Dispatches from Vilnius

For whatever reason I got over 200,000 hits in September, mostly from the United States, which is nice, as I usually get spammed from Singapore or some other Asian country. I say spammed as I get so few comments and assume these are automated bots. If these are real people, then thanks! You pushed the total number of visits to over 1 million since blogger started keeping tabs. This site used to be more active when we had members engaged in book readings but that was many moons ago. I started the blog for American history buffs with our first group reading being Team of Rivals . We had moved from Escape from Elba to evade the trolls.  Seems like Melba, as we called it, has gone defunct, no longer popping up early on searches. It is pretty much just me here, posting my vitriolic thoughts from my armchair in Vilnius. I've renamed the blog several times. Sorry to have become so bitter but the election last year left me really upset and things haven't improved since then. The Trump ...

Trump and his mini-me The 20-point peace plan has worked so well in Gaza that now His Trumpness is pitching one for Ukraine. After a 4-hour call with Vlad the Impaler, His Trumpness tried to convince Zelenskyy into signing a similar deal.  He even sweet talked the Ukrainian president, telling him what a nice jacket he wore and what a beautiful signature he had, a veritable work of art. The press conference was painful to watch as it was so obviously orchestrated to make the Ukrainian president look small and inconsequential. However, Zelenskyy said no thanks.  Not until Russia quits bombing our cities.  I really don't understand why it is so difficult for the Trump administration to recognize what is happening.  Either that or they simply don't care.  More important to get those mineral deals to keep making those hi tech products that dominate our market today.  Even in this regard, Russia has the upper hand, as it has seized the most valuable lithium de...

I guess if you can't win an award, the next best thing is having it dedicated to you , and that is exactly what Maria Corina Machado did with the Nobel Peace Prize.  Of course, it was a calculated move as she wants the United States to support her ongoing effort to oust Nicolas Maduro. In fact, her "democratic" campaign goes back to when Hugo Chavis was president of Venezuela. I'm not sure who she actually represents but she reminds me of  Aung San Suu Kyi . Needless to say, the White House still wasn't happy but the deadline for this year's Nobel Peace Prize was January 31.  All of Trump's great achievements came after that deadline if we are to accept his extensive resume . Better luck next year, Donald. High on the list will be the peace deal he claims he has brokered in Gaza. This went down literally on the same day the Nobel Peace Prize winner was announced.  It remains to be seen how this armistice holds up.  So far, all we have is a ceasefire, but ...

Paul McCartney Live at Red Square, 2005 It's really hard to figure out what is going on these days.  Moldova recently survived a massive propaganda assault by the Kremlin and voted for a pro-EU government by just over 50% - a clear majority. The Russian backed party finished a distant second with 24 percent. Meanwhile in the Czech Republic, a pro-Russian party headed by Billionaire Andrej Babiš won that country's parliamentary elections with 35 percent.  I don't know if he will be able to form a ruling coalition but the threat is clear, as the Czech Republic has been a major military and logistical supporter of Ukraine the past three-and-a-half years and Babiš actively campaigned against lending any more support to Ukraine. What makes this odd is that Moldova is much more readily threatened by Russia, as the Kremlin has vowed to beef up its military presence in Transnistria to 10,000 troops.  Transnistria never accepted Moldovan independence in 1991 and has remained a ...