Never mind that food just tastes so good. That’s not my point. I’m thinking way back to the Creation, when — according to Genesis — the first people were plunked down in the Garden of Eden where they found that accursed apple tree. And their instincts — and their growling stomachs — told them that those apples were probably edible, and tasted good, and would stave off the hunger pangs. And they — or at least, Adam — gave in to temptation and that’s when all the trouble began. He made his first independent decision, and it was a bad one.

Okay, so that’s not exactly how it goes. And I’m not really talking about temptation anyway; it’s hunger that got me started. I wanted a snack tonight, but I knew I didn’t need the extra calories, and I began wondering why all creatures on earth were created with the systems we are blessed (or cursed) with. Since I’m more familiar with humans than, say, amphibians or creepy-crawly things, let’s use us as an example.

We have a digestive system, a circulatory system, a skeletal system, a nervous system, a respiratory system, an excretory system, a reproductive system, and on and on . . . including something called an “integumentary” system, which I had never heard of either but which apparently includes the skin and sweat glands and other stuff. But my question is: Why? Was it all really necessary? Couldn’t we have been designed to simply function, without all the organs and arteries and bones and such? Then we wouldn’t need food for fuel, and it follows that we wouldn’t need an excretory system, either.

And look at all the things that wouldn’t go wrong. Starting at the bottom . . . no food, then no poop, and thus no colon, no intestines, no anus. And that little dangling appendix thing — whose idea was that, anyway? Totally useless, except for the surgeon who gets to paid remove it.

Uphill to the kidneys and bladder: no drinks, then no pee; no need. All that digestive stuff . . . obviously, also not required. As for a “bile duct” — yuck.

Finding a replacement for the reproductive system might be a bit of a problem, but maybe we could just regenerate like amoebas, through something called binary fission. If you don’t remember your 10th-grade biology discussion of those little asexual creatures, you should look it up; it’s very cool. And it doesn’t require two people of opposite genders, so think of all the emotional agony we’d be avoiding. But we’d also be losing . . .

Well, maybe we could just keep the romance.

On the next level are the parts that breathe for us: lungs, bronchial tube, trachea. Just think — no common colds, no upper respiratory infections, no Covid. And then the heart: since it’s only metaphorically the center of love, who needs it? It only causes heart attacks, and there’d be no blood for it to pump anyway (see below). Then there’s more breathing and swallowing parts. We’ve already explained those away. There would be no lungs, so we won’t need nasal passages. No food? That esophagus thing is gone, along with the dual plagues of reflux and hiatal hernias. Nice.

There are also the veins, arteries and blood vessels of the circulatory system. If we didn’t have those, they couldn’t get blocked and no one would “bleed out” because, again, there’d be no blood. Remember . . . no heart to pump it anyway.

And tucked in with all those organs and pipes (no, not pipe organs!) is the skeletal system. As someone with major back problems, I’d love to be able to do away with that, or at least replace it with something that doesn’t fracture, compress, or degenerate. And we wouldn’t shrink as we got older. Also those knee things — they’re just a pain . . . literally. And without those itty-bitty nerves, there would be no pain anywhere. So the bully next door could attack your knees (if you had knees) with a baseball bat, and you’d never feel a thing, except the satisfaction of hitting him back. But no . . . you wouldn’t have that, either, because he wouldn’t feel it. Well, moving on . . .

And finally, there’s the brain — the biggest troublemaker of all. Because that’s where we humans think up all of the ways to make ourselves, and each other, miserable. No brain, no fear. No brain, no pain. No brain, no hatred. No hatred, no wars. No wars . . . See what I mean? Not just the most useless organ; it’s also the most dangerous.

Now, covering all of this junk is the body’s biggest organ: the skin. Yes, our skin is an organ. I know . . . I didn’t believe it either. Anyway, it is, and it’s one we might want to keep, if only for aesthetic purposes. But maybe we could find a way to avoid things like sunburn, warts, moles, and those curses of old age: liver spots and wrinkles.

Just think: get rid of all of those other parts, and we’d finally have knocked out every form of cancer, neuromuscular diseases, diabetes, dementia, and so on. How nice would that be? And we’d all just be created with an expiration date stamped on the heel of one foot where we wouldn’t have to see it all the time; and when that date arrived, we’d simply be sent to that great recycling center in the sky. Painlessly.

*. *. *

So it’s back to my original point: why do we need to eat? Wouldn’t it be better to be unfeeling, unthinking, robotic creatures who could never know pain, or hatred, or hunger, or fear? But, come to think of it, also no flashes of inspiration, or creativity, or love, or anticipation, or joy . . .

Oh, nuts! Why do I do that? Why do I always find a way to destroy my own inspirations? So it’s back to the drawing board . . . and a big, gooey, chocolate brownie to sustain me through the rewrite.

TTFN,
Brendochka
10/23/23

Hallelujah! There is one piece of upbeat political news this week, and it comes to us direct from Poland — the beautiful land of Solidarity, Chopin, and kielbasa. The Polish people held an election, and the good guys won.

Poland’s so-called “Law and Justice” party — popularly referred to by its Polish acronym, PiS — has ruled the country’s parliament with a clear majority for the past eight years, headed by Jaroslaw Kaczynski — an illiberal, leftist, Russia-friendly hopeful for the seat of Prime Minister. Kaczynski has promised (among other things) that, if he were to be elected, all aid to Ukraine would immediately cease.

Okay, deep breath now, because this gets . . . well . . . complicated. Don’t worry if you don’t completely get it; I’m not even sure I do, but this is what I’ve read:

The election — which saw a record 74.4 percent turnout of voters — did not return Law and Justice to Parliament as the majority party, though it did receive the largest number of votes. In fact, neither of the two largest parties — Law and Justice nor Donald Tusk’s more liberal (and pro-Ukraine) Civic Coalition — has a clear majority in Parliament. However, Civic Coalition is joining with two smaller parties to then constitute a majority and gain control of the Parliament. They have also boosted their control of the upper chamber Senate, winning 66 seats to Law and Justice’s 34.

It is now up to President Andrzej Duda to nominate the candidate to be the next Prime Minister. Under the Polish Constitution, he has 30 days from the election within which to call a new Parliamentary session. He then must nominate a candidate for Prime Minister within 14 days of that time; and that nominee has an additional 14 days to win a vote of confidence in Parliament.

Stay with me . . . it’s not much farther now.

Traditionally, the President chooses the leader of the largest party to try to form a government; but in this case, since there is no chance of that being his Law and Justice party, he could delay the appointment of a Prime Minister and thus also the formation of a stable government. If that happens, the next Prime Minister is to be chosen by the Parliament.

If President Duda nevertheless sticks with Law and Justice (his favored party), it may be well into December before Civic Coalition has its chance to form a government. (This is beginning to sound like the election of a new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives . . . though for vastly different reasons.) There is apparently a way to speed up the process, by means of Tusk’s opposition party striking a coalition deal with the signatures of at least 231 Members of Parliament, thus confirming his party’s lock on forming a government.

Confused? I did warn you! But there’s more. The future for Poland is equally unclear, even assuming a victory for the Civic Coalition and the appointment of Mr. Tusk as Prime Minister. Because the Civic Coalition party will still have a difficult time passing legislation; it will not have the three-fifths of votes in Parliament required to override any vetoes by President Duda, and his term does not end until 2025. So their first job will be to purge Parliament of as many corrupt Law and Justice appointees as possible, replacing them with competent, unaligned individuals to give them the three-fifths they need. That won’t be easy.

Civic Coalition also promises to clean up Poland’s state media, which has become Law and Justice’s propaganda arm; to expose the rot in many of Poland’s non-governmental enterprises; and immediately to prosecute anyone and everyone guilty of “breaking the constitution and rule of law.” The level of corruption throughout Polish society during the Duda-Kaczynski years is almost incomprehensible, and will take time to be rooted out. But this election could prove to be the first step in the right direction; and every journey begins with that first brave step forward.

*. *. *

But there is far more riding on that first step than the future of Poland alone. There have been leftist movements in other East European countries, such as Hungary, Slovakia, and possibly even the Czech Republic . . . not to mention the openly Putin-controlled Belarus. Russia’s westward march must be stopped. It has already generated all-out war in Ukraine, whose people are fighting valiantly to defeat Putin’s advances. The world needs Poland, and its neighbors, to stand up and resist before they, too, become Putin’s victims.

So to Donald Tusk and the members of his Civic Coalition party, and to those honest members of the Parliament of Poland: Powodzenia. The best of luck!

*. *. *

Now, about that kielbasa I mentioned in the beginning, without which no proper Polish celebration would be complete . . . eat hearty! Your work has just begun.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/22/23

“Who is John Galt?”

That was the first line of an 1,168-page novel titled Atlas Shrugged, written in 1957 by Russian-born author Ayn Rand. It was her second, and by far the better, novel based on her doctrine of Objectivism — a philosophy far too complex to try to explain here, even if I completely understood it myself. And as I read through the weighty volume back then, I found myself caught up in her belief system, certain that she had found the answer to all of the world’s problems. I was a teenager, and I knew it all.

Then I came to the end of the book, closed the cover, and said, “Wow!” That was the world I wanted to live in. But days and weeks went by during which I thought about it from time to time, and one day — to my total surprise and disappointment — I came to the conclusion that it was absolute bullshit. Ms. Rand had invented a world of just two types of people: pathetic weaklings whose lack of intelligence, foresight and morality (as she defined it) would inevitably bring about the collapse of the world as we know it; and — at the distant opposite end of the spectrum — individuals of such superior intellect and ability that they would be capable of rebuilding, in their perfect image, both the physical infrastructure and the political and economic bases of a brave new world. It’s not clear to me where all the millions of reasonably intelligent, competent, hard-working people in the mid-spectrum would come from to do the actual work of rebuilding and operating this new society, as they seemed not to exist at all in Ms. Rand’s world; but I’m sure the answer is in there somewhere, if only I had the desire to reread the whole book.

And incidentally, the doctrine of her superheroes is centered around their allegedly indisputable belief that selfishness and greed are good; helping others is counterproductive and therefore bad; and that it is only in obeisance to the almighty dollar that anything worthwhile can ever be accomplished. I wonder if it might be Ms. Rand’s reaction to having lived the first 21 years of her life in Russia and the Soviet Union (1905-26) before moving to the United States and embarking on an all-encompassing love affair with capitalism, then carrying it to the nth degree and beyond. At least, that’s my very simplistic takeaway from it; you really have to read it to get the full impact. (But don’t watch the movie; it’s dreadful.)

Anyway, in Ms. Rand’s fantasy world, “Atlas” — the metaphor for any and all of her superior beings — simply withdrew from the world and allowed it to collapse under the weight of the lesser mortals. Atlas had shrugged. And then the small complement of supermen began rebuilding it from scratch, and everyone supposedly would live happily ever after. John Galt, by their way, was their leader: the perfect human being.

It was, clearly, fiction. But fascinating fiction.

*. *. *

Or was it completely unreal? If I didn’t know better, I might be inclined to believe that that’s more or less what’s happening to our world today (but minus the hero/antihero characterizations). Think about global warming, causing wildfires, receding waters, droughts, floods, frequent natural disasters, the extinction of multiple species. Crumbling infrastructures: buckling roads, collapsing buildings, failing bridges and dams. The worst possible selection of people, concerned only with their personal agendas, being elected to the highest offices; economies sinking; people attacking one another out of sheer frustration and fear. And we’re too busy to deal effectively with any of that — too busy fighting wars in Ukraine and Israel, and trying to avoid wars between other adversaries.

It feels like a world on the edge of Armageddon . . . and it may well be. But where is our Atlas to save us from ourselves? We have to do something, before he shrugs. But who will take the lead? Well, let’s see. Both Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have so graciously offered their services as negotiators in Russia/Ukraine and Gaza/Israel, presenting themselves as the best-qualified individuals to bring peace to parts of the world that have never known real peace. That sounds wonderful . . . if by “peace” you mean a surrender to worldwide totalitarianism. I seem to recall that that’s already been tried. Ask the North Koreans, the Cubans, the Chinese how that’s working out for them.

I cannot solve the planet’s problems; I can only ask the same questions that most of the world’s people are asking. My first question, though, would be . . .

Where is John Galt?

Brendochka
10/21/23

Forget about CNN’s “Style” section. For newsworthy items not related to Israel, Ukraine, Russia, China, Afghanistan, or Lower Slobbovia, the place to go is directly to their “Entertainment” section. I had no idea how much was happening in the world when I wasn’t looking. Silly me, worrying about whether the planet was about to explode while Taylor Swift and Jada Pinkett-Smith were just crying out for my attention. In only one day, here’s what I found (headlines only; there isn’t enough time in the day to read them all):

Obviously, we start with the lovely Ms. Taylor Swift, who seems to be everywhere these days. According to CNN, she “has given theaters a sugar rush.” How sweet is that?

On a sad note: Suzanne Somers, whom we slightly older folks remember from the hit TV comedy “Three’s Company,” passed away this week, just a day before her 77th birthday. She fought the good fight.

Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith. She says they’re in “a beautiful place.” Separated, contemplating divorce, but in a beautiful place? Hmm …

Pete Davidson wants to find a date for his mother. What?

Stop the presses! Chris Evans is “enjoying life” as a newlywed. Well, duh!

Taylor Swift (part 2) has just spent a whirlwind week with Travis Kelce, capped off with Saturday Night Live cameo appearances. Good for them. (I recall whirlwind weeks when I was younger; but I can’t say I was ever invited to appear on SNL. Where did I go wrong?)

Michael Caine (he’ll always be Alfie to me) is finally retiring from acting. He’s 90, for goodness sake; he deserves to retire. But he says he’ll stay busy with other pursuits. Go for it, Michael!

Britney Spears has written a memoir. Considering the parts of her life that have already been made public, I think I’ll pass.

Taylor Swift (part 3) is “back on the bleachers” for Travis at the Kansas City Chiefs game. A loyal fan is she. Woo-hoo!

“Lenny Kravitz flaunts his maleness in almost uncomfortably sexy new music video.” Right up there with Britney’s book. Pass.

Taylor Swift (part 4) says that Beyonce showing up for her movie premier was a “fairytale.” I’ll just bet.

On the sad side again, Bruce Willis is no longer “totally verbal.” Time does not always treat us fairly.

Taylor Swift (part 5): I told you she was everywhere! This time, she was attending her Eras Tour concert movie premier in Los Angeles. Where does she find the time?

Chris Rock allegedly asked Jada Pinkett-Smith (yes, it’s her again) out on a date after she revealed that she and Will had been separated since 2016. Didn’t say whether she accepted. That’s quite a performance the Smiths have been putting on for seven years; they’re better actors than I realized.

Guess Who (part 6): Taylor’s (I feel we know her well enough by now to be on a first-name basis) Eras Tour film was shown at The Grove, an “upscale shopping mall” in L.A. For the premier, the entire mall was closed to shoppers. I wonder who compensated the merchants for their losses.

The return of “Monk.” A reunion movie will be coming soon to Peacock. It’s one of my favorite TV series, and I love Tony Shalhoub. The movie is titled “Mr. Monk’s Last Case” — I just hope it doesn’t have a sad ending. I couldn’t bear that. Now, could someone please tell me where I find Peacock?

Poor Arnold Schwarzenegger has finally had to admit he is a “mere mortal when it comes to aging.” You’re 76, Arnie. Did you expect to stay toned forever? There is that little thing called gravity, you know. Sorry.

And finally . . .

Taylor Swift (parts 7, 8 and 9): She and Beyonce “understand the power of concert films” (whatever that means); Travis Kelce’s mother says all the Taylor Swift attention “feels like an alternative universe” (whatever that means); and there are five theories why Taylor may be dating Travis (I don’t even want to know what that means).

*. *. *

Well, wasn’t that fun! And it was all from one CNN Entertainment column — and only the choicest items at that. I wonder how one becomes famous enough to get their name into those columns. I mean, I’ve done a lot of interesting things that people ought to know about. Like the time I sat in the bleachers, freezing my buns off, watching a football game I cared nothing about, just to keep my sister company. Or the time I enjoyed life as a newlywed. Or the day I looked in the mirror and admitted I was getting old. But nobody cared . . . not then, not now.

*. *. *

I hope this little excursion made your day a little brighter — it certainly made me smile. I think it was the Lenny Kravitz maleness thing that did it for me.

See you next time,
Brendochka
10/20/23

I am a born middle-of-the-roader. Not behind the wheel, but politically. I tend to see both sides of an argument, which is probably why I did so poorly in debate class. But I wonder if it might not qualify me as an arbitrator in some of today’s world crises: Russia vs. Ukraine, or Israel vs. Gaza, Iran, Iraq, Syria . . . Seriously, though, there are two sides to nearly all human conflicts. Even the Israel-Hamas war.

I am pro-Israel, and always have been. I’m also Jewish, so that’s pretty much a no-brainer. But I am first of all a human being, and I am pro-innocent people from everywhere. And that includes the Palestinian civilians who happen to be living in Gaza. They did not invade Israel; Hamas did. The civilians did not kill 1,400 innocent Israelis; Hamas did. The Palestinian civilians did not start this thing. Hamas did!

Does Israel have a right to respond, and to defend itself against further attacks? Damned right, they do! Every country does. And no one does it more quickly or more effectively than Israel. Do they have a right to be angry? furious? livid? pissed off? You bet they do. But . . .

But whatever happened to the idea of a proportional response? Israel is rightfully angry/furious/livid/pissed off because 1,400 of its civilian citizens were brutally slain, and scores of others taken hostage — not in a true military action, but by a horde of barbarians in the most savage way imaginable. But does that warrant more than a week of ceaseless bombing and shelling of thousands more innocent civilians on the other side of the fence? Or the creation of a humanitarian crisis for millions more innocents? In my humble opinion, it does not. It is not reasonable. It is not proportional. It is not acceptable. It is, in the most literal sense, overkill.

The State of Israel, and the Jewish people as a whole, have always stood for peace, honor, decency. We believe in a just God. There is no decency or honor or justice in what Hamas has done; but neither can I believe that a response of the magnitude we are seeing from the State of Israel today is decent or honorable or just. It’s just unchecked anger. That anger should be directed at the guilty party — Hamas — not the general population of Gaza. It is Hamas alone that should be Israel’s target.

I still stand firmly behind Israel; but I cannot stand behind the extent of Mr. Netanyahu’s response. My voice will never reach his ears, but hopefully someone else’s will . . . and soon.

Just sayin’ . . .

Shalom,
Brendochka
10/19/23

I should have thought of it before. In a desperate attempt to find some interesting news items that weren’t dismal, I decided to check CNN’s “Style” news section, and found that people do occasionally do things besides kill each other. And some of those things — in my opinion, at least — are rather impractical, to put it mildly. For example, bidding enormous amounts of money for the strangest things.

The first item that caught my eye was C-3PO’s head. Yes, that C-3PO: the wise and witty, shrewd and shiny ‘droid we all loved from the original Star Wars movie. In fact, we loved him so much, the current owner is counting on earning a cool $1.2 million . . . just for his head. His hands and feet are to be auctioned separately. I don’t know why he was dismembered, or what has happened to the rest of his body; but for display purposes, I guess the head will be easier to place on the mantel than the whole person . . . uh, ‘droid would have been. I’m not sure I’d pay that much for anyone’s head, even if I had the money. But, whatever makes you happy . . . Personally, I wonder what good C-3PO is without his little buddy R2-D2. Right?

In the Star Wars bargain basement section, we also have a long-lost model of the X-wing fighter used in the original 1977 movie, with a starting price of “only” $400,000. The model belonged to a Hollywood miniature-maker, and was only discovered after his death when his family were sifting through his collection. It’s pretty cool if you’re into models of flying things . . . and have $400,000 lying around in a dresser drawer. Beam me up, Scotty. (Oops, sorry — that was Star Trek.)

NOTE: Since writing this, the X-wing fighter has been auctioned off, at a slightly higher price than the originally anticipated $400,000. The winning bid was an incredible $3,100,000! Holy crap! I wonder what the insurance premium will be . . .

*. *. *

And as we leave the future and head way, wa-a-a-y back to the past, we have “an unusually well-preserved dinosaur skeleton, a Camptosaurus known as Barry,” who will “go under the hammer” in Paris next month. I assume that’s just an auction term and they don’t mean it literally. Barry dates from the late Jurassic period (some 150 million years ago), and was first discovered in Wyoming in the 1990s. He was named after Barry James, the paleontologist who restored him to his present, apparently beautiful, condition. For this fine fellow, you will need up to $1.28 million — and a good-sized spare room, as he is 6.9 feet tall and 16.4 feet long. But what a conversation starter when your next dinner party begins to lag! Just keep the dog away if he enjoys gnawing on a good bone.

*. *. *

In the same Style section, but on an entirely different subject, there were some fashion items that were rather eye-catching.

At the recent Venice Film Festival, an actress named Emma Corrin (never heard of her, but I don’t see a lot of movies these days) arrived “stylishly pantless.” Apparently, it’s a trend. Never heard of that, either, and honestly wish I hadn’t. But judge for yourselves . . . I don’t know about you, but I always thought it was called “underwear” because it went under something, like clothes. I guess I’m a little old-fashioned . . . Or just old.

And here’s one final item that belongs in both the fashion and price categories: probably the only ugly thing I ever saw Princess Diana wear. It’s been dubbed the “black sheep” sweater, for obvious reasons, and is going to be auctioned by Sotheby’s with an expected haul of $50,000 to $80,000. For a sweater that’s too expensive to wear, but would . . . what? Be framed and hung on a wall? I thought Princess Di was a pretty nifty lady, but that’s a lot of $$, even for something of hers. Well, maybe it’s just that I’ve never been ridiculously wealthy. I did pay $500 for a jacket once, years ago, and never got over the guilt. Anyway, here’s a look at what you can get for only 100 to 160 times the price of that jacket.

Well, I’ve done it — written an entire piece without a single bit of bad news — except, perhaps, for the ultimate price of that X-wing miniature. And the pantless thing. I’m sorry, but that’s really bad.

Until next time . . .

Brendochka
10/18/23

Just when we think we’ve got all the problems we can handle, along comes Xi Jinping with his vision of a brave new world . . . China style. (Do I hear Aldous Huxley flipping in his grave?)

For the first time since beginning its isolation during the Covid pandemic, China is hosting a gathering of world leaders in Beijing this week. The goals: to pat itself on the back for its role in economic development around the world during the past decade, and to “project its expanding ambitions as an alternative global leader to the United States.” [CNN World, October 15, 2023.]

Attendees are expected to include “leaders, representatives and delegations from more than 140 countries, including in the Middle East and many Global South nations.” [CNN World, October 16, 2023.] Not included on the guest list are leaders from major Western powers. But attending as guest of honor is Vladimir Putin, whose travel opportunities have been radically restricted of late because of the outstanding arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. But China offers a safe haven for Mr. Putin, who arrived on Tuesday morning (Beijing time).

As stated by Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington: “Xi’s message is clear — the current, US-led order has failed to bring either peace or prosperity to many developing nations, and a new order is necessary to tackle today’s issues and anticipate tomorrow’s challenges. He wants to be seen as being capable of convening world powers in Beijing . . . [and of delivering] a very clear path forward to discuss reforming global governance.” [CNN World, October 15, 2023.]

This will be the first Xi-Putin meeting since the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, when they “outlined their vision for a new international order no longer dominated by the United States and its democratic allies.” [CNN World, October 16, 2023.] Three weeks later, Russia launched its “special military operation” into Ukraine.

I would bet the farm that, in presenting his plan for bringing “peace” and “governance” to the world, Xi will studiously omit any mention of the words that best describe his method of maintaining those conditions in his own country: “absolute control,” “autocracy,” “dictatorship,” “despotism,” “totalitarianism” . . . take your pick.

*. *. *

Back in the early 1980s, when I worked for an international law firm whose clients did business throughout the world, including both the Soviet Union and “Red” China, I recall one incident that is (in hindsight) reminiscent of a Keystone Kops episode. It was a time when the two countries were arch enemies. On this particular morning, in a partner’s office sat an official from the Soviet Embassy, who had already stayed beyond the expected time. Arriving in the reception room was a group of officials from the Chinese Embassy. How was I to get the Russian out through the reception area without a confrontation? First, I told the partner to keep the Russian occupied for a few more minutes because his “next appointment” had arrived. He understood the implication. Then I had the Chinese delegation ushered into a nearby conference room, drew the blinds for privacy, closed the door, and gave the all-clear to the partner in his office, who then rather hurriedly escorted the Russian out and onto an elevator. It was a close call, but it worked; and I felt I had single-handedly avoided World War III. A slight exaggeration, of course, but I was a nervous wreck and that’s how it felt to me. Such was the USSR-China relationship in those days.

So things have clearly reversed course since then . . . several times, in fact. First they’re friends, then they’re enemies, then they’re “frenemies,” then who knows what’s next? Right now they’re best buddies — too close for comfort, in my view. Does it make me nervous? Judge for yourself:

After all, we are looking at the world’s two leading autocratic countries — both nuclear powers who regularly threaten retaliation against anyone who opposes them — now talking about a “new world order.” Hell, yes, I’m nervous. Aren’t you?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/17/23

Not surprisingly, it took no time at all for the Israel-Gaza war to overtake the ongoing disaster in Ukraine as the lead news item. The Middle East conflict is hugely important in countless ways, not least because of the unimaginable brutality of Hamas’ attack and the sickening slaughter of more than 1,300 innocent civilians enjoying a weekend holiday festival. Such a monstrosity deserves headlines. And the seriousness of the international implications of any Middle East conflict are undeniable. In a world rife with recent calamities, this one surely has the potential to create the most far-reaching consequences.

But Ukraine deserves no less. In the 19 months since Russia’s unprovoked attack on February 24, 2022, nearly 10,000 Ukrainian deaths have been verified, and at least 17,000 more are reported wounded. Not to mention the millions — mostly women, children, and elderly — who have been displaced and continue to suffer the ravages of war. The world has rallied to assist Ukraine in every way possible; but the future is unclear, for two main reasons.

Reason No. 1: First, of course, is that selfsame Middle East problem. Israel needs help now, and the free world has risen up to offer it. It has become clear that Hamas’ home territory, Gaza, receives weaponry and other assistance directly from Iran. Iran, in turn, freely exchanges military hardware and technology with Russia. The stakes are astronomical, and Ukraine can no longer count on the world’s undivided attention.

Reason No. 2: No one anticipated that Russia’s war against Ukraine would last as long as it has. Russia in particular expected that they would swoop in, be welcomed with open arms, and claim Ukraine as its very own. Well, surprise! It turned out that that wasn’t what the people of Ukraine wanted; they prefer to remain a sovereign nation, not a proxy of Putin’s (or anyone’s) Russia. Most of the free world jumped onto Ukraine’s wagon, offered every type of assistance — military, technological, humanitarian, and shelter for its millions of refugees. And we thought that would be sufficient to bring about the quick defeat of Russia’s poorly equipped and poorly trained military. But it’s taking too long. And Ukraine’s friends are growing weary, and running low on money, weaponry, tanks, missiles, drones, and — in some cases — patience.

*. *. *

The common denominator in these two wars is — and always has been — Vladimir Putin. He wants this war with Israel to drag on in order to draw the attention, and assistance, away from Ukraine, where he has been fighting a losing battle for the past 19 months. By doing so, and by quietly currying favor with several NATO-member Eastern European neighbors of Ukraine, he feels certain he can turn the tide, defeat Ukraine, and “win back” territory that he feels rightfully belongs to Russia. And he may succeed . . . if we let him.

Clearly, the future of Ukraine will have as great an impact on the rest of the free world as will the future of Israel. While we think of Israel as being embattled by its Arab neighbors, we tend to overlook the behind-the-scenes sponsor of many of those Arab countries: Russia. The only difference is that Putin invaded Ukraine directly; in Israel, he can sit back and watch his proxies do the dirty work.

To say that this is not an easy time for the countries of NATO and the rest of the free world would be a gross understatement. But our futures, and our very lives, depend upon our sticking together and fighting the aggressors, now on two fronts. We’ve done it before, and we can — and must — do it again. Because the alternative is too terrible to contemplate.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/16/23

Over the past weeks and months, I’ve raised several questions about, or speculated on the futures of, various individuals in difficult or unusual situations. A few of these remain unanswered, and I think they’re important enough to bring up again so that they don’t get lost in history’s dead files. Let’s start with . . .

The Wagner Group. Remember them, and their former leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin? How could we forget the “Where’s Yevgeny” series of blog chapters? We finally did get the answer to the mystery surrounding his whereabouts when he fell to earth and was killed in a mysterious, yet-unsolved plane crash. He reportedly lies buried in a grave near his home town. But what of the thousands of men who had devoted their lives to his cause? Where are all of those loyal mercenaries who had signed up to invade, and maim, and kill on his orders just for the hell of it . . . or for the money? No one seems to be talking about them now, or about the young man — Dmitry Sytii — who had offered to assume the leadership of their Africa branch. Where are Dmitry and his merry men today? I’d really like to know, because not knowing makes me uneasy.

Admiral Viktor Sokolov. Once the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Sokolov had the misfortune of being in their headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea, when a Ukrainian missile found its target and destroyed the building. There were reportedly 34 senior officers killed in that attack, but no one seemed to know whether Admiral Sokolov was among them — or if they knew, they weren’t saying. But a couple of days later, he made a cameo appearance in a video of a meeting of Russian brass, looking oddly wooden, eyes closed behind his glasses, uniform shirt open at the neck and with no tie . . . and propped up against some sort of pillow. A few days later, a still photo of him was also released. And after that . . . nothing. So, once again, is the Admiral dead or alive? Were those pictures real or fake? Anyone? Still waiting . . .

The fattest bear in Alaska. This is one I can actually answer. The winner of this year’s Fat Bear Contest is . . . Grazer. She’s a mama bear, and apparently a champion salmon fisherman . . . fisherwoman? . . . fisherbear? . . . whatever. It’s said she even chases the slippery ones who think they’ve gotten away. Good for you, Grazer. Have a wonderful, peaceful sleep in your winter hideaway, living off your accumulated avoirdupois. We’ll look for you in the spring.

The Three Prisoners. Technically, we do know where they are. Their names are Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Evan Gershkovich — three brave men whose only crime was telling the truth. Navalny and Kara-Murza, two outspoken critics of Vladimir Putin’s totalitarian regime, are serving long sentences in some Russian hellhole prison camps on spurious charges, being denied medical care, and looking thinner and closer to death on each of the rare occasions that they are allowed a visitor. Sadly, these two Russian citizens are at the mercy of the Russian “justice” system; but at the very least, we need to keep attention focused on them as their families, friends and legal representatives work to obtain real justice for them.

The third prisoner, Evan Gershkovich, is an American reporter for the Wall Street Journal who, for some unknown reason, has been falsely charged with espionage. He has been in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison since his arrest in March of this year. His trial has been postponed at least once, and is now set for the end of November. He is allowed to write letters to his family; his sister, in a recent NPR interview, said he seems to be holding up well. I hope that’s true. Efforts are being made to obtain his release. It’s almost too bad we can’t resort to Russian methods of simply arresting one of their people on trumped-up charges just to have someone to swap. But we don’t do that.

The Fourth Man. Everyone seems to forget about Paul Whelan — a U.S., Canadian, British and Irish citizen — who has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018, also on denied charges of espionage. Consistently passed over by the Russians when there have been prisoner exchanges with the U.S., his family continues to fight for his release, thus far without success. He did appear very briefly in a recent propaganda video, looking strong and healthy. But why do they continue to hold him when others have been swapped?

Laverna. Surely you remember Laverna. She’s the surfboard-snatching otter in Monterey Bay who is wanted by the local authorities, presumably for petty theft. If caught, the penalty would be relocation to another, possibly less ideal, part of the California coastal waters. I sometimes dream about Laverna at night, when I see her being towed off behind a Coast Guard cutter, crying “Help me! Help me!” as boisterous surfers take over her ancestral home, laughing loudly, scattering food wrappers and styrofoam cups everywhere, and polluting the beautiful blue Pacific waters. And I wake up calling for Laverna and all her relatives who are being displaced by uncaring humans. “Laverna! Where are you, sweet girl?”

UPDATE: As of September 6th of this year, Laverna was reportedly still at large. You go, girl! “Go, ‘verna! Go, ‘verna! Go, ‘verna!”

*. *. *

And finally . . .

Who shot J.R.? Oh . . . I’m sorry. That was in 1980, and we already know the answer. Besides which, anyone under the age of 50 has never heard of J.R., and couldn’t care less. Forget it. It was just a TV show called “Dallas,” and a nighttime soap opera at that.

But if anyone has heard anything about the rest of these folks, I’d love to know. In the meantime, I’ll be searching the media for clues.

TTFN,
Brendochka
10/15/23

On October 4th, I wrote about the grim outlook for Slovakia if its upcoming election were to give power to the Moscow-friendly “Social Democracy” party headed by one Robert Fico. Unfortunately, the Social Democrats did win the largest share of the vote, though not enough for a majority in Parliament. Fico is now trying to form a coalition government so that he may once more occupy the office of Prime Minister. If he succeeds, it’s bad news for freedom-loving Slovakia.

Toward the end of that piece, I wrote, with an unsuspected prescience: “Then there is Poland, whose government has strayed so far from the heady days of Lech Walesa as to be virtually unrecognizable. Despite its full support of Ukraine until now, its governing Law and Justice party openly opposes ‘liberal democracy,’ and is leaning more toward the current Hungarian model. What the future holds for Poland is anyone’s guess.”

From a more recent reporting, it appears that Poland’s future has already arrived, and is no longer a matter of guesswork. CNN’s Rob Picheta interviewed Warsaw residents about the effect the political changes have had on their families and their usual dinner table conversations, which have become increasingly fractious. He wrote about one family:

“But when the generations meet these days, the conversation turns bitter, animated, emotional. And it doesn’t take long. ‘We always end up talking about politics,’ Karolina says with an exaggerated weariness. ‘Mum is ready to go within seconds.’ ‘She provokes us,’ adds Patrycja dryly . . . ‘She wants to convert us,’ says Karolina. It can get loud, and feelings can be hurt.”

. . .

The article continues: “Poland is splitting in two. An increasingly toxic politics has polluted kitchens and dining rooms in every region of the country. Poles seem to live in separate realities, their worldviews and anxieties determined by where they get their news.

”And a vicious election campaign, which may conclude on Sunday without a definitive result, has hardened public discourse to the point of political warfare. The government’s sharp illiberal turn on civil rights for women, LGBTQ+ people and minorities, and a drastic overhaul of the judiciary and public media that brought both under increased state control, have appalled Western nations that once looked on Poland as the model student of the free market democracies which emerged from the Soviet bloc.

”But they have delighted conservative Poles who stringently oppose the adoption of what they see as Western European social and cultural values, which PiS [the Law and Justice party] describe as a threat to the country’s deep-rooted Catholic heritage.” [Rob Picheta, CNN, October 11, 2023.]

*. *. *

The PiS party has been based on a platform emphasizing national security, as well as a generous social welfare program for parents and pensioners. But it has also taken greater control of the judiciary, public media, and cultural entities. According to the CNN report, “If you ask a Pole their view on the government these days, there’s rarely much ambiguity; they’re either with them, or against them.”

Clearly, Poland has been polarized . . . politically, at least.

And so it starts, in every single country that begins to lean ideologically toward Russia. Apparently, thirty years have been long enough to have erased the memories of the older generations as to what life was like under Communism; and the young adults have never known that life at all and thus have no frame of reference. So is it all destined to cycle around again, once more dividing — not just Poland, but the entire world — into “us” and “them”? And is there something that can be done to stop it . . . preferably before “us” becomes part of “them”?

Just sayin’ .. . .

Brendochka
10/14/23