Notes and Essays -- John Brown

exclusive/  World/  Ukraine Pauses Strikes on Russian Refineries After Pressure From U.S./  Kyiv has temporarily halted one of its most effective operations against Moscow after complaints from Trump/ By/ Marcus Walker/  Nikita Nikolaienko/ and/ Alexander Ward/ Updated Oct. 29, 2026 7:57 pm ET/  Thick black smoke and flames rise from an oil terminal behind a bridge in Saint Petersburg. An air attack Oct. 18 on the oil terminal in St. Petersburg, Russia. AFP/Getty Images KYIV—Ukraine’s military has paused its strikes against Russian oil refineries, people with knowledge of the operations said, after weeks of pressure from President Trump shook Kyiv’s confidence in U.S. support./ The unofficial pause, which is expected to last until after the U.S. midterm elections but potentially deeper into November, began early last week at the height of a crisis in U.S.-Ukrainian relations, the people said. Days earlier, Trump had called for the removal of Ukrainian Preside...

from QUORA What is the motivation behind Trump's abject betrayal of Ukraine? From:  Jean-Marie Valheur   AI Overview Jean-Marie Valheur is a prominent online essayist, commentator, and prolific writer known for publishing widely read pieces on platforms like Quora , Medium , and Substack . [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] Donald Trump, and whoever still foolish enough to support him, is in for a history lesson. People forget that in WWII, there were two evils — the Nazis of Hitler, and the Soviet communists of Stalin. They started WWII together by attacking Poland in tandem in a coordinated attack and dividing the spoils of war; Stalin got the Eastern half of Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe, Hitler got the West. Hittler then double-crossed Stalin, WWII intensified, Russia allied with the Americans and Europeans and they kicked Germany's ass. But the war did not end there, and the Soviets maintained control of the entire eastern half of Europe for another 50 years, until the Soviet Union ...

Ivan Dulkay Head of the investigating team His image below Article by: James Marson --  see his bio at the end of article;   Oksana Grytsenko and Serhii Bosak; Photography by Christopher Occhicone for WSJ  Oct. 26, 2026 10:13 am ET The W a l l Street Journal The original article contain numerous links Quick Summary (from article) -- Ukrainian detective Ivan Dulkay is leading an investigation to identify the Russian soldiers and commanders who killed over 300 people in Bucha. -- Dulkay and his team of 12 detectives have solved 86 of the killings and charged 32 Russian soldiers with murder and torturing civilians. -- Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office charged Russian Lt. Artyom Tareyev with war crimes and murder for his unit’s role in at least 22 killings.  This summary was generated with AI and reviewed by an editor. Read more about how we use artificial intelligence in our journalism .    BUCHA , Ukraine   see  below map:   For poli...