A few weeks ago we were traveling by bus from Latvia to Lithuania for an extended weekend visit to that country’s capital city, Vilnius. About 20-minutes before our arrival, I heard a voice, which I soon realized was directed toward me. It had an accent and came with a strong, cigar-like smell. “Excuse me, are you American?” “Yes,” I said, casually. “Well then, may I ask what are you doing here?” “I teach English in Latvia,” I answered. From there, the conversation started to quickly go down-hill. I was blamed for killing all the Native Peoples in North America. I was criticized for NATO, for America’s presence in Europe, and in quick succession, for every ill currently facing mankind. Russia, on the other hand, was on the right side of every issue. Putin was God. The North Korean soldiers, recently identified as having joined the fight against Ukraine, were innocent “trainees.” Soon, we arrived in Vilnius and my sudden adversary was thankfully catching another bus onward to his home in Dresden, Germany…

The next day, Marsha and I were answering her after-lunch desire for a piece of chocolate. We entered a handsome chocolate shop on popular Pilies Street in the touristy Old Town in Vilnius. The shopkeeper was giving us a tour, figuratively, through her fancy chocolates on display. I commented on her impressive English, and on her detailed knowledge of the then forthcoming US presidential election. Soon, a man in the shop, who had been sitting behind a curtain, came out and joined the conversation. He launched, in rapid succession, into rants about Biden, Obama, and Harris. We think, but are not sure, that he said “Jew Biden.” Zelensky is “a Nazi” who was installed by Obama, who really started the war in Ukraine in 2014. The death of 35+ journalists at the hands of Putin? All U.S. propaganda. The poisoning, jailing and subsequent death of Alexei Navalny in prison? All U.S. lies. America is the cause of all evil in the world and it is Trump and Putin who will save it. We try to exit the store civilly, with our purchase of sweets in hand…We needed time to process all this. These 2-separate events happening here in Lithuania within 24-hours of each other, are not typical of our stay here in the Baltics. We wonder, how many people in Eastern Europe feel similarly? We ask ourselves, how deep and strong do Putin and Russia’s bastion of misinformation run in the bloodstream here?