It's ironic that The Bloated Yam is tougher on American universities, American law firms, American historical museums, American alliances such as NATO, and Ukraine than he is on a Russian criminal who has stolen billions from his own nation and who is a major threat to European nations.
Everyone assumes Putin holds both a carrot and a stick over Trump. At this time, when the Epstein Files are pointing directly at one of Trump's evident depravities, we can easily imagine what Putin's stick might be.
Timothy forgets the one great parallel to Putin's criminality.
He's got it correct as to how "shaking hands with an indicted war criminal, Trump signals that the killings, the tortures, the [kidnappings] do not matter." But he forgets that, at the same time, the indicted Russian criminal is shaking hands with a most-credibly-alleged repeat child rapist.
I expect Putin knows just what Trump wanted and served it up to. him on a plate and has it all on tape plus witness statements. He has something on Trump, almost certainly.
We have a certifiable paper trail of Epstein's many trips to Moscow. We know of his relation to girlfriend- and fellow-procurer Ghislaine's father, Robert Maxwell (Brit and Israeli publisher, spy, and insider with Putin). We also know Epstein's motivation to make Trump dirt available to Putin, since Trump went around and betrayed him so fabulously in that 2004 Palm Beach real estate deal.
They were best pals for years, Jeffrey and Donald -- years for both of them of orgies at Palm Beach and Manhattan mansions, many hundreds of underage girls for both of them, and many videos available for sale to Putin, for easy money for Epstein.
Trump is merely corrupt and debased. Also stupid, immoral, cynical, fat, and more cosmetized than any drag queen.
But Putin has an ideological agenda -- the return to dominance of Mother Rus. Along with all his eastern orthodox long-skirted, heavily bejeweled priests, and millions of white Russian nationalists, he hates the secular, diversely-open West. Taking Ukraine is essential to his subsequent agenda of erasing democracies all across Europe and Asia.
I doubt the good professor actually forgot this element of the situation. I suspect he just chose not to venture into speculative territory - even though that speculation is very likely to be actual fact, or close to it. Those of us who like to postulate should absolutely take into consideration the likelihood that Putin is holding some element of the Epstein story over Trump's head - so long as we continue to acknowledge that we're just extrapolating. However, I think his habit of sticking to firmly established facts as the basis for his reasoning makes Timothy Snyder's writing that much more compelling.
And let's not forget he smells bad, too, according to insiders who have to be physically near him. "Like sewage, or an armpit and stale fries," I read. So Bloated, Rotten Yam. Maybe add lumpy in there, too.
And is a war criminal who has abducted over 2,000 Ukrainian children whose culture is being eradicated and being Russified. According to international law, this is genocide.
Bloaated Yam? I'm stealing that. Sounds nastier than Pumpkin lolol
Trump does not and never has exhibited justice, fairness, kindness or any other of those civilized traits, including love. He was trained by a nasty, domineering father and personal lawyer to be rapacious, scofflaw and all-round mean. He does them justice—if no one else...
I agree. I’d love for him to write more often, but in the real world of living, a move, a new university, family. There is much to reorganize. Surely he will heed to our pleas. For now, let us be patient, and forever grateful for his wisdom. Still reading, Bloodlands, I got half way into it and began having panic attacks. It’s all there, every bit of it. We are unfolding, just as those atrocities did. We have learned little thru wars, occupations, and now must face our own retribution for not heeding what others tried so desperately to express.
I'm usually not into trigger warnings, but yes, that book is indeed anxiety-inducing. The first time I read it there were times when I felt like my body was simultaneously being turned inside-out and I was being transported to a different realm. I reread it 3 years later because the first time I couldn't concentrate on his theses of: 1.) place—the old Pale of Settlement—and 2.) the consequences of failed or destroyed states. The most interesting case of local collaboration for me is what is now Lithuania—or more specifically Vilnius, which had been a part of Poland's Second Republic since 1920—and about which he asks,"How is it possible that an area of Europe with the lowest antisemitism rate in Europe—including laws against antisemitic acts, before the Red Army invaded in 1940, and the Wehrmacht in June 1941—could have had among the highest number of murdered Jews with the help of local collaborators?" Well of course there was the Lithuanian nationalist movement whose goal before the Red Army and Nazis arrived was to expel all the Poles and form a Lithuanian national state. But without a state to ensure that civil rights are protected—Poland's state was co-destroyed in Sept. 1939—there were no laws to protect anyone, but especially Jews. If the state is the grantor and guarantor of rights, then all zones of statelessness are also zones of lawlessness.
I highly recommend to everyone who's read Bloodlands that they should also read Black Earth. In fact, though B was published first and BE 5 years later, I sometimes think BE should be read before B.
The last sentence of your comment calls to mind the shortest of the short stories by Tadeusz Borowski, himself a political prisoner in Auschwitz, in a collection translated from the Polish by Madeline G. Levine, forwarded by Timothy Snyder, and published in 2021 (Here in Our Auschwitz and Other Stories), "A Visit":
"In that mild darkness I had my eyes wide open [. . .] I can recall nothing from that night other than what I saw with my wide-open eyes [. . .] All these people who, because of phlegmon, scabies, and typhus, and also because they were too thin, were going to the gas chamber, begged the nurses (who were loading them into the crematorium trucks) *to look and remember. And to tell the truth about man to those who haven't learned it by experience"* (pp. 279-80).
Thank you so much for writing and elucidating what must be understood by all, even those whose eyes are wide-shut. But, how can we educate those who are not stupid, but ignorant of an imminent consequence? No doubt, an age old argument, but we must try.
Stand. Speak. Never follow. Hold firm to the core values of humanity.
Thank you, Rose. I'd had B on my book shelf for months and only read when the pandemic began... something about the world, the isolation allowed me to 'go there.' Then BE, and Reconstruction of Nations. I'd already read Unfreedom and On Tyranny. And this year, On Freedom, which I encourage everyone to take up right now.
These works of TS were mentioned in the usually quiet chat box during a zoom meeting last night of a short story reading group, Stories with Soul, that's met every Wednesday since 1993 (!) The story is read aloud, then discussed. Up to the pandemic, always in person. Now on zoom the first three (or four) Wed each month, and in-person the last. We had a rather dark one last night, by Borges —“The Lottery in Babylon”— paired with one of his poems, "The Instant."
And many thanks to you, Professor Snyder, for today's column, for all you have done and are doing. I, for one, was very glad when I learned you were taking the position in Toronto. Now, if I could get a student visa to study there with you! A senior citizen student visa.
Hi, Teresa. I read BE, Reconstruction, and OF towards the end of last year, one after the other, with Roger Moorhouse's "The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941," sandwiched between OF and Reconstruction. I've been keeping a list (by date completed) of books and papers I've read since 2010, and looking at my little book, I see that I read the updated (kindle) ed. of Unfreedom in Sept. 2024.
Just found “The Lottery in Babylon” at archive.com and can probably find "The Instant" just as easily. I've been reading more fiction lately--2 novels by Camus and a 3rd I've not gotten to yet—"The Plague," with an Afterward by Tony Judt—plus a short biography by Robert Zaretsky, "A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning."
Great practice, Rose, keeping the list of books read. Wish I had. I'll look into the works you mention. Currently, I'm reading "King-A Life Jonathan Eig (inspiring... and also sad, some things seem never to change). Other recent reads: "More Everything Forever" by Adam Becker, "The Case for God" Karen Armstrong, "Differ We Must," Steve Inskeep,"So Help Me God-The Founding Fathers and the First Great Battle Over Chucrh and State," Forrest Church, "The Separation of Church and State-Writings on a Fundamental Freedom by America's Founders" also by Forrest Church. "Lawrence in Arabia," Scott Anderson, a remarkable book - page-turner.
As to fiction, everything by Elizabeth Strout. As you may well know, her works build on one another; imo best read in order of publication. Her latest "Tell Me Everything" I think is beautiful. Louise Erdrich's "Master Butcher's Singing Club." Mostly set in the US, but starts out in Germany. Elena Ferrante's "Troubling Love."
Just picked up "The Emperor of Gladness" Ocean Vuong after I saw Vuong interviewed on, I think, New Hour.. yikes may have been Amanpour.
Our short story group's readings are selected by the week's reader, so they vary from laugh out loud funny to thoughtful to esoteric. The readers range from just good readers to pros. Attendance usually 15-20. Can be a nice way to mark the mid-week (usually :)
It is a phenomenal and pivotal book. It’s everything, over the decades of Russia to German cruelties, that unfolded. Well worth reading. Well worth encouraging others to read. Difficult, but necessary.
Trump has always carried a small, and remarkably brittle, 'stick' (call it schtick, if you're from NY). That's why he has to swing it around so much, to create the illusion of size and substance. This whole Alaska Boondoggle is dumpster fire in a tenement. I only wish Trump and Putin had held it in Juneau, so that looming glacier threatening to engulf that city would crush them to a pulp and sweep them into the Arctic Sea. Ahh. That lowered by blood pressure. Thanks
Think of it, Trump & Pootie, the two dictators most disliked in the world, together in one place which just HAPPENS to be a US military base filled with SOLDIERS and MUNITIONS....(thinks)..sometimes munitions HAPPEN to explode - hey, accidents, right? They happen all the time, right? Now, you don't suppose...hmmm?
Not sure about defecting...could reveal more super secret stuff to the Russkys...on the other hand, the DOD probably tells Donald a bunch of stupid shit which of course he will brag on to Pootie & friends..so maybe it wouldn't be all bad...(thinks)...maybe Miller and Vought could be induced to jump ship as well, which means leaving Don's boy JD in charge...hmmm.
And so it goes; Trump has no stick strong enough to change this outcome. That raises the question, does he even want to or care enough to change that outcome? I think he just likes to bluster because hearing it, he thinks he's strong. Not so. His own history belies that thought!
Trump has plenty of sticks strong enough to change the outcome. He can enforce high secondary tariffs on countries that buy Russian energy and sell Russia strategic inputs for military production, such as dual-use semiconductors. He can immediately amp up the direct U.S. flow of weapons, intelligence, and economic and humanitarian aid into Ukraine, using part of the massive increase in Pentagon funding Congress just appropriated. He can get the impounded Russian funds held in Europe to be released to Ukraine. Lots of sticks.
He has them, but will not use them. He admires Putin for what he is (and tRump would like to be) and I agree with those who think that Putin has devastating kompromat on tRump. This meeting is all a charade. tRumps goal? More distraction from "tRumpstein" and accumulation of verbiage indicating that HE has ended this war too -- along with the other 5 (is it?) that he has ended in pursuit of the NPP (which, btw, is a rigged deal). Putin is playing him. This is bad theater, nothing more. If either of these men (and I use that term very loosely) gave a fig about the Ukrainian people, even a simpleton can understand how they could put those cares into immediate action. Clearly, VP does not even care about his own people (>1M Russian casualties so far!). If the USA and Europe wanted to stop this war right now, they could end it rather quickly, I'd guess. Among other things, increasing Russian casualties (I abhor this sort of thought, although it is practical IMO), among other things, will undermine Putin's position at home. The Russian people must rid the world of the scourge of Putin, something similar to the challenge faced by the American people. It stuns and startles me that collective actions have been so woefully constrained and ineffective at ridding the world of such self-centered maniacs.
"Bad theater": Sure. "Nothing more"? Not so fast. Propaganda is bad theater by definition, but it has devastating real-world effects, as we see in Ukraine and will see tomorrow in Alaska. Dismissing what Putin and trump are up to in this "summit" as merely performative is (1) dangerous, not least because it forecloses deeper examination; and (2) diminishes the serious culpability of the bad actors.
I do not dismiss it as irrelevant, only as being very far short of the assumed relevant points, Nancy, for exactly the reasons that you point out. If people in general, thought even a mm below the surface or considered for a second who the actors ARE, they'd not fall for the performance ... but as we both know, way too many will.
According to ex-diplomats such as Michael McFaul, these types of "summits" are usually preceded by many many months of meetings and negotiations by junior officers and staff wherein the mutual agreements are hammered out in tight language for their principals to reveal upon meeting. This is none of that. This is Trump trying to shift the conversation away from the Epstein files. Although Trump could report that he found Putin was not serious about seeking peace, and , therefore, I am now going to do x, y, and z in order to push the needle, my bet is that we will hear nothing but some glittering generalities about how smart Putin is and our talk was a "ten."
A perfect summation of the dangerously converging issues. Blessings on the Ukrainians who have suffered so much for their freedom. Grief for the world order now overthrown.
I view the summit meeting in Alaska as one of the cardinal failures of Marco Rubio. He knows full-well that Putin holds the cards. He knows that his boss's view of the Ukraine struggle is that it is a real estate deal, and Ukraine is the under-dog. Compassion, learning, empathy are anathema to Trump
Great overview. I would only add that it only took a week for Trump to turn around from putting tariffs on India tied to its buying of Russian oil to a total concession of Ukraine’s land which is not his to make. This coincides with the Epstein files furor. While Putin usually uses flattery with Trump, it feels as if this time he felt he needed to remind him that he could release the files like he did with Clinton’s emails. The NYT article on the intrusion into court documents by Russians might be related.
Having just returned from a two month stay in Ukraine and lived in the shelters with each siren in Kyiv at night and going about with "normal" living making each moment count, your words are very valuable and need repeating. Thank you.
This is off subject: Due to a temporary glitch in the laws, I'm sending in my application for Canadian Citizenship by Descent, today. It's been an enormous amount of work, my chances are slim, but I'm going to try. If I get citizenship, our kids are eligible. I want to give them options. All my best, CB
Dear Dr. Snyder. Instead of the Ultima Thule moment I think it more closely resembles a Munich moment. Like Chamberlain, it is pure fantasy to believe Trump will have the courage to stand up to Putin. Like Chamberlain, in the Trump fantasy world, he views the war as a real estate transaction, willing to cede to Putin a country that he has no right to represent. And like Chamberlain, any dealing with Putin will not create “peace in our time” but open Europe and possibly the rest of the world for violent, territorial aggression. I think the People’s Republic of China will be viewing the summit with great interest regarding their future designs on Taiwan. The citizens of the Baltic states need to be aware.
Civilizations on our planet have been in existence for roughly 20,000 years. It has only taken 250 years to figure out how to blow up or burn up the planet. These are the stakes we are encountering. Blessings.
Agree, David ... there are indeed higher order concerns about the fundamental nature of human beings at play here. Some, like Gandhi, Lincoln and Mandela, I suppose, have had the wisdom to see these and tried to lead humanity toward a better place, but we collectively have failed to budge. Greed and power wed us to nationalism, and nationalism can be a leash that allows our chosen masters to lead us onto our doom. Once firmly leashed, dogs that rebel are shot, one by one. After 77 years on the planet, I am convinced that we haven't the collective courage to resist effectively. And with 5 beautiful grandchildren this makes me sad.
Except the Washington press corpse. Like all of tRump's demented ramblings, it gets nary a mention from them. Of course if Biden had said and done even a 1,000th of tRump's craziness, the 25th amendment would be called up immediately.
Doesn't mean the reporters - the press corps - were duped. Publishers and Editors have final say on what makes it into print. Have to agree with your comment re Biden. I think that many fair-minded journos who are personally sympathetic to him and generally supportive of his policies used their critiques of Biden to demonstrate their even-handedness. Fox News just proclaims itself 'Fair and Balanced' even though it is most definitely NOT for the most part.
So happy to see this Timothy Snyder post. I have missed his insights.
If the US supplied proper military backing for Ukraine, the war could be won outright, and the country could begin to be rebuilt. And the War Criminal Putin would be stopped in his tracks. He continues because he can.
It seems to me that this is the unaddressed fault at the base of all the pyramid of stupidity and falsity piled on top by both Putin and Trump.
BTW: Take note of Timothy Snyder's brilliant comment, one of the funniest, best assessments of Donald Trump ever said. (In my view, it is worthy of Mark Twain):
"Donald Trump speaks loudly and carries a small stick."
As a fairly good dog trainer for over 30 years, I often filter events through my observations of dog behavior:
Donald J Trump reminds me of nothing so much as of the insecure, low-prestige dog of a pack of dogs, who desperately wants to present himself as being much, much bigger than he is. He acts tough as long as the true Alpha is nowhere to be seen, and only acts like a big shot as long as there is no one to stop him. If the real Alpha shows up, these low level dogs cower, literally kiss the mouth of the Alpha, cringe, and slink away.
The single most characteristic trait of these dogs is that they PEE on absolutely everything. On trees, on buildings, on furniture, on other dogs (if they can find a weaker dog who is vulnerable).
These Wanna-Be Dog Dictators then scratch the earth near their PEE Mark, to leave the scent from their paw pads intended to say, "And I am strong and tough, too, look at my vigorous scratch marks!" These low-echelon would be leaders usually BACK UP a they scratch the earth, in order to leave a really long scratched-earth mark (a form of lying in the canine world), On the other hand, a truly big dog, like a Great Dane, who intimidates by his sheer size, will scratch the earth once, possibly twice, in a nonchalant manner -- he has nothing to prove. :-)
The true Alpha Dog of the pack despises these ostentatious Leg-Lifters and basically ignores them as irrelevant, or else periodically, if needed, puts them in their actual place by a snarl or a bite. Leg Lifters are usually relegated to the low level job of Sentry: Bark if there is danger, to alert the Pack. Sentry dogs are LOUD. Alphas are most often largely silent.
Trump seems to me to be a Leg-Lifter, in dog behavior terms. Trump has been emboldened by John Roberts, the so-called head of the Supreme Court. Mr Roberts has seen fit to hand Donald free-rein to do whatever he wants, with the full assurance that Trump will not be held accountable by the Supreme Court for any of his egregious Power Grabs.
Certainly, Ukraine would say NO to agreeing to give away its territory, but until the war stops, it will the stronger of the two belligerents who gets to determine when the fighting will stop.
The strategic issue is whether western countries can supply enough munitions and other assets to Ukraine for the smaller country to prevail. Their army is short of recruits, their cities and infrastructure are under constant attack, and I sense that the popular mood, if not the will, is changing. Admittedly I am trying to judge this from a distance.
All of your words are illuminating, civilized, and appreciated. I’d like to add a few hard-hitting ones I read: “Trump’s an outer-borough Mafia operative.” For those not born in NYC, “outer borough” refers to lower class tough guys. They are foul-mouthed Archie Bunkers or Tony Sopranos. Trump’s a mixture of both.
It's ironic that The Bloated Yam is tougher on American universities, American law firms, American historical museums, American alliances such as NATO, and Ukraine than he is on a Russian criminal who has stolen billions from his own nation and who is a major threat to European nations.
Everyone assumes Putin holds both a carrot and a stick over Trump. At this time, when the Epstein Files are pointing directly at one of Trump's evident depravities, we can easily imagine what Putin's stick might be.
Moscow pee tapes. Epstein. Orange 'has issues'.
NSS!
I saw that video during its truncated time on the internet.
Performance- he likes that.Likes performative in general; things that flow well.
Timothy forgets the one great parallel to Putin's criminality.
He's got it correct as to how "shaking hands with an indicted war criminal, Trump signals that the killings, the tortures, the [kidnappings] do not matter." But he forgets that, at the same time, the indicted Russian criminal is shaking hands with a most-credibly-alleged repeat child rapist.
I expect Putin knows just what Trump wanted and served it up to. him on a plate and has it all on tape plus witness statements. He has something on Trump, almost certainly.
Absolutely correct you are, Leigh.
We have a certifiable paper trail of Epstein's many trips to Moscow. We know of his relation to girlfriend- and fellow-procurer Ghislaine's father, Robert Maxwell (Brit and Israeli publisher, spy, and insider with Putin). We also know Epstein's motivation to make Trump dirt available to Putin, since Trump went around and betrayed him so fabulously in that 2004 Palm Beach real estate deal.
They were best pals for years, Jeffrey and Donald -- years for both of them of orgies at Palm Beach and Manhattan mansions, many hundreds of underage girls for both of them, and many videos available for sale to Putin, for easy money for Epstein.
I bet someone would pay really good money for proof of all this. Maybe not more than Trump might be paying, though! <shiver>
I like your shiver here, Leigh.
Trump is merely corrupt and debased. Also stupid, immoral, cynical, fat, and more cosmetized than any drag queen.
But Putin has an ideological agenda -- the return to dominance of Mother Rus. Along with all his eastern orthodox long-skirted, heavily bejeweled priests, and millions of white Russian nationalists, he hates the secular, diversely-open West. Taking Ukraine is essential to his subsequent agenda of erasing democracies all across Europe and Asia.
I doubt the good professor actually forgot this element of the situation. I suspect he just chose not to venture into speculative territory - even though that speculation is very likely to be actual fact, or close to it. Those of us who like to postulate should absolutely take into consideration the likelihood that Putin is holding some element of the Epstein story over Trump's head - so long as we continue to acknowledge that we're just extrapolating. However, I think his habit of sticking to firmly established facts as the basis for his reasoning makes Timothy Snyder's writing that much more compelling.
Bloated Yam!! I love it.
And let's not forget he smells bad, too, according to insiders who have to be physically near him. "Like sewage, or an armpit and stale fries," I read. So Bloated, Rotten Yam. Maybe add lumpy in there, too.
Yams yammer.
TYY - the yammering yam!
And is a war criminal who has abducted over 2,000 Ukrainian children whose culture is being eradicated and being Russified. According to international law, this is genocide.
Maybe ironic… however, it’s all from the authoritarian playbook.
But, but, they’re Buds
Yes, they’ve had very good talks, some of the best talks, talks like nobody’s ever seen before.
Donald Trump: peace-adjacent
Or heard
Because universities don’t have the dirt on him that Putin does, he can’t push.
Bloaated Yam? I'm stealing that. Sounds nastier than Pumpkin lolol
Trump does not and never has exhibited justice, fairness, kindness or any other of those civilized traits, including love. He was trained by a nasty, domineering father and personal lawyer to be rapacious, scofflaw and all-round mean. He does them justice—if no one else...
btw, I love the 'TBY' monitor for this extortionist president.
This essay makes me wish Prof. Snyder would publish Substacks as frequently as he did when I first subscribed.
He is an extraordinary, indispensable thinker.
Any absence of his insights in the present emergency is like a vaccine shortage in a pandemic.
I agree. I’d love for him to write more often, but in the real world of living, a move, a new university, family. There is much to reorganize. Surely he will heed to our pleas. For now, let us be patient, and forever grateful for his wisdom. Still reading, Bloodlands, I got half way into it and began having panic attacks. It’s all there, every bit of it. We are unfolding, just as those atrocities did. We have learned little thru wars, occupations, and now must face our own retribution for not heeding what others tried so desperately to express.
I'm usually not into trigger warnings, but yes, that book is indeed anxiety-inducing. The first time I read it there were times when I felt like my body was simultaneously being turned inside-out and I was being transported to a different realm. I reread it 3 years later because the first time I couldn't concentrate on his theses of: 1.) place—the old Pale of Settlement—and 2.) the consequences of failed or destroyed states. The most interesting case of local collaboration for me is what is now Lithuania—or more specifically Vilnius, which had been a part of Poland's Second Republic since 1920—and about which he asks,"How is it possible that an area of Europe with the lowest antisemitism rate in Europe—including laws against antisemitic acts, before the Red Army invaded in 1940, and the Wehrmacht in June 1941—could have had among the highest number of murdered Jews with the help of local collaborators?" Well of course there was the Lithuanian nationalist movement whose goal before the Red Army and Nazis arrived was to expel all the Poles and form a Lithuanian national state. But without a state to ensure that civil rights are protected—Poland's state was co-destroyed in Sept. 1939—there were no laws to protect anyone, but especially Jews. If the state is the grantor and guarantor of rights, then all zones of statelessness are also zones of lawlessness.
I highly recommend to everyone who's read Bloodlands that they should also read Black Earth. In fact, though B was published first and BE 5 years later, I sometimes think BE should be read before B.
The last sentence of your comment calls to mind the shortest of the short stories by Tadeusz Borowski, himself a political prisoner in Auschwitz, in a collection translated from the Polish by Madeline G. Levine, forwarded by Timothy Snyder, and published in 2021 (Here in Our Auschwitz and Other Stories), "A Visit":
"In that mild darkness I had my eyes wide open [. . .] I can recall nothing from that night other than what I saw with my wide-open eyes [. . .] All these people who, because of phlegmon, scabies, and typhus, and also because they were too thin, were going to the gas chamber, begged the nurses (who were loading them into the crematorium trucks) *to look and remember. And to tell the truth about man to those who haven't learned it by experience"* (pp. 279-80).
*my emphasis
Thank you so much for writing and elucidating what must be understood by all, even those whose eyes are wide-shut. But, how can we educate those who are not stupid, but ignorant of an imminent consequence? No doubt, an age old argument, but we must try.
Stand. Speak. Never follow. Hold firm to the core values of humanity.
Again, I appreciate your note.
Very kind of you, M. Please take the very best care of yourself.
Thank you, Rose, and likewise.
Thank you, Rose. I'd had B on my book shelf for months and only read when the pandemic began... something about the world, the isolation allowed me to 'go there.' Then BE, and Reconstruction of Nations. I'd already read Unfreedom and On Tyranny. And this year, On Freedom, which I encourage everyone to take up right now.
These works of TS were mentioned in the usually quiet chat box during a zoom meeting last night of a short story reading group, Stories with Soul, that's met every Wednesday since 1993 (!) The story is read aloud, then discussed. Up to the pandemic, always in person. Now on zoom the first three (or four) Wed each month, and in-person the last. We had a rather dark one last night, by Borges —“The Lottery in Babylon”— paired with one of his poems, "The Instant."
And many thanks to you, Professor Snyder, for today's column, for all you have done and are doing. I, for one, was very glad when I learned you were taking the position in Toronto. Now, if I could get a student visa to study there with you! A senior citizen student visa.
Hi, Teresa. I read BE, Reconstruction, and OF towards the end of last year, one after the other, with Roger Moorhouse's "The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941," sandwiched between OF and Reconstruction. I've been keeping a list (by date completed) of books and papers I've read since 2010, and looking at my little book, I see that I read the updated (kindle) ed. of Unfreedom in Sept. 2024.
Just found “The Lottery in Babylon” at archive.com and can probably find "The Instant" just as easily. I've been reading more fiction lately--2 novels by Camus and a 3rd I've not gotten to yet—"The Plague," with an Afterward by Tony Judt—plus a short biography by Robert Zaretsky, "A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning."
Ditto re a senior citizen student visa!
Great practice, Rose, keeping the list of books read. Wish I had. I'll look into the works you mention. Currently, I'm reading "King-A Life Jonathan Eig (inspiring... and also sad, some things seem never to change). Other recent reads: "More Everything Forever" by Adam Becker, "The Case for God" Karen Armstrong, "Differ We Must," Steve Inskeep,"So Help Me God-The Founding Fathers and the First Great Battle Over Chucrh and State," Forrest Church, "The Separation of Church and State-Writings on a Fundamental Freedom by America's Founders" also by Forrest Church. "Lawrence in Arabia," Scott Anderson, a remarkable book - page-turner.
As to fiction, everything by Elizabeth Strout. As you may well know, her works build on one another; imo best read in order of publication. Her latest "Tell Me Everything" I think is beautiful. Louise Erdrich's "Master Butcher's Singing Club." Mostly set in the US, but starts out in Germany. Elena Ferrante's "Troubling Love."
Just picked up "The Emperor of Gladness" Ocean Vuong after I saw Vuong interviewed on, I think, New Hour.. yikes may have been Amanpour.
Our short story group's readings are selected by the week's reader, so they vary from laugh out loud funny to thoughtful to esoteric. The readers range from just good readers to pros. Attendance usually 15-20. Can be a nice way to mark the mid-week (usually :)
And thanks for commenting on Borowski. I'm ordering.
thank you for these reflections!
You're quite welcome.
I just got a copy. Thanks for the warning.
It is a phenomenal and pivotal book. It’s everything, over the decades of Russia to German cruelties, that unfolded. Well worth reading. Well worth encouraging others to read. Difficult, but necessary.
💙
That’s an unforgettable book.
No panic attacks but I could not finish BLOODLANDS.
I read Black Earth and it still haunts me…
Trump has always carried a small, and remarkably brittle, 'stick' (call it schtick, if you're from NY). That's why he has to swing it around so much, to create the illusion of size and substance. This whole Alaska Boondoggle is dumpster fire in a tenement. I only wish Trump and Putin had held it in Juneau, so that looming glacier threatening to engulf that city would crush them to a pulp and sweep them into the Arctic Sea. Ahh. That lowered by blood pressure. Thanks
Think of it, Trump & Pootie, the two dictators most disliked in the world, together in one place which just HAPPENS to be a US military base filled with SOLDIERS and MUNITIONS....(thinks)..sometimes munitions HAPPEN to explode - hey, accidents, right? They happen all the time, right? Now, you don't suppose...hmmm?
Now there's a thought... I'd like to see Netanyahu and his far right henchmen there too, the unholy trinity.
Oopsies! I don't suppose anything, but where there's life, there's hope.
I like the scenario....and fervently hope for it to happen.
Or trump defects.
Not sure about defecting...could reveal more super secret stuff to the Russkys...on the other hand, the DOD probably tells Donald a bunch of stupid shit which of course he will brag on to Pootie & friends..so maybe it wouldn't be all bad...(thinks)...maybe Miller and Vought could be induced to jump ship as well, which means leaving Don's boy JD in charge...hmmm.
Leigh, I've envisioned that very scenario myself! And, it did lower my blood pressure, too.🇺🇦👊🇺🇦
And so it goes; Trump has no stick strong enough to change this outcome. That raises the question, does he even want to or care enough to change that outcome? I think he just likes to bluster because hearing it, he thinks he's strong. Not so. His own history belies that thought!
Trump has plenty of sticks strong enough to change the outcome. He can enforce high secondary tariffs on countries that buy Russian energy and sell Russia strategic inputs for military production, such as dual-use semiconductors. He can immediately amp up the direct U.S. flow of weapons, intelligence, and economic and humanitarian aid into Ukraine, using part of the massive increase in Pentagon funding Congress just appropriated. He can get the impounded Russian funds held in Europe to be released to Ukraine. Lots of sticks.
He has them, but will not use them. He admires Putin for what he is (and tRump would like to be) and I agree with those who think that Putin has devastating kompromat on tRump. This meeting is all a charade. tRumps goal? More distraction from "tRumpstein" and accumulation of verbiage indicating that HE has ended this war too -- along with the other 5 (is it?) that he has ended in pursuit of the NPP (which, btw, is a rigged deal). Putin is playing him. This is bad theater, nothing more. If either of these men (and I use that term very loosely) gave a fig about the Ukrainian people, even a simpleton can understand how they could put those cares into immediate action. Clearly, VP does not even care about his own people (>1M Russian casualties so far!). If the USA and Europe wanted to stop this war right now, they could end it rather quickly, I'd guess. Among other things, increasing Russian casualties (I abhor this sort of thought, although it is practical IMO), among other things, will undermine Putin's position at home. The Russian people must rid the world of the scourge of Putin, something similar to the challenge faced by the American people. It stuns and startles me that collective actions have been so woefully constrained and ineffective at ridding the world of such self-centered maniacs.
"Bad theater": Sure. "Nothing more"? Not so fast. Propaganda is bad theater by definition, but it has devastating real-world effects, as we see in Ukraine and will see tomorrow in Alaska. Dismissing what Putin and trump are up to in this "summit" as merely performative is (1) dangerous, not least because it forecloses deeper examination; and (2) diminishes the serious culpability of the bad actors.
I do not dismiss it as irrelevant, only as being very far short of the assumed relevant points, Nancy, for exactly the reasons that you point out. If people in general, thought even a mm below the surface or considered for a second who the actors ARE, they'd not fall for the performance ... but as we both know, way too many will.
That he can do these things and does not, makes him complicit. He’s a faker. This is performance.
I added a comma to this, which makes a difference in how it reads: that he can do these things and does not, makes him complicit
According to ex-diplomats such as Michael McFaul, these types of "summits" are usually preceded by many many months of meetings and negotiations by junior officers and staff wherein the mutual agreements are hammered out in tight language for their principals to reveal upon meeting. This is none of that. This is Trump trying to shift the conversation away from the Epstein files. Although Trump could report that he found Putin was not serious about seeking peace, and , therefore, I am now going to do x, y, and z in order to push the needle, my bet is that we will hear nothing but some glittering generalities about how smart Putin is and our talk was a "ten."
A perfect summation of the dangerously converging issues. Blessings on the Ukrainians who have suffered so much for their freedom. Grief for the world order now overthrown.
We must all weep for Ukraine.
I view the summit meeting in Alaska as one of the cardinal failures of Marco Rubio. He knows full-well that Putin holds the cards. He knows that his boss's view of the Ukraine struggle is that it is a real estate deal, and Ukraine is the under-dog. Compassion, learning, empathy are anathema to Trump
Rubio only does what trump wants him to do.
Great overview. I would only add that it only took a week for Trump to turn around from putting tariffs on India tied to its buying of Russian oil to a total concession of Ukraine’s land which is not his to make. This coincides with the Epstein files furor. While Putin usually uses flattery with Trump, it feels as if this time he felt he needed to remind him that he could release the files like he did with Clinton’s emails. The NYT article on the intrusion into court documents by Russians might be related.
Having just returned from a two month stay in Ukraine and lived in the shelters with each siren in Kyiv at night and going about with "normal" living making each moment count, your words are very valuable and need repeating. Thank you.
This is off subject: Due to a temporary glitch in the laws, I'm sending in my application for Canadian Citizenship by Descent, today. It's been an enormous amount of work, my chances are slim, but I'm going to try. If I get citizenship, our kids are eligible. I want to give them options. All my best, CB
Best of luck, Carol.
Dear Dr. Snyder. Instead of the Ultima Thule moment I think it more closely resembles a Munich moment. Like Chamberlain, it is pure fantasy to believe Trump will have the courage to stand up to Putin. Like Chamberlain, in the Trump fantasy world, he views the war as a real estate transaction, willing to cede to Putin a country that he has no right to represent. And like Chamberlain, any dealing with Putin will not create “peace in our time” but open Europe and possibly the rest of the world for violent, territorial aggression. I think the People’s Republic of China will be viewing the summit with great interest regarding their future designs on Taiwan. The citizens of the Baltic states need to be aware.
Civilizations on our planet have been in existence for roughly 20,000 years. It has only taken 250 years to figure out how to blow up or burn up the planet. These are the stakes we are encountering. Blessings.
Agree, David ... there are indeed higher order concerns about the fundamental nature of human beings at play here. Some, like Gandhi, Lincoln and Mandela, I suppose, have had the wisdom to see these and tried to lead humanity toward a better place, but we collectively have failed to budge. Greed and power wed us to nationalism, and nationalism can be a leash that allows our chosen masters to lead us onto our doom. Once firmly leashed, dogs that rebel are shot, one by one. After 77 years on the planet, I am convinced that we haven't the collective courage to resist effectively. And with 5 beautiful grandchildren this makes me sad.
Trump asserted "I am going to Russia", which, since Russia claims Alaska as its own, is tantamount to giving away Seward's Folly.
Yes, the irony was not lost on many people.
Except the Washington press corpse. Like all of tRump's demented ramblings, it gets nary a mention from them. Of course if Biden had said and done even a 1,000th of tRump's craziness, the 25th amendment would be called up immediately.
Doesn't mean the reporters - the press corps - were duped. Publishers and Editors have final say on what makes it into print. Have to agree with your comment re Biden. I think that many fair-minded journos who are personally sympathetic to him and generally supportive of his policies used their critiques of Biden to demonstrate their even-handedness. Fox News just proclaims itself 'Fair and Balanced' even though it is most definitely NOT for the most part.
So happy to see this Timothy Snyder post. I have missed his insights.
If the US supplied proper military backing for Ukraine, the war could be won outright, and the country could begin to be rebuilt. And the War Criminal Putin would be stopped in his tracks. He continues because he can.
It seems to me that this is the unaddressed fault at the base of all the pyramid of stupidity and falsity piled on top by both Putin and Trump.
HOW can we STOP THESE TWO MONSTERS?
Thanks.
BTW: Take note of Timothy Snyder's brilliant comment, one of the funniest, best assessments of Donald Trump ever said. (In my view, it is worthy of Mark Twain):
"Donald Trump speaks loudly and carries a small stick."
I would like to add this:
As a fairly good dog trainer for over 30 years, I often filter events through my observations of dog behavior:
Donald J Trump reminds me of nothing so much as of the insecure, low-prestige dog of a pack of dogs, who desperately wants to present himself as being much, much bigger than he is. He acts tough as long as the true Alpha is nowhere to be seen, and only acts like a big shot as long as there is no one to stop him. If the real Alpha shows up, these low level dogs cower, literally kiss the mouth of the Alpha, cringe, and slink away.
The single most characteristic trait of these dogs is that they PEE on absolutely everything. On trees, on buildings, on furniture, on other dogs (if they can find a weaker dog who is vulnerable).
These Wanna-Be Dog Dictators then scratch the earth near their PEE Mark, to leave the scent from their paw pads intended to say, "And I am strong and tough, too, look at my vigorous scratch marks!" These low-echelon would be leaders usually BACK UP a they scratch the earth, in order to leave a really long scratched-earth mark (a form of lying in the canine world), On the other hand, a truly big dog, like a Great Dane, who intimidates by his sheer size, will scratch the earth once, possibly twice, in a nonchalant manner -- he has nothing to prove. :-)
The true Alpha Dog of the pack despises these ostentatious Leg-Lifters and basically ignores them as irrelevant, or else periodically, if needed, puts them in their actual place by a snarl or a bite. Leg Lifters are usually relegated to the low level job of Sentry: Bark if there is danger, to alert the Pack. Sentry dogs are LOUD. Alphas are most often largely silent.
Trump seems to me to be a Leg-Lifter, in dog behavior terms. Trump has been emboldened by John Roberts, the so-called head of the Supreme Court. Mr Roberts has seen fit to hand Donald free-rein to do whatever he wants, with the full assurance that Trump will not be held accountable by the Supreme Court for any of his egregious Power Grabs.
Why the hell has no one stopped this outrage?
The world is full of people who think a bully is a good leader.
Yes. Your succinct comment seems to hit the nail squarely on the head. I wonder why they think so. but you are right. Thanks for the comment.
That many Americans are fooled and accept Trump’s dangerous foolishness is disappointing at so many levels.
It is time to resist as strongly as possible - speak out against and point out every instance of his gangster fascism.
Trump and Putin are ignoring the fact that Ukraine has the final word, and it's a resounding "NO!"
Certainly, Ukraine would say NO to agreeing to give away its territory, but until the war stops, it will the stronger of the two belligerents who gets to determine when the fighting will stop.
The strategic issue is whether western countries can supply enough munitions and other assets to Ukraine for the smaller country to prevail. Their army is short of recruits, their cities and infrastructure are under constant attack, and I sense that the popular mood, if not the will, is changing. Admittedly I am trying to judge this from a distance.
All of your words are illuminating, civilized, and appreciated. I’d like to add a few hard-hitting ones I read: “Trump’s an outer-borough Mafia operative.” For those not born in NYC, “outer borough” refers to lower class tough guys. They are foul-mouthed Archie Bunkers or Tony Sopranos. Trump’s a mixture of both.
After? TACO will have another spiel. Just more words for us. With Putin, Trump will just listen.