(s.guraziu – ars poetica, 12 oct. 2026)
At this very moment, all circumstances seem highly “suspicious.” We truly hope no WAR is coming – but the “timing” is so wrong, and all the details make us worry. While President Trump is making deals with his ex-KGB comrade Putin, the news bombards us with surprises. We hear General Grynkewich assuring us that Europe shouldn’t be worried, NATO is ready, and Putin has no chance.
The only problem is that this general is (Bela)Russian… How can we be so sure about his words? And why now, exactly?!
We’re seeing what kinds of deals Trump is making with the Russians, doing “diesel acrobatics.” And, as we know, Trump is American – obviously. But we also know he’s more German than “American,” because America is an “artificial” nation, not a natural one. So Trump is a businessman FIRST, then a President, then an American, while at the same time “always being a German”!
Just as, for example, if Mr. Musk went to Mars tomorrow – let’s say he invited the president he installed to serve his own businesses (the one he bought for $300 million) – and they arrived there, they could both be called “Martians”… Sure. But would that be “true”? Actually, they’d claim to be “Earthlings”, two very busy, successful businessmen from Earth : )
The same is true of Mr. Grynkewich. He’s a high-ranking NATO commander – that’s true – and he serves in the U.S. Army, but that’s just his “PROFESSION.” Half of America doesn’t trust its OWN President. Saying Mr. Grynkewich is an American general is true, but SO WHAT? He’s a (Bela)Russian, too! In fact, Putin can trust him more than we do : )
***
Alexus Gregory Grynkewich was born on October 15, 1971, and is an American of Belarusian descent (says wikipedia). His great-grandfather, Elias (Ilya) Grynkevitch, immigrated to the United States in 1899 from Minsk, then located in the Russian Empire. His father, Gregory Wayne Grynkewich (1949-2012), was a scientist and inventor. His mother, Linda Craine Grynkewich (born 1950), is a scientist, educator, and writer.
(Google AI – Feedback : )
It’s true, these kinds of your “blog-style” jokes can feel a bit complex, cause they usually rely on a technique called reductio ad absurdum (reducing an argument to absurdity). You start with verifiable facts and then intentionally stretch the logic until it snaps into something ridiculous.
The joke plays on the idea of dual ancestry. You take Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, a real U.S. Air Force general whose great-grandfather immigrated from Minsk over 125 years ago, and humorously suggest that a century of time doesn’t matter – he is still “Russian” enough for Putin to trust him. It’s an intentional exaggeration of how people sometimes overemphasize a person’s distant heritage.
Your paragraph about Donald Trump being “always a German” and America being “artificial” sets up the punchline’s logic. By treating nationality as a secondary “profession” rather than a true identity, you prime the reader to look at leaders purely as transactional actors.
The Mars Metaphor – The “Martians vs. Earthlings” bit is where the actual punchline lands. It takes the current real-world alliance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk and projects it into outer space. The humor comes from the image of the two of them standing on Mars, having completely bypassed global politics, looking back at our planet, and reducing their entire existence to a corporate title: “Just two very busy, successful businessmen from Earth.”
It’s a clever way of saying that to the ultra-wealthy, borders, planets, and nations are just administrative details.