In one of those “I-don’t-know-whether-to-laugh-or-cry” moments yesterday, I read about the latest “beneficiary” of the U.S. government’s alleged concern over the legal and moral rectitude of others. This time it’s Mexico, and the Mexican government’s handling of the local drug cartels.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum (with you-know-who)
Please understand that I am fully aware of the problem of drug smuggling into the U.S. from various locations including Mexico, and that I am as anxious as anyone to see that problem tackled. So knowing that we are working with the Mexican government to round up the cartels is a good thing.
But there is a vast difference between “working with” and “taking over.”
In the past, the U.S. has dealt with issues surrounding Mexico’s drug trade through diplomatic channels, without openly interfering in Mexican politics — despite knowing that the cartels have long poured money into Mexican political campaigns to their advantage.
Now, however, the Trump administration has begun to employ a more heavy-handed tactic, directly targeting the politicians who are alleged to have accepted the criminals’ bribes. And this is where it gets funny.
In a recent statement, the U.S. Treasury Department accused the cartels of:
“ . . . increasingly using [their] illicit profits to make cash payments to Mexican political campaigns.”
The statement added that the goal of the cartels was to elect candidates:
“ . . . willing to defend the cartels and their interests.” [Mary Beth Sheridan, CNN, July 25, 2026.]
“Come again?”
Doesn’t that sound just a little too familiar? Try substituting “American oligarchs” for the “Mexican cartels,” and “American” political campaigns for “Mexican” ones, and it should ring a bell.
I would really appreciate someone explaining to me the difference between an odious Mexican drug lord and, say, a scum-sucking, antitrust-law-violating, insider-trading, war-profiteering, sex-trafficking American billionaire dirtbag.
Money Talks … In Any Language
And then tell me where the current U.S. administration gets off preaching to anyone about legality or morality.
It has been nearly a year and a half since the last release of an American hostage — Marc Fogel — by the Russian government on February 11, 2025. Among the thousands of political prisoners of various nationalities, there are eight Americans remaining (to my knowledge): David Barnes, Gordon Black, Robert Gilman, Stephen James Hubbard, Michael Travis Leake, Eugene Spector, Joseph Tater, and Robert Romanov Woodland.
The last published article about these eight American hostages that I have been able to find was from The Associated Press on April 10, 2025 — and even that named only five of the eight:
American Hostages Robert Romanov, Gordon Black, Michael Travis Leake, Joseph Tater and Stephen Hubbard (AP Photo)
Here are the other three:
David Barnes
Robert Gilman
Eugene Spector
But what has happened to these men in the interim? Are negotiations for their release being carried out behind closed doors? Or have they been abandoned and forgotten in the midst of the chaos of the Trump administration? What is their present condition? Are they even still alive?
Let me state unequivocally: This lengthy silence is UNACCEPTABLE. The United States — my United States — does NOT abandon its citizens, whether military or civilian.
And the war criminal in the Kremlin cannot be allowed to continue holding foreign individuals, American or otherwise, as bargaining chips for his endless demands.
To the U.S. Department of State, members of Congress, and the occupant of the White House, I reiterate — for the 133rd week — that it is past time to BRING THEM HOME. And, while the public obviously does not need to know the delicate details of any ongoing negotiations, we do at least deserve some assurance that discussions are indeed continuing.
And that of course includes all of the other political prisoners to whom we pay tribute each week. Again, they are:
*. *. *
Prisoners of War:
The 20,000+ 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:
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 Mikhail Loshchinin Grigory Melkonyants Boris Nadezhdin Nika NovakSvetlana 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 Laurent Vinatier Robert Romanov Woodland (American)
You have not been, and will not be, forgotten. Stay strong.
On those days — and there have been so many lately — when it all seems too much, that the world is spinning off its axis, that things will never be right again, I try to think of worse times in history, and how people have gotten through them.
And what better example of fortitude and perseverance than the people of Europe during World War II, and the wisdom and courage of leaders such as Britain’s Sir Winston Churchill. He always seemed to find just the right words to rally his people when days were at their darkest, as for instance:
“It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.”
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
What is required of us Americans at this pivotal point in our history — besides patience and fortitude — is to exercise our constitutional right to control our own destiny by voting in November, choosing democracy over autocracy, and making the changes that will place us back on the right path: the path to liberty, dignity, and prosperity that have always been the hallmarks and the foundation of the real America.
I am here today to ask the good people of Canada to forgive the people of the United States for the continuing fallout from our 2024 presidential election. It was unquestionably a disastrous mistake, from which we and the rest of the world are suffering mightily. But we (the people) mean no harm, to ourselves or anyone else . . . least of all to our stalwart neighbors and friends to the north.
Neighbors and Friends Forever
I say “we,” because I am an American and therefore cannot distance myself from my countrymen (countrypersons?), and must share responsibility for the bad times as I have shared in all the benefits of the good years. But in fairness to myself, I didn’t vote for you-know-who. Still, I feel I have an obligation to speak up.
I have been to Canada twice. The first time was on my very first cruise experience, when we sailed out of Boston to Bar Harbor, Maine, and then to Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia; Charlottetown, PEI; along the St. Lawrence River to beautiful Quebec City; and finally to Montreal. During that week, I fell in love twice: with cruising in general, and with Canada in particular.
Quebec City
The following year, I repeated the experience on the west coast, spending two glorious days in Vancouver, B.C., before sailing up the Alaskan inner passage and riding the White Pass train from Skagway into Canada’s Yukon Territory. Again, I was in awe of the warmth and friendliness of the Canadian people, and of course the incredible beauty of the country itself.
At the Border
From a political standpoint, I can’t think of two other countries anywhere in the world that have been as close friends for as long as we have. In this century, you have been there for us in times of natural disasters and, most notably, after the horrific terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
And now the aberrant occupant of the Oval Office has the audacity — and the incomprehensible stupidity — to try to hold you responsible for the winds that have carried the smoke from your catastrophic wildfires across the border into “our” air.
Nature’s Fury- Canada, July 2026
I assure you that the vast majority of Americans are intelligent enough not to believe that you could (or would) alter the course of the wind. While we are not thrilled by the effect on our air quality, we realize that the far greater damage is being done to your territory and your people, and that this is not some insane, diabolical scheme to get even with us for that last election.
I did read that we have finally sent some help, though I’m not sure how much. And there are those — including a few in our own Congress — who would still hold you responsible for the climate conditions that have caused an increase in wildfires . . . while stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that it is largely our own environmental “policies” that have brought about so many weather-related catastrophes: not just fires, but increased heat waves, droughts, and floods as well.
So again, I apologize for all of it: for the ignorance, the betrayals, the blatant criminality. And I ask that you be patient with us during this temporary lapse (or collapse) of personal and political normalcy. We the people are working on it; and in the meantime, we need the understanding and moral support of our Canadian friends more than ever before.
This is an update of last year’s birthday homage to the person who unquestionably had the greatest positive influence on my life . . . or at least the last 47 years of it. He was my boss, my mentor, my friend, and the father figure I would have chosen if we could choose our parents.
I haven’t changed a word; only the age he would have been today.
*. *. *
Happy birthday, Walter . . . you old curmudgeon.
Walter Sterling Surrey (July 24, 1915 – January 30, 1989)
He would have been 111 years old today; and I can’t even begin to imagine how cantankerous he would have become by now. But I’d give anything to have him back here, fixing the things that have gone wrong with the world since he left it in 1989.
I didn’t know him in his earlier years, of course — the learning period at the University of Virginia and Yale University Law School; the years of his service in the OSS during World War II; his time in the State Department where he was the chief legal draftsman of both the Marshall Plan and the NATO Treaty; or when he worked with Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger to reopen U.S. relations with China.
What I remember are those ten years of working with him — from 1979 to 1989 — when he was senior partner of the Washington-based international law firm of Surrey & Morse, advising his corporate clients on the fine art of doing business in numerous countries throughout the world.
I remember the calls from the State Department seeking his advice on a variety of delicate issues.
I remember his unsolicited advice to the Kremlin in 1983, via a contact in the Soviet Embassy in Washington, when Korean Airlines Flight 007 was shot down by Soviet fighter jets, with the newest member of our firm onboard.
I recall the meetings in our offices with Soviet officials, delegations from Beijing, and representatives of the widow of the last Shah of Iran.
And how could I ever forget our colossal fights when he was in one of his infrequent, but notorious, bad moods — usually because he wasn’t feeling well but refused to stay at home?
But most of all I remember his wicked sense of humor, his generosity, and his limitless capacity for drawing people to him and caring for them as though they were his own family . . . myself included.
For his sake, I’m glad he’s not around to see what has happened to our country — in fact, to the entire world — in his absence. But selfishly, how I wish he were here . . . running me ragged with his boundless energy and enthusiasm; sitting me down to talk things out when he sensed that I had a personal problem; and affectionately calling me “Bitch” on those rare occasions when I might verbally get the better of him.
And I remember, with renewed pain, the feeling that part of me had also died when I got the call from his wife that dreadful day in January of ‘89.
So, happy 111th, Walter. Thanks for giving me a decade of the most interesting, most frustrating, most educational, most exhausting, and most fun-filled years of my life.
On this date, just one year ago, I published the following piece on the status of negotiations toward a ceasefire in Ukraine, titled “Another Day, Another Failure.”
Russia-Ukraine Meeting at Istanbul – July 23, 2025
*. *. *
‘To the surprise of absolutely no one, yesterday’s meeting in Istanbul between the Russian delegation — led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky — and the Ukrainian team — headed by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov — concluded after barely an hour with an agreement to swap 1,200 prisoners of war and for Russia to return the bodies of 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
“But no movement toward a ceasefire.
“And just hours later, the two countries once again exchanged drone strikes, killing two and injuring another eleven people in the Russian resort city of Sochi, with three killed in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and several injured in Cherkasy and Zaporizhzhia.
“In addition, a Russian missile attack struck — not a military facility, as they consistently claim to be targeting — but Odesa’s 200-year-old Pryvoz Market: an historic landmark, and one of the two most popular markets in Odesa.
“Ahead of the meeting at Istanbul, Ukraine’s Umerov said that Kyiv’s priority was to organize a meeting between Presidents Zelensky and Putin before the end of August; while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said that they did ‘. . . not expect a breakthrough. A breakthrough is hardly possible.’ [Laura Gozzi, BBC News, July 24, 2025.]
“Peskov said further:
“‘They [Ukraine] are trying to put the cart slightly ahead of the horse,’ adding that there was a great deal of work yet to be done before such a meeting could take place. [Id.]
“Once again, Putin has made it quite clear that he has no intention of entering into peace negotiations in the foreseeable future.”
*. *. *
And here we are, 365 days later, watching history once again repeat itself:
Marco Rubio (L) and Sergey Lavrov (R) – July 23, 2026
This time it was a 35-minute meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the annual gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila, Philippines.
Thirty-five minutes devoted to a possible solution to a war now in its fifth year. Speaking to reporters, Rubio characterized the talks as “good” and “frank,” but said that fresh proposals would be needed in light of the failure of earlier attempts:
“The United States . . . is prepared to play a constructive role in bringing about an end to a senseless war. . . . You think we settled the war in Ukraine in our 30 minutes here in Asia? That’s not the way it works.” [Alex Raufoglu, RFE/RL, July 23, 2026.]
Russia’s Foreign Ministry later issued a statement expressing the Kremlin’s dissatisfaction with U.S. supplies of weapons to Ukraine, and accused European allies of “destabilizing policies [seeking a] strategic defeat” for Russia. [Id.]
The Russian side again raised the issue of agreements they claim were reached at the Trump-Putin meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, nearly a year ago. But the U.S. continues to deny that any meaningful terms were agreed upon in Anchorage — only repeated demands by Putin for concessions on Ukraine’s part. And yesterday, Rubio told reporters:
“We’ll have to find new suggestions and new ideas. Certainly that one was not acceptable to Ukraine at the time, and I don’t think it’s acceptable to them now either. In fact it’s probably less acceptable to them.” [Id.]
On his part, Lavrov had little to say. When questioned by reporters as he descended an escalator following the meeting, he either sidestepped or didn’t hear the questions. Pausing a few seconds, he finally replied to one reporter:
“Nice hairstyle.” [Id.]
Nice dodge, Mr. Lavrov.
Screen shots from RFE/RL article [Id.]
So, again, “much ado about nothing.”
But no story concerning Moscow would be complete without two cents’ worth from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said that, while they are not overly optimistic about the prospects of a speedy end to the war, he does hope that U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would return to Moscow when they are available, in order to continue negotiations.
And we all know how useful they’ve been so far — or are likely to be in the future. If I may be permitted one more brief quote from Shakespeare, this time from Macbeth:
“It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
On July 23, 1973, in the midst of the Watergate scandal, President Richard M. Nixon refused to turn over 3,700 hours of secretly-recorded meetings and telephone conversations to the Senate Watergate Committee and Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, citing executive privilege.
Archibald Cox (Center)
Sound familiar? It should.
But in 1973, we had a Congress, a Justice Department, and a Supreme Court dedicated to doing their jobs, upholding the Constitution of the United States, and pursuing accountability for all criminal acts, no matter who had committed them. They were not subservient to one man in the Oval Office.
Richard Nixon was ultimately held accountable. It took another year and a day; but on July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Nixon that the president must hand over the tapes . . . and he did. Those tapes clearly implicated him in the Watergate cover-up, leading to the preparation for a possible impeachment vote in the House of Representatives. But before they could vote, Nixon did what was best for his country, his family and himself: he resigned on August 9, 1974, allowing the nation to begin its long healing process. [“This Day In History,” History.com, July 23, 2026.]
Richard M. Nixon’s Resignation Speech
If only history would repeat itself yet again, and bring honor and accountability back to our government . . . allowing us to heal and to rebuild once more.
I’m not a professional writer; the only thing I’ve ever had published was an op.ed. piece for the Washington Post back in the ‘90s, and that was for free. But I enjoy the thought process, and playing with language, and sending my thoughts and feelings out into the universe. That’s why I started this blog.
That . . . and boredom. I was retired, with plenty of time on my hands and nothing challenging to fill it. So I simply started writing one day, and never stopped.
Which is why I was amused today to find this quote by the author of Homeless Souls and dozens of other works of fiction, at a time when I was feeling particularly uninspired and the words were being evasive:
“The best way to write is to lock yourself in a small room until you become so bored that the only thing left to do is write.”
– Jack Freestone
Now, if only I could interest someone in my book . . .
This week’s departure of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is not expected to precipitate any major changes in the country’s Ukraine policy. In fact, the newly appointed Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has already unequivocally said as much, announcing that his first official international calls would be to Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.
Andy Burnham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Needless to say, that did not sit well with the folks in Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov — once again attempting to convince the world that Russia is not the villain in this “special military operation” — stated on July 21st that they construe Burnham’s statement as an indication of London’s intention to continue doing everything possible to extend the conflict in Ukraine, saying:
“This is a fact that we, of course, record.” [Izvestia, July 21, 2026.]
Indicating that they do not hope for any improvement in relations with London, he added:
“No, we don’t cherish such hopes, we don’t have such hopes.” [Id.]
According to Peskov, there are no plans as yet for a meeting between Putin and Burnham.
So, while most of the world has offered a warm diplomatic welcome to the new Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin has simply re-drawn his red line in the sand. But that hardly comes as a surprise; diplomacy has never been his strong suit.
Vladimir Putin: A Warrior, Not a Diplomat
Meanwhile, the combatants continue exchanging attacks — Ukraine striking Russian military forces, and Russia taking aim at Ukraine’s civilian population and infrastructure — in what is feeling more and more like another Hundred Years War.
Russian Strike on UNICEF Warehouse in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine
Retaliatory Strike on Russian Military Supplier in St. Petersburg
. . . Vladimir Putin’s military takes out a UNICEF warehouse in Kyiv Oblast, destroying $3.9 million in humanitarian aid earmarked for Ukraine’s children and their families. [Euromaidan Press, July 21, 2026.]
UNICEF Warehouse – Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine – July 19, 2026
Gone are the generators, drinking water, hygiene supplies, and other life-sustaining necessities being donated and stored for the coming winter.
This was no military target: it was a known humanitarian aid facility, deliberately hit as part of Putin’s campaign — along with his fire-bombing of Ukraine’s wheat fields — to starve into submission the people who have thwarted his invasion for nearly five years.
This is a special kind of evil, and the world must not give in to it; for if we do, it will overtake us all.
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 