I started this blog on January 2, 2009 by writing about a visit to Versailles on New Year's Day - the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution. (Some old men drinking coffee tried to lecture us on the evils of Communism and Hania told them not to bother - "I'm Polish," she said.) Saturday I stayed away from the famous Little Havana restaurant - it seemed to be a uniquely Cuban celebration and, even though welcomed, I would have felt like a party-crasher. Watching it on TV I realized that Cuba is now in the unusual position of possibly becoming one country in the world that actually moves forward.
(I'm off again, this time on a little road trip to promote my book. Will be back here on Dec. 5th.)
A lasting image (at least for me) of the 2012 Summer Olympics is of London mayor Boris Johnson suspended on a zip line several feet above the ground. As I recall, each of his chubby hands held a small Union Jack. The announcer, Bob Costas, painted the mayor as something of a buffoon, unaware, probably, of his journalistic career which included editorship of The Spectator, in whose pages I first made his acquaintance. I thought it unfortunate that this learned, witty man would now be seen by Americans as an ineffectual clown. How things can change in four years.
A friend writes from Bangkok:
. "A few days ago, on Yahoo news, there was an article critical of the Thai military government that featured a photograph of a line of serious-looking armed soldiers blocking a street. I wonder where the picture was taken because in the two years of military rule I have not seen a single soldier, armed or unarmed, in the streets of Bangkok or, indeed, anywhere in the country. Thai military governments are not like those in Africa or Latin America. The culture is different as are the traditions of the military. Such is the world!"
A friend writes from Izmir: "Our future is being destroyed by a psychopath." It seems as sound a summation of Erdogan and the situation in Turkey as anything I've read in the American press.
If Trump wins, we could get a White House with his name atop it.