It happens to everyone now and then: you dream about someone you haven’t seen in years, and the next day you bump into that person on the street. Or you have a sudden taste for bouillabaisse, and your sister calls to tell you a new French bistro just opened nearby. And, for just a minute, you wonder whether you might — just possibly — have second sight.
The truth is, you probably don’t. I’m sure I don’t. And I know there are such things as true coincidences. But sometimes, something that is undoubtedly just that — a coincidence — can feel a little eerie. And that’s what happened to me yesterday.
This past weekend, I was looking for something different to watch on TV — something light and cheerful — and I stumbled across one of my favorite old TV sitcoms: Cheers. I watched a couple of episodes, beginning with the very first one, and found myself back in the 1980s with Sam and Diane and Coach and Carla and Norm and Cliff. And for the next three days, I watched a couple of episodes each day, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of being back in those years when life seemed lighter.
George Wendt as Norm Peterson
And yesterday, when I heard the ring tone of a news report hitting my phone, and I saw that George Wendt — who played Norm on Cheers — had passed away, for that one brief moment I thought, just maybe . . .
Nah! . . . Who am I kidding? I’m not psychic.
But I did feel a little strange . . . and terribly sad. Because 40 years ago, those characters were almost real to me, and to a lot of people. Along with the casts of The Golden Girls, M*A*S*H, Hogan’s Heroes, Murphy Brown, Newhart, and a raft of others, those people were as familiar to us as our own, real-life friends. They weren’t the villains, serial killers, or psychotics of today’s films; they were good people, fallible but decent, and we wanted to be part of their improbable, fictitious lives.
Quite simply, they made us smile, and feel good. And that is something that has become all too rare today.
So, here’s to you, George Wendt. I’m sure that somewhere in that great barroom in the sky there’s a bar stool and a draft waiting for you . . . and everyone will know your name.
“So many wars, so many shapes of crime … Unholy Mars bends all to his mad will; The world is like a chariot run wild.” – Virgil
On the very first day after the much-touted phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which Trump hailed as a successful step toward the immediate beginning of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Putin’s forces launched more than 100 drones into Ukraine. Ukraine’s air force reported damage on the ground in four regions. [David Brennan, GMA, May 20, 2025.]
I initially called that phone conversation to be, at best, a tie between the two. Trump had said direct talks between Russia and Ukraine would begin immediately, but waffled when he said it was time for the U.S. to step back and leave the negotiations to the two warring parties; Putin had promised nothing but a memorandum of talking points to be prepared for presentation to Ukraine; and Trump had optimistically predicted that limitless, mutually-beneficial trade relations would soon be resumed between the U.S. and Russia — which was what the lifelong deal-maker really wanted in the first place.
But even that limited result turned out to be illusory. Without a single day’s relief, Putin — who had taken the call, not from the Kremlin, but from the lovely Russian resort of Sochi on the Black Sea — returned to business as usual: blasting the life out of the Ukrainian people.
Trump had spoken recently of the possibility that Putin might have been “tripping” him all along, and threatened more severe sanctions if he felt that still to be the case after their one-on-one talk. But once again, he failed to follow through, accepting Putin’s terms without receiving so much as a promise of a temporary ceasefire.
I was wrong: that call did not end in a tie. It was yet another total embarrassment for Trump.
And this is what I’d like to know:
When will Donald Trump get it through his thick skull that Vladimir Putin is by far the shrewder politician, and has not only been “tripping” him for years, but nailing his hide to the wall? Will he ever realize that Putin does nothing without a self-serving reason and a fool-proof end game already worked out? And if Trump does figure it out, will he have the guts to admit it and follow through with appropriate action?
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” – Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2
But this is not a chess game; the future of the world rests on a final resolution. And the world is running out of time.
First came Romania, where a month of political uproar ended yesterday in a win by the liberal, pro-EU mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, with 53.6% of the vote.
Nicusor Dan
Following the annulment of last year’s presidential race due to claims of Russian interference, hard-right nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu was disqualified, and new elections were scheduled.
Dan’s opponent in this month’s race — far-right AUR party leader George Simion — won the first-round vote earlier this month, and was expected to follow through with a second-round victory as well.
But Romanians, eager for a change, put their faith in Dan, who campaigned on promises of fighting corruption and maintaining support for neighboring Ukraine, saying:
“I want to choose the pro-European way. It’s the only way. It’s really important.” [BBC, May 19, 2025.]
And no one is more aware of the importance of this outcome than Romania’s other neighbors, Moldova and Ukraine. Moldova’s President, Maia Sandu, said that “Moldova and Romania stand together, supporting one another and working side by side for a peaceful, democratic, and European future for all our citizens.” [Id.]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had this to add: “For Ukraine, as a neighbour and friend, it is important to have Romania as a reliable partner.” [Id.]
Good news for most of Europe, indeed.
*. *. *
To make the day complete, Poland — already in the capable hands of Prime Minister Donald Tusk — also gave the largest number of votes in its first presidential election round to liberal Mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzaskowski. However, with only 31.3% of the vote, and a 29.5% share going to conservative Karol Nawrocki, a second round will be held on June 1st. [Adam Easton, BBC, May 19, 2025.]
Rafal Trzaskowski
*. *. *
Of course, no election, anywhere in the world, would be complete without follow-up comments from the fun bunch in the Kremlin. And they did not disappoint yesterday, either.
Needless to say, Vladimir Putin was less than pleased with Romania’s choice of West-friendly Dan. His spokesman, the irrepressible Dmitry Peskov, had this to offer:
“We know the story of the candidate who had the best chance of winning. Without bothering to find any justification, he was simply forcibly removed from the race.” [Reuters, May 19, 2025.]
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov
Oh, Dima . . . have you never heard the adage about people in glass houses throwing stones?
Of course, Russia has previously denied any role in Georgescu’s campaign, accusing Romanian authorities of political manipulation.
*. *. *
And then, oddly, into the picture stepped multi-billionaire Pavel Durov. You may remember him as the Russian-born founder of the Telegram messenger app, who holds multiple citizenships (Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates, and Saint Kitts and Nevis). He left Russia when the Putin government pressured him to release confidential information on clients of his first successful venture, VKontakte (VK), and has been dividing his time mainly between France and the UAE.
Pavel Durov
But Durov got into similar difficulty with the French government over some of his, shall we say, less savory Telegram clients. He is currently under investigation, and unable to leave France.
Well, not a lot has been heard from him for a while, until recently, when he accused French intelligence of “pressur[ing] him to suppress voices supportive of hard-right [Romanian] runner-up George Simion, who had pledged to end military aid to Ukraine.” [Reuters, May 19, 2025.]
Despite denials by France’s foreign intelligence service, the Kremlin’s Peskov said:
“The fact that European countries, France, Great Britain, Germany, interfere in the internal affairs of other countries is not news.” [Id.]
In real news — the Trump-Putin match — the first round, based on currently available information, appears to be . . .
A TIE.
Following his much-anticipated, two-hour telephone meeting with Vladimir Putin, Trump announced:
“Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War. The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of.” [Kit Mahere and Donald Judd, CNN, May 19, 2025.]
Saying that the “tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent,” he added in his post on Truth Social:
“Russia wants to do largescale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic ‘bloodbath’ is over, and I agree. There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED.” He also said that Ukraine “can be a great beneficiary on Trade.” [Id.]
While at first face this would appear to be a win for Trump, merely by reason of Putin’s agreeing to undertake direct negotiations with Ukraine (though not specifically with President Zelensky), it only takes a reading of that last paragraph to see that both individuals — Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin — have worked out a means of getting exactly what most benefits them.
Trump, of course, claims bragging rights as the Great Negotiator: the only person in the world able to bring about the desired result.
Putin wins more time . . . time to stretch out the “negotiations” as long as he desires, without having agreed to an immediate ceasefire. His remarks to Russian media following the call indicated that it was “very substantive and quite frank,” and that “Moscow would prepare a memorandum with pre-conditions for a ceasefire.” [RFE/RL, May 19, 2025.]
And together they have opened the door to “TRADE” . . . which in turn implies a lifting of sanctions against Russia, and monetary benefit to both countries.
*. *. *
In short, while the call was certainly worth the long-distance roaming charges, I will hold off on any celebrations until we see what Putin’s “pre-conditions for a ceasefire” turn out to be. If it’s more of the same-old-same-old, then we’re back to square one. But if there are genuine offers of compromise . . . well, then — as Trump said:
Remember those halcyon days of childhood and elementary school, when the seemingly endless hours of reading, writing and arithmetic were interrupted by a 15-minute break for fresh air and exercise known as “recess”?
I recall games of tag, climbing on the jungle gym, playing kickball . . . and the occasional argument erupting between friends. They rarely involved physical combat; instead, name-calling was the favored weapon. And those names could really hurt.
It might start out with something like, “You can’t be on our team because you’re a lousy player.” At which point, the offended child — knowing he wasn’t much of an athlete but being possessed of a superior vocabulary — would summon up the ultimate retort:
“Oh, yeah? Well, you’re a big, fat, ugly, smelly, stupid jerk . . . and you wet your pants!”
And they wouldn’t speak to each other for a day or two, by which time all would be forgotten and forgiven. No one was scarred for life, and I’m reasonably certain most of us outgrew our childish impulses.
But some kids didn’t. Occasionally, we see the bullied become bullies, with an occasional sociopath thrown in for good measure.
And speaking of bullies . . .
You know him; everyone knows him. He is the Bully-in-Chief; the guy who likes nothing better than to have people kowtowing to him, fearing retribution if they step out of line. And if someone dares to insult him, or even disagree with him on even the most trivial subject, he immediately regresses to become again that kid in the playground; summons up his vast vocabulary of insults; and lets loose . . . only now, he shouts his wrath, not just to the kids on the playground, but to the entire world on social media.
And this week’s victims? None other than the multi-talented Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen, neither of whom needs an introduction.
Swift’s sin was publicly endorsing Kamala Harris for president last year. Trump responded at the time — oh, so maturely — “I hate Taylor Swift.”
Wow! That took a lot of thought. And now, months later, he has brought her name up again, since it’s obviously been eating away at the lining of his intestines ever since. His most recent comment, written on social media on Friday, was:
“Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’” [JD Knapp, The Wrap, May 16, 2025.]
Sorry, but no . . . I hadn’t noticed.
The Very “Hot” Taylor Swift
And I wonder what a psychologist would have to say about his frequent use of all upper-case letters. Those, and his bold-Sharpie, mile-high signature. But I digress.
As for Springsteen, he had the audacity to say, during the start of his current European tour, that he considered the Trump administration to be “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous”:
“They are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain that they inflict on loyal American workers. They’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just and moral society. They’re abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom.” [Id.]
And The Boss continued:
“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n’ roll in dangerous times. In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.
“Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring!” [Parul Sharma, Irish Star, May 19, 2025.]
Strong words, indeed . . . but not untrue, and therefore not slanderous. They represent the opinion and the sincere feelings of a loyal, honest, patriotic American — and they contain echoes of the 1960s, when non-violent protests had meaning and effect.
And here is where Trump was at his finest, displaying his literary eloquence, his astonishing self-control, and his uncanny ability to stay on-topic. Again utilizing his very own Truth Social outlet, he offered this to his latest target:
“I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country.
“If I wasn’t elected, it would have been GONE by now! Sleepy Joe didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing, but Springsteen is ‘dumb as a rock’ and couldn’t see what was going on, or could he (which is even worse!)? This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare.’ Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!” [The Wrap, op.cit.]
*. *. *
I am, for once, rendered speechless. I do have one question, however:
Did those last two sentences sound like a threat to anyone else?
It was just yesterday — Saturday, May 17th — when Donald Trump announced that he and Vladimir Putin were scheduled to speak by phone on Monday, May 19th, at 10:00 a.m. EST (4:00 p.m. CET):
“The subject of the call will be … stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade. Hopefully it will be a productive day, a cease-fire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should never have happened, will end.” [RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, May 17, 2025.]
That’s what he said.
And what did Vladimir Putin say in response? Well . . . nothing. Not immediately.
Instead, he launched Russia’s biggest drone attack against Ukraine since the beginning of the war more than three years ago. Several aeas were hit, including the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions in the east, and the capital city of Kyiv, where one woman was killed and at least three others injured, including a four-year-old child.
Kyiv, Ukraine – May 18, 2025
On the same day, Putin — through his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov — finally spoke . . . but not about the upcoming conference call with Trump. Instead, he said that Putin might meet with Ukraine’s President Zelensky, but only if “certain agreements” were reached. Without specifying what those agreements would entail, Peskov went on to say that such a meeting would only be possible if the two sides were to “achieve certain results in the form of agreements.”
He then added: “At the same time, when signing documents that the delegations are to agree upon, the main and fundamental thing for us remains who exactly will sign these documents from the Ukrainian side.” [Dmitry Antonov and Mark Trevelyan, Reuters, May 17, 2025.]
And there it is: yet another gigantic monkey wrench thrown into the diplomatic machinery. In addition to his hard-and-fast demands that Ukraine sacrifice its territory, its security, and its independence, Putin has thrown down the gauntlet in respect of his allegations that Volodymyr Zelensky is not the legitimate president of Ukraine.
This is nothing new . . . he has brought it up before, insisting that Zelensky’s term ended a year ago and that new elections must be held. He of course ignores the fact that Ukraine has been under martial law throughout the war that he, Putin, started . . . and that Ukraine’s constitution provides that no election may be held during times of martial law.
But Putin wants a new election in Ukraine in order to install someone of his own choosing — someone subservient to him, much like Aleksandr Lukashenko in Belarus. And in addition, he has instituted another delaying tactic by which he can continue to batter the Ukrainian people until (he hopes) they can fight no longer.
Putin’s Peace Initiative
So while the first “he” (Trump, in unity with a coalition of European allies) continues to press for serious negotiations, the second “he” (Putin) stalls, dissembles, promises, breaks promises, and lies his face off in order to attain his ultimate goal: reabsorption of Ukraine into a new, revitalized Soviet Union.
*. *. *
Will the promised phone call take place tomorrow? Only Vladimir Putin can answer that.
On the heels of what should have been the start of serious peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, but instead devolved into a 90-minute farce, it seems appropriate to pay special homage today to the largest group of people presently being held hostage by Vladimir Putin: the people of Ukraine.
They are not in Russian prisons or penal colonies; they are innocent of any wrongdoing; no formal criminal charges have been levied against them. Instead, they are trapped in shelters and basements, living in daily fear that at any moment their lives might be taken from them by the next bomb, missile or drone launched by Russia’s forces.
They are as much hostage to Putin’s diabolical machinations as the dissidents, journalists and others confined in his prisons. Their lives have been uprooted, destroyed . . . never to be fully healed. They have lost loved ones, friends and colleagues; sustained permanent physical and emotional injuries beyond measure; seen their homes demolished; had their children ripped from their arms and taken away to Russian “re-education camps.”
They struggle to survive from day to day, their only hope for any sort of future lying with the leaders of the Western nations who continue to fight on their behalf . . . but with the realization that, even when this war finally does come to an end, life will never, ever be as it once was.
And so, with a heavy heart, I add The People of Ukraine to my list of Putin’s hostages, with a prayer that Europe’s Coalition of the Willing, together with the United States, will not give up the fight until they have succeeded in overcoming Putin’s outrageous demands and won a just and lasting peace for the sovereign nation of Ukraine.
*. *. *
And, as always, we honor those hostages still in the prisons and penal colonies, also awaiting their day of justice and freedom:
The People of Ukraine The Azov 12 David Barnes Ales Bialiatski (in Belarus) Gordon Black Andrei Chapiuk (in Belarus) Antonina Favorskaya Konstantin Gabov Robert Gilman Stephen James Hubbard Sergey Karelin Ihar Karney (in Belarus) on Vadim Kobzev Darya Kozyreva Artyom Kriger Uladzimir Labkovich (in Belarus) Michael Travis Leake Aleksei Liptser Ihar Losik (in Belarus) Mikita Losik (in Belarus) Daniel Martindale Farid Mehralizada (in Azerbaijan) Nika Novak Marfa Rabkova (in Belarus) Igor Sergunin Dmitry Shatresov Robert Shonov Eugene Spector Valiantsin Stafanovic (in Belarus) Siarhei Tsikhanouski (in Belarus) Laurent Vinatier Robert Romanov Woodland Vladislav Yesypenko (in Crimea) Yuras Zyankovich (in Belarus)
In case anyone had any doubts as to Vladimir Putin’s intentions with regard to ending his war of attrition against Ukraine, this should help to clarify things for you:
This is the wreckage of the passenger minibus struck by a Russian Lancet drone at 06:17 local time (03:17 GMT) today — the day following the meeting at Istanbul, Turkiye, when an attempt at negotiating a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine . . . or, at the very least, a 30-day ceasefire to allow for serious negotiations . . . failed miserably after just 90 minutes.
But, as is now well known, Vladimir Putin declined to show up for the meetings, sending instead a low-level delegation that obviously had no authority to negotiate anything beyond an exchange of prisoners. And while his dog-and-pony show was taking place in Istanbul, he was in the Kremlin, busily authorizing further attacks . . . this one killing nine and injuring four other civilians on their way to the city of Sumy in a clearly non-military vehicle.
Russian state media reported that their forces had struck a “military staging area” in the Sumy province. [Jaroslav Lukiv, BBC News, May 17, 2025.]
Right.
*. *. *
A day earlier, following a four-day state visit to the Middle East, Donald Trump told reporters that “nothing’s going to happen [regarding Ukraine] until Putin and I get together. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there and I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together.” [Id.]
Those words — coming on the heels of three days of back-and-forth between Trump and Putin as to whether either or both of them would even bother to show up in Istanbul if the other one wasn’t coming — sound very much like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And now, Trump has announced that he will speak with Putin by phone on Monday, May 19th, at 10:00 a.m. EST (4:00 p.m. CET), followed by a call with Zelensky and a group call with Zelensky and “various members of NATO.” In a post on his Truth Social network, he said:
“The subjects of the call will be … stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade. Hopefully it will be a productive day, a cease-fire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should never have happened, will end.” [RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, May 17, 2025.]
Well, that would certainly be the best-case scenario. It’s also the one Trump has been promising the world since he began his presidential campaign.
*. *. *
In the meantime, Yuriy Zarko, chief administrator of the town of Bilopillya, Ukraine, where nine people lay dead among the wreckage of a blue minibus, had this to say:
“This day will become Black Saturday in the history of our town.”
And the citizens of Sumy continue to flee in anticipation of further attacks.
*. *. *
Meanwhile, European leaders continue to discuss measures to be taken to force Putin’s hand; they understand all too well that his word has about as much value as a piece of lint.
Hopefully, by Monday morning, Donald Trump will also have caught on to the truth.
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogroves, And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!”
– Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky
*. *. *
Lewis Carroll penned those intentionally indecipherable words around 1855 — some say, while in the midst of a hallucinogenic experience, either drug- or migraine-induced — as part of his immortal classic, Alice In Wonderland. The poem’s title, Jabberwocky, has long since found its way into English-language dictionaries as a synonym for double-talk, drivel, gibberish, jabber, nonsense, mumbo-jumbo, and the like.
And I would like to add a definition to the list: “Trump-talk.”
Trump-talk is not just Donald Trump’s inability to string more than three words together to form a coherent sentence; it is also the uncanny ability of his team of Wonderland Washingtonians to twist perfectly good groups of words into combinations that are the total opposite of anything resembling fact.
And coming from the man who claims to be the leader of the free world, it is both alarming and — on the world stage — embarrassing as hell. Such as, when he referred to the African nation of Namibia as “Nambia,” likely confusing it with the nearby nation of Zambia. And I shudder to think of what he’d do with Nigeria and Niger . . . or whether he even knows they’re two separate countries. (Or, for that matter, how Niger is actually pronounced.)
But though we may make fun of the malapropisms and the utter absurdities emanating from the mouth of a man who spent the last four years denigrating his predecessor for every stumble and slip-up, they’re not always amusing. In fact, they can be downright dangerous.
For example, there was the stunning comment he made during his first administration, following his now-infamous Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin in 2018. Despite the dire warnings from U.S. intelligence sources, from Congress, and from his advisers concerning Russian interference in U.S. elections, he said the following:
“My people came to me. Dan Coats [then U.S. Director of National Intelligence] came to me, and some others. They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
I wondered at the time whether he meant to say “why it wouldn’t be,” because — like the rest of the country — I didn’t want to believe he could be that gullible. But whether it was inadvertent or intentional, that one word — “would” instead of “wouldn’t” — started a firestorm of accusations against Trump: accusations of collusion, and even mentions of treason.
And it was the biggest, bestest gift he could have given Putin, all tied up in a big red bow.
*. *. *
What made me think of all this . . . beginning with the Jabberwocky . . . was Trump’s comment to the press on his way back to Washington yesterday aboard Air Force One, when they asked about the failure of the Russia-Ukraine talks at Istanbul that day. On the basis of his earlier statements that nothing was likely to be accomplished until he and Putin sat down together, he said that he might call Putin soon, adding:
“He and I will meet, and I think we’ll solve it or maybe not.” [RFE/RL, May 16, 2025.]
“ . . . I think we’ll solve it or maybe not” ??!!!
Now, isn’t that just the kind of decisive, clear-headed thinking we need from our leaders?
*. *. *
Beware the Jabberwock, my friends. Beware the Jabberwock.
The Frumious Bandersnatch, the Jabberwock, and the Jubjub Bird
Oh, well . . . it’s only another three years and eight months. But who’s counting?
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