Section: US & Canada
10 Lessons from the Battle of 73 Easting
H.R. McMaster Security, “The division will succeed only as the platoon succeeds.” “Other battles would be more destructive than 73 Easting. Other units would fight with the same proficiency demonstrated by Holder’s dragoons. Yet in this first major engagement against the Republican Guard, the U.S. Army demonstrated in a few hours the...
Herman Van Rompuy: Why Brexit Would Hurt Britain
A question often asked in Western Europe is: what are the advantages for the European Union in keeping Britain as a member state? A majority of my compatriots still remember Margaret Thatcher putting pressure on other European leaders and even blackmailing them. A widespread feeling here in Belgium is: if Britain doesn’t love us, it is free...
Crimean Tatar Jamala to represent Ukraine at Eurovision
KYIV – Once again, Ukraine will make political waves at the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Yet this time around, a Crimean Tatar will represent Ukraine, as announced on February 21. Accomplished pop singer Jamala will get a unique chance to raise Europe’s awareness to the plight of her people in performing “1944,” a song that […]...
UNICEF reports: War in Ukraine affects over 500,000 children
GENEVA/NEW YORK/KYIV – The conflict in Ukraine has deeply affected the lives of 580,000 children living in non-government controlled areas and close to the front line in eastern Ukraine, UNICEF said on February 19. Of these, 200,000 – or one in three – need psychosocial support. “Two years of violence, shelling and fear have left […] …read...
“Ukraine Exists” exhibited at Ukrainian American Cultural Center of N.J.
WHIPPANY, N.J. – “Ukraine Exists” was the title of a unique exhibit of art by contemporary artists from Ukraine accompanied by videos of interviews recorded in the country’s war-torn eastern regions whose aim was to depict Ukraine’s current reality of war and peace, as well as to demonstrate Ukraine’s desire to take its rightful...
Russia’s moves to gain dominance in the Black Sea
Russia’s primary objectives in the Black Sea region are to maximize its strategic and maritime influence there, isolate Ukraine and Georgia, weaken the cohesion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Black Sea security issues, and limit access to the area through the Turkish Straits for the navies of the United States and other...
Lithuanian Capital to Name Street After Putin-Critic Boris Nemtsov
Slain Kremlin-critic Boris Nemtsov will be honored with a street named after him in Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius, the city’s mayor says. Nemtsov, who was frequently critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule, was shot last February while walking home in central Moscow late at night with his girlfriend. The...
Corruption in Ukraine
“Dear friends; Ukraine’s grace period for tackling cronyism may have run out,” The Economist, February 13 (http://www.economist.com/news/europe/ 21692917-ukraines-grace-period-tackling-cronyism-may-have-run-out-dear-friends): …Ukraine’s Maidan revolution was supposed to roll back corruption and cronyism. Mr. [Ukraine’s economy...
Russian actions in Crimea undercut support there for annexation, historian says
In Russian-annexed Crimea, the worsening economic situation, and the cavalier behavior of nouveaux riches from elsewhere in Russia is changing the attitudes of the local population about the peninsula being part of the Russian Federation, a Moscow historian says. In the February 18 issue of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Aleksandr Shirokorad says that...
UNWLA branch ‘adopts’ a wounded warrior’s family
WHIPPANY, N.J. – The Christmas season ended on a joyous note for members of Ukrainian National Women’s League of America Branch 75 with a life-affirming video chat with their newly “adopted” family – that of a wounded warrior from Kyiv. At the monthly meeting this past October, Ksenia Rakowsky, Branch 75 social welfare chair, and […]...
