The lines have been blurred so many times regarding the attacks at the Maidan in Kyiv.

Please note these are all unarmed protesters. They have no real weapons. They have shields in an understanding that violence was possible.

At this point in the country Yanukovych was still in power. The national military still existed but was completely disarmed by him. What Yanukovych put in place of the military were militias owned and operated by oligarchs friendly to him. Basically, Yanukovych booby trapped the country. While the people could still protest at their own peril, the militias were to enforce the dictates of Yanukovych. If one recalls, he was spirited away to Crimea where under cover Russian officers saw him aboard a jet to self-exile in Russia. So, this is not a Ukraine dynamic. This is what occurs when those loyal to Russia rule in Ukraine. They destroy the Ukrainian Constitution and rain authority and violence on the people. 

So, why do Ukrainians fight? Why not? They had no peace under Yanukovych. They don't want it back!

The first investigations of the Maidan violence were considered falsified. We know for a fact there was extreme Russian corruption in Ukraine. The European Union demanded the corruption to be removed before Ukraine could be eligible for membership. It is one of the reasons President Zelensky was elected. He was well known to the Ukraine people, liked, and trusted. He promised to establish good relations with Europe by cleaning up the corruption as well as good relations with Russia for the same purpose; to engage a vibrant economy. Then, in time, as Zelensky installed a magnificent, young, and corruption free government Putin decided good relations were not possible and started a war with a wonderful country full of earnest people.

Now.

Those earnest people are engaged in war with many dead and many more refugees into eastern and western Europe.

Living with Putin is not life at all, it is oppression without end. This is why the Post-Soviet states are not interested in any relationship with Putin in power and quite possibly communist influence forever. It is why they made choices to align with NATO. NATO does not interfere with their independent governance.

This violence and killings were 20 years ago. Twenty years is a generation and Americans forget the reason these people are resolved to be alive under democracy and freedom. To them there is no going back and they still mourn the taking of their children by Russian soldiers into re-alignment camps. Ukraine children are not suppose to be Ukrainian anymore, but, citizens of Russia. That is a form of genocide.

Children in Russia help supply the country with militarized items (click here).

A boy wearing camouflage walks past a mural depicting a special forces soldier during a military-style competition organized by the National Guard security force for military cadets and youths, at a training ground in Balashikha, outside Moscow.

I am quite sure Vladimir's children are not involved.

This video appendix shows shootings (click here for video) of Maidan protesters from Maidan-controlled buildings and areas during the Maidan massacre in Kyiv in Ukraine on February 20, 2014 and a massacre of Maidan protesters in Khmelnytskyi on February 19, 2014. It uses content analysis of brief segments of well-known videos of these massacres and unbroadcast segments of a widely broadcast Belgian VRT News TV video of the Maidan massacre to reveal such shooting. This is the online Video Appendix C of papers prepared for presentation at the virtual 52nd Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies in the US in 2020 and the 10th World Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies in Montreal in 2021.

The case of Ms. E. Jean Carroll's gun has been handled.

She is a law abiding citizen that happens to have been sexually assaulted by Donald J. Trump.

SHE WAS RAPED.

What does anyone expect from a woman, a business woman, faced with violence? Her rape was not down a dark ally by a drunk, it was in broad daylight in of all places a high end store's dressing room.

Ms. Carroll's gun should not be a surprise considering she was not at all empowered to file rape charges against Trump. She has stated many times as a woman employed in a job she loved she would be compromised in her employment if she became a topic of social gossip because of Trump's rape of her.

So, fast forward to 2024 and this time she has braved public opinion to stand up for other victims that believe silence is a better resolve than the law.

Trump's lawyer aggressively pursued Ms. Carroll's gun ownership in court as being illegal and an attempt to defame her. She was very defamed by Trump even after the trial, so this aggression by Trump continues. But, regardless of any latent fear of him she relinquished her gun to law enforcement. The problem is mitigated. She did not pull a right wing rant about gun rights and how government is taking all the weapons from Americans, she realized her error and compromised her ownership to allow New York gun laws to prevail.

There really isn't anything else to say about this. Even if she ranted and raved about gun rights she would have faced a summons to court and this would probably be the result anyway. She isn't a law breaker. She doesn't sexually assault men. She is a victim of violence and that would be recognized in any court of law. By relinquishing the weapon to authorities she ended any confrontation.

I sincerely believe Ms. Carroll was and may still fear him. She is only one of dozens of women sexually assaulted by Donald John Trump. They remained silent for a long time. Why?

"Women are being a bit too kind in too many situations." (click here)

April 12, 2024
By Katherine Doyle

Police in New York took possession of a gun (click here) belonging to writer E. Jean Carroll in February after she said during testimony in her defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump that she had an unlicensed firearm at home, according to a police report obtained by NBC News.

The chief of police in Warwick, N.Y., visited Carroll at her home on Feb. 15 “to discuss some open issues,” the report states, including Carroll’s disclosure of the handgun while she was on the witness stand Jan. 17.


During the second day of the civil trial, Carroll had told the federal court in lower Manhattan that she kept a “high standard revolver, nine chambers” at home with ammunition. “By my bed,” she said.

"I still do not have a license," Carroll added.

John Rader, the reporting officer, said in his report that he “offered to secure the weapon at the police station’s property for safekeeping.”

Carroll and a member of her security team surrendered the gun a day after Rader visited, and the firearm was being held until Carroll receives a New York pistol license, the report said....

Iceland is suffering economic downturn due to volcanic activity.

It sincerely is a beautiful country. The volcanic activity really is isolated to the very tip of the southwestern region. There are towns and people effected, but, the country is taking care of their own and the dangerous areas are not occupied.

The Blue Lagoon is open. It is a worthwhile vacation spot. I do believe there is still some proximity to the volcanic activity that bothers tourists. All I can say to that is Iceland is very aware of the activity of it's geography.

January 12, 2024
By Alison Fox

The Blue Lagoon (click here) has once again re-opened to visitors in south Iceland following the volcano eruption that caused weeks of closures.

The iconic spa, restaurant, and hotel had a staggered opening over the last week, welcoming visitors back to soak in its milky blue waters and relax amongst its otherworldly landscape, the spa shared with Travel + Leisure. The pools, spa, cafe, retail shop, and Lava restaurant first reopened (though with slightly reduced hours) on Saturday, followed by the Silica Hotel and Retreat Hotel on Tuesday, and finally the property’s Michelin-starred Moss restaurant on Wednesday.

“After three wonderful days of welcoming back our staff and day guests at the Blue Lagoon, we’re also thrilled to be able to reopen our hotels,” Helga Árnadóttir, the chief operator of sales, operations, and services at the Blue Lagoon, said in a statement shared with T+L. “We’re very appreciative of our staff who worked tirelessly to reopen our establishments, and we look forward to continuing to create moments of joy for each person who walks through our doors.”...

If unpredictable volcanoes are a concern, there are alternatives.

September 5, 2023
By Lisa Abend

Early on a Sunday morning in July, (click here) two brothers from Boston sat on Reykjavik’s rocky coast, with their faces turned toward the chilly waters of the bay and their feet soaking in what felt like a warm bath. Ben and Lucas Zheng had landed around 4:30 a.m. at Iceland’s international airport, and didn’t have too many early-morning options for how to spend the start of their eight-hour layover before flying on to Venice. So, taking advantage of the season’s round-the-clock daylight, they walked 40 minutes from the city center toward the northwestern tip of the Seltjarnarnes peninsula. There on the stony beach, they rolled up their pants and sat for a couple of hours, their legs submerged in the naturally warm Kvika pool, which, at 12 inches deep, is more foot bath than hot tub.

The Zheng brothers had stumbled onto the most Icelandic of experiences. With more than 600 natural hot springs, the volcanic island gets the better part of its heat and energy from geothermal sources. But it has also incorporated that bounty of warm water into its culture, turning bathing in public pools into a sociable national pastime that is, according to some, the secret to its citizens’ happiness....

Go say hello to the Iceland cliffs and Puffins. The Puffins (click here), by the way, are having a terrible time surviving in the Pacific, especially the Russian coastal area. Iceland may be the only country with hearty populations of this really cute bird.

What could be better, clear skies, beautiful blue waters of the Atlantic, whales, and some of the cutest birds in the world.

There is a rift valley along the plate boundary. It is a fascinating tour if one is curious about Iceland's geography. Pumice lines the beaches that are accessible to tourism.

(click here for map)

The Middle East Peace Table

Asking Hamas to be a partner in peace is like asking a soldier to guarantee he speaks for a sovereign power. Hamas is a terrorist network acting in the interests of Iran and both should be held responsible for deaths of Israeli and Palestinian citizens. It is Hamas with Iran’s support that put Palestinian people deliberately in harm’s way.

It is Iran most responsible for the terrorist networks that are the soldiers on the front lines of Iranian hatred of global religions other than its own. It is Iran that must participate in peace talks and a pledge to end terrorist networks. Until Iran comes to the table its hatred will never be understood.

Iran must end it’s global march with terrorists doing it’s bidding.

Today, Iran has seized a ship in the Straits of Hormuz stating it can shut down the entire waterway. That is an act of war. Now, is every ship going to need a military escort in the Straits? 

There are two sides of these tensions already established: the allied powers and the axis powers. Iran sent drones to Russia for one reason only and that was to ensure Russia would carry out power against allied powers that itself cannot achieve. Along with Russia comes China. I think Iran has set up the world for WW III. I mean honestly are other countries going to go along with Iranian hatred? To what end? 

The communists love capitalism. Will the communists, including North Korea, actually take on the mantle of Iranian religious hatred as a reason to destroy their own countries and people? That is what war is, an invitation to harm one’s own land and people for the sake of what exactly? Hatred? Hatred is a reason for war? I thought aggression, like Hamas carried out, was a reason for war.

A war can end aggression, but, it will never end hate.

In a sincere understanding of national security, one power cannot control the world. Iran has wayward understandings of the power of a sovereign. 

I might add USA intelligence is spot on. President Biden was calling out Russia’s plans to invade Ukraine while all others denied it would ever happen.