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Scholar John Mearsheimer on Ukraine

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Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of  Political Science  at the  University of Chicago . Above image and below text from Wikipedia   Ukraine "The Case for a Ukrainian Nuclear Deterrent" Main article: Nuclear weapons and Ukraine When the Soviet Union ended, the newly-independent Ukraine was left with a large arsenal of Soviet nuclear weapons. In his 1993 article, "The Case for a Ukrainian Nuclear Deterrent", Mearsheimer argued that Ukraine should not give up its nuclear weapons, because he believed that without a nuclear deterrent it would be subjected to Russian aggression.[61][1][62] He proposed that the United States change its policy and enable Ukraine to become an independent nuclear power, saying "Ukrainian nuclear weapons are the only reliable deterrent to Russian aggression".[1] Mearsheimer wrote that "Russia has dominated an unwilling and angry Ukraine for more than two centuries, and has attempted to crush...
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Ukraine, Russia, US to discuss fraught issue of territorial concessions in Abu Dhabi

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Abu Dhabi's skyline ; image from wikipedia BY  KAMILA HRABCHUK  AND  KOSTYA MANENKO V AP , Updated 1:31 PM EST, January 23, 2026 Leer en español    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the future of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region will be a key focus as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States meet in Abu Dhabi on Friday for talks to end Russia’s nearly  four-year full-scale invasion . The UAE’s foreign ministry said the talks commenced on Friday and are scheduled to continue over two days “as part of ongoing efforts to promote dialogue and identify political solutions to the crisis.” The three-way talks come hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the settlement in  Ukraine  with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during marathon overnight talks.  The Kremlin insisted that to reach a peace deal, Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegall...
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[Americana]: Kennedy tragedies ...

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From: The New York Times , Aug 1 2019 The Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass. Credit... Benny Snyder/Associated Press There is a  litany of tragedies  that have befallen the Kennedys and taken on the grim aura of a family curse. President Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy were both slain by assassins. Their brother Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. was killed in World War II, and their sister Kathleen Cavendish died in a plane crash in 1948. The president’s son, John F. Kennedy Jr., was killed in 1999 when the airplane he was flying crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha’s Vineyard; his wife and sister-in-law were on board and were also killed. Several other Kennedys have died young or in accidents, including Ms. Kennedy Hill’s uncle David Anthony Kennedy, who struggled with alcohol and drug addiction and was  found dead in 1984  in a hotel in Palm Beach, Fla. Thirty years later, when Ms. Kennedy Hill was 16, she wrote in a message to her uncle that she posted onli...
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Five Fronts in Trump’s Culture War [one of them]

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In the first year of his second term, President Trump has made sweeping efforts to influence the arts and media in America. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/arts/trump-culture-war-smithsonian-kennedy-center.html 9 min read
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Living through the humanitarian crisis in Kyiv

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Read in Browser Living through the humanitarian crisis in Kyiv; JB:   on Ms. Shevchenko, see also; and also Chief Executive Officer Daryna Shevchenko Dear reader, This is Daryna Shevchenko, CEO of the Kyiv Independent. And I want to take you through one ordinary day of my life. What we, Ukrainians, are living through right now is hard to explain or label. Russia’s attacks have left millions of people across the country without electricity, heating, and water — amid subzero temperatures. It’s a humanitarian crisis. It’s hard to explain what this means for those on the ground. Instead, I invite you into my lived experience. Today is Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. I’m writing this on the subway, on my way to our office. It’s -12 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit) outside. I’m cold — but ready for the day. This day was chosen at random. I don’t know how it ends. I’ll be grateful if you stay until it does. 8:30 a.m. — My alarm goes off. I snooze it with confidence. I deserve at leas...
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