First, links to reports from Agence France-Presse, Le Monde, Tass, the Associated Press, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, three articles from the Berkshire Eagle by its foreign affairs writer, from Substack by a veteran investigative reporter, and from the Eagle-Tribune by the chairman of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. — MCM
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Russia takes stock after winter offensive fails to deliver gains. From AFP. Russia’s ill-fated winter offensive has been another disappointment for Moscow. As spring arrives, Russian and Ukrainian forces are deadlocked with troops stretching from the shores of the Black Sea to northeast Ukraine — and the Kremlin has once again been forced to . . . READ MORE . . .
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The key to Ukraine’s counter-offensive: Breaching Russian lines, by Cédric Pietralunga | Le Monde According to the military, this will be one of the decisive factors in the success or failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive announced for the spring. Will Kyiv’s troops be able to break through the lines of fortifications hastily constructed by the Russians on the front line? Will their armored vehicles be able to . . . Click HERE for beginning of article in English, and HERE for beginning in French.
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Missile launched from Ukraine downed over Feodosiya – Head of Crimea. From Tass. SIMFEROPOL — A missile launched from Ukraine was downed over Feodosiya on the eastern coast of Crimea, Head of the republic Sergey Aksyonov said today. In the recent weeks . . . READ MORE . . .
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Ukraine’s coal miners dig deep to power a nation at war, by Vasilisa Stepanenko | AP DNIPROPETROVSK OBLAST, Ukraine — Deep underground in southeastern Ukraine, miners work around the clock extracting coal to power the country’s war effort and to provide civilians with light and heat. Coal is central to meeting Ukraine’s energy needs, the chief engineer of a mining company in Dnipropetrovsk province said.“Today, the country’s energy independence is . . . READ MORE . . .
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In Kharkiv, a widower tries to repair his bombed apartment building. Reported by Joanna Kakissis | NPR In a war-ruined district of Kharkiv, a widower tries to repair his bombed apartment building as Ukraine struggles to restore neighborhoods destroyed by Russian attacks. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
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Nuclear threat looms over Ukraine, by James Brooke | The Berkshire Eagle Russia is running out of arms. Photo experts say trainloads of Stalin-era T-54 tanks are being shipped west from a storage depot created in the Russian Far East during the Korean War. Ukrainian forensic experts say that some of the missiles that rained down on Ukraine recently were the same missiles that Ukraine shipped back to Russia in the mid-1990s. These missiles carried conventional warheads. READ MORE . . .
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The Nord Stream ghost ship, by Seymour Hersh | Substack America’s Central Intelligence Agency is constantly running covert operations around the world, and each must have a cover story in case things go badly, as they often do. It is just as important to have an explanation when things go well, as they did in the Baltic Sea last fall. Within weeks of my report that Joe Biden ordered the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, the agency produced a cover story and found willing takers in . . . READ MORE . . .
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Ike’s military power misgivings still ring true, by Andrew Bacevich | The Eagle-Tribune In his farewell to the nation, President Eisenhower in 1961 took aim at the “disastrous rise of misplaced power” stemming from the “conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry.” Abetted by a pliant Congress, military and corporate leaders collaborated to advance their shared interests with the well-being of the American people consigned to . . . READ MORE . . .
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MAY BE CONTINUED