First and second, Associated Press and Reuters reports made available by 10 a.m. EDT. Next, Joe Laura of Consortium News depicts a struggle within the U.S. government over Ukraine war policy, with the Defense Department on one side and the State Department, Congress and the news media on the other. Then, via Popular Resistance, two looks at NATO and at refugees pouring into Moldavia. Then, two reports from NPR’s “Morning Edition.” Then, a trio of pieces via Global Research. — MCM
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U.S. to expand Russia sanctions, accept 100K Ukraine refugees, by Chris Megerian, Lorne Cook and American Mahhani | The Associated Press BRUSSELS — The United States will expand its sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine, targeting members of the country’s parliament and the central bank’s gold reserves, the White House announced today. At the same time, Washington will increase its humanitarian assistance by welcoming 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and providing an additional $1 billion in food, medicine, water and other supplies. The White House announced the initiatives as U.S. President Joe Biden and world leaders gathered in Brussels for a trio of summits in response to the Russian invasion, seeking new ways to limit the economic and security fallout from the conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the day’s first meeting, an emergency NATO summit, where he called for “military assistance without . . . READ MORE . . .
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Western nations to bolster Ukraine aid, by John Chalmers and Natalia Zinets | Reuters * Western leaders meet to take more action against Russia * More than half of Ukraine’s children forced to flee – UN * In besieged Mariupol, people bury their dead * Energy supplies complicate responses | BRUSSELS/LVIV/MARIUPOL, Ukraine — Western leaders meeting in Brussels on today will agree to strengthen their forces in Eastern Europe and increase military aid to Ukraine as the Russian assault on its neighbour entered its second month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged them to go further and repeated his call for a no-fly zone over his country, where thousands of people have been killed, millions become refugees, and cities pulverised since Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed his . . . READ MORE . . .
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Pentagon Drops Truth Bombs to Stave Off War With Russia, by Joe Lauria | Consortium News The Pentagon is engaged in a consequential battle with the U.S. State Department and the Congress to prevent a direct military confrontation with Russia, which could unleash the most unimaginable horror of war. President Joe Biden is caught in the middle of the fray. So far he is siding with the Defense Department, saying there cannot be a NATO no-fly zone over Ukraine fighting Russian aircraft because “that’s called World War III, okay? Let’s get it straight here, guys. We will not fight the third world war in Ukraine.” . . . (The administration plan is to bring down the Russian government through a ground insurgency and economic war, not a direct military one.) But pressure on the White House from Congress and the press corps is unrelenting to recklessly bring NATO directly into the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, hailed as a virtual superhero in Western media . . . READ MORE . . .
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NATO Is a Problem, Not the Solution, by Yves Engler | EDUCATE! While in no way excusing Russia’s criminal invasion, NATO expansion eastward increased its likelihood. Although we’ll never know if the war would not have happened under different circumstances, after a month of Russian violence against Ukraine the two countries’ negotiators have reportedly agreed that it will reject joining NATO as part of a peace pact. Russia has long objected to NATO’s eastward expansion, particularly Ukraine’s de facto incorporation into the alliance. It repeatedly raised objections to NATO encircling its territory in the months leading up to its illegal invasion. Last week the head of the European Union’s foreign policy, Josep Borrell, even admitted the push to expand NATO into Ukraine was an error. “I am ready . . . READ MORE . . .
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Ukrainian Refugees Spare No Words on Zelensky government, by Fergie Chambers, Toward Freedom, EDUCATE! CHISINAU, Moldova — Nestled above the Black Sea, between the war zone in Ukraine and the eastern limits of NATO territory in Romania, sits the tiny, oft-forgotten landlocked nation of Moldova. Among the poorest countries in Europe by just about any relevant metric, it has been overwhelmed by Ukrainian refugees in the three weeks since the outset of what Russia calls its “special military operation” (спецоперация) in Ukraine. More than 359,000 people of the 3.38 million who have fled Ukraine since February 24 have passed in and out of the country, according to . . . READ MORE . . .
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Moldova, sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, eyes Russia’s actions, by Frank Langfitt | NPR. Listen HERE.
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The state of the war: a month after Russia tried to claim an easy victory. Steve Inskeep, Tom Bowman and Tim Mak | NPR | They talk about changes in Ukraine has changed and the efforts of that country’s military and civilian resistance. Listen HERE.
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What About That Theater? by Max Blumenthal | The Grayzone. Testimony by evacuated Mariupol residents and warnings of a false flag attack undermine the Ukrainian government’s claims about a Russian bombing of a local theater sheltering civilians. Western media have reported that Russia’s military deliberately attacked the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama theater in Mariupol, Ukraine, claiming that it was filled with civilians and marked with signs reading “children” on its grounds. The supposed bombing took place just as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to US Congress . . . READ MORE . . .
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Madeleine Albright saw NATO expansion eastward as essential. From The Conversation. Madeleine Albright may have not coined the phrase “indispensable nation,” but she will always be associated with the concept. By the time she became Secretary of State in 1997, the United States had become a beached superpower. . . . . When the Soviet Union disappeared in 1991, so did the primary justification for America’s enormous troop presence abroad and globe-spanning web of military alliances. The Czech-born Albright, who died on March 23 at age 84, helped the United States to conjure a new rationale for its militarized global role in the post-Cold War era. Her trenchant belief that . . . READ MORE . . .
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Defense Giants Quietly Making Billions on Ukraine War, by Peter Bloom | The Conversation. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been widely condemned for its unjustified aggression. There are legitimate fears of a revived Russian empire and even a new world war. Less discussed is the almost half-trillion dollar defense industry supplying the weapons to both sides, and the substantial profits it will make as a result. The conflict has already seen massive growth in defense spending. . . . An international coalition of nations is also willingly arming the Ukrainian resistance, including the UK, Australia, Turkey and . . . READ MORE . . .
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TO BE CONTINUED