For today, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, and Tass, followed by commentary from Responsible Statecraft and Indian Punchline; other articles are accessible by clicking on the sources’ names or initials below. (Today’s GAZA entry is HERE.) — MCM

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Russian forces intensify pressure on Ukraine’s Avdiivka, Kherson. From Reuters. Russian forces aiming to contain a four-month-old Ukrainian counteroffensive maintained unrelenting pressure on Sunday on the shattered town of Avdiivka in the east and intensified shelling in the southern area of Kherson. Russia has focused on the industrial east since pulling back . . . READ MORE . . .

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A price cap on Russian oil aims to starve Putin of cash. But it’s largely been untested. Until now, by David McHugh | AP  FRANKFURT, Germany — For months after Ukraine’s Western allies limited sales of Russian oil to $60 per barrel, the price cap was still largely symbolic. Most of Moscow’s crude — its main moneymaker — cost less than that. But the cap was there in case oil prices rose — and would keep . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine’s military loses 285 troops in Donetsk area over past day. From Tass. MELITOPOL — MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/. Russian forces struck Ukrainian army units in the Donetsk area, killing and wounding roughly 285 enemy troops over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Battlegroup South Spokesman Vadim Astafyev reported on Monday. Russian forces also . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S. ATACMs in Ukraine gamble with future civilians’ lives, by Titus Peachy | Responsible Statecraft  Cluster bombs violate the most central principle of international humanitarian law. They fail to distinguish between military targets and civilian life in two significant ways. They are difficult to target precisely, creating a large “footprint” of harm that often includes civilians. And many do not explode on impact, but persist over time, maiming and killing whoever disturbs them long after wars end. The fact . . . READ MORE . . .

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Biden gives booster dose to the faltering Ukraine war, by M. K. Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline  In President Biden’s formal address to the nation from the Oval Office last Thursday, the bedrock of his argument was that resolute support of U.S. allies is essential for preserving American primacy in the world. The main plot was that the hybrid war in Ukraine will continue so long as he remains in office in the White House. It has morphed into a “forever war”. READ MORE . . .

For today, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, and National Public Radio, and to commentary from Indian Punchline and, via Popular Resistance, The Real News Network; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (Today’s UKRAINE entry is HERE.) — MCM

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Israel ramps up strikes on Gaza as U.S. advises delaying ground offensive to allow talks on captives, by Najib Jobain, Samy Magdy and Joseph Krauss | AP  RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israel ramped up its airstrikes today in Gaza, where the death toll was rising rapidly, and the United States advised Israel to delay an expected ground invasion to allow more time to negotiate the release of hostages taken by Hamas militants. Heavy airstrikes demolished buildings across Gaza, including in areas where Palestinians have been told to seek refuge, killing hundreds and . . . READ MORE . . .

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Israeli soldiers skirmish with Hamas fighters on the ground, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams | Reuters  GAZA / JERUSALEM — Israel bombarded Gaza with more air strikes today as its soldiers fought Hamas militants on the ground in raids within the besieged Palestinian enclave. Gaza’s health ministry said 436 people had been killed by Israeli aerial attacks in the past 24 hours, most of them in the south of the narrow, densely populated Gaza Strip. In signs that . . . READ MORE . . .

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Israel strikes across Gaza after allowing another small aid convoy into the besieged enclave, by Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy and Joseph Krauss | AP  DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza today, including in areas where Palestinian civilians have been told to seek refuge, after another small aid shipment was allowed into the besieged Hamas-ruled territory. Israel has still not allowed any fuel to . . . READ MORE . . .

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Aid starts to trickle into Gaza; Qatar negotiates the release of American hostages. Reported by Scott Simon and Peter Kenyon | NPR  The Egypt Gaza border opens briefly to allow a trickle ofmuch needed aid in, but it is a drop in the ocean for the thousands of Palestinians stuck there. Click HERE to listen and read.

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What’s next for the U.S. in the Middle East, according to a veteran diplomat. Ayesha Rascoe of NPR discusses the Israel-Gaza conflict with David Hale. The veteran diplomat served as U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace as well as ambassador to Lebanon and Jordan. Click HERE to listen and read.

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The UN says 20 trucks of aid are not enough, asks for fuel to be let in for hospitals. Scott Simon of NPR discusses aid to Gaza with Assistant Secretary-General Lynn Hastings. She is the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Who governs the West Bank? Understanding Palestinian political leadership. Ayesha Rascoe of NPR asks former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad about the leadership of and divisions within Palestinian political factions. Click HERE to listen and read. 

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Arab leaders, U.N. secretary-general met at a summit in Cairo to discuss the war. Reported by Ayesha Rascoe and Jane Arraf | NPR  Arab leaders at a Cairo summit failed to agree on a way to contain the violence between Israel and Hamas or resolve the Palestinian quest for statehood. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Putin sees Israel-Hamas war as opportunity for geopolitical power shift. Reported by Philip Reeves | NPR  Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed the U.S. for this latest outbreak of Israel-Gaza violence as he tries to consolidate a growing anti-Western alliance of nations. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Peace activists in Israel speak about their hopes for the end of war. Scott Simon of NPR speaks with Israeli peace activists Sally Abed, who is also Palestinian, and Alon-Lee Green, of the group Standing Together, about their hopes for the conflict in Gaza. Click HERE to listen and read.

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There are fears of militant groups in Hezbollah entering the war. Scott Simon of NPR speaks with Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, about the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah’s role in the current conflict. Click HERE to listen and read.

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No takers for a West Asian war but war seems inevitable, by M. K. Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline  The remarks by Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian following a regional tour that took him to Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Qatar and closed-door meetings with the leaders of the resistance groups, stand out as an audacious display of smart power aiming at nudging the ground situation towards the diplomatic track at a crucial juncture when . . . READ MORE . . .

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‘No sanctuary’: Israel’s long war on Gaza. Chris Hedges of  the Chris Hedges Report on The Real News Network speaks with author Norman Finkelstein about Israel’s 17-year blockade of Gaza and its crucial significance to understanding the events since Oct. 7. Click HERE to read and view and listen to interview.

 

For today, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Tass, and the Boston Herald; other articles are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (Today’s UKRAINE entry is HERE.) — MCM

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Israel strikes Gaza, Syria and West Bank as war against Hamas threatens to ignite other fronts, by Najib Jobain, Samy Magdy and Joseph Krauss | AP  RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza overnight and into today, as well as two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants, as the two-week-old war with Hamas threatened to spiral into a broader conflict. Israel has traded fire . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S. dispatches Mideast military assets, Israel pounds Gaza, targets in Syria, Lebanon, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Emily Rose | Reuters  GAZA / JERUSALEM — Concerns about the risk of the Israel-Hamas war mushrooming into a wider Middle East conflict rose today with the U.S. sending more military assets to the region as Israel pummelled Gaza overnight and hit Hamas supporters in Lebanon and Syria. Gaza’s Health Ministry said 266 Palestinians, including 117 children, had been killed by . . . READ MORE . . .

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Israeli strikes knock out Damascus, Aleppo airports: Syrian state media. From AFP. Israeli strikes today put out of service war-torn Syria’s two main airports, state media reported citing a military source, with the transport ministry saying flights were re-routed to Latakia. It is the second time simultaneous strikes have hit the facilities since this month’s conflict between Israel and Hamas began. READ MORE . . .

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Israel army strikes tunnel beneath mosque in West Bank’s Jenin. From Tass. TEL AVIV — The Israel Defense Forces delievered a preventive strike on a tunnel stretching beneath a mosque in the West Bank’s Jenin, the IDF’s press office said today. The IDF said the tunnel was used by militants of Palestinian radical movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who plotted an . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ex-Elizabeth Warren 2020 staffers call on her to ‘demand an immediate cease-fire’ in Israel, Gaza, by Rick Sobey | Boston Herald U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is facing pressure from hundreds of her former staffers who are pushing her to “demand an immediate cease-fire” and de-escalation in the Israel-Hamas war, while an estimated 200 Israeli hostages are still captive in Gaza. A letter signed by . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, and Tass. Then, links to two pieces of commentary from Consortium News; the first is by a professor of international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh; in the second a Ukrainian-Canadian political scientist and author is interviewed. Then, links to three videos featuring the second of these two political scientists. (Today’s GAZA entry is HERE.) — MCM

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Six killed in Russia’s missile attack on Kharkiv postal centre, Ukraine says, by Maria Starkova and Ronald Popeski | Reuters  KYIV — Six people have been killed and at least 14 injured in a Russian missile attack that hit a postal distribution centre in the war-devastated northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said. President Volodymyr Zelenksiy posted a . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukrainians prepare firewood and candles to brace for a winter of Russian strikes on the energy grid, by Hanna Arhirova | AP  MOSHCHUN, Ukraine — Countless Ukrainians are getting ready for winter by chopping firewood, stocking up on candles, buying generators, batteries, flashlights and compact gas canisters, and, if they can afford it, investing in solar panels. READ MORE . . .

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Ukrainian army’s attempt to debark near railroad bridge thwarted close to Kherson. From Tass. GENICHESK — Units of the Dnepr Group have thwarted an attempt by the Ukrainian armed forces to debark near a railroad bridge close to Kherson, with 20 Ukrainian soldiers eliminated, a representative of the region’s operative services said. In the same direction an . . . READ MORE . . .

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Some Ukrainians fear that war in the Middle East would distract from their plight. Reported by Joanna Kakissis | NPR  Ukrainians worry that a regional war in the Middle East will distract their country’s allies, embolden Russia and prolong Russia’s war on Ukraine. Click HERE to listen and read.

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U.S. declares ‘war,’ by Michael Brenner | Consortium News  U.S. foreign policy has set the country on a course destined to lead to a world of rivalry, strife and conflict into the foreseeable future. Washington has declared “war”on China, on Russia, on whoever partners with them. That “war” is comprehensive — diplomatic, financial, commercial, technological, cultural, ideological. It implicitly fuses a presumed great power rivalry for dominance with a clash of civilizations: the U.S.-led West against . . . READ MORE . . .

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The Maidan massacre, censorship & Ukraine, by Natylie Baldwin | Consortium News  Canadian-Ukrainian professor Ivan Katchanovski’s investigation of the Maidan massacre in Kiev in February 2014 found an organized mass killing of both protesters and the police, with the goal of delegitimizing the Yanukovych government and its forces and seizing power . . . READ MORE . . .

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Professor Ivan Katchanovski on video. People interested in hearing and watching the Ukrainian-Canadian academic talking about historic events in his native country can check out three videos. Click  HERE for a May 2022 podcast, HERE for a June 2019 power point presentation, and HERE for a January 2023 podcast. They are, in that order, 29 minutes, 24 minutes and nearly two hours long. 

For today, links to reports from Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, the Kyiv Independent, Politico, and Tass; other articles are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (Today’s GAZA entry is HERE.) — MCM

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Turkey to take part in new Ukraine peace talks — Zelensky.  From AFP.  Turkey will take part in peace talks next week to discuss ways to end the Ukraine conflict, President Volodymyr Zelensky said today, after speaking with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Mediterranean island of Malta announced Friday it would host a round of Ukraine peace talks on October 28-29. Russia is not expected . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S., EU Show united front on Israel, Ukraine. From AFP. President Joe Biden and European Union leaders delivered a message of unity Friday, on the Israel-Hamas and Ukraine wars, despite worries that political paralysis in Washington could hamper US aid for its allies. “These conflicts show . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S. commitment to Ukraine a central question as Biden meets with EU heads during congressional chaos, by Josh Boak | AP  WASHINGTON — Saddled with a dysfunctional Congress, President Joe Biden welcomed European Union leaders to the White House on Friday with the promise that the United States can nonetheless deliver tens of billions of dollars worth of aid to wartime Ukraine and Israel. The Cabinet Room sit-down came as domestic U.S. political chaos could further destabilize an increasingly chaotic world. READ MORE . . .

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Boryspil airport plans to resume operations within a month of war’s end, by Elsa Court | The Kyiv Independent  Ukraine’s largest airport, Kyiv’s Boryspil International, is prepared to resume flights within one month after the end of the war, the airport’s director general Oleksiy Dubrevskyy said in an interview with Politico on Wednesday. “We’re doing all the necessary activities . . . READ MORE . . .

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Prepare for takeoff … soon: Kyiv airport readies for post-war flights, by Mari Eccles | Politico  Kyiv’s Boryspil airport, Ukraine’s biggest, could see airliners back on the tarmac as soon as one month after the war in Ukraine ends, according to its director general, Oleksiy Dubrevskyy. Closed since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, it was hit in two Russian attacks at the beginning of the war. READ MORE . . .

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Russian air defenses intercept 4 HARM missiles, 2 Neptune cruise missiles, and a HIMARS rocket. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian air defenses intercepted four HARM anti-radiation missiles, two Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles, and a HIMARS rocket in the past day, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. In addition . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Tass. Then, links to CNN’s video of President Biden’s address on Thursday evening and to the White House transcript. Next, links to National Public Radio reports on Friday’s All Things Considered program. Other information from these sources is accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (Today’s UKRAINE entry is HERE.) — MCM

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‘I am a Zionist’: How Joe Biden’s lifelong bond with Israel shapes war policy, by Matt Spetalnick, Jeff Mason, Steve Holland and Patricia Zengerle | Reuters  WASHINGTON — When Joe Biden met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet during his visit to Israel, the U.S. president assured them: “I don’t believe you have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and I am a Zionist.” Biden has used similar words in the past to profess his affinity for Israel. But the moment, which has not been previously reported, illustrates . . . READ MORE . . .

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First emergency aid trucks roll into Gaza after overnight Israeli air strikes, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Emily Rose | Reuters  GAZA / JERUSALEM — Trucks carrying aid crossed into southern Gaza today, the first convoy of humanitarian supplies since Israel began a devastating siege 12 days ago and after further heavy Israeli bombardment overnight that killed dozens of Palestinians. U.S. President Joe Biden had said this week that . . . READ MORE . . .

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Gaza death toll rises to 4,387: Hamas health ministry. From AFP. At least 4,137 people have been killed and another 13,162 wounded in the Gaza Strip since Israel began bombarding the Palestinian enclave, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said Friday, including 16 who died at the compound of Greek Orthodox church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City late . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S., EU Show united front on Israel, Ukraine. From AFP. President Joe Biden and European Union leaders delivered a message of unity Friday, on the Israel-Hamas and Ukraine wars, despite worries that political paralysis in Washington could hamper US aid for its allies. “These conflicts show . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia initiates UNSC meeting on Israeli-Palestinian conflict — Russia’s UN mission. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russia plans to request another meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said this week. “As practice has shown, no one but us dares to do it,” he said. On Wednesday, the United States vetoed. . . READ MORE . . .

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Biden on why funding Israel and Ukraine matters to Americans. From CNN. President Joe Biden makes a direct appeal to the American people to continue funding Ukraine and Israel amid their war efforts in an Oval Office address. Click HERE for video.

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President Biden on the United States’ response to Hamas’s terrorist attacks against Israel and Russia’s ongoing brutal war against Ukraine. From the White House. “THE PRESIDENT: Good evening, my fellow Americans. We’re facing  . . . READ MORE . . .

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Hamas has released two American hostages. Reported by Michele Kelemen | NPR  Hamas released two U.S. citizens — but 10 more Americans and nearly 200 others are still held by Hamas in Gaza. Click HERE to listen and read.

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The White House is asking for almost $106 billion, by Deepa Shivaram | NPR  President Biden told Americans on Thursday night that it was in the national interest of Americans to back democracies that found themselves under attack. On Friday, his budget office put a price tag on that : almost $106 billion for Israel, Ukraine, countering China in the Indo-Pacific, and operations on the southern U.S. border. The fate . . . Click HERE to listen and read.

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Biden admin says getting Americans out of Gaza is a key focus, but timeline is unclear. Reported by Michael Levitt, Patrick Jarenwattananon and Asma Khalid | NPR  John Kirby, spokesman with the White House National Security Council, talks about what the U.S. can do now, as the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to unravel. Click HERE to listen and read.

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During wartime, is there space to deliver a message of unity in Israel? Reported by Ari Shapiro, Connor Donevan, Courtney Dorning and Elena Burnett | NPR  In the mixed community of Israel’s Lod, some groups are trying to deliver calls for peace and unity. But that is a message not everyone wants to hear at a time of war. Click HERE to listen and read.

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What a rabbi hopes to offer the wounded and grieving in Israel. Reported by Ari Shapiro, Elena Burnett, Megan Lim and Courtney Dorning | NPR  Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie in Israel had a visceral reaction to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, but says he stands with his Palestinian friends who want freedom. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Egypt’s role as war continues in the Gaza Strip. Reported by Aya Batrawy | NPR  Egypt is a key player in any attempts to resolve the war between Israel and Hamas. Its leaders worry Israel is trying to force refugees into the Sinai. Click HERE to listen and read.

Here is a link to a film review from Beyond the Curtain. (Today’s UKRAINE and GAZA entries are HERE and HERE.) — MCM

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‘Peace, war, and 9/11’: A cinematic portrait of Graeme MacQueen, a warrior for peace. A review by Edward J. Curtin, Jr. | Behind the Curtain  In this important and compelling film, a dying man speaks eloquently of how he accepted the role that life brought him — a 9/11 truthteller and longtime peace apostle — as he departs the stage, hoping this last effort will ease his exit and help fulfill his mission. Because Graeme MacQueen was my close friend for the last ten years of his life, I found . . . Click HERE to read review and watch film — in either order.

For today, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Tass, and National Public Radio, followed by commentary from Kyiv Post and the Kyiv Independent; others are accessible by clicking on their sources’ names or initials below. (Today’s GAZA and 9/11 TRUTH entries are HERE and HERE.) — MCM

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Ukrainian troops face new Russian assault on eastern town of Avdiivka. From Reuters. KYIV — Ukrainian troops are facing a new Russian onslaught in the largely destroyed eastern city of Avdiivka, while making some progress on their counteroffensive in the southern theatre, senior military officials said on Thursday.  Gen. Valery Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief . . . READ MORE . . .

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The leaders of Ukraine and Russia assess their resources as their war heads into winter, by Illia Novikov | AP  KYIV — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke by phone with U.S. President Joe Biden about Washington’s future support for Kyiv, and Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a military base near the Ukrainian border, as the warring countries laid plans for the winter and next year’s combat operations. Almost 20 months of war have . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin visits military HQ for Ukraine offensive — Kremlin. From AFP. Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don that is overseeing the Ukraine offensive, the Kremlin said today. Army chief of staff . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia’s battlegroup South destroys tank, up to 50 Ukrainian servicemen in Donetsk area. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russia’s southern battlegroup has destroyed up to 50 Ukrainian servicemen and an enemy tank in the Donetsk area, the group’s spokesman Vadim Astafiev said in a wider briefing. READ MORE . . .

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Biden declares Israel and Ukraine support is vital for U.S. security, will ask Congress for billions, by Chris Megerian and SelEung Min Kim | AP  WASHINGTON — Declaring that U.S. leadership “holds the world together,” President Joe Biden told Americans on Thursday night the country must deepen its support of Ukraine and Israel in the middle of two vastly different, unpredictable and bloody wars. Acknowledging that “these conflicts can . . . READ MORE . . .

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Kremlin says Biden’s address on Putin ‘unacceptable.’ From AFP. The Kremlin today denounced an address by U.S. President Joe Biden in which he compared Russia to Hamas and called Vladimir Putin a “tyrant.” “We do not accept such a tone in relation to the Russian Federation, in relation to our president,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Biden, in an . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian air force grapples with its worst week of the war. by Stefan Korshak | Kyiv Post  The Russian Air Force just experienced – at least – its second-worst week of the entire war. If high-end damaged and destroyed aircraft estimates are proved accurate, it will have been the worst so far. Until this week, the most punishing . . . READ MORE . . .

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This week in Ukraine – ATACMS, and Russia’s offensive on Avdiivka, by Anastasiia Lapatina and Francis Farrell | The Kyiv Independent  Episode # 30 is dedicated to recent front-line updates, including Ukraine’s first use of ATACMS and Russia’s offensive on Avdiivka. READ MORE . . .

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A bitter truth of the war in Ukraine is that Russia’s invading troops have allies. Reported by Joanna Kakissis | NPR  After a powerful Russian missile kills a fifth of a Ukrainian village’s population. survivors grapple with revelations that pro-Russian neighbors may have helped coordinate the attack. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.`

For today, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters,  National Public Radio and, via Popular Resistance, the Grayzone; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, via Popular Resistance, commentary from ScheerPost. (Today’s UKRAINE and 9/11 TRUTH entries are HERE and HERE.)  — MCM

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Israel pounds Gaza, evacuates town near Lebanon ahead of expected ground offensive against Hamas, by Najib Jobain, Samya Kullab and Joseph Krauss | AP  KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israel bombarded Gaza early today, hitting areas in the south where Palestinians had been told to seek safety, and it began evacuating a sizable Israeli town in the north near the Lebanese border, the latest sign of a potential ground invasion of Gaza that could trigger regional turmoil. Palestinians in Gaza . . . READ MORE . . .

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Biden declares Israel and Ukraine support is vital for U.S. security, will ask Congress for billions, by Chris Megerian and SelEung Min Kim | AP  WASHINGTON — Declaring that U.S. leadership “holds the world together,” President Joe Biden told Americans on Thursday night the country must deepen its support of Ukraine and Israel in the middle of two vastly different, unpredictable and bloody wars. Acknowledging that “these conflicts can . . . READ MORE . . .

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Israeli defense chief says troops will soon see Gaza ‘from inside’, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Emily Rose | Reuters  GAZA / JERUSALEM — Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops gathered at the Gaza borde  on Thursday that they would soon see the Palestinian enclave “from inside”, suggesting an expected ground invasion with the aim of annihilating Hamas could be nearing. Israel pounded . . . READ MORE . . .

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In Gaza, medical supplies, food and water are running dangerously low. Michel Martin of NPR talks with Samer Abdeljaber, the World Food Program’s Palestine Country director, about the U.N. organization’s efforts to get food aid into Gaza. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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It’s unclear when desperately needed aid will be allowed into Gaza. From NPR. Critical supplies are running low for the more than two million Palestinians stuck in the Gaza Strip. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Biden aims to support Israel while not further alienating Palestinians, Arab world. A Martinez of NPR talks with human rights lawyer Zaha Hassan, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, about the White House trying to walk a fine diplomatic line in the Middle East. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Former ambassador Craig Murray detained under UK terror law, by Kit Klarenberg | The Grayzone / Popular Resistance  On Monday morning, counter-terror police in Glasgow Airport detained journalist, whistleblower, human rights campaigner, and former British diplomat Craig Murray upon his return from Iceland. After grilling him intensively about his political beliefs, officers seized Murray’s phone and laptop. Murray flew back to Glasgow after several days in Reykjavik, where he . . . READ MORE . . .

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Israel’s culture of deceit, by Chris Hedges | Scheer Post / Popular Resistance  I covered war for two decades, including seven years in the Middle East. I learned quite a bit about the size and lethality of explosive devices. There is nothing in the arsenal of Hamas or Islamic Jihad that could have replicated the massive explosive power of the missile that killed an estimated 500 civilians in the al-Ahli Arab Christian hospital in Gaza. Nothing. If Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) had these kinds of missiles. . . READ MORE . . .

For now, links to reports from Reuters, the Kyiv Independent, Kyiv Post, Tass, and National Public Radio; other articles are accessible by clicking on their sources’ names or initials below. (Today’s Gaza entry is HERE.) — MCM

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Wanted: thousands of Ukrainian judges, in huge overhaul sought by EU, by Dan Peleschuk | Reuters  KYIV — Vira Levko, a judge in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, typically handles dozens of administrative cases and several criminal hearings every day. And she says there are others who are far busier than her. When Levko tells colleagues abroad about her workload, they find it hard . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin holds talks with Xi; Lavrov says North Korea will help Moscow win. From the Kyiv Independent. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at China’s Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Oct. 18, following remarks by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He said Wednesday that the U.S. made a “great mistake” by providing Ukraine with ATACMS long-range missiles, which have . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin is being told ‘everything is going to plan,’ Ukrainian intel says, by Kateryna Zakharchenko | Kyiv Post  President Putin is being told Russia’s “special military operation” is going to plan, a top Kyiv intelligence official said – as anyone who told him the real situation on the front lines would “lose his cap or his head.” In an exclusive interview, Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, told . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian forces repulse Ukrainian attack near Orekhov in Zaporozhye area. From Tass.  DONETSK — Russian artillery repulsed a Ukrainian army attack near the town of Orekhov in the Zaporozhye area over the past day, Zaporozhye Region Senator Dmitry Rogozin said today. The Ukrainian military attacked . . . READ MORE . . .

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Can the U.S. stand with both Israel and Ukraine? U.S. ambassador to NATO weighs in. Reported by Elena Burnett, Tinbete Ermyas and Mary Louise Kelly | NPR  Kelly speaks with U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith about how the U.S. can support both Israel and Ukraine. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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MAY BE CONTINUED