Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher and writer whose definitive work on warfare, “The Art of War,” continues to be cited for its wisdom some two and a half millennia later.
One sentence stands out to me as more than a simple observation; it resonates as a prophecy of life as we now know it in the 21st century A.D., in a land that Sun Tzu didn’t know existed:
“An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.”
– Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”
Sun Tzu (544 B.C. – 496 B.C.)
There is such a wealth of wisdom to be gleaned from the writings of the ancients. But we have to be willing to search for it and to remain open to learning from it.
This weekly column began two years ago as a tribute to, and a plea for the release of, the political hostages being held in Vladimir Putin’s chain of prisons and penal colonies. It has grown to include those in similar situations in other authoritarian countries such as Belarus, Azerbaijan and China; and most recently — and perhaps most shockingly — we have added the victims of Donald Trump’s assault on Venezuela.
With all that is happening in the world, and the unprecedented pace at which events are occurring, it is difficult to keep track of all of the tragedies that require our urgent attention and action: Ukrainians freezing and dying as Russia continues to assault their civilian infrastructure; some 3,000 people slaughtered for protesting the brutal regime in Iran; children dying of starvation in Gaza; Greenlanders arming against possible invasion, not by Russia or China, but by the United States; and an ominous silence from the Kremlin in Moscow.
In a world spinning out of control, it is too easy to push other, older matters to the back burner; and that is what seems to be happening to the original hostages. While it is entirely possible that negotiations may be quietly continuing behind closed doors, there has been a notable absence of news concerning new arrests, or the status of those already imprisoned. It is as though their lives have become of secondary importance.
*. *. *
But we cannot — must not — allow that to happen. So, for those known hostages remaining in limbo, here are their names again, with no reported changes since last week other than the addition of the people of Greenland anxiously awaiting word of their fate:
Victims of Greed:
The President, First Lady, and citizens of Venezuela
Europeans Under Threat:
The Nation and the People of Greenland 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
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)
That is when I will respond to an email message from some bogus organization called “The Trump Kennedy Center,” soliciting my membership and financial support.
But this is what I found in my inbox yesterday:
I can only assume they’re getting desperate, digging out the records of memberships from years ago in an effort to fill those empty seats.
From its opening in 1971, I was a proud and happy patron of a real cultural complex in Washington known as The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, when there truly was “something for everyone.” But I know a fake and a rip-off when I see one.
The day that I give one cent of my hard-earned Social Security “benefit” to a bunch of billionaires so that they can have another vulgar, glitzy, gold-plated venue in which to congregate, flaunt their White male Christian superiority, and brag about their latest tax-free scams and sexual conquests . . . well, that will be the day I resign from the human race. Because I would no longer deserve to live among decent people.
I’d sooner send money to a Go-Fund-Me account to buy rubber truncheons for ICE.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is as nasty a piece of work as one could hope to find anywhere on Earth. And his third son (he has six, in addition to six daughters) — Adam, 18 — appears to be the metaphorical apple that has fallen closest to the tree.
(L-R) Adam Kadyrov with his father, Ramzan Kadyrov – August 2025
Considered by some as the most likely son to be groomed as his father’s successor despite not being the eldest, Adam has shown signs of having inherited the paternal evil gene. At the age of 15, a video was posted online showing him beating a Russian political prisoner who had been arrested on an accusation of burning a Koran. Following the incident, Adam received numerous awards, including the title of Hero of the Republic of Chechnya — the region’s highest honor. In Chechnya, that sort of viciousness is what passes for bravery and manliness.
Like his two older brothers, Adam was married off by his father at age 17, and received personal congratulations from Vladimir Putin. In response, Ramzan Kadyrov posted a note on Telegram thanking his buddy Putin, writing:
“You still remain his most devoted FRIEND, preserving this beautiful male tradition.” [RFE/RL’s North Caucasus Service, January 16, 2026.]
Vladimir Putin with Ramzan Kadyrov
I prefer not to speculate on the precise meaning of “this beautiful male tradition.” But whatever its intention, it was suddenly interrupted yesterday by a multi-vehicle accident in which Adam Kadyrov was seriously injured. Sources reported that he had been taken to Chechnya’s largest medical facility in Grozny, and that:
“He is reportedly in intensive care and unconscious. We do not know for certain what is going on with Kadyrov’s son. The roads to the hospital are closed because Adam was brought there. The car lost control while in motion and then crashed into some kind of barrier.” [Id.]
A different source later said that Adam had regained consciousness and was being flown to Moscow for treatment.
Interestingly, a post also appeared on Telegram from a local opposition movement known as NIYSO, saying that Kadyrov’s car had been in a convoy that “was moving at high speed, car after car, when it suddenly encountered an obstacle. As a result the cars began crashing into one another which is why we are receiving information that there are many injured. But the commotion was specifically because of Adam.” [Id.]
Of course, an incident of this sort always raises questions. And when sources — including a shadowy opposition group — talk about a “barrier” or an “obstacle” being the cause of the pileup, the logical first thought is whether this was indeed an accident, or whether Adam Kadyrov was the intended target of a political attack.
Since the two failed attempts by Chechnya to assert its independence from Russia that resulted in two brutal wars in the 1990s and early 2000s, a more-or-less symbiotic relationship has been established between Kadyrov and Putin. Russia retains overall control but grants Chechnya extensive autonomous powers, as well as financial aid and political protection, in exchange for absolute loyalty to the Kremlin and Kadyrov’s maintaining stability — by whatever means — in the region.
Chechen Justice : Kadyrov’s Death Squads
Ramzan Kadyrov, like his father Akhmad before him, is a brutal dictator who enforces strict Islamic law; but there are many Chechen citizens who still seek a break from Russian control and/or a complete change of regime within an independent Chechnya. The political situation is complex and volatile; and if Adam Kadyrov’s “accident” was indeed intentional, we could be seeing the beginning of yet another period of unrest, at the very least.
And that, of course, is the last thing Putin needs while he is still embroiled in his Ukrainian misadventure. So what happens in Chechnya is not likely to stay in Chechnya . . . which is also the last thing the world needs.
One of the most popular pastimes in the Washington White House these days — when they’re not trying to find a new hiding place for the Epstein files — is the Sanctions Game.
Using allegations — sometimes true, sometimes fabricated or grossly exaggerated — such as human rights violations and terrorism, the Trump administration currently has outstanding sanctions against dozens of countries, including Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Russia, Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, Belarus, Venezuela, Syria, Myanmar, Libya, Lebanon, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau . . .
Whew!
Then there are the self-defeating tariffs, which are imposed, increased, decreased, or lifted in accordance with Donald Trump’s mood of the moment; the ever-changing visa restrictions; and the overriding threat of military action when another world leader really pisses him off, or he simply decides he wants to acquire another country.
Our own Republican-led Congress and scaredy-pants Supreme Court refuse to enforce the constitutional and legal limitations placed upon the office of the president. But I have to wonder how long it will take for another country (or countries) to decide to force-feed him some of his own medicine.
Because reason and diplomacy clearly are not working. They rarely do with bullies.
Better known by his middle name, Avram Noam Chomsky is an American professor and intellectual famed for his work in linguistics, political activism and social criticism, as well as his expertise in analytic philosophy and the field of cognitive science. At age 97, he is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona, and professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is also the author of more than 150 books on such varied topics as linguistics, war and politics.
And he has a face that radiates warmth and intelligence, and inspires trust.
Noam Chomsky (1928 – present)
Little wonder, then, that in 2005 he foresaw the direction in which America was headed, and had this to say about it:
“For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.”
– Noam Chomsky, “Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World”
It is a sad fact that often those who are intellectually and morally best qualified to rule nations have no such selfish ambitions, preferring instead to lead lives of quiet dignity. Mr. Chomsky, in his slightly younger days, could have been just what this country needed.
It is our loss; but at least we have the benefit of the wisdom of his writings, if we but take the time to seek it out.
From this late-breaking photo, it appears that Donald Trump — looking as happy as a 3-year-old who has just been rewarded for going a whole day without wetting his pants at nursery school — did accept that non-transferable Nobel Peace Prize from Maria Machado after all.
Not that there was ever any doubt.
It’s just a shame that the rules of the Nobel Institute provide that their prizes are also not revocable, because this one has just lost its meaning.
I’m willing to bet that you Gilbert & Sullivan fans out there are now humming the tune to “A Modern Major-General” from The Pirates of Penzance, which will undoubtedly be stuck in your heads for the rest of the day. Sorry about that.
But life in Venezuela today is no operetta; and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is no major-general. The newest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, she seemed to be Venezuela’s best hope for a democratic future . . . until she immediately offered to “share” her prize with Donald Trump for his supposed contributions to her country’s fight for freedom.
Donald Trump and Maria Corina Machado
Aside from the fact that Nobel prizes are not — in accordance with the rules of the Nobel Institute — transferable, shareable or revocable; and the obvious fact that Trump is the last person in the world to deserve any sort of peace-related award; the mere fact that Machado so swiftly and unhesitatingly acted to mitigate his displeasure at her receipt of the prize by offering to share it with him is, to my mind, indicative of a basic weakness of will and character on her part.
Yes, she is fighting for the leadership of her country, presumably to rid it of the tyrannical rule of President Maduro’s linear successor, Venezuela’s current vice-president Delcy Rodriguez. And it is understandable that anyone in her position would be willing to go to great lengths to achieve that goal. But is toadying to Trump’s basest, ego-driven instincts the right way to do it? Does she not realize that his objective is not to “save” Venezuela, but to take control of it?
Yesterday, Machado met privately with Trump in the White House, following which she said, “I think today is a historic day for us Venezuelans.” After leaving the White House, she told a group of supporters gathered outside the gates:
“We can count on President Trump. I presented the president of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize [in] recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.. . . as a sign of the brotherhood between the United States, the people of the United States, and the people of Venezuela in their fight for freedom against tyranny . . . as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.” [Max Matza, BBC, January 15, 2026.]
Leaving the White House
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Trump had actually accepted the medal, though there was a later report that it had been “left” at the White House. And prior to yesterday’s meeting, he had expressed his reluctance to “appoint” her as the next leader of her country, due to what he considers her lack of sufficient domestic support — as though it is his choice to make, and not for the voting citizens of Venezuela to decide.
And as the meeting was in progress, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters:
“The president was looking forward to this meeting and expecting a frank and positive discussion. He wants to hear directly from Ms Machado about the realities on the ground in Venezuela and what is taking place in the country.” [Id.]
We’ll see what happens in the next few days; but for now, I wouldn’t place any bets, pro or con, on Machado’s chances of an imminent victory.
There is panic down here in the southeastern corner of the State of Georgia, where we are experiencing a cold snap — a predicted low of 20 degrees (F) tonight — and the possibility of as much as an inch of snow on Sunday. Now, I know that to our friends in Greenland, Canada and Finland, that’s a mild winter day; and I was born and raised in New England, where I walked to school between snow banks that were taller than I was. But we’re talking about the South here. If that snow materializes, there will be trouble.
As far as I know, there is no country in the world in which it is illegal to complain about the weather, which is fortunate because we all do it. And natural disasters, of course — droughts, floods, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, earthquakes, pandemics — are, by definition, disastrous. But they’re also fairly common, and we humans have learned to deal with them.
But on this date 107 years ago — January 15, 1919 — something unforeseen happened in Boston, Massachusetts, that, to my mind, redefines the concept of horrible ways to die.
The Great Molasses Flood – Boston, Massachusetts – January 15, 1919
It was an unseasonably warm winter day in Boston, where workers at the United States Industrial Alcohol building near Boston’s North End Park were loading product onto freight-train cars inside the building. It was close to lunchtime when a 58-foot-high tank filled with 2.5 million gallons of crude molasses exploded, the bolts holding the bottom of the tank shooting out like bullets, and the hot molasses spewing forth in an eight-foot-high wave that swept away the freight cars and caved in the building’s doors and windows. The few workers in the cellar of the building were trapped and killed. [“This Day in History,” History.com, January 15, 2026.]
The torrent of molasses then flowed into the street, knocking over the local firehouse and pushing over the support beams for the elevated train line. Five workers at the nearby Public Works Department were drowned and burned. In all, 21 people and dozens of horses were killed by the flood.
It took weeks to clean the molasses from the streets, and even longer to repair the damage. More than 100 lawsuits were filed against the United States Industrial Alcohol Company, resulting in a six-year-long investigation involving 3,000 witnesses and 45,000 pages of testimony. The company was finally held liable, and nearly $1,000,000 — the equivalent of about $19,000,000 today — was paid to settle the claims.
Elevated Train Damage
And now I have yet another nightmare scenario to invade my sleep. I think I prefer the old dreams in which I’m being pursued by killers who keep finding my hiding places, or . . . well, never mind. Suffice it to say, almost anything is preferable to being buried in burning hot molasses.
