The Wagner Group is not, as the name might suggest, a club for lovers of epic German operas. Its members are often called mercenaries but that's imprecise because these soldiers of misfortune are not for hire by just any old tyrant or wannabe revolutionary. They fight, kill, and not infrequently get killed in the service of Vladimir Putin and his imperialist ambitions.

The U.S. government last week designated the Wagner Group as a "significant transnational criminal organization," guilty of mass executions, rape, child abductions, and other atrocities. Sanctions are to be imposed on individuals and companies linked to it.

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I've begun talking to myself. Not good. But who else can I talk to? I'm surrounded by fools and incompetents. Yes, there are those who defend me and the special military operation I initiated a year ago next month to restore Russia's dignity, power, and glory. But how many of them are just hungry for crumbs from my table?

Half a million young Russians have now fled rather than fight for the Fatherland. There was a time when traitors were not allowed to just pack up and leave. Maybe it's time to enforce such rules again.

I need to be honest with myself: The Ukrainians have surprised me. When I took Crimea back from their sweaty hands nine years ago, they just whined and licked their wounds.

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In Mexico City last week, the president of the United States met with the president of Mexico and the prime minister of Canada for what was dubbed the "Three Amigos Summit."

The notion that Joe Biden, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Justin Trudeau resemble Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short – stars of the 1986 cult classic comic film ¡Three Amigos! – seems farfetched. Do these politicians make you laugh? On second thought...

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Imagine if Pope Francis said: "Only Christians are permitted in the Vatican! No Muslims and no Jews!" The "international community" would be outraged. But the pontiff would never say that. Muslims and Jews are welcome in the Vatican.

Imagine if Israelis said: "Only Jews are permitted on Jerusalem's Temple Mount! No Muslims and no Christians!" The "international community" would be outraged. But Israelis would never say that. Christians and Muslims are welcome on the Temple Mount, Judaism's most sacred site, the place where two great Jewish temples were built and then destroyed by foreign empires.

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Last month, President Biden hosted 50 African leaders in our nation's capital. There were security barriers around the Walter E. Washington Convention Center where the main events took place, street closures nearby, and traffic jams throughout much of the city.

But at least the "U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit" achieved significant goals, right? I'll report (with just a little commentary) and you'll decide.

The convocation, according to official communiques, focused on "the vital role of civil society and the strength of our African diaspora communities in the United States." (Who doesn't love civil society and diaspora communities?)

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