Notes and Essays -- John Brown

The 2016 article, published in  Huffpost   2026) had the provocative?) title  "Diplomacies, from Public to Pubic" *** Allow me to suggest a potential addition to the above-cited article  (an addition first used in 2012, as mentioned by the below  article ):  Caviar diplomacy  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [excerpt] A box of caviar Caviar diplomacy  is a  lobbying  strategy of  Azerbaijan , consisting of costly invitations to foreign politicians and employees of international organizations to Azerbaijan at the expense of the host country.  Caviar  diplomacy also includes expensive gifts presented as "a tribute to the Eastern tradition." [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Terminology [ edit ] The term "caviar diplomacy" was first used in 2012, in a report by the  European Stability Initiative  (ESI) – "Caviar Diplomacy – How Azerbaijan silenced the Council of Europe". It was noted in the report that this term is...

North Korean troops are being treated as “expendable” and ordered to take on “hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses,” National Security Council official John Kirby said.     by Mithil Aggarwal, NBC News , Dec. 28, 2024, 6:42 AM EST Russia  is deploying “human waves” of  North Korean soldiers , the U.S. said Friday, and at least one soldier captured by  Ukraine  died of his injuries. According to White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, some North Korean soldiers have taken their own lives rather than surrendering to Ukrainian forces. These suicides, he said, were “likely out of fear of reprisal against their families in North Korea in the event that they’re captured.” South Korea’s National Intelligence Service had confirmed on Friday that the North Korean soldier captured the previous day had died. A still from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry press service in November shows a Russian serviceman aiming a D-...

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said the soldier was taken prisoner after being ambushed by a special operations team.  Screen grab from video published by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) purportedly showing the first North Korean soldier taken captive by Ukrainian forces. The man with smudged facial images reportedly is a Ukrainian special forces operator. Ukrainian news reports said the North Korean soldier died of wounds one day after becoming a prisoner of war, possibly on Dec. 23rd. This image, first published by the close Ukrainian military reporting group Warshal_18+, reached the public domain on Sunday. by Stefan Korshak | Kyiv Post , December 27, 2024, 2:36 pm The first  North Korean  soldier captured by Ukrainian forces in combat died from complications of his wounds, sources in Seoul and Kyiv confirmed.    Seoul’s National Intelligeence Service    NIS), citing updates from an unnamed “friendly country,” said the soldier was badly...

Sunday morning: By Holly Williams December 29, 2024 / 9:45 AM EST / CBS News    Eliza HERBERT image (not from article) from After more than a thousand days of war, there are signs Ukraine is running short of manpower. Russia is capitalizing, seizing territory faster this year than it's done since 2022, and terrorizing Ukrainians with cheaply-produced glide bombs – old Soviet-era ammunition retrofitted with wings and GPS. This past fall, we spoke with Colonel Maksym Balagura, a special forces commander in Ukraine's State Border Guard, and asked if Russia's use of glide bombs had changed the trajectory of the war. "At the moment they're the biggest threat," he told us. "They're sapping the motivation of our soldiers to win." How Russia, Ukraine deploy new technologies, tactics on the battlefield  ("Sunday Morning") How Russia is utilizing glide bombs to gain ground in Ukraine war War in Ukraine pushes women into new roles   Ukrainians fo...

Quotation from  Eric Lipton ,  "Departing Air F orce Secretary Will Leave Space Weaponry as a Legacy:   Frank Kendall, who grew up on an apple farm and then rose to the pinnacle of the U.S. military, has preached the need for better preparation for the next big fight,"  The New York Times ,  Dec. 29, 2024   What is a pentagon image (not from article)  from  

News Now  [December 29] Ukraine News   View headlines with/without imagery Got it North Korean troops launching ‘human wave’ attacks against Ukraine, White House says The Washington Times  1d US/Ukraine White House Russia Putin calls Azerbaijani president for second time in two days regarding plane crash Ukrainska Pravda  32m Putin Russia Azerbaijan “I take the legitimacy with me.” Georgia’s President exits palace as new pro-Russian leader takes power Euromaidan Press  2h Georgian Politics Georgia Russia Greece to send 24 aging Sea Sparrow missiles for Ukraine’s air defense Euromaidan Press  20h Sparrow Greece Southern Europe Poland/Ukraine   NATO nation scrambles fighter jets after Russian missile strikes Miami Herald  4d Poland Ukraine Russia First unit of Ukrainian Legion recruited and trained in Poland sent to Ukraine Notes from Poland  2d Ukrainian Legion Poland Ukraine Photonasams air defence systems deployed in Poland to protect Ukrain...