To start, two reports that led the Reuters and Associated Press websites for “breaking news” early this afternoon EDT: a Reuters summary and an Associated Press investigative report. Then, four recent reports from National Public Radio. Finally, via Global Research, a brief segment and two longer essays on some context in which the writers place the war in Ukraine and onlookers’ perceptions. — MCM
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EU targets Russian oil, banks as Ukraine says Russian offensive intensifies, by Natalia Zinets and Francesco Guarascio | Reuters * EU proposes toughest sanctions yet on Russia * Ukraine keeps wary eye on Belarusian army drills * Russia says NATO arms supplies to Ukraine are target * More evacuees leave on buses from Mariupol | KYIV/BRUSSELS — The European Union proposed its toughest sanctions yet against Russia on today, including a phased oil embargo, as Kyiv said Moscow was intensifying an offensive in eastern Ukraine and close Russian ally Belarus announced large-scale army drills. Nearly 10 weeks into a war that has killed thousands of people, uprooted millions and flattened Ukrainian cities, Russia was intensifying its . . . READ MORE . . .
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AP evidence points to 600 dead in Mariupol theater air strike, by Lori Hinnant, Mstyslav Chernov and Vasilisa Stepanenko | The Associated Press LVIV, Ukraine — She stood in just her bathrobe in the freezing basement of the Mariupol theater, coated in white plaster dust shaken loose by the explosion. Her husband tugged at her to leave and begged her to cover her eyes. But she couldn’t help it — Oksana Syomina looked. And to this day, she wishes she hadn’t. Bodies were strewn everywhere, including those of children. By the main exit, a little girl lay still on the floor. Syomina had to step on the dead to escape the building that had served as the Ukrainian city’s main bomb shelter for more than a week. The wounded . . . READ MORE . . .
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EU proposes a ban on Russian oil imports. National Public Radio’s Leila Fadel speaks with Ben Cahill at the Center for Strategic and International Studies about a European Union proposal to phase out imports of Russian oil and refined products. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.
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Evacuees who were holed up in a street plant hope the others can get out, by Joanna Kakissis | NPR Evacuation efforts continue in Mariupol — even as Russian forces continue to shell the besieged Ukrainian city. Roughly 100 evacuees have now arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.
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Israel slams Russia’s foreign minister for comparing Zelenskyy to Hitler. Reported by Rachel Treisman | NPR Israeli officials are castigating Russia and demanding an apology for comments its foreign minister made about Nazism over the weekend. It’s the strongest condemnation of Russia by Israel since the war in Ukraine began in February. It all started on Sunday . . . Click HERE to listen and to read more.
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Angelina Jolie met with refugees and volunteers during a surprise visit to Lviv. Reported by Rachel Treisman | NPR American actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie made a surprise visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv over the weekend, where she met with people displaced by the war and visited some of the facilities and organizations that are busy helping them. Jolie has been . . . Click HERE to listen and to read more.
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As Biden Asks for $33 Billion, Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff Surface in Ukraine Meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, By Sundance | The Last Refuge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a quietly organized trip with a small group of senior House Democrats, including Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Rules Committee Chair Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) to Ukraine. READ MORE . . .
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These Countries Are Willing to Risk U.S. Ire over Russia-Ukraine, by Stephen Kinzer | Responsible Statecraft Americans are fervently cheering for Ukraine in a war that many believe is a decisive struggle for human freedom. The intensity of our infatuation makes it easy to assume that everyone in the world shares it. They don’t. The impassioned American reaction is matched only in Europe, Canada, and the handful of U.S. allies in East Asia. For many people in the rest of the world, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is just another pointless Western war in which they have no stake. The two biggest countries in Latin America, Mexico and Brazil . . . READ MORE . . .
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Reality vs. Illusion. People Have Been Robbed of Their Ability to ‘Decipher between Fact and Fiction,’ by Dustin Broadbery | Global Research CIA Director William Casey is reputed to have said to Ronald Reagan “We’ll know our disinformation is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” Fast forward thirty years, and there’s no piece of fiction the masses will not swallow. From Woke to COVID to the war in Ukraine, people no longer make their own ideological pilgrimages to the truth – the truth is served oven-ready by their political betters. Nowadays, there’s little distinction between the two hemispheres: reality and illusion. It’s not so much . . . READ MORE . . .