John Brown's Notes and Essays

image from article:  Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks Friday in the Georgievsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow. (Sputnik/Grigory Sysoyev/Kremlin/Reuters) By Adam Taylor , The Washington Post , September 30, 2022 at 12:22 p.m. EDT; see also (I);  see also (II),"As war fails, Russia’s authoritarian grandmaster backs himself into a corner," Washington Post, with below illustration; see also ( III ) Here are seven key points and accusations from the speech.  1. Russia will never give up annexed regions. Putin vowed to welcome the citizens of the Ukrainian regions to Russia but suggested that Moscow would never give up the annexed areas. “I want the Kyiv authorities and their real masters in the West to hear me, so that they remember this. People living in Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens. Forever,” he said. Putin also said he was justified in accepting the territory as the first article of the United Nations’ founding c

image (not from article)  from A Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing revealed some tension between senators and an administration that is being accused of not doing enough to slow down Russian aggression in Ukraine.  by Blaise Malley , The National Interest , September 29, 2022  On Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing titled “Keeping the Pressure on Russia and Its Enablers: Examining the Reach of and Next Steps for U.S. Sanctions,” in which Senators questioned U.S. officials from the Treasury and State Departments on the efficacy of American sanctions to date, and what the future holds as the war in Ukraine reaches an inflection point. In his opening statement, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the chairman of the committee, laid out exactly the right guiding theme for the hearings, saying “We impose sanctions not to punish, but to constrain, and ultimately, change behavior,” before spelling out a list of crucial questions that policymakers and those in charg

image from article, with caption:  Crowds in Crimea watch Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s speech on Friday. Credit... Associated Press —  Anton Troianovski , The New York Times , [9/30/2022] The speech that Vladimir V. Putin gave to Russian lawmakers and governors on Friday asserting that Russia would take control of four Ukrainian regions reverberated far beyond the Kremlin’s walls. It was a display of belligerent defiance intended, it seemed, to appeal to three primary audiences.   To Russians , he sought to justify the expanding hardship his war has caused by insisting they were fighting for their surviva l. To the West , he telegraphed his determination that he was unbowed by sanctions or arms deliveries to Ukraine — and that Russia would keep fighting. Implicit in his message was a veiled but menacing threat that Moscow still has an enormous nuclear arsenal.  And to the rest of the world , Mr. Putin tried to cast himself as the leader of a global movement against “Western

 NYT link image from above link, with caption: State footage showed President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia signing the decrees as the Kremlin tries to solidify its tenuous hold over Ukrainian territory through a widely denounced illegal annexation.CreditCredit...Pool photo by Dmitry Astakhov Here’s what we know: In Moscow, the Russian leader declares four Ukrainian regions part of Russia, a widely denounced move that marks an escalation in the war. Putin’s speech on annexation paints a stark picture of a face-off with the West. New New U.S. sanctions on Russia hit top officials and the defense and technology sectors. New Ukraine says 25 people are dead in an attack on a civilian convoy in Zaporizhzhia. Putin’s bellicose speech had messages for myriad audiences. New Russian forces are partly encircled in the town of Lyman, a pro-Kremlin proxy leader says. New

Queen Elizabeth’s deft charm enhanced Britain’s soft power for seven decades. Alexandra Penler pays tribute to a much-loved monarch and Chatham House patron. Alexandra Penler, PhD candidate, Department of International History, London School of Economics and Political Science, The World Today , Chatham House, 29 September 2022 image (not from article) from Excerpt: With the recent death of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain lost not only a pillar of stability but its most effective diplomat. Over her long reign, the Queen forged a role for herself in modern diplomacy, using her gender, connections, allure and her unique role as head of the Commonwealth, the United Kingdom and 14 other nations to influence events. She particularly used public diplomacy to accomplish the UK’s goals, becoming a conduit of soft power and guiding Britain through a new, globalized, post-colonial world. Her death leaves a gap that awaits to be filled by King Charles III and the next generation of royals. ...

By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business   Published 10:23 PM EDT, Wed September 28, 2022  image (not from article) from Excerpt: New York, (CNN Busniess [ jb - sic ]) Donald Trump berated ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, descending into a profanity-laced tirade after the journalist asked him in a 2016 interview about Russia, according to a forthcoming book set for release next week .  The book, “Confidence Man” by Maggie Haberman of The New York Times, details the stunning behind-the-scenes episode that transpired after Stephanopoulos conducted a sit-down interview with Trump, who at the time was a presidential candidate.   Haberman’s book is set to be released on Tuesday, but CNN obtained an excerpt detailing the incident between Stephanopoulos and Trump. Haberman wrote in the book that when the cameras turned off, “storm clouds came over Trump’s face.” “Trump summoned an ABC producer into a small area away from the cameras, where Trump was surrounded by Secret Service agents, and snarled

The American media has become so entangled with the doublespeak of war that readers get the impression that Ukraine has defeated Russia several times over. Peter Van Buren, Sep 26, 2022,  The American Conservative ; via PS image from article: Two women who fled from Ukraine give interviews to the media at the reception center for asylum seekers (AfA) in Trier. (Photo by Harald Tittel/picture alliance via Getty Images) War is a constant feature among the fictional superstates of Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia in George Orwell’s 1984. The government in the dystopian novel uses its near-perfect control of the media to rewrite history whenever an old ally becomes the new enemy, making it seem like "Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.” Something similar is happening in Ukraine, where it has become impossible to know who is advancing and who is retreating.  The American media has become so entangled with the doublespeak of war that readers get the impression that Ukraine has d

On the 100th anniversary of the arrival of jazz in Russia, the music’s message of freedom and individuality is more important than ever By John Edward Hasse , The Wall Street Journal , Updated Sept. 27, 2022 6:16 pm ET image from article: Igor Butman, Photo: Bolshoi This year marks the 100th anniversary of jazz in Russia. It’s an occasion loaded with irony, given that jazz—a musical form whose emphasis on improvisation and individuality makes it emblematic of human freedom—was introduced under   Joseph Stalin.   Propaganda at least partially explains the paradox. Initially, the state welcome d jazz, promoting it as the music of an oppressed people: black Americans. Nonetheless, under Stalin, jazz was variously suppressed, censored and embraced. To mark the anniversary, on Oct. 1 a celebratory concert will be performed at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater.   The story begins just four years after the first jazz record was made in New York, when dancer-poet   Valentin Parnakh   heard a black Ame