Dispatches from Vilnius

The question every year is whose victory?  For Eastern European countries, the decisions made at Yalta in February of 1945 were a complete sellout as they found themselves relegated to the Soviet sphere of influence.  After a long, bloody war stretching over 6 years (4 in terms of American involvement), Team Roosevelt decided it was better to divide Europe than challenge Team Stalin, as he had moved his armies into Eastern Europe to "liberate" them from Nazi Germany.  There might have been room for some drawback but according to Oliver Stone, Truman went out of his way to antagonize Stalin and so the Soviet Union doubled down on its territorial claims.  Lost in Stone's version of events is that "Russia" had long sought a Pan-Slavic kingdom and this was a golden opportunity for the Soviet version of Russia to claim it.  And, so they did. Still some wiggle room remained.  The iron curtain didn't fall on the eastern half of Europe until 1955 when the Warsaw Pa...

If the Canadian election taught the Trump administration anything it is to "speak softly and carry a big stick," but Donald refused to heed Teddy Roosevelt's words and instead blew an easy win for Canadian conservatives out of the water.  Even on election day he was still posting that Canadians should vote for him and become citizens of the United States.  Canada hasn't been this united since the Continental Army invaded Quebec way back in 1775.  They clearly don't want anything to do with American exceptionalism. I'm trying to figure out if this is part of a longer game or if the Trump administration is really that stupid?  It would have been much easier to show support for the Conservatives and talk of re-negotiating trade deals on mutually respectful terms.  Instead, Trump doubled down on what one initially thought was a bad joke , giving the Liberal party the ammunition it needed to turn this snap election against the Conservatives.  The Liberals fell...