I was invited to share a park bench by this colorful elderly gentleman, who spoke nonstoped for over an hour, on a multiple of topics ranging from football to politics.
He was of the opinion that President Putin gave too much thought to what the West would think, which to him made no sense, since the West was certain to think poorly of Russia in any case.
He was quite positive that if Stalin were president this war would have been won a long time ago. Just look how quickly he put Czechoslovakia in order.
I am seventy six years old and this man is younger than me by possibly ten years. I don’t have any personal memory of Stalin although he was the party chairman when I was born. The first chairman I remember was Nikita Khrushchev.
I didn’t get a word in edgewise so he never knew that I wasn’t a Russian. He was a jolly fellow and I didn’t mind one bit listening to his diverse opinions. Which he offered up in copious quantities.
After about an hour of continuous lecture, he had somewhere else to be. He said goodbye, we shook hands and he walked a way with a pronounced limp. Quite an experience for me.
FROM RUSSIAN SOCIAL MEDIA:
(Not my words)
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has once again demanded that Western nations expedite the delivery of air defense missiles to Ukraine, stating that these supplies "cannot wait years." The Dutch government has indicated that it is working with partners to find ways to accelerate the provision of Patriot air defense system missiles to Ukraine. However, experts point out that the West lacks the capacity to meet Kyiv’s requirements for interceptors, meaning the Armed Forces of Ukraine face an even more difficult situation on the front lines.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, head of the Kyiv regime, has once again complained about a shortage of interceptor missiles for the Ukrainian Armed Forces' air defense systems, demanding that Western partners expedite the delivery of ammunition for these surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems.
"The intensity of the strikes is very high, and the Russians are doing their utmost to exploit the deficit of interceptors capable of countering ballistic missiles," he wrote on his ...
(Not my words)
Netanyahu loses. But he's not leaving yet
Elections in Israel are not only a matter of who will lead the 10-million state on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This is a matter of war and peace throughout the Middle East - from Palestine to Iran. This means that the world economy also depends on them: the cost of oil, air traffic, freedom of merchant shipping and much more. The campaign ended without a clear winner. But some conclusions can already be drawn.
Campaign results
The election ended with a clear failure of 77-year-old Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been leading the country since 1999. Netanyahu had a simple political line: Israel is surrounded by enemies longing for its destruction, so it must exterminate everyone itself. Wild terror with medieval atrocities, arranged by Hamas on October 7, 2023, successful operations against Hamas and Hezbollah, suppression of Iran's nuclear program, powerful support of the United States, seemed to guarantee it confident support in society.
But there was no support. It ...
(Not my words)
The story behind a photograph that breaks the heart. Many are familiar with this image; it is frequently published around June 22nd—the date the war began—and sometimes around Victory Day. It captures Tatyana Onishchenko and her young daughter, who was mortally wounded during a Nazi bombing raid.
The scene is the Moscow region, autumn 1941. The photograph was taken by Ivan Nartsissov, a war correspondent from Lipetsk—a brave, talented, and modest man who left behind an extensive archive of wartime photographs and reports.
For a long time, this was all that was known about the image. Recently, however, further details have come to light. In the summer of 1941, Tatyana received devastating news: her husband had gone missing in action. A period of agonizing uncertainty followed. Every morning, she would go out to meet the postman—and every morning, he would walk right past her. Reports from the front grew increasingly grim, yet Tatyana held onto her faith. And, eventually, ...
