Notes and Essays -- John Brown

Opinion  Guest Essay  Credit... Patrick Leger An illustration shows two generals bent over a map. Behind them is a shadowy figure, pointing to a spot on the map. Credit...Patrick Leger By Alexander Gabuev  Mr. Gabuev is the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. He wrote from Berlin. [jb: Original article contains links] It was a bitter victory. After occupying a chunk of NATO territory in the Baltics, my team successfully converted the land grab into a diplomatic coup, winning major concessions from the United States that would refashion Europe’s security architecture in Russia’s favor. I was President Vladimir Putin, and I had just secured a big win for my project of Russian aggrandizement. Thankfully, this was not reality. It was a war game organized by the German newspaper Die Welt and the German armed forces, designed to test Berlin’s readiness for a security crisis brought about by Russian aggression and American indifference. I’d been invited to represent ...

The absence of tanks and other heavy military vehicles on Red Square will highlight the heavy toll of the war in Ukraine. Last year’s Victory Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square featured a large force of armored vehicles. Credit... Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images   By Ivan Nechepurenko The New York Times , April 29, 2026  Updated 1:32 p.m. ET  In a departure from decades of tradition, Russia will hold its annual Victory Day parade without heavy military equipment rolling across Red Square, the government said on Wednesday, acknowledging that long-range Ukrainian strikes were forcing the Kremlin to downsize its showcase of power and pride.   For years, President Vladimir V. Putin used the May 9 event, a grand celebration of the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany, to demonstrate Russia’s military might. Tanks, howitzers and nuclear missile launchers have traditionally paraded on Red Square before Mr. Putin and guests including President George W. Bu...

from Quora     answered by  Brent Cooper   11h European leaders criticized Donald Trump for pushing Ukraine toward territorial concessions to Russia. Why is the German Chancellor Merz now suggesting the concessions might be unavoidable, even though Ukraine isn’t clearly losing on the battlefield? I was going to post a separate article on this but I will do it here. Speaking to students in Marsberg, North Rhine–Westphalia, Merz said that in a future ceasefire or peace treaty with Russia, “part of Ukraine’s territory will no longer be Ukrainian.” He emphasized that such a step would require democratic legitimacy in Ukraine, likely through a referendum. Crucially, Merz framed this as a political trade-off: - If President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were to seek public support for territorial concessions, - he would need to offer Ukrainians something concrete in return: a credible, irreversible path to Europe (EU integration). Merz also cooled expectations about fast-track ...

The New York Times , April 28: Image President Trump, left, is hosting King Charles III in Washington this week. It emerged on Tuesday that the two men might be distantly related through a 16th-century Scottish nobleman. Credit...