June 6, 2026

Saturday. Left around 9:45. Blacksmith. Mild, never warm. Overcast, with light, sometimes moderate breezes from the south. Eventually the sun would peek through, but it never cleared. Sitting at Møs with the paper afterwards, there even came some light rain. Under the trees, the pavement was a bit damp here and there. On the Ruiterberg, it was still a little wet. De Bilt, around Zeist, toward and past Woudenberg. Moderately busy with other riders and families with kids. Along the Griftdijk, a donkey couple with a little one. Then toward and over the Amerongse Berg. Too many cars and trucks coming down. Wildflowers everywhere: red poppies, fox bells, others. The recent rain did all kinds of good. Right in Leersum, toward Ginkelduin, then on toward Maarsbergen. Wheat knee-high alongside the Ginkelseweg. A quiet Hoogstraat and a busy Ruiterberg, then Maarnse Grindweg, Maarn, and Quatre Bras. Back to the city and the Saturday paper at Møs. Analysis of the errand drone incidents in NATO countries near Ukraine and Russia. The picture is fuzzy, but the challenges for NATO no less real, especially, as another analysis discussed, since the U.S. contributions to the alliance's new response forces (built up after Russia's first attack on Ukraine in 2014) will be cut back. It's the new division of labor, where the other allies take greater responsibility for the conventional part of deterring Russia, while the U.S. maintains its nuclear portion. Not explored was the credibility of any U.S. commitment under the current administration. During the Cold War the question of whether the U.S. would really be willing to risk losing [choose your U.S. city] in order to defend [choose your European city] was real and ultimately unanswerable; in this day and age the answer may still not be an automatic "no," but we've gotten awfully close to that. Finally, some analysis of the letter sent by the Ukrainian president to his Russian colleague. To imagine the latter actually reading the whole thing is a good excercise in Putinology: we have to assume that normally, nobody in his own orbit talks about the war in the way the letter does. Perhaps nobody ever tells him these things, given how isolated the man has become. At some level, the contents must be profoundly disturbing for him, although for a man who prefers to deal with opponents through "rubbing them out in the outhouse," they could be a provocation also. Most likely, however, is that he did not read it. Too bad.