition to his war in Ukraine, or simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But there are many ways of being held hostage other than being physically confined to a prison cell. And that is what is happening to the people of Europe — and specifically the members of NATO and/or the European Union (EU) — as Putin’s hybrid war threatens to spill over into neighboring countries.
Borders have been closed, travel disrupted, trade agreements cancelled. And everywhere — from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, and from the Atlantic to Eastern Europe — defenses are being ramped up against the possibility of a future Russian incursion.
The people of Europe are once again living in fear of the behemoth on the far side of the “Iron Curtain.” And in that sense, they are indeed being held hostage to the whims of one cruel, narcissistic dictator. So this week, we add the entirety of the European Continent to our list of Putin’s hostages, along with those who have already been on it for much too long:
*. *. *
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
Ales Bialiatski Andrei Chapiuk Marya Kalesnikava 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
David Barnes (American) Gordon Black (American) 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) Laurent Vinatier Robert Romanov Woodland (American)
My regular readers know that Theodore Roosevelt holds a special place in my heart. When I worked in the Victorian-era building that had once been his home, his spirit still roamed the halls and played in the elevator that hadn’t existed during his time. So it is altogether fitting that I quote him from time to time.
Larger Than Life: Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
T.R. was a frail, sickly child, and worked hard over the years to transform himself into the fine physical specimen we recognize. Tough, strong-willed, and possessed of an insatiable lust for life and a wicked sense of humor, he gave the world numerous bits of advice for success in politics, war, and life in general, such as:
“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”
– and –
“Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!”
But perhaps he went a bit too far with this next one, which seems to have been adopted as the ethos of 21st-century strongmen such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, and Donald Trump:
“If you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.”
If T.R. were to come back today and observe the current state of world affairs, do you suppose he might consider retracting that one?
In 1978, the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, was anxious to gain control over neighboring Afghanistan, which it considered vital to Russia’s national security.
Leonid Brezhnev, with then-President Jimmy Carter
At the time, Afghanistan was in the throes of a civil war between the unpopular pro-Soviet regime and the rebel Muslim Mujahideen. In April of 1978, members of the Afghan Communist Party had overthrown the rebels and killed its leader, President Sardar Mohammed Daoud. The head of the Communist Party, Nur Mohammed Taraki, then took control of the government and declared one-party rule in Afghanistan.
To support the Communist bloc against the Mujahideen, the Soviet Union had for years been supplying economic aid and military assistance. But on December 5, 1978 — 47 years ago yesterday — they went a step further and signed a “friendship treaty” with the Taraki government, establishing a 20-year period of “friendship and cooperation” between the two countries, and promising continued military cooperation. [“This Day In History,” History.com, December 5, 2025.]
But, as they say, what goes around comes around. In September of the following year, Taraki — who was unpopular even within his own circle — was in turn killed by members of the Communist Party.
Shades of Julius Caesar!
“Et tu, Brute?”
*. *. *
December, 1979:
What a difference a year makes.
Shortly before Christmas of 1979, I was hard at work at my desk in the Washington law offices of Surrey, Karasik & Morse, not really aware of the soft music issuing from the radio behind me. I took a lot of good-natured flak from my boss, Walter Sterling Surrey, about that radio; he couldn’t understand why I found it soothing. But I refused to give it up.
Suddenly, the music was interrupted by an urgent news flash: Soviet troops had entered Afghanistan, joined up with the Afghan military, and declared war against the rebel Mujahideen and their Pakistani allies.
Our law firm had multinational corporate clients doing business throughout the world, including in the Soviet Union. The U.S. and Great Britain, among others, were sure to back the rebels against the Soviet-led Communist forces. This did not bode well for our clients’ business interests.
Those were the days before the miracle of the internet. I immediately shouted out the news to Walter, who began calling clients while I got onto the phone with the State Department’s press office, arranging to obtain a first copy of their press release. That early report saved several of our clients a great deal of money and angst, allowing them to slam the brakes on any potential transactions with Soviet entities.
And Walter never teased me about my radio again.
News Source Before the Internet
It would be nearly ten years before the Soviet forces were driven out of Afghanistan, in what came to be known as “Russia’s Vietnam.” That invasion served to heat up the Cold War, and to send U.S.-Soviet relations into a downward spiral that lasted until the glasnost and perestroika reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev and the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union itself.
But then, in December of 1999, along came Vladimir Putin, who for the past quarter of a century has been turning the clock back in a drive to reestablish Soviet-style rule, reclaim as many of the former Soviet Republics as possible within his sphere of influence, and ultimately recreate his vision of a new Russian Empire.
Most important — and proving most difficult — for Putin has been Ukraine, which, like Afghanistan in the ‘70s and ‘80s, is strategically vital to Russia as a buffer zone between it and Europe’s NATO-member countries.
So, while Putin publicly rhapsodizes about the historical and spiritual ties between Russia and Ukraine, his real goal is one of geopolitical pragmatism. He will never willingly retract, or even compromise, his “peace” terms.
More important, though, is this lesson to be taken from the annals of history:
Leonid Brezhnev thought nothing of abandoning his “friendship treaty” with Afghanistan in 1979. And Vladimir Putin will not hesitate to ignore any peace treaty he may sign with Ukraine, so long as it suits his purposes to do so. It is, and always has been, the way of tyrants, regardless of nationality.
And if the U.S. negotiators believe they can defeat him with sanctions, or wear him down with their amateurish attempts at “diplomacy,” they are living in a dream world. Putin knows that Ukraine and its allies are growing weary and want to end this war as quickly as possible. He will never agree to a treaty unless it is in his favor.
And even then, it won’t be worth the paper it is written on.
Life is tough enough as we start to grow older. We lose things — not just the glasses that are sitting right on top of our heads, but things we can’t control or replace, like hearing, coordination, strength, hair, or bladder control.
But with the concern during the past 40 or 50 years over consumer protection — not to mention the manufacturers’ need to defend themselves against litigious consumers looking for ways to get rich from someone else’s insurance carrier — we seniors have been overlooked in one very frustrating area: accessibility.
Oh, yes, we have ramps and lifts and push-button door openers. Those are major helpers (when they work). But it’s the little things. When, for example, was the last time you tried to open the safety cap on a bottle of over-the-counter pain killers with your arthritic fingers?
There are no small children in my household any longer, but I sort of wish there were . . . because they’re the only ones who can actually open today’s supposedly child-proof containers. I have one bottle of hand lotion that must be three years old by now because I’ve never been able to get the plunger to pop up no matter how many times I turn it counter-clockwise, and I keep forgetting to ask someone to do it for me.
Yesterday, though, it was the Aspercreme roll-on — a wonderfully soothing analgesic for those generalized aches and pains that always accompany a rainy day (and almost every other day). They make a cream formula as well, but I prefer the roll-on because it’s less messy. So when mine ran dry, I grabbed the spare from the medicine cabinet, placed my thumb and forefinger on the indicated spots, pressed, twisted . . . and uttered an unrepeatable oath when all I accomplished was sending my right thumb into spasms of pain. Even my handy-dandy jar gripper didn’t help, and I had to wait for a younger, stronger family member to come home.
Do you younger folks have any idea how much we oldsters hate asking for help? Do you, really? You tell us you’re happy to do these little things for us, and most of the time you even mean it. But take it from me . . . it is humiliating and depressing to have to depend for the simplest tasks on the very people you once taught to walk, talk, and wipe their own backsides after going poo-poo.
And speaking of poo-poo . . .
“Were you talking about me?”
We’ve all had those God-awful bouts of stomach flu, or just eaten a bad shrimp or one too many tacos from time to time. So when was the last time you tried to break into a pack of Imodium tablets?
The outer package is not the problem. It’s the hermetically-sealed, individual little segments inside the box that can’t possibly be breached with your bare hands.
The “Fort Knox” of Packaging
Trust me: There is no way — when you’re already weak and debilitated from losing ten percent of your body weight after those three trips to the bathroom — that you have the strength or the determination to find a way into those little encapsulated caplets without first searching the house for a pair of shears.
But let’s say you’ve got some scissors handy. You carefully snip the plastic front and cardboard back — both of which are tough enough to have been used on the space shuttle — alongside the edge of the very tiny Imodium pill, and proceed to pry the tablet out of its embryonic home with a fingernail . . . only to watch the little white treasure pop loose and shoot halfway across the room, finally landing in a pile of dust bunnies under the bookcase where the vacuum cleaner hasn’t reach in years.
And as you curse the Imodium tablet, the packaging, the manufacturer, and your own misshapen fingers, your digestive system tells you to forget the pills for now because it’s time for another trip to the w.c.
“Uh-oh!”
*. *. *
I certainly understand the need for keeping dangerous products out of the reach of curious toddlers: those drain de-cloggers, toilet bowl cleaners, laundry detergents, medications, and all the other common household items that are hazardous, or potentially even deadly, in their little hands. (Of course, when my kids were little, and we didn’t have tamper-proof containers, we simply kept those items in a locked cabinet. But apparently that’s too much to ask of parents nowadays.)
So having help from manufacturers in protecting our children is a good thing. But pharmacies are thoughtful enough to offer the alternative of easy-open bottles for our prescription medications. Why can’t producers of other goods do the same: provide safety packaging for people with kids, and easy-access containers for those of us for whom life is already a little harder than it used to be?
Maybe I’ll start a crusade. But in the meantime, I just heard someone return home, and there’s that bottle of lotion that needs opening . . .
Erma Bombeck was a funny lady. From the 1960s to the mid-‘90s, she wrote a newspaper humor column and 15 best-selling books about everyday family life — the good, the bad and the ugly parts — and always with wit and a dash of good-natured, common-sense wisdom. And I read most of them, laughing all the way.
Erma Bombeck (1927-96)
I don’t know what made me think of her today; I guess I was just in need of a chuckle. I’ve chosen this one to share with you as I reach for my daily portion of Haagen-Dazs:
“Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the ‘Titanic’ who waved off the dessert cart.”
Question: How do you top a philosophy of life like that?
Answer: If you’ve got any sense, you don’t even try. You just enjoy the dessert.
Once again, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff — this time accompanied by Donald Trump’s wunderkind son-in-law Jared Kushner — came away from a five-hour meeting in Moscow with Vladimir Putin on December 2nd telling his boss, and the world, that he believed the Russian leader “would like to end the war [in Ukraine].” [Jaroslav Lukiv, BBC, December 4, 2025.]
Kirill Dmitriev (pointing) welcomes Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to Moscow – December 2, 2025
For once, Trump was publicly more cautious, saying that he believed the talks in the Kremlin had been “reasonably good,” but that it was too soon to forecast an outcome because “it does take two to tango.” [Id.]
We know that Putin was given the revised peace proposal and four additional documents at the meeting, but we have not been told what those other documents were, and no details of the discussions have been offered from either side. Presumably, Trump does know what was in the documents; and that is worrisome, given his attempts to negotiate one-on-one with Putin while leaving the parties with the most at stake — Ukraine and the rest of Europe — in the dark.
Witkoff’s expressed optimism indicates one of two things: either the real estate developer with no prior diplomatic experience or training is truly colossally ignorant, or he seriously believes he can continue indefinitely pretending to know what he’s doing and the rest of the world will never catch on.
But how can we not have figured it out by now, when, after each meeting with Putin, “negotiations” end up back at square one, the Kremlin’s demands remain unaltered, and Ukraine continues to suffer Russia’s relentless attacks?
And does Trump himself really think the leaders of the pro-Ukraine coalition — experienced politicians and diplomats from the EU, NATO, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland, and others — are going to continue relying on him to decide their future security?
European Leaders announcing new equity fund for Ukraine
If they couldn’t figure it out for themselves, all they’d have to do is consider Putin’s words following last Tuesday’s meeting:
“Either we liberate these territories by force, or Ukrainian troops will leave these territories.” [Id.]
Translation: Back off, or we will destroy you.
In truth, Putin is fooling no one but Trump and his band of merry men. In a conference call among European leaders on the day before the meeting in Moscow, French President Emmanuel Macron is reported to have said:
“There is a possibility that the US will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory without clarity on security guarantees.” [Id.]
And German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was quoted as saying that Ukraine’s President Zelensky must be “extremely careful in the coming days. They are playing games, both with you and with us.” [Id.]
Finnish President Alexander Stubb also chimed in with this warning: “We mustn’t leave Ukraine and Volodymyr [Zelensky] alone with these guys.” [Id.]
Ukrainian President Zelensky with European Allied Leaders
So, no . . . we the people — and especially the leaders of the free world — are not clueless. But if the Trump team thinks we are, then they are even more stupid than we could have imagined. So I’ll spell it out for them in words of one syllable:
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 