Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
I published a podcast episode on the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 26. I noted the farcical way a manifestly paranoid Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to assassin proof his life. More to the point, though, I pleaded for Western leaders to sanction Putin and the oligarchs. Because they are the enemy, not… Read more.
Given the universal values at stake, I am dismayed that more Westerners have not joined the fight in Ukraine. I am reminded of the way writers Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, and Pablo Neruda led the brigade of those who not only sounded that clarion call, but rushed themselves to join the fight for democratic freedom… Read more.
Podcast Episode 67: History Repeating Itself in WWII Redux… Related commentaries: Putin humiliates spy chief… Read more.
Donald Trump famously invited TV cameras to watch his cabinet secretaries say what an honor it will be to serve him, the country be damned. Vladimir Putin showed his former puppet yesterday that real strongmen instill fear more than finagle flattery. He invited TV cameras to watch his spy chief and other national security advisers… Read more.
Russia is now poised for an invasion of Ukraine – just as North Korea has been for an invasion of South Korea for over 50 years. In fact, Russia’s menacing bully, Vladimir Putin, is just like North Korea’s menacing bully, Kim Jong-un … only with lots of oil and more nukes to leverage his mischief… Read more.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock insisted today that Ukraine will not receive any German weapons to defend itself against Russia. She explained that Germany’s role in WWII imposes a special duty to “seek other ways to secure peace.” Of course, it’s self-evident that Germany remains haunted by this past. But this smacks of an ironic form… Read more.
Putin’s paranoia I laughed at Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron sitting so far apart at a big marble table. It made them look like two wannabe Napoleons. I thought Putin was trying to snub Macron. But then I noticed Putin keeping the same absurd distance from his own foreign minister, Sergey… Read more.
I “crucified” Novak Djokovic – not just for attempting to flout Australia’s Covid protocols to play in its grand slam last month, but because I thought he was reveling in his celebrity as an anti-vaxxer (like RFK Jr). The facts are still murky; but it’s clear he knew he was gaming the system when he… Read more.
Only a cold-hearted, genocidal maniac (like Chinese President Xi Jinping) could fail to sympathize with the predicament of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, let alone with the looming fate of the Ukrainian people. On the other hand, I suspect I sympathize with both as much as anyone not born in Ukraine possibly could. And I can… Read more.
Prince Andrew’s ‘MeToo’ Accuser A judge has given the green light to a lawsuit by an American woman who says Prince Andrew sexually abused her when she was 17. … U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected an argument by Andrew’s lawyers that Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit should be thrown out at an early stage because… Read more.
