Notes and Essays -- John Brown

BBC 2 hours ago James Waterhouse Ukraine correspondent Toby Luckhurst in Kyiv Facebook/Maria Troyanivska Maria was just 14 years old when she was killed by a Russian drone Maria Troyanivska had come home early the night a Russian drone hit her bedroom. “It   flew in through the window, right into her room,” her mother Viktoria tells the BBC. After the explosion, she and her husband Volodymyr ran from the next room to find their daughter’s room on fire. “We tried to put it out, but everything was burning so strongly,” she says through tears. “It was impossible to breathe – we had to leave.” The Russian Shahed drone killed the 14-year-old in her bed, in her suburban apartment in Kyiv, last month. “She died immediately, and then burned,” her mother said. “We had to bury her in a closed coffin. She had no chance of surviving.”  BBC/Kamil Dayan Khan A Russian drone flew through Maria's window, killing her instantly and incinerating the room Russia is massively increasing drone strikes

Rubio opposed Afghanistan withdrawal, initially supported arming Ukraine and voted to certify the 2020 election. Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida) with Donald Trump on Oct. 29 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) By the Editorial Board,  The Washington Post , November 12, 2024 at 5:53 p.m. EST ; regarding the Rubio/Trump relationship in earlier times (if you have a sense of humor), see Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida),  reportedly  President-elect Donald Trump’s  choice for secretary of state , opposed withdrawing from Afghanistan, initially supported arming Ukraine and voted to certify the results of the 2020 election. He understands the value of alliances and of the American-led global order. Although he’s recently shifted in Mr. Trump’s direction on foreign policy, along with the rest of the Republican Party, he has never embraced isolationism. The success — or failure — of the incoming Trump administration might depend on whether voices such as Mr. Rubio’s are incl