December 24, 2025

Wednesday. Left by 9:15. Nikor. Clear and cold, moderate winds out of the northeast. A blinding orange sun, coming in low from St. Jacobstraat over Oudenoord. Straatweg. Temperature gauge (in the sun) gave 4 degrees Centigrade, but some puddles were frozen, and there was some ice on the little canals. Shelter from the wind along the Vecht, less so along the Gein. Next Gaasp, Diem, ARK. 1980s territory, much altered. It being Christmas Eve day, and a cool one, it was fairly quiet everywhere, with the land and the resting farms in full light. The temperature suddenly and briefly went up a couple of degrees riding alongside the "orchard of the blessed" (Boomgaard der Gelukzaligen), which was getting nothing but sun. Newspaper at Javaplein with a story on a researcher who had looked into so-called disposable agents used by Russia in the West. Westerners, but also Ukrainians, who can be lured by a few thousand Euros to commit smaller or larger acts of terror in this part of the world. Recruiting happens in a way that allows for plausible deniability for Russia, though not always, due to their amateur status, the perpetrators. There's enough information available for a diligent researcher to point the finger at Russia. The fact that these activities have proliferated since Europe began to support Ukraine against the Russian assault in 2022 already speaks volumes. Moscow also has a network of agents in Europe engaged in recruiting what the article called useful idiots. This resembles the old Cold War, only today we're in worse shape because East and West are in an actual war here, and the sabotage and other shadow warfare are just an extension of what's going on in Ukraine. Not that everyone sees it this way over here. Another paper had an confusing op-ed by an anthropologist and author who essentially argued that because Europe doesn't always practice what it preaches--it, too, has to exist in the real world, with all the ugliness and compromises and dirty hands this involves--it's not worth defending. Don't serve, desert. No wonder the Kremlin continues to think it can separate the Europeans from Ukraine. It's not just (another report) the Czech defense minister whose pro-Kremlin party has banned him from being supportive of Kyiv, it's not just the pro-Kremlin prime-ministers in Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and it goes well beyond the AfD, PVV, RN and like-minded parties. It's people who should know better, people who through their training and their craft should be able to distinguish between criminal regimes on the one hand, and the certainly flawed but nonetheless fundamentally different governments over here. Those people, for all intents and purposes, are useful idiots too. Not all of them come out and say positive things about the Russian regime, but, as in the Cold War, you don't have to be a party member, you don't have to speak openly of your allegiance, you don't even have to be sympathetic. "Down with us," or "nothing worth defending here," will do just fine on the wide-ranging menu of anti-Western forces. Piet Heinkade to Bushuis. Then Omval to Abcouderpad and Indijkweg. ARK with the tailwind to Breukelen station. A workday with most folks elsewhere. More tailwind toward Kortrijk and Gieltjesdorp. Haarzuilens to Smalle Themaat. Lint to 't-Zand and home.