As regular readers of the Web log know, my extended family is… well, extensive. This is primarily due to my big sister Rose, who has a huge brood of cute, lovely, bright children and her husband’s brother’s family, which is quite close and equally as populous. Consequently, events like Christmas dinner have traditionally required elaborate… Continue reading Greek Alphabet Rapidly Running Out of Letters
Tag: diplomacy
Ukraine Bites Nails as Russia Rattles Saber and Rocks Boat
My nine o’clock consultation today was Dr. Kolka Drystalo Lysyidiko D.Sc., Ph.D., L.LD., B.Y.O.B., the undersecretary of political affairs at the Ukrainian Embassy here in Washington DC. We have been discussing Ukraine’s relationship with Russia and the implications of Soviet economic, social and military history for the future of Eastern Europe quite some time at… Continue reading Ukraine Bites Nails as Russia Rattles Saber and Rocks Boat
Washington Gets an Impounding Headache
My sister-in-law Katje invited herself over to my office Friday morning and camped out in the reception area chatting with Gretchen about the myriad evils of the Trump administration and regaling my paying clients about the ongoing impeachment of the President until I agreed to speak with her. As it happened, I was booked solid… Continue reading Washington Gets an Impounding Headache
Washington’s Afghan Fudge Flavored Self-licking Ice Cream Cone
When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, And the women come out to cut up what remains, Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier. – Rudyard Kipling Despite the impression that numerous posts may have created, I don’t always conduct consultations in my… Continue reading Washington’s Afghan Fudge Flavored Self-licking Ice Cream Cone
La Follia del Kurdistan dell’Imbecille Nella Casa Bianca
As regular readers of this Web log know, I’m an Italian-American – my full name is Tom Collins Martini, and my father, now long retired, was a bartender at a Manhattan society hotel. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, he invented a number of modern martini cocktails and named his children after the ones of which… Continue reading La Follia del Kurdistan dell’Imbecille Nella Casa Bianca