John Brown's Notes and Essays

   (via email) November 11, 2022 By  Carole Landry Editor/Writer, Briefings Team Welcome to the Russia-Ukraine War Briefing, your guide to the latest news and analysis about the conflict. A Russian missile strike on an apartment building in Mykolaiv  killed seven people. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that more than 100,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded and that Ukraine had probably suffered  a similar number of casualties . President Vladimir Putin will  skip next week’s summit  of leaders of the Group of 20 in Indonesia. U.S. officials say President Biden will be “ unapologetic” about the U.S. defense of Ukraine  at the meeting. Get the  latest updates here . Track the invasion with  our maps . Videos posted on social media showed crowds cheering Ukrainian soldiers in Freedom Square in Kherson, Ukraine. via Reuters What’s next after Kherson Ukrainian forces were greeted by cheering crowds ...

Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski  image from From Wikipedia October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791), more accurately spelled Grigory Aleksandrovich Potyomkin-Tavricheski, was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy (now Iași), which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. ... In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild  steppes , controversially dealing firmly with the  Cossacks  who lived there. He founded the towns of  Kherson ,  Nikolayev ,  Sevastopol , and  Ekaterinoslav . Ports in the region became bases for his new  Black Sea Fleet . ...

Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has made the case that the Ukrainians should try to cement their gains at the bargaining table.  image from article,with caption:  President Biden flanked by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, left, and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the White House last month. redit... Doug Mills/The New York Times  By Peter Baker , The New York Times , Nov. 10, 2022   WASHINGTON — A disagreement has emerged at the highest levels of the United States government over whether to press Ukraine to seek a diplomatic end to its war with Russia, with America’s top general urging negotiations while other advisers to President Biden argue that it is too soon .  Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has made the case in internal meetings that the Ukrainians have achieved about as much as they could reasonably expect on the battlefield before winter sets in...