It is amazing to me that Pepe Escobar, Douglas MacGregor and other fans of Russia manage to put a positive spin on the Prigozhen affair. Such people have no shame and refuse to see the realities of the situation.
Other people analyze the chaos better than I do. Let me once again recommend Edward Slavsquat who is reading every angle being presented in this situation. Every analyst has a different angle. Some of them are just plain ludicrous, but the very concept of ludicrous is morphing over the course of these events. Slavsquat manages to quote and to point you to all the sources and let you draw your own conclusions. Also laugh freely at the inanity.
Sunday morning I went to the farmers market as usual. My routine changes. I now am in the practice of buying 30 eggs, one flat, every week. They last us just about all week. I buy such vegetables as we can. Eggplant has just come in the season I bought two. Also cheese, some farmers milk and a bunch of vegetables.
After that we went to the zoo. I thundered around telling the children that if we did not catch the 9:20 bus we would not have time. The threat of missing the zoo put them in gear. We made the bus with time to spare.
The zoo is an ideal destination for the three children. I need to carry Mariana from the subway stop to the zoo in order to get there at a reasonable pace, but once we’re there she's content to be on her own feet.
We have been to the zoo often enough that we don't feel any pressure to see everything. It's a chance for the kids to be free and do what they want. This has a downside. They tend to head off three different directions. It is a hard for dad to keep track of them. I keep close is watch of course on Marianna and have some faith that the others will find me when they want to catch up.
The first thing we looked at was the huge new gibbon enclosure. The siamangs are active, intelligent and beautifully acrobatic. As we were walking up toward the Ferris wheel we were approached by a party of three - Lauren, Marcus, and their translator Ilia.
Lauren started asking me questions about my experience during the war. Had we been here throughout the war? Yes. Were we frightened? My wife yes, me, not so much. What did we do? I told them how we homes chooled, traveled with our bicycles, and that our lives were fairly normal. I'm not sure that's the answer they wanted but that's what they got.
I told them that it was six months before I saw any war damage. Though in March 2022 was like living in the middle of the 1812 overture, with artillery roaring to the east of us in Brovary, and to the west of us in Irpin and Bucha, in our little enclave there is nothing worth shooting at. People don't realize how big theaters of war are, and how local the fighting is. I mentioned that I had spent four years in Vietnam had kind of a sang froid about the whole thing.
They followed us taking pictures. The kids and I were photogenic, all wearing Hawaiian shirts. We discussed Eddie's education. Only after about five minutes did they mention that they were from the Los Angeles Times. I immediately observed that the LA Times has a different political leaning than I do, but it didn't matter here. Through the course of the conversation I mentioned a couple of things that they may not want to hear. The fact that the schools here are for children all of one color means we are not ridden with diversity issues. The education seems to be better because schools don't have to concern themselves with noneducational matters. I briefly mentioned that my previous family had turned out not so well, and that if they wanted to know more they could find my website and substack through a simple Google search. I gave them my card and asked them to send what they publish. Maybe they will – I don't know. At any rate your eyes open to see if anything shows up in LA Times.
I lost sight of Eddie 10 minutes as we walked from the lions and tigers down to the koi pond. He knew where we were going, so I was not terribly concerned. It turned out that he had continued to fish coins out of one of the fountain.
The children were all clamoring for lunch as we left. They wanted one of the more expensive restaurants closer to the zoo. I said no, we will go to Hidropark and get something fast. Hidropark is Kyiv’s Soviet era Coney Island. We got a Eddie a shawarma and Zoriana and Marianna a Middle Eastern hotdog. They shared two glasses of kvass, the traditional Ukrainian summer drink. As I was calculating when we had to leave to catch the bus, the girls told me they needed a toilet. Oh, another five minutes. We had to leave right away.
I had been watching a another party. There was a man among looked like a quintessential Englishman, trim, handsome, with a neat white beard. I was saying to myself it could not be. There is almost nobody here but Ukrainians.
He overheard us speaking English and greeted me as we were leaving. Not English, but Canadian. Our talk was brief because I had to get the girls to a toilet, but I did have time to give them my visit card and invite them to write me, perhaps attend Toastmasters.
I found the trip to the zoo to be kind of exhausting but exhilarating. Oksana was duly appreciative of the fact that I had taken care of all three children for four and a half hours. More than that, the girls were tired out. They both lay down for three hours naps after we got home, so she pretty much had a lot of the day to herself.
I took a nap myself, not sleeping but just taking it easy. After which I got on the exercise bicycle. The rest did me good – though my leg still hurts. I managed to do 63 revolutions per minute.
Eddie went out for a long bicycle ride, going across the bridge to Khreshetik, the exact center of town. This is exactly the sort of thing I loved to do it his age. I trust his judgment. He is a cautious kid, riding on sidewalks whenever possible instead of on the street, but he is adventuresome. He does like learn the city. He told me of a new path along the river from our house to his lycée. In I had tried the route previously, but there had been construction blocking the way. It now works. Eddie is not a natural athlete, but bicycling will keep him in shape.
That was the news from Lake WeBeGone on the 26th, when I had high hopes of getting my computer back quickly. More to come.
I always enjoy your slices of family life Graham.
It is difficult to understand the ethnic, racial, and historical complexity of Eurasia from the perspective of Japan, which is like an isolated island.
But I feel that Russia is likely to become a vassal state of China economically. Since both countries have nuclear weapons, China may not be able to make Russia a full vassal state, but Russia may end up in a situation similar to that of Tibet or the Wigurs economically.
The Russian people themselves must wake up, but it may be difficult unless the top class of Rossia is wiped out and reformed at once by foreign power, like Japan after World War II.