Weltschmerz

By Eric Le Roy

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‘We have fallen in the dreams the ever living

Breathe on the tarnished mirror of the world

And then smooth out with ivory hands and sigh.”

(Yeats)

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My life at an advanced age vacillates between flashes of murderous rage and periods of unaccountable serenity. When I sense the futility of thinking that anything much is going to change during my ‘golden years’, I … Read the rest

Die, Old Man!

Content 18+

Back in Moscow — and also now in Bulgaria, as I continue to work with Russians via Skype and Zoom — it has been my business to have close connections with Russian professionals. Because of that, I know a lot of 50-something guys who were living the good life until they lost their jobs. A lot of them were in the banking industry, some dealt in software, others … Read the rest

The Wild Face of Patriotism

Content advisory 18+ In the last couple of days, Russian “patriotism” has had its finest hour. First, a famous painting was well-nigh destroyed by a vodka-swilling nationalistic fool at the Tretyakov gallery; and, second, a Russian journalist, well-known for his criticism of the Kremlin, was fatally shot in the back as he tried to enter his apartment in Kiev, where he had fled in fear of his life in Moscow.… Read the rest

Terminal Treason

Content advisory 18+ Restricting something just for the apparent sake restricting it is usually a bad idea, though not an uncommon practice among bureaucrats and fools (if by that we are not talking about the same thing-Eric). But putting shackles on the importing of vital medicine is a treason by definition — insofar as it represents a willful act of sabotaging the best interests of the nation, in … Read the rest