Notes and Essays -- John Brown

Lawrence Gray, center, a retired political science professor, at his arraignment in Manhattan criminal court in 2023. (Curtis Means/Daily Mail/AP) "Lawrence Gray, a retired political science professor, attained international notoriety when wealthy friends, including the family of a deceased Georgetown socialite, accused him of stealing and then selling off their diamonds and other valuable jewelry. Gray had maintained his innocence — that is, until Sept. 24 when he pleaded guilty in New York to fraud and agreed to pay $55,850 in restitution to four people, including former U.S. ambassador Frederick Vreeland , who claimed he stole their jewels. ...  Ambassador Frederick Vreeland in 2007. (Patrick McMullan/Getty Images) The Washington Post ,  September 30, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. EDT *** From Wikipedia : " While in Rome, Vreeland had the peculiar experience of being asked to be part of a team of acting & public-speaking coaches assembled to prepare the very   inexperienced ...

William Courtney and John Hoehn,  Defense News ,  Sep 29, 2024, 08:00 AM  A Ukrainian military drone is loaded with dummy grenades for target practice, as members of the volunteer Dnipro-1 Battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard train in the region of Dnipro, Ukraine, on April 18, 2023.  One of many  Photos [not from below article] from The Atlantic: "Ukraine’s Battlefield Drones " Ukraine’s innovative drones are damaging forces and war-supporting industry across western and southern Russia. In a visit to the White House on Sept. 26, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked for more help for long-range strikes. He received modest assistance. President Joe Biden said the U.S. would provide the  Joint Standoff Weapon  (JSOW), an unpowered glide bomb with a range of over 60 miles. Ukraine had wanted more. It has repeatedly sought permission to use U.S.-built  Army Tactical Missile System  (ATACMS) missiles ...

Stephen Bryen from Weapons and Strategy  < weapons@substack.com >   via email 5:49 PM (45 minutes ago) Sep 30  WEAPONS AND SECURITY BY STEPHEN BRYEN Fate of the Ukrainian 72nd Mechanized Brigade Commander "Transferred" Zelensky Government Shaky Stephen Bryen Sep 30   The 72nd Mechanized Brigade is more or less trapped in Vuhledar (Russian Ugledar), an important Ukrainian army hub in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.  The Russians now have it surrounded on all sides to the extent that they have fire control over all escape routes. Instead of giving orders to pull out, something the Brigade's Commander had been urging of the Zelensky government,  Zelensky has now transferred the commander , Colonel Ivan Vinnik, in essence firing him.  No replacement has been selected.  No order to pull out has been given. Col. Ivan Vinnik (72nd Brigade photo) It isn't known if Vinnik was actually stationed in Vuhledar, but that seems unlikely.  One of the frequen...

Credit... Elinor Carucci for The New York Times [no caption]  Here is what we can learn about the Russian military and its soldiers from the story of ‘Ivan’ and ‘Anna’ in The New York Times Magazine. By  Sarah A. Topol Sarah A. Topol spent a year and a half reporting her magazine story “The Deserter. ” The New York Times , Sept. 22, 2024 Over the last year and a half, I reported from eight countries across four continents, including more than a year interviewing 18 deserters of the Russian military, for my  story “The Deserter.”  Together, their experiences gave me a vivid picture of the Russian war operation, its corruption, its chaos and its brutality. The deserters also gave me a window into how they found themselves fighting in the first place and why they then took the extreme measure to flee. My story focuses on one deserter named Ivan and his wife, Anna — pseudonyms we used for their protection. For Ivan, a kid from nowhere, the military was an honorable path...