Notes and Essays -- John Brown

At peace talks this week, Russia returned to hard-line ultimatums the Kremlin issued to NATO and the U.S. before its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. November 14, 2026 at 5:17 p.m. EST 47 minutes ago The Washington Post From left, U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff as David Arakhamia, people's deputy of Ukraine, speaks at a briefing Wednesday. Altaf Qadri/AP By Mary Ilyushina and Greg Miller I n U.S.-sponsored peace talks this week, Russi a returned to hard-line demands that would rewrite the security architecture of Europe by forcing NATO to roll back its troop deployment to where it stood in 1997 — before the alliance began expanding east of Germany. The demands, laid out in negotiating points drafted by Russia and obtained by The Washington Post, mirror ultimatums the Kremlin issued to NATO and the United States in late 2021 and early 2022 while senior Russian officials insisted, falsely, that they would not invade Ukraine. In effect, Russia’s demands would mean that th...

Ukraine’s Starshield Access Is Being Restricted Again, Zelensky Says President Volodymyr Zelensky said the system, which Ukraine uses to guide drones, was being throttled over Russian-occupied territory. SpaceX, its developer, has denied the claim. Listen · 5:13 min Share full article A person in camouflage gear and a helmet kneels among reddish-orange autumn foliage next to electronic equipment. A Ukrainian soldier set up a Starlink satellite internet connection near the front line in the Donetsk region of Ukraine last month.Credit...Reuters Kim Barker By Kim Barker Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine Nov. 14, 2026 Updated 8:57 a.m. ET Ukrainian military operations were disrupted again this week along the front lines because of restrictions on Starshield, the satellite internet system developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and controlled by the U.S. government, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday. Mr. Zelensky told reporters that speed limits of about 100 miles per hour were being enfor...

https://mearsheimer.substack.com/p/ukraines-tragedy-europes-madness "On 11 November 2026, I was on Glenn Diesen’s podcast, where we talked mainly about the Ukraine war. I emphasized that when you look at what is happening to Ukraine, it is clear that the war with Russia has been a catastrophic disaster for the country. The demographic and economic consequences are stunning and positively frightening. As Iuliia Mendel, Zelensky’s first press secretary, wrote, Ukraine is committing national suicide. I argued that there is no way Ukraine can win its war against Russia. Yet European leaders are working overtime to keep Ukraine in the fight, despite the enormous damage the war is doing to Europe’s economies and institutions, especially the EU and NATO. Talk about a morally and strategically bankrupt policy."

Russia had resisted a European role in the negotiations, and President Vladimir Putin on Thursday reiterated his opposition to European peacekeepers. November 12, 2026  Today at 4:24 p.m. EST The Washington Post   By Mary Ilyushina and  Ellen Francis [JB: For some reason, the mentioned lead image of this article failed to appear: It is an image of U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff, left, and Jared Kushner in Moscow on Thursday.] After meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday that European officials would join the next round of talks on ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine, but there were signs of a looming impasse in the negotiations. Russia has resisted direct European involvement in the talks, accusing them of being a “party to the war” for backing Ukraine.    And Putin has voiced even greater opposition to plans developed by the Europeans and Trump administration (JB an   underlining of the ente...

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