Who is that gentleman up there, being carted off? That’s no gentleman, it’s Ivan Konev, the famous, or infamous, Soviet marshal. He made his fame in World War II. He also had a hand in the Hungarian Revolution (the crushing of), the Berlin Wall (the building of), and the Prague Spring (the crushing of). From 1980 until last month, he stood in Prague, in the form of the monument you see. He will soon be displayed in a museum of the 20th century. His place of honor outdoors will be taken by a monument to Czech resistance fighters.

I write about this issue in my Impromptus today. I also write about other issues concerning Communists, past and present: the Kim dynasty in North Korea, for example. There have been three Kims already (father, son, and grandson). Could there possibly be a fourth on the throne?

The Kremlin reacted to the removal of the Konev statue with great displeasure. The Kremlin reacts to many things with great displeasure. It does not take criticism lying down.

For about ten years, the Russian government, under Putin, has been a fierce defender of the Soviet Union and its ghastly record. This is an important development in the life of Russia, and in the life of the broader world as well. For example, the government is not so forthright about the Katyn massacre anymore. On the contrary.

According to reports, an assassin has been dispatched by Moscow to Prague, to poison offending officials (Czech officials who have offended the Kremlin, that is). These officials are under round-the-clock police protection. One of them is in hiding. His location is unknown even to his family.

That official is Ondrej Kolar, a district mayor. He gave an interview to the BBC, from hiding: here. This is deadly serious business.

The Kremlin is not averse to bumping off its opponents and critics, at home and abroad, especially with poison. Indeed, it is a Kremlin specialty. Reading and writing about all this, I thought of Turkey, under Erdogan. Last year, I wrote a piece called “Whisked Away: The Turkish government and its program of kidnappings.” Do you know that Turkey has an agency called the “Office for Human Abductions and Executions”? They are that blunt.

Thinking about Putin and Erdogan, I thought about Michael Flynn, who has been much in the news lately. Minds I respect disagree about our justice system’s treatment of him. Here on NRO, you can find an abundance of pro-Flynn material. Our old colleague David French had a different kind of read, yesterday. My concern, for the purpose of the post I am jotting, is Putin, Erdogan, and Flynn.

In December 2015, Flynn and his son were flown to Moscow by RT, the Kremlin propaganda outlet. The occasion was a tenth-anniversary gala for RT. General Flynn was paid $45,000. He was seated at the right hand of Putin.

Flynn also worked for the Erdogan government. I touch on this in my piece, “Whisked Away.” In September 2016, he met with Turkish officials, including Berat Albayrak, Erdogan’s son-in-law, to discuss the problem of Fethullah Gulen. Gulen is a problem for the Erdogan regime. A Turkish leader with his own following, he has been exiled in the United States since 1999.

According to R. James Woolsey, the former CIA director, Flynn et al. discussed “a covert step in the dead of night to whisk this guy away.”

On Election Day 2016, there was an op-ed piece published under Flynn’s name, giving the Erdogan line. In March 2017 — very late — Flynn registered as a foreign agent.

I suppose Americans have a right to work for murderous, anti-American dictators abroad. It’s a free country. (Too bad for those other countries.) But I do not admire such Americans, personally. I find it especially galling when they bray on about God and country, and sport those American-flag lapel pins. I am tempted to remind them of a slogan they like: America First.

I wanted to say the same thing to our Orbanites, when Orban sent those Russian arms dealers back home to Putin — arms dealers whose extradition we had requested, because they conspired to blow our DEA agents out of the sky. America First, you know?

Let me go back to December 2017. After entering his guilty plea, Michael Flynn said, “I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and, through my faith in God, I am working to set things right.” I described this statement as “manful.” I admired it. I said that many people were acting “more pro-Flynn than Flynn.”

Anyway, to be continued, obviously . . .