For now, links to reports from National Public Radio, the Associated Press, Reuters, and Tass; other reports are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. And, for at least several more hours, a photo from Agence France-Presse taken in Cyprus. Then, from AP, links to two articles on fresh Western weaponry on its way to Ukraine. — MCM

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Russian President Putin orders a temporary cease-fire in Ukraine. Reported by A Martínez and Tim Mak | NPR  Putin instructed his defense minister to order a temporary cease-fire in Ukraine over Orthodox Christmas. Ukraine accuses Russia of trying to buy time to replenish its stocks along the front lines. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Kremlin-ordered truce is uncertain amid mutual mistrust, by Andrew Meldrum | AP  KYIV — An uneasy calm in Kyiv toiday was broken by air raid sirens that also blared out across the rest of Ukraine despite a Russian cease-fire declaration for the Orthodox Church Christmas that Ukrainian officials scorned. With no degree of certainty whether the truce was holding or not, hours after it was due to have started, residents of Kyiv ventured out . . . READ MORE . . .

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Signs of fighting after Russia says unilateral truce comes into force in Ukraine, by Olena Harmash and Herbert Villarraga | Reuters * Russia shells Ukraine’s Kramatorsk, mayor says * Ukraine: Putin order for Orthodox Christmas truce is a trick * Russia-backed officials say Ukraine shelled Donetsk | KYIV/KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — A unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to come into force on Friday but the hours leading up to the temporary truce saw renewed fighting, with Kyiv rejecting the move as a trick. Russia’s defence ministry said its troops . . . READ MORE . . .

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Medvedev says Kiev’s refusal to cease fire on Christmas Day is ‘less trouble’ for Moscow. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev believes that Kiev has rejected ‘the hand of Christian mercy’ by refusing Moscow’s proposed Christmas truce. However, according to him, this situation will pose ‘less trouble and slyness’ to the Russian armed forces. “A hand . . . READ MORE . . .

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Photo: Greek Orthodox worshippers attend a religious Epiphany Day ceremony in Zygi, Cyprus. Photograph by Iakovos Hatzistavrou | AFP 

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Germany to supply around 40 armored carriers to Ukraine. From AP. Click HERE for it.

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Ukraine to get French combat vehicles in key move by West, by Sylvie Corbet | AP  Click HERE for it.

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MAY BE CONTINUED

For now, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, links to an article from Popular Resistance describing decades-long U.S-led Western efforts to weaken Russia economically and to a New York Times columnist’s article omitting mention of those efforts. — MCM

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Between battles, Ukraine’s soldiers have a place to recover, by Vasilisa Stepanenko | AP  KHARKIV, Ukraine — The relentless 10-month war has prompted a local commander to transform a Soviet-era sanatorium into a recovery center for servicemen to treat both mental and physical ailments. “This rehabilitation is helping soldiers, at least for a week, to put themselves together,” said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine pleads with allies to send tanks as fighting grinds on in east, by Pavel Polityuk | Reuters * U.S. predicts months of intense fighting in Bakhmut in east * Luhansk governor says troops advancing “step by step” * Send us tanks, Zelenskiy urges Western allies | KYIV — Ukrainian and Russian troops battled in eastern regions today as Kyiv tried to push back occupying forces, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the West to provide his army with heavy tanks to boost their firepower. The Ukrainian military . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin says ready for Ukraine talks if Kyiv accepts ‘new territorial realities.’ From AFP. President Vladimir Putin told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan he was open to dialogue with Ukraine if Kyiv accepts territories occupied by Moscow as Russian, the Kremlin said today. “Putin again confirmed . . . READ MORE . . .

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Western firearms supplied mostly to Ukraine units manned by foreigners – DPR officer. From Tass. DONETSK — Western firearms are supplied primarily to Ukraine’s special force units manned by foreigners, Andrey Bayevsky, a member of the parliament of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Lieutenant Colonel of the DPR People’s Militia, told TASS today. “Of course . . . READ MORE . . .

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The first U.S. onslaught to weaken post-Cold War Russia, by John V. Walsh | Popular Resistance There is no doubt that the actions of the U.S. and the West were critical factors in the Great Russian Depression of the 1990s and early 2000s.  An understanding of this goes a long way in making sense of events leading up to the present moment of U.S. proxy war in Ukraine and the brutal sanctions imposed on Russia.   This understanding, however, does not fit the narrative to which the NYT confines itself . . . READ MORE . . .

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Wonking out: The nightmare after Gorbachev, by Paul Krugman | The New York Times Most articles on the death of Mikhail Gorbachev dwell on the political failure of his reform project. The Russian Federation, the main successor state to the Soviet Union, has not, to say the least, become a democratic, open society. Ukraine may . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

This is the second part of an essay titled “The Wild Places” by the Trappist monk Thomas Merton (1915 – 1968) published by The Catholic Worker in June 1968. It was excerpted in the August-September 2022 Catholic Worker. The first part appeared in this blog, HERE, last Nov. 17. The third and final part will appear in this blog soon. — MCM

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Our frontier mythology

By Thomas Merton

In a 17th-century Puritan book with an intriguing title — Johnson’s Wonder Working Providence — we read that it was Jesus Himself, working through the Puritans, who “turned one of the most hideous, boundless and unknown wildernesses in the world into a well-ordered Commonwealth.”

Max Weber and others have long since helped us recognize the influence of the Puritan ethos on the growth of capitalism. This is one more example. U.S. capitalist culture is firmly rooted in a secularized Christian myth and mystique of struggle with nature. The basic article of faith in this mystique is that you preserve your worth by overcoming and dominating the natural world. You justify your existence and you attain bliss (temporal, eternal or both) by transforming nature into wealth. This is not only good, but self-evident. Until transformed, nature is useless and absurd. Anyone who refuses to see this or acquiesce to it is some kind of a half-wit — or worse, a rebel, an anarchist, a prophet of apocalyptic disorders.

An investigation of the wilderness mystique and of the contrary mystique of exploitation and power, reveals the tragic depth of the conflict that now exists in the U.S. mind. The ideal of freedom and creativity which has been celebrated with such optimism and self-assurance runs the risk of being turned completely inside out if the natural ecological balance on which it depends for its vitality, is destroyed. Take away the space, the freshness, the rich spontaneity of a wildly flourishing nature, and what will become of the creative pioneer mystique? A pioneer in a suburb is a sick man tormenting himself with projects of virile conquest. In a ghetto he is a policeman shooting every Black man who gives him a look.

Obviously, the frontier is a thing of the past. The bison has almost vanished. There are still some forests and wilderness areas, but we are firmly established as an urban culture. Nevertheless the problem of ecology exists in a most acute form. The danger of fallout and atomic waste is only one of the more spectacular ones. There is an almost infinite number of others.

Much of the stupendous ecological damage that has been done in the last fifty years is completely irreversible. Industry and the military, especially in America, are firmly set on policies which make further damage inevitable. There are plenty of people who are aware of the need for “something to be done,” but just consider the enormous struggle that has to be waged, for instance in eastern Kentucky, to keep mining interests from completing the ruin of an area that is already a ghastly monument to callous human greed. When a choice has to be made, it is almost invariably made in the way that is good for a quick return on somebody’s investment – and a permanent disaster for everybody else.

TO BE CONTINUED

First, links to reports from Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. NOTE: Monday’s expanded entry on an interview with the Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry litigation director, HERE, has been added to. — MCM

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Toll from Ukraine strike In Makiivka rises to 89: Russian ministry. From AFP. The toll from a Ukrainian New Year strike on Makiivka, in Russian-controlled territory of eastern Ukraine, has risen to 89, the Russian defence ministry said today. In an extremely rare announcement, Russia said Monday that 63 soldiers had been killed in the — the biggest loss of life from a single strike reported by Moscow since the start of the offensive on February 24. The admission . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says phone use allowed Ukraine to target its troops, by Felipe Dana | AP  KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Unauthorized use of cell phones by Russian soldiers led to a deadly Ukrainian rocket attack on the facility where they were stationed, according to the Russian military. Gen. Lt. Sergei Sevryukov said in a statement late Tuesday that phone signals allowed Kyiv’s forces to “determine the coordinates of the location . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian army receives advanced Ka-52M helicopters – source. From Tass. MOSCOW — The first upgraded Ka-52M strike and reconnaissance helicopters were delivered to the Russian army and supplies will continue this year, a source in the defense industry told TASS. About ten . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

For now, links to reports from National Public Radio, Tass, and the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, a link to an undated YouTube commentary by a retired U.S. Army colonel and former government official. Next, a link to a post initially filed four days ago on antiwar.com — MCM

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Russian air attacks continue to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Reported by Tim Mak | NPR  Russia and Ukraine are both claiming Russian casualties following a missile attack on the occupied Donetsk region. The attack came as Russian forces targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Russian forces eliminate over 130 foreign mercenaries in Ukraine operation – top brass. From Tass. MOSCOW — The Russian Aerospace Forces delivered a strike on the deployment site of the Ukrainian army’s foreign legion in the Donetsk People’s Republic, eliminating “over 130 mercenaries” in the past day, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov said today. “Precision strikes . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukrainian civilian killed by Russia was a celebrated children’s author. Reported by Joanna Kakissis | NPR  The killing of children’s author Volodymyr Vakylenko has become a symbol of Russia’s war on Ukrainian culture. His last work was a diary of life under Russian occupation. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Moscow and Kyiv dispute the number of Russian soldiers killed in blast. Rob Schmitz of NPR talks with Alexander Gabuev of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace about Ukraine carrying out a strike on Russian troops. Ukraine says the death toll is in the hundreds. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Drone advances in Ukraine could bring dawn of killer robots, by Frank Bajak and Hanna Arhirova | AP  KYIV — The longer the war lasts, the more likely it becomes that drones will be used to identify, select and attack targets without help from humans, according to military analysts, combatants and artificial intelligence researchers. That would . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukrainian bloodbath is going to happen soon — Americans need to understand this, by Douglas Macgregor. Click HERE to listen.

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Biden reneged — now Russian army will talk, by Ray McGovern | antiwar.com A year ago today [on Dec. 30, 2021] U.S. President Joe Biden, in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, assured him that “Washington had no intention of deploying offensive strike weapons in Ukraine.” Against that backdrop, bilateral talks in Geneva to start on January 9, 2022 seemed off to a promising start. The Kremlin thought so. Then Biden . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

For now, a link to British talk show host George Galloway interviewing Mick Harrison, litigation director of the Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry. They discuss an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the Committee’s efforts to present to a federal special grand jury its considerable evidence in the destruction on Sept. 11, 2001, of three World Trade Center skyscrapers — as well as the case’s overall legal context. Click HERE to watch and listen.

Because of the popularity of Galloway’s show, known in Britain as the Mother Of All Talk Shows (and coming to the United States in some form possibly as soon as this year), it is figured that the LC’s Harrison had his biggest audience ever during the Jan. 1 interview. Here is the final paragraph of the Committee’s followup message:

”As we await the decision of the Court following its Jan. 6th conference on whether to take up the case We ask that You donate generously to help us meet our Goal of $10,000 to cover the costs of drafting the brief and professional Petition copying and filing fees; to be ready with the more substantive brief should the Court accept the case; and for filing costs and attorney’s fees to draft our signature case for the coming year, an FOIA Lawsuit to force the FBI to release its collection of photos, videos and documents of its ‘Major Bombing Cases’ related to 9/11.”

Visitors may visit the LC’s website HERE to do so. Or mail a check to:

Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry P.O. Box 14125 Arlington, TX 76094

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Tass, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, via Popular Resistance, two pieces of commentary. — MCM

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Russia presses its Ukraine strategy, fires 40 drones at Kyiv, by Felipe Dana | AP  KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia deployed exploding drones in another nighttime attack on Ukraine, officials said today, as the Kremlin signaled no letup in its strategy of using bombardments to target civilian infrastructure and wear down Ukrainian resistance to its invasion. The barrage . . .  READ MORE . . .

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Strike kills 63 Russian troops in eastern Ukraine: Moscow. From AFP. A Ukrainian strike on a complex in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Makiivka killed 63 Russian troops, the Russian defence ministry announced today. “As a result . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian army hits Ukraine’s combat drone production sites on Dec 31. From Tass. MOSCOW — The Russian Armed Forces carried out a high-precision strike on Ukrainian defense industry sites involved in the production of combat drones on December 31, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday. “The move thwarted . . . READ MORE . . .

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Anger in Russia as scores of troops killed in one of war’s deadliest strikes, by Pavel Polityuk | Reuters  * Third straight night of attacks signals new Russian tactic * Kyiv says Russian strikes are failing * Scores of Russian troops reported dead in barracks blast * Stern Putin New Year speech signals no let-up * Zelenskiy says Ukraine stands united | KYIV — Russia acknowledged today that scores of its troops were killed in one of the Ukraine war’s deadliest strikes, drawing demands from nationalist bloggers for commanders to be punished for housing soldiers alongside an ammunition dump. Russia’s defense ministry . . . READ MORE . . .

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In Ukraine, the New Year was met with more sheltering from aerial bombardment. From NPR. Ukraine’s government issued 15,000 air raid warnings in 2022, and it doesn’t look like Russia is planning to let up this year. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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What’s ahead for the war in Ukraine in 2023. Elissa Nadworny of NPR speaks with Melinda Haring, the outgoing deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, about what to expect from the Russia-Ukraine war in 2023. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Photographing the levity and macabre of living through the war in Ukraine. Elissa Nadworny of NPR talks with photographer Carol Guzy, about her most recent photo essay, which documents a young couple living with the effects of the Ukraine war. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Lack of good analyses contributes to the decline of the ‘West,’ by Moon of Alabama. | Educate!  What really hit me last year was the dearth of correct analyses in main stream media and in politics with regards to the war in Ukraine. Little if anything is based on facts. More than 90% of the published output is propaganda. The ‘western’ plan . . . READ MORE . . .

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We’ve reached peak Zelensky — now what? by Robert Freeman | Consortium News When the president of the poorest, most corrupt nation in Europe is feted with multiple standing ovations by the combined Houses of Congress, and his name invoked in the same breath as Winston Churchill, you know we’ve reached Peak Zelensky. It’s a farcical, almost . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

For today, a poem for the new year. Happy New Year! — MCM

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The Courage That My Mother Had

By Edna St. Vincent Millay

The courage that my mother had
Went with her, and is with her still:
Rock from New England quarried;
Now granite in a granite hill.

The golden brooch my mother wore
She left behind for me to wear;
I have no thing I treasure more:
Yet, it is something I could spare.

Oh, if instead she’d left to me
The thing she took into the grave! –
That courage like a rock, which she
Has no more need of, and I have.

Today’s year-end entry begins and ends with contributions from Consortium News. The first links to a useful collection of 23 CN articles. Then, links to reports from National Public Radio, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Finally, via Popular Resistance, an article by CN’s editor. — MCM

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For a different angle on Ukraine. From Consortium News. This is a link to a collection of 23 articles published Consortium News since February of 2014, by founding editor Robert Parry, current editor Joe Lauria, and authors Sottt Ritter and Patrick Lawrence. Click HERE for it.

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Ukraine marks the end of a year almost entirely spent under attack. Reported by Tim Mak | NPR  Russia conducted its largest series of airstrikes against Ukraine since mid-December, aimed at critical infrastructure. It’s the latest salvo targeting Ukrainian power and water supplies. Click HERE to listen.

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Missile strikes on Ukraine kill one, Zelenskiy says Russians in league with the devil, by Dan Peleschuk and Olena Harmash | Reuters KYIV — Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles at targets in Ukraine today, killing at least one person in Kyiv. The second barrage of major Russian missile attacks in three days . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine shot down 12 of 20 Russian missiles: Army. From AFP. Ukraine’s air defense shot down 12 out of 20 missiles launched by Russia this afternoon, hours before New Year’s Eve celebrations, the Ukrainian army said. Russia “launched . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine conflict casts shadow on Russia as it enters 2023, by Jim Heintz | AP  MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s address to the nation usually is rather anodyne and backed with a soothing view of a snowy Kremlin. This year, . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin’s New Year address: Year of major steps and fight for Russia’s future. From Tass. MOSCOW — The outgoing year has been one of “difficult, necessary decisions, major steps” towards Russia’s full independence, and now the country is fighting for its future, President Vladimir Putin said in his New Year’s address today. He addressed . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine’s debts: U.S. aims to get IMF to reexamine loan fees, by Fatima Hussein | AP  WASHINGTON — The National Defense Authorization Act requires American representatives to each global development bank, including the IMF, where the U.S. is the largest stakeholder, to use “ the voice, vote, and influence ” of the U.S. in seeking to assemble a voting bloc of countries that would change each institution’s debt service relief policy regarding Ukraine. READ MORE . . .

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Evidence of U.S.-backed coup in Kiev, by Joe Lauria | Consortium News NewsGuard, the media rating agency, gave Consortium News a red mark for “publishing false content” on Ukraine, including that there was a U.S.-backed coup in Kiev in 2014 and that neo-Nazis have significant influence in the country. Here is Consortium News‘ detailed proof. READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

As the year winds down countless people are hoping or praying that the latest (or at least one of the latest) in a series of avoidable wars, the one in Ukraine, is winding down too and headed for at least a truce. In a welcome diversion, the news has been filled with stories of vacation air flights canceled for thousands of travelers fortunate enough to have planned to fly — especially those with fares on Southwest Airlines.

Yesterday I posted link to a 10-minute message, HERE, by a retired airline pilot, Dan Hanley of United. I neglected to mention that he’s president of Pilots for 9/11 Truth and that he has conducted a series of interviews with other pilots (probably all retired) who disagree with the government / mass media line on the use of airplanes in the mass murders of Sept. 11, 2001. HERE they are. — MCM