Is it suprising that Putin’s dictatorial-fascistic regime invades an independent country in the name of fighting fascism? Not at all. That’s what fascist regimes do; they cynically and purposefully turn reality upside down or invent it altogether. What is suprising is when some left publications here – you expect it from publications on the right – accept and give credence to these lies.

Frederick Douglass said democracy demands “earnest struggle.” He was right then and is there any doubt that his observation is right now?

The latest issue of Foreign Affairs – The Age of Uncertainty – includes a number of interesting articles, including a sympathetic one on W.E.B. Dubois and his global outlook. The writer, Zachariah Mampilly persuasively argues that “the erasure of his views on foreign policy and the international order represents an enormous loss.”

Had leaders in the the U.S. and Western Europe heeded Dubois’ thinking, Mampilly writes, the world would look very different today. The present uncertainty and challenges facing humankind would be of a different order and far more manageable.

If Trump is a fascist, can the same thing be said about Putin?

Drinking very tasty bottle of wine from the Nathaniel Rose winery on Leelenau Peninsula in Michigan. The winery is without pretense to say the least, but the wine is superb. I have to thank Terry Albano who shared the cost of the bottle, but will not enjoy the taste of this Michigan wine. I live in the Bronx; she lives in Chicago.