In Moscow

Roxane and I have been in Moscow for four days. Tomorrow to St. Petersburg, then home a week from Monday. Tonight was a dream--seeing the ballet "Golden Age" at the Bolshoi. Yesterday the Museum of the Great Patrotic War, i.e., WW II. Lots of displays about heroism, not anything about the unimaginable savagery on both sides. The Soviet NKVD "backup" units killed over 250,000 of their own soldiers--shot down if they retreated, or even looked like they were thinking about it. An ethicist could get tied in knots trying to sort out the good from the bad, or the horrible from the beyond-horrible. A topic for another time, perhaps.

We've had internet in our apartment here, but won't in St. Petersburg, so ruminating about the US political scene will also have to wait. Dos V'danya.