A forty-mile-long Russian military convoy is moving toward Kyiv today, threatening Ukraine’s capital as major cities across the country face increasingly heavy shelling. The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that Russia, frustrated in its plans for a quick… Read more

A Ukrainian delegation arrived this morning at the border with Belarus for talks with Russia, though President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed little hope that the meeting would end the war. Mr. Zelensky is not attending the meeting but said his country… Read more

President Biden is nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the US Supreme Court. His announcement today fulfills a campaign promise to pick the first Black woman for the nation’s highest court. Brown Jackson, 51, is currently a judge for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. A problematic but historic nomination  I have written previously that Mr. Biden’s campaign pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Court, while an effective political strategy, brings a demographic dimension... Read more

Ukrainian authorities said yesterday that Russian forces had captured the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the scene of a 1986 meltdown that sent a radioactive cloud over parts of Europe. A Ukrainian official warned that if artillery punctured the encasement of the failed reactor, “radioactive nuclear dust could cover the territory of Ukraine, Belarus, and the countries of the European Union.” In tragic ways, this warning is a metaphor for what is happening in Ukraine today.  Rockets struck the capital... Read more

Russian forces invaded Ukraine by land, air, and sea overnight in the largest attack by one nation against another in Europe since World War II. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter, “Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes.” According to European Union affairs chief Josep Borrell, “These are among the darkest hours of Europe since the Second World War.”  In a televised declaration of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said... Read more

Yesterday, Russian lawmakers authorized President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside the country. This as Russian troops poured into the eastern region of Ukraine in what President Biden called “the beginning of a Russian invasion” of that country. The president responded by announcing that the US would employ a variety of economic sanctions against Russian institutions and elites. Germany took steps to suspend the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia. The UK sanctioned five Russian banks and predicted “pariah status” for Vladimir Putin if he takes further action.... Read more

President Vladimir Putin of Russia recognized the independence of two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine yesterday. In his speech, he claimed that “Ukraine has never had traditions of its own statehood,” calling the eastern part of the country “ancient Russian lands.” He then ordered the Russian army to launch what Moscow is calling a “peacekeeping” operation in the area. The BBC reports this morning that footage overnight appeared to show Russian military vehicles heading toward the Ukrainian border. The United... Read more

Buckingham Palace announced yesterday that Queen Elizabeth II has tested positive for coronavirus. The ninety-five-year-old monarch is reportedly experiencing mild cold-like symptoms but expects to continue light duties at Windsor over the coming week. One fact the pandemic has made emphatically clear is that we are each mortal. We enter this world with nothing and we leave it with nothing. One day, the queen will stand alone before the King, as will we all: “We must all appear before the... Read more

“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.” —Proverbs 10:11 Päivi Räsänen is a former Finnish interior minister. In an online article, a radio interview, and a 2019 tweet, she made comments that Finland’s state prosecutor claims are likely to cause intolerance, contempt, and hatred toward homosexuals. For example, a photograph attached to a tweet contained verses from the Bible which, according to the BBC, “appear to describe homosexual acts as shameful.” As a result, the BBC notes,... Read more

“Nordic combined skiing” is so named because it combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing. The sport has been dominated in recent years by Norwegian athlete Jarl Magnus Riiber, considered by NBC analyst Johnny Spillane to be “the best Nordic combined skier ever.” As Riiber prepared to compete in this year’s Olympics, Spillane predicted, “If he has a good day, he’s pretty much unstoppable.” He didn’t have a good day. Riiber tested positive for COVID-19 upon his arrival at the Games,... Read more