2017 – Who Would Have Thunk?
By now I should be used to completely unexpected, and almost always very interesting, turns in my life. But I can’t stop marveling at how rich life can be on…
That Kneeling Feeling
Who’s got that Kneeling Feeling? The heading rhymes with one of the most poignantly sad popular song “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling” by the Righteous Brothers (Sorry, if you were…
Tear Gas Wars
When a bunch of 20-year-olds live next to one another in close quarters, mischief will invariably appear on the scene. In the famous Great Battle of the Dorm, tear…
Five Dysfunctions of a Team – a Critique
I read this book when it first appeared on the market in 2002 and wrote the critique below soon after. Fifteen years later and wiser (I hope), I am…
How the Beatles Defeated Communism
When people, who are old enough to remember, are asked to name the one individual who contributed the most to the downfall of communism, many will answer “Ronald Reagan”. While…
(Un)Happy Birthday Berlin Wall!
Fifty-Seven years ago today is a day that lives in infamy in the history of mankind. On that day, East Germany erected the Berlin Wall, essentially incarcerating a whole nation…
Hot of the Presses – One of the Microsoft Founders was a KGB Agent
A recently discovered photograph of the Microsoft Founders proves that former KGB Agent Jack Barsky was one of the company co-founders. Apparently, out of embarrassment, Gates and Company managed to…
10 Commandments for POTUS when Meeting with Russian President (past and present)
Russia is not your friend Russia was never your friend You can’t make Russia to become your friend Go back to Commandment #1 Leave your ego at home – one-on-one,…
Former KGB Agents meets former Senior Adviser to President Obama.
An unlikely encounter – or perhaps not any more?! For all you non policy wonks – the good looking fellow in this picture is one of the most accomplished political…
My Colleagues at the Messenger Office
My Colleagues in the Messenger Office The two and a half years I spent doing messenger work turned the German college professor into a Manhattan street urchin. Occasionally,…
