Russia has been in the news a lot recently, thanks in part to the two-year anniversary of its most recent invasion of Ukraine, but also for its constant and obvious meddling in the political systems of rich western countries. As an outside political observer, once you think you’ve identified the pattern, you tend to see it all around. Which is a state of mind virtually indistinguishable from paranoia.
The two-year anniversary was also a reason for war correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov to publish a book on the Russian assault on his home country. The book, Our Enemies Will Vanish, was reviewed in the Washington Free Beacon by Trofimov’s colleague Tunku Varadarajan.
Trofimov was in the Ukrainian capital city on the day the war began: February 24, 2022. The day before, "Kyiv was still a city at peace," although girding its loins for a war that everyone knew was about to begin, since intelligence sources were screaming that fact out loud. Trofimov happened to meet Petro Poroshenko on Feb. 23. The former president of Ukraine—the predecessor of Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom his animosity was "visceral"—Poroshenko warned Trofimov that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was "going to be tomorrow after four a.m." and counseled him to "rush to the airport and hop on a flight out of here." Trofimov did not do so, of course, staying faithful to his calling as a correspondent of unusual courage.
According to the review, there are many individual stories recounted in the book, of bravery, heroism, and manmade catastrophe.
I confess to feeling like I have an obligation to read this book. The Soviet Union was my academic field of study as an undergraduate over a quarter century ago, after all, just before the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union disintegrated. But I honestly don’t know where I’d find the time to read a whole book at the moment.
Nikki Haley wasn't a success, the kook won the primary for governor, but Mr. Baucom may still win, or go into a runoff with Mark Harris.
I tossed a cardinal into the woods. I heard a loud "𝙏𝙃𝙐𝙈𝙋!" by a window. Out in a yard lay a dead cardinal. My wife's favorite bird is a cardinal, and they remind her of her Mom, so I disposed of the bird quietly. I got the broom and dustpan, and swept him up. I walked back to the woods, to the edge of the hill and flicked my wrist. The cardinal had one last flight, landing in a pile of leaves.
Katie has the day off and is well rested, so of course that can only mean "𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑺𝑬 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑱𝑬𝑪𝑻" 😱 She is cleaning out a closet in our garage. It's full of mostly empty paint cans. She's gonna drive a bunch of them to the disposal place. While in Italy last summer I "rescued" a wood crate; she wants to know what I plan to put in it. Pellet grill supplies don't work, so I have to come up with something.
Tomorrow I hope to take her to Lowes, so we can order a new oven for her. The good news is her our current oven is standard sized; they make units to slide right in! 😀