Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Fedot Streletsky
[Regnum] Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, whose 205th birthday we celebrate today, is remarkable and great in every way. Including this: his work and biography offer a window into the political life of Russia and the world in the 19th century, revealing fascinating parallels. Because he himself played an active role in that life.
Everyone knows that in 1849, Dostoevsky was nearly executed in the so-called Petrashevsky Trial. Specifically, he was accused of publicly reading "Belinsky's Letter to Gogol"—a nominally critical review of the book "Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends."
However, it must be understood that Vissarion Belinsky was not only, and not even so much, a literary critic, but first and foremost a left-wing radical oppositionist who preached revolutionary socialism and often used the word “Russian” in his letters in a negative and dismissive manner.
"Russian reality is vile," he wrote to Vasily Botkin, the brother of the famous doctor, in 1841. And in that same ill-fated letter (from abroad, characteristically) to Nikolai Gogol, he called Russia a country where "there is not even police order."
Naturally, the Russian Imperial authorities banned this text for its calls for the overthrow of the existing regime (which it also contained). And Fyodor Mikhailovich, who had fallen under the corrupting influence of these harmful ideas, faced a harsh sentence.
However, subsequent events—the mock execution, the commutation of the sentence, and the penal servitude—forced Dostoevsky to rethink many things, abandon his socialist views, and embrace the concept of nachvennichestvo (pochvennichestvo).
Pochvennichestvo is apparently a late 19th century movement closely tied to Slavophilia that idealized Russian history, called for emancipating the serfs, and rejected Europeanization, nihilism, Marxism, and classical liberalism, instead calling for social improvement through individual humility and social reform via the Russian Orthodox church.
He would later succinctly characterize oppositionists like Belinsky in a letter to N. E. Grishchenko dated February 28, 1878:
"There are many old, gray-haired liberals who never loved Russia, even hated it for its 'barbarism,' and are convinced in their hearts that they love both Russia and the people. These are all abstract people, the kind whose entire education and Europeanism consists of 'loving humanity terribly,' but only in general."
How ultimately beneficial this seemingly traumatic experience was for Dostoevsky's development as an author and thinker is clearly evident in "Notes from the House of the Dead," where the political dimension is practically marginalized. His personal political work taught him to look beyond politics—at the individual.
Fyodor Mikhailovich wrote his most widely acknowledged “politicized” work, the novel “Demons,” in the wake of the Nechayev case—a trial that was not just high-profile, but in principle unique in its kind, widely covered in the press, which at that time was an unheard-of precedent.
Sergei Nechayev was the organizer of a secret society with the telling name "People's Reprisal"—something between a totalitarian sect and a terrorist organization. He also positioned himself as a representative of a certain "World Revolutionary Union," which was in fact fictitious.
The case was opened following the brutal murder of a student named Ivanov, a member of the society who had doubted Nechayev's methods and ideas (which he, in turn, had gleaned from Mikhail Bakunin ). He was then murdered in a showpiece, ostensibly as a warning and a rallying cry for the group.
In other words, in his novel "Demons," Dostoevsky illuminated what we might now call the most hyped topic of his time. But, of course, he didn't simply illustrate it; he delved deeper, as he knew how, in an attempt to understand where monsters like Sergei Nechayev even come from.
Interestingly, Dostoevsky initially planned a purely fantasy based on newspaper articles, and his Pyotr Verkhovensky, whose prototype was Nechayev, loomed large in the writer's mind as a "comical figure." Meanwhile, he described the real participants in the trial as "in my opinion, these pathetic freaks are not worthy of literature."
But as new chilling details emerged during the investigation and the true scale of the phenomenon became clear, Verkhovensky acquired increasingly sinister features, and the novel, accordingly, acquired depth, turning into the ultimate study of the disease that causes such phenomena.
Thanks to this, today, when we read the news about the latest new Nechayevs and their atrocities, both here and abroad (like Charles Manson – isn’t he an American Nechayev?), we can be horrified, but not surprised: look, Fyodor Mikhailovich already analyzed all this for us in detail 150 years ago.
Another high-profile political case that inspired Dostoevsky was the Dolgushin case, also revolutionaries, but not as ruthless as the Nechayevites. Therefore, they are portrayed in The Adolescent in a completely different—sympathetic and somewhat embellished—way.
Alexander Dolgushin was actually one of Nechayev's followers, but he was acquitted and released. He then formed his own youth group to engage in popular propaganda and incite peasants to revolt. However, the Dolgushinites also based their worldview on the Gospel ideal. This is what captivated Dostoevsky.
Here, however, it's important to understand that just as Verkhovensky isn't the equal of Nechayev (even if he was modeled on him to some extent), so too are the Dergachevites from "The Adolescent" not the equal of the Dolgushins. Specifically, in Dostoevsky, no one calls on the peasants to revolt. Instead, they prefer to debate, voicing contradictory opinions.
Take a character named Kraft, who "concluded that the Russian people are a secondary people" and, realizing that he himself was part of the Russian people, committed suicide. A vivid illustration of the consequences of delusional theories.
Nevertheless, in "The Adolescent," Dostoevsky comes to the conclusion that not all political radicals are demons. Some are simply misguided idealists seeking brotherhood and meaning, sometimes even finding the latter in what seems to be the right place—the Gospel. But in the wrong ways.
Soon after the publication of "The Adolescent," Dostoevsky fully established himself as a major "political blogger," starting a one-man journal (now called a blog) called "A Writer's Diary." In it, he regularly expressed his views on pressing news topics. And many of these statements remain relevant today, which is somewhat alarming.
Here, for example, is what Dostoevsky wrote in 1877 regarding the Russo-Turkish War that had just begun: “Everyone feels that something final has begun, that some kind of end is coming to something old, long, long old, and a step is being taken towards something completely new” - as if it had been written very recently.
Or: "Europe remarkably dislikes us and always has; it has never considered us its own, Europeans, but always merely annoying newcomers." With the explanation: "What confuses and frightens them now in Russia's image is rather something truthful, something too selfless, honest, disdaining both conquest and bribery."
Indeed, wherever you poke your nose, you'll stumble upon a perfectly understandable explanation of anything happening in politics today. It's completely unclear how it works, but it's true: you can read nothing about the modern world anywhere, and only Dostoevsky, and still understand the essence of current events.
Because greatness is a connection to eternity, and eternity is one and constant, and from there everything is visible as if in the palm of your hand.
[CityJournal] The firing of Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Andris Nelsons reflects the field’s obsession with identity politics.
In his dozen years at the helm of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conductor Andris Nelsons has drawn widespread acclaim for his musicianship and leadership of the organization, which has seen ticket sales rise.
On February 2, 2026, the board of the Boston Symphony Orchestra voted to terminate its contract with conductor Andris Nelsons. Nelsons had served as the BSO’s music director since 2014, following the retirement of James Levine. The decision had nothing to do with financial matters, according to the orchestra’s president and CEO, Chad Smith; ticket sales had risen under Nelsons. Rather, the board had concluded that “Andris was not the right leader for the entirety of our institution and our community,” Smith told Nelsons’s agents.
The termination was publicly announced on March 6, to widespread disbelief. As recently as January 2024, the board had rewritten Nelsons’s contract to renew automatically, citing its “deep confidence” in his “artistic leadership.” Now, just two years later, it had decided that the BSO and Nelsons were “not aligned on future vision,” as the March 6 press release put it.
Orchestra members were not consulted on the decision to oust their beloved maestro. They were as surprised as Nelsons and the public were. A protest movement sprang up within days. BSO musicians started wearing red boutonnieres on stage, in honor of the red-and-white flag of Nelsons’s homeland, Latvia. Patrons distributed the flowers before BSO concerts.
The situation apparently grew intolerable to management. In late July at Tanglewood, the BSO’s summer home in Lenox, Massachusetts, the orchestra announced that the #RedFlowerCampaign violated its rules against the unauthorized distribution of materials. Local businesses in Stockbridge and Lenox took up the slack, handing out the flowers on their own premises.
BSO leadership had hoped to deflect responsibility for the prospective firing. “We want... this to be his decision and message,” Smith wrote to Nelsons’s representatives. Nelsons wouldn’t play along. This “was not the decision I anticipated or wanted,” he said in a statement after the March press release.
If one wanted to understand the ills plaguing classical music today, the firing of Andris Nelsons is a good place to start. The industry’s identity-obsessed administrators and its misguided struggle for “relevance” are both prominent in the BSO-Nelsons saga. The episode epitomizes the loss of core purpose not just in classical music but in the Western art tradition writ large.
More at the link
Megyn Kelly's interview with the City Journal author:
[The Refined Populist] Every GOP strategist, consultant, and candidate should be forced to participate in a role-playing exercise this morning.
Your name is Bob. You’re a 49-year-old blue-collar worker in Ohio. You’ve always struggled to make ends meet. The good jobs were all shipped to China and the few remaining pay a pittance wage, undercut by endless illegal labor.
You’re a 3x Trump voter because you believed he would finally make America great again.
You put your son through Ohio State. He graduated cum laude in computer science. You couldn’t have been prouder. After months searching, he landed an entry-level job at Microsoft. Beneath his qualifications, but a good start for a smart kid.
Then he got laid off. That same month, Microsoft applied for 150,000 more H-1B visas because it can’t find qualified Americans.
Your son has spent six months back in his childhood bedroom, sending hundreds of applications without landing an interview.
On TV, Trump boasts about the greatest economy in history and how many women and minorities are finding jobs.
You decide a father-son steak night might cheer him up.
Gas is $4.50 a gallon. Filling your truck costs over $100. At Kroger, ribeyes are $30/lb. You settle for hamburger, even though 70/30 ground beef still costs $10+.
At checkout, a fat black woman is screaming at the cashier because her EBT will only cover most of the filet mignon and lobster in her cart.
You think to yourself how the Iran war has made everything expensive, but at least we’re stopping their nuclear bomb. You weren’t even sure where Iran was before you googled it after we first bombed them in March.
After dinner, you take your son to the county fair. Half the people aren’t speaking English. Virtually none of the crowd looks like you. You’re forced to leave early after a "teen takeover" turns violent. A foreign born judge pledges none of them will go to jail.
Back home, you turn on the TV. Vivek Ramaswamy is lecturing the crowd about American mediocrity and why Ohio needs more foreign talent.
Your son grows upset. You change the channel.
Now a Republican surrogate, the daughter of a governor or wife of an elderly billionaire, explains that young White men are the REAL welfare queens. They’d rather play videogames in their parents’ basements than work.
Your son says nothing. He just goes back to his childhood bedroom. You turn off the TV.
Then your neighbor starts blasting reggaeton and cracking open Modelos. He brought his cousin’s family from Mexico to help with all the minority-business contracts his construction firm keeps winning. Tonight they’re celebrating his nephew’s birth, the family’s first birthright American citizen.
You sit alone in your living room.
You worked hard, paid taxes, obeyed the law, and raised your son to do everything right. You voted Republican again and again because you believed somebody in Washington would finally fight for you.
Instead, your wages are stagnant. Groceries are unaffordable. Your community is unrecognizable. Your country is fighting another foreign war.
And upstairs, the son you sacrificed everything for is lying awake in the bedroom he slept in at twelve, wondering what the heck he’s even supposed to do with his life now.
Every time you turn on the TV, the Republicans you elected are either congratulating themselves or explaining why you and your son are the problem.
For ten years, they told you America’s future depended on your vote. Now you aren’t even sure America has a future worth defending.
The Republican Party needs to answer one simple question this morning:
You’ve spent a decade demanding Bob’s loyalty. You’ve given him stagnant wages, unaffordable groceries, another foreign war, and a son who did everything right but can’t find work.
And when they complain, you call them lazy, entitled, and racist.
What possible reason have you given Bob and his son to vote Republican? Do you honestly think you deserve their vote?
Long. Herewith history professor Victor Davis Hanson’s opening position — read the rest at the link.
[AmericanGreatness] The 2026 midterm rout exposed Republican failures on the economy, Iran, and immigration. Trump can still recover, but Democrats risk overplaying their hand with a radical agenda.
MIDTERM REALITIES
In the 126 years since 1900, nearly 90 percent of the midterm elections have led to the party in the Oval Office losing House seats, and two-thirds of those same elections have led to it losing Senate seats. Given this history, midterm losses of some sort in 2026 were almost a sure bet. But what ensued in November went well beyond all normal expectations. When all the votes are tabulated, the current blue wave may match the massive midterm losses that buried Bill Clinton in 1994 and Barack Obama in 2010.
First, what does this massive 2026 slapdown now portend?
A second-term president in his final two years, facing a euphoric and frenzied opposition Congress, emboldened by a landslide, will have difficulty confirming federal judges or cabinet members. Most presidents in that dire situation try to rush through confirmations in the brief two remaining months of their lame-duck congressional majorities—not an easy task. Trump is, at this very moment, following in their footsteps.
Come next year, Trump will still not have to face a veto-proof Congress—unless renegade Republican senators and representatives join Democrats on key legislation to provide them with the necessary 67-Senate-vote/290-House-vote override.
It is critical for Trump, then, to shore up potentially apostate congressional Republicans and keep them in line to prevent this. Another problem: waves as huge as the 2026 blue wave can sometimes take two or three election cycles to correct themselves—meaning the 2026 left-wing momentum gives the socialist Democrats advantages in the 2028 presidential elections.
Even though the Democrats cannot hope to override the veto, some, like Elizabeth Warren, have recklessly called for ending the filibuster—a huge mistake when they don’t yet have the White House. (Why end this time-honored institution just to pass legislation that will be vetoed by an opposition president anyway?)
As for Trump’s own legislative initiatives—they are dead. Bipartisan initiatives with the new socialist Democratic Party could be explored, but they would likely be untenable in the eyes of the MAGA base. Otherwise, Democrats will vote against anything and everything Trump proposes—in the fashion of what Harry Truman once called his oppositional Republican legislators: “The Do-Nothing Congress.”
[Rudaw] Kataib Hezbollah — an Iran-aligned Iraqi Shia paramilitary group — is facing growing political pressure amid Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s push against economic interests allegedly linked to armed factions, as former comrades — including Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Imam Ali — back his campaign to bring weapons under state control.
Baghdad has cancelled commercial contracts suspected of benefiting gangs and moved to cut intermediary companies out of defense procurement. Kataib Hezbollah has responded by questioning the prime minister's wealth and his family's business interests, while refusing to commit to surrendering its own weapons.
Armed groups have wielded considerable influence in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion. Many subsequently gained political representation and access to state resources, leaving successive governments struggling to consolidate all weapons under their authority.
The current confrontation therefore concerns more than disarmament; it challenges the very core of economic and political power of the armed factions themselves.
FORMER COMRADES BACK DISARMAMENT
Sadiqoun politician Ahmed al-Mousawi, whose bloc is affiliated with the leader of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Qais al-Khazali, challenged paramilitary groups during a November 3 interview with al-Ahd television, affiliated with Khazali.
"The factions that say they are resistance - who are they resisting?" he asked. Mousawi criticized factions that had accused Asaib Ahl al-Haq of abandoning resistance for political and financial gains, arguing that a strong state was more effective than separate gangs.
"If your thinking is so limited that you want to confine yourself to a faction whose capabilities amount to 10 rockets, why don't we become a state and possess an arsenal like that of the Islamic Theocratic Republic?" he asked. Mousawi did not explicitly name Kataib Hezbollah.
Two days later, Deputy Prime Minister Laith al-Khazali, the brother of Asaib Ahl al-Haq's leader, publicly supported Zaidi. "Restricting weapons to the state is a constitutional principle that is not open to debate," he told al-Iraqiya television of the state-owned Iraqi News Agency (INA), adding that the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework had unanimously endorsed the principle.
Influential Shiite holy manMoqtada al-Sadr'>Moqtada Tater al-Sadr ...hereditary Iraqi holy man and leader of a political movement in Iraq. He had his hereditary rival al-Khoei assassinated shortly after the holy rival's appearance out of exile in 2003. Formerly an Iranian catspaw, lately he gagged over some of their more outlandish antics, then went back to catspawry when the check cleared... has also endorsed state control of weapons.
In May, he ordered his Saraya al-Salam militia to separate from his political movement and integrate into government institutions. Iraqi security officials confirmed in June that the transfer process had begun. On September 30, Sadr also dissolved the Promised Day Brigade, an anti-US armed formation he established years earlier.
Sadr's position adds weight to the government's campaign, despite his movement being a rival of the Coordination Framework rather than part of its ruling alliance. He has also called for security forces to operate exclusively under the government's authority following the coalition withdrawal.
The shift extends to the paramilitary group Kataib Imam Ali, formerly led by Shibil al-Zaidi. On October 1, Services Alliance spokesperson Husam al-Rubaie argued that the withdrawal of foreign forces had removed a principal justification for independent arms.
"Resistance® is a state of societal rejection, not a profession or a means of achieving political gains," he told al-Dijlah television, owned by prime minister Zaidi, urging fighters to join official security institutions.
Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council acknowledged the divide in June, thanking Sadr's movement, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, and Kataib Imam Ali for agreeing to the principle of weapons under state control and urging other factions to follow.
But acceptance of the principle doesn’t necessarily translate to immediate disarmament and compliance nor the dismantling of a faction's command structure.
These public positions do not establish that every group has completed disarmament, but they leave Kataib Hezbollah increasingly at odds with several former partners.
ECONOMIC PRESSURE AND COUNTER-ACCUSATIONS
Last week, Zaidi directed the Defense Industries Commission to contract directly with manufacturers rather than intermediary companies.
London-based, Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat, citing unnamed sources, reported that some intermediaries were linked to armed factions and profited from defense contracts. Rudaw could not independently verify those claims.
Zaidi subsequently cancelled three contracts at djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... International Airport involving passenger counters, parking and taxis. Authorities suspected links to gangs but did not publicly name the factions. Kataib Hezbollah denied controlling airport contracts.
The dispute has also reached the small town of Jurf al-Sakhar, also known as Jurf al-Nasr, in Babil province, just 60 kilometers southwest of Baghdad, where Kataib Hezbollah maintains a powerful presence. Its predominantly Sunni residents have long been unable to return after the area was retaken from the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS).
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attaches strategic importance to Jurf al-Sakhr. Media outlets close to the IRGC say the preservation of the area under Iran-backed groups is directly linked to Iran’s national security.
On Monday, multiple Iraqi media simultaneously reported they had obtained secret documents from the ministry of interior of a purported intelligence report alleging oil smuggling and the tapping of pipelines there.
Babil Governor Ali Turki disputed the account after visiting one cited location, saying it was an old fuel station used by security forces. Rudaw could not authenticate the report or verify its conclusions.
The funds at stake can be considerable. A 2021 Chatham House study documented how networks tied to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), other gangs and political parties profited from contracts, checkpoints and border crossings. Carnegie researchers also described armed factions' continuing influence around the Shalamcheh crossing with Iran. These findings establish a broader pattern of economic power, as opposed to proof that Kataib Hezbollah owns any of the companies targeted by Zaidi.
Meanwhile,
...back at the game, the Babe headed for second base. He almost made it. Then Sheila slapped him.... Kataib Hezbollah security chief Abu Mujahid al-Assaf alleged on Saturday that Zaidi had accumulated nearly 21 trillion dinars ($14 billion), questioning whether the wealth came from government food and military catering contracts. No publicly available financial evidence has substantiated that figure.
On Sunday, Huquq parliament member Saud al-Saadi, from Kataib Hezbollah's political wing, submitted parliamentary questions about the prime minister's financial disclosures and possible conflicts of interest.
Another Huquq politician, Mona Sawadi al-Mohammadawi, subsequently requested official information about al-Oweis General Trading Company and its contracts to supply Iraq's food ration program.
The prime minister's office said in May that he had submitted his financial disclosure to the Integrity Commission, but did not publish the value of his holdings. Parliamentary questions do not establish that the alleged wealth exists or that wrongdoing occurred.
The allegations followed Assaf's November 3 claim that Iraqi crude was being sold to the UAE's ADNOC at a $47-per-barrel discount, with the prime minister's brother among alleged beneficiaries. The accusation and the claimed profits have not been independently verified.
DISPUTED NEGOTIATIONS
A November 5 report by Iraqi newspaper al-Mada, citing unnamed sources, alleged that Zaidi had taken direct control of negotiations previously handled by a Coordination Framework committee and rejected Kataib Hezbollah demands for appointments and influence over state institutions.
The newspaper claimed the faction sought five deputy ministerial posts, 32 director-general positions and roles involving border crossings and security institutions. Rudaw could not verify the allegations. Assaf has denied that Kataib Hezbollah requested any government positions.
Kataib Hezbollah says it is still waiting for a copy of an agreement reached between resistance factions and a Coordination Framework committee and insists it remains committed to its own undertakings, without accepting an unconditional surrender of weapons.
It is not alone in disputing the government's interpretation.
On Saturday, Kataib Sayyed ...Arabic term meaning your/his lordship. Groveling in His Exalted Presence is encouraged... al-Shuhada confirmed signing a document it termed the "Sovereignty Agreement" but denied having announced or signed any commitment concerning its weapons. Its position complicates claims that a united resistance front has accepted disarmament.
Harakat al-Nujaba has also opposed unconditional disarmament, arguing that Iraq remains vulnerable to outside threats. The disagreements therefore point to its growing political isolation from some former partners, rather than a complete break within the wider Iran-aligned camp.
PRESSURE, BUT NO GUARANTEE OF COMPLIANCE
Iraqi media reported, citing anonymous political sources, that National Wisdom Movement leader Ammar al-Hakim and Islamic Supreme Council head Humam Hamoudi were attempting to mediate between the government and Kataib Hezbollah. Rudaw could not independently confirm those talks.
Zaidi nevertheless warned during a Sunday visit to Anbar that weapons outside state authority used to threaten security or extort citizens would face the "full force of the law."
An arrest warrant dated July 5 against Hussein al-Hamidawi, identified by Iraqi media as the son of Kataib Hezbollah leader Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, also resurfaced amid the confrontation. The warrant, involving allegations of threats and violence, is not a new arrest or proof of guilt.
History suggests enforcement will be difficult.
In June 2020, then-prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's forces arrested 14 Kataib Hezbollah members suspected of preparing attacks against US targets.
Armed faction members were deployed near Baghdad's Green Zone, and 13 suspects were released within days. In 2021, the arrest of PMF commander Qasim Musleh likewise prompted armed mobilization; he was released less than two weeks later after authorities cited insufficient evidence.
Under Zaidi, the August arrest of Harakat al-Nujaba-linked intelligence official Abbas al-Yaqoubi provoked an angry factional response. The PMF announced his release two days later following a judicial decision. There is no established evidence that militia pressure, rather than the court's decision, caused his release.
Kataib Hezbollah remains an influential armed and political force, and other factions have also resisted full disarmament. Yet, support for Zaidi's plan from Sadr, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and former paramilitary allies leaves the group with a narrower circle of publicly supportive partners.
The question that now stands is whether Baghdad can turn that political opening into lasting control over gangs without provoking another confrontation.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Arabic term meaning 
