John Brown's Notes and Essays

My Accidental Visit to the Pandemic’s Party Capital Kyiv was supposed to be a quick layover for the writer Rosa Lyster. But its underground nightlife turned out to be just what she needed.   Rosa Lyster , The New York Times , Sept. 21, 2021 [article contains striking photographs by Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum, for The New York Times]  Image from article, with caption:  At Dveri Bar, in the Podil district. Excerpt: [from a longish article] Kyiv’s underground scene has been developing a reputation for some time, to the extent that it is now regularly submitted as candidate for the position of the “new Berlin.” Not everyone likes this comparison, pointing out that it is a corny thing to say and also that it diminishes the city’s individual identity, but most will broadly agree with the sentiment behind it, which is that the scene in Kyiv is now understood to be cool. There are a lot of parties in semi-abandoned buildings, a lot of discussions about intolerably hard techno ta...

Image from article. Credit...The New York Times   By Allen C. Guelzo , The New York Times , Sept. 25, 2021  Dr. Guelzo is the author of the forthcoming “Robert E. Lee: A Life” and the senior research scholar at the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University. He has written books on Abraham Lincoln, the Reconstruction and the Battle of Gettysburg.   image (not from article) from Amazon This month in Virginia, the most famous statue of Robert E. Lee — a 21-foot-tall bronze equestrian sculpture — was swung down from its granite base on Richmond’s Monument Avenue and cut in two at the waist so that it could fit under highway overpasses on its final journey to an undisclosed state facility. Hundreds gathered to cheer the event as a victory for racial justice.   My reaction was more complicated. As a Yankee born and bred, I had never been schooled in deference to the Southern Confederacy’s most famous general. But as a historian of the Civil War era, I had been at ...

By Natasha Bertrand, Kevin Liptak, Nicole Gaouette and Kylie Atwood, CNN Updated 5:54 PM ET, Fri September 24, 2021; see also   Image from article, with caption: President  Joe Biden, President of France, Emmanuel Macron and European Commission Ursula von der Leyen speak during the G7 Summit on June 11, 2021.  Washington (CNN)  When French officials  erupted in anger last week  after being left out of a US-led security pact with Australia and the UK, much of Washington was caught off guard -- including President Joe Biden, according to people familiar with his reaction. Biden had met with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the  G7 summit in June  but had made no mention of the  pending deal  to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. Even though he knew the deal would likely deprive France of its own contracts worth tens of billions of dollars, officials say Biden was still unprepared for the fury that eru...

From the Bridge bio:  BIOGRAPHY Native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I attended the University of Pittsburgh. Moved to Moscow in 1996 and worked as a free lance journalist before joining The Moscow News, where I served as editor-in-chief from 2007-2009. Presently working with RT as a political observer/columnist. ‘Miss me yet?’ As bumbling Biden makes mess of America, Trump will look like the messiah come 2024 Robert Bridge Robert Bridge is an American writer and journalist. He is the author of  'Midnight in the American Empire,'  How Corporations and Their Political Servants are Destroying the American Dream.  @Robert_Bridge Russia Today , 24 Sep, 2021 16:59 Get short URL Former U.S. President Donald Trump. © Getty Images / Drew Angerer 32 After less than a year in power, Americans are already perplexed by Joe Biden’s unending string of serious blunders, as evidenced by Trump’s latest surge in the polls. Will the US welcome back the maverick in 2024? It’s almo...