John Brown's Notes and Essays

By YURAS KARMANAU, JIM HEINTZ, VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and ZEKE MILLER, AP 53 minutes ago [2/26/2022]  image (not from article) from Excerpt:  President Vladimir Putin hasn’t disclosed his ultimate plans, but Western officials believe he is determined to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own, redrawing the map of Europe and reviving Moscow’s Cold War-era influence. [ jb comment: stating the obvious bardak ?]

  Feb. 26, 2022, 6:33 p.m. ET 2 hours ago 2 hours ago Azi Paybarah  from The New York Times , Feb 27 [scroll down link for item] image from entry, with caption: The alcohol department at a supermarket in Moscow. In some parts of the United States and other countries, officials are removing Russian vodka from shelves .Credit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times   Vodka, a drink that was  popularized   in the West by James Bond and that has long been one of Russia’s most visible exports, is now the target of international anger over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In  New Hampshire, where liquor and wine are sold through state-run stores, Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican,  announced  on Saturday the removal of “Russian-made and Russian-branded spirits from our liquor and wine outlets until further notice.” In Ohio, where the state contracts with private businesses to sell liquor, Gov. Mike DeWine, also a Republican, announced a halt to sta...

From The New York Times , Feb 26, 2012 Excerpt: Last year, a new leak of files from companies specializing in offshore tax shelters, called the Pandora Papers, showed that the woman said to be Mr. Putin’s lover had acquired the apartment in Monaco. It was one of a number of assets she had accumulated that were worth an estimated $100 million.   But ultimately, said Nate Sibley, a researcher at the Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative, Mr. Putin does not need to own a vast fortune because he is an autocrat who “controls everything.” “When people say he’s worth such and such, what does that mean?” he asked. “Are they really saying that he’s going to cash in and retire to St. Tropez?” From Wikipedia : Alina Kabaeva From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search show This article  may be expanded with text translated from  the corresponding article  in Russian .  (September 2018)   Click [show] for important translation instruct...