First, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. Then, via Popular Resistance, a link to Mike Whitney’s analysis that sees sanctions against Russia accelerating a decades-long downward trend for the U.S. dollar. — MCM

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Russia rains rockets on Kharkiv, at least 15 killed. Reported by Pavel Polityuk and Vitalii Hnidyi | Reuters * Ukraine says Russians hitting Kharkiv as they did Mariupol * Fire breaks out at oil refinery inside Russia * Putin to mark day in 1941 when Hitler invaded Soviet Union | KYIV/KHARKIV — Russian forces pounded Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv and surrounding countryside with rockets, killing at least 15 people, in what Kyiv called a bid to force it to pull resources from the main battlefield to protect civilians from attack. Inside Russia, a fire tore through an oil refinery just 8 km from the Ukrainian border. Russia’s TASS news agency quoted a local official as saying it had been struck by a drone. The Russian strikes on Kharkiv, throughout Tuesday and continuing this morning, were the worst for weeks in the area where normal life . . . READ MORE . . .

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Press group: Ukraine journalist, soldier ‘coldly executed.’ Reported by John Leicester | The Associated Press KYIV — A Ukrainian photojournalist and a soldier accompanying him appear to have been “coldly executed” during the first weeks of the war in Ukraine as they searched in Russian-occupied woods for the photographer’s missing camera drone, Reporters Without Borders said today. The press freedom group said it sent investigators back to the woods north of the capital, Kyiv, where the bodies of Maks Levin and serviceman Oleksiy Chernyshov were . . . READ MORE . . .

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Why volunteer grave diggers in Ukraine are exhuming Russia’s dead, by Ryan Lucas | National Public Radio Ukraine has been collecting the bodies of dead Russians left behind pushed Russian forces back from Kharkiv weeks ago. Two brothers from an outside village are helping unbury the dead. Click HERE to listen and read.

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The War in Ukraine Marks the End of the American Century, by Mike Whitney | Information Clearing House / Educate! Due to the economic sanctions on Russia, an entirely new order is emerging in which the dollar will be substituted for national currencies (processed through an independent financial settlement system) in bilateral trade deals until — later this year — Russia launches an exchange-traded commodities-backed currency that will be used by trading partners in Asia and Africa. . . . U.S. economic sanctions and boycotts have expanded the non-dollar zone by many orders of magnitude and forced the creation of a new monetary order. READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

First, links to reports from National Public Radio, Reuters, the Associated Press, and teleSUR; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. Then, a link to a Harper’s Magazine piece on foreigners who came to fight in Ukraine as they appeared in early March. — MCM

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Russian forces have captured nearly all off Severodonetsk. Reported by Steve Inskeep and Greg Myre | National Public Radio Russia appears on the cusp of capturing Severodonetsk — a key Ukrainian city in the eastern part of the country. It’s a city that’s been at the center of the fighting for weeks. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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Germany risks recession as Russian gas crisis deepens, by Rachel More and Stine Jacobsen | Reuters * More Europeans activate first stage of gas crisis plans * Surging gas price adds to policymakers’ inflation headache * Slowing flows hinder efforts to refill storage for winter | BERLIN/COPENHAGEN — Germany faces certain recession if already faltering Russian gas supplies completely stop, an industry body warned today, as Sweden joined a growing list of European nations rolling out emergency plans to cope with a deepening energy supply crisis. European Union countries from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Adriatic coast in the south . . . READ MORE . . .

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Africa ‘taken hostage’ by Russia’s invasion, Zelenskyy says, by Cara Anna | The Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya — “Africa is actually taken hostage” in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine amid catastrophically rising food prices, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the African Union continental body during a closed-door address on Monday. . . . [Many African nations] retain close ties to Russia. . . . Ukraine and the West hope to weaken those ties by emphasizing that Russia’s actions . . . READ MORE . . .

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SPIEF Signals Failure of Western Economic War against Russia. From teleSUR. The 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) concluding last week has signaled the failure of the unilateral sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and other Western countries, analysts and government officials say. The forum . . . brought together political and business figures from over 130 countries, who shared their ideas on major challenges facing the world economy and offered . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S. Mercenaries in Custody Reveal Corruption in Ukrainian Army. From teleSUR. American mercenaries Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, who surrendered to Russian forces in Ukraine, referred to the corruption and disorganization within Ukrainian ranks in statements published by the RT news outlet. According to the Russian media, the detainees . . . were seized while on a reconnaissance mission to cover the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops near Kharkov. “We entered into combat with the Russian troops, the Ukrainians were retreating and they asked . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian MoD: 50 Ukrainian Officers Killed in Long-Range Strike. From teleSUR. The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that more than 50 Ukrainian generals and officers were killed in a strike on a command center in the Ukrainian Dnipropetrovsk region. The Russian Ministry of Defense Spokesperson [said] that long-range, high-precision Kalibr missiles launched from the sea Saturday hit the headquarters of the Ukrainian forces near the village of Shiroka Dacha in the Dnipropetrovsk province, while the leaders of the Alexandria strategic operational group were holding a work . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov’s Nobel Peace Prize medal auctioned for a record. From NPR. The $103.5 million will go to Ukrainian children displaced by the war. The editor in chief of a Russian independent newspaper was honored before the paper was forced to close by Vladimir Putin. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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A South Korean musician wins the prestigious Van Cliburn piano competition. From NPR. Six finalists competed in Fort Worth, Texas, in the competition, including two from Russia and one from Ukraine. An 18-year-old South Korean was the youngest to win in the contest’s 60-year history. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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Army of Shadows: Searching for the Ukrainian foreign legion, by Seth Harp | Harper’s Magazine My flight from Munich to Warsaw on March 13 was half-filled with English-speaking men in a motley assortment of store-bought paramilitary gear, cargo pants, and hiking boots. A faint odor of dirty laundry and stale cigarette smoke emanated from their general direction. One wore a cap that read IN MY DEFENSE I WAS LEFT UNSUPERVISED. They appeared to be anywhere from twenty to fifty years old, and looked like they might have been . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

Happy Juneteenth!  Happy Fathers Day!

Please visit or revisit yesterday’s entry and tomorrow’s.

To begin, links to three analyses, via Consortium News: Michael Brenner sees the war as part of the U.S. foreign policy establishment’s attempt to cripple Russia and oust Vladimir Putin as its president. Lawrence Davidson traces the Democratic Party’s cultivation of “connected” progressives into supporting Biden administration policy. And Jonathan Cook sees “tribalism” at work in some of the same ways as in Israel and Palestine. Finally, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, and National Public Radio; click on their names below for more. — MCM

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Last Tango in Washington? By Michael Brenner, a professor of international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. Reality has a way of catching up to us. . . . The West has been inhabiting a fanciful world that could exist only in our imaginations. Many remain stranded in that self-deluded mirage. The more that we have invested in that fantasy world, the harder we find it to exit and to make the adjustment — intellectual, emotional, behavioral . . . READ MORE . . .

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The US Left & War in Ukraine, by Lawrence Davidson | TothePointAnalysis.com Matthew Duss is a leading figure on the American political left. However, the left is fragmented, and so we have to qualify this and say he is an important voice in one part of the left — the “connected” left. Duss is a foreign policy adviser to the independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. READ MORE . . .

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The Hierarchy of Tribalisms, by Jonathan Cook | Jonathan-Cook.net Nothing should better qualify me to write about world affairs at the moment – and Western meddling in Ukraine – than the fact that I have intimately followed the twists and turns of Israeli politics for two decades. READ MORE . . . 

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Russia frees captive medic who filmed Mariupol’s horror, by Vasilisa Stepanenko and Lori Hinnant | The Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia — A celebrated Ukrainian medic whose footage was smuggled out of the besieged city of Mariupol by an Associated Press team was freed by Russian forces on Friday, three months after she was taken captive on the streets of the city. Yuliia Paievska is known in Ukraine as Taira, a nickname she chose in the World of Warcraft video game. Using a body camera, she recorded 256 gigabytes of her team’s efforts over two weeks to save the wounded, including both Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. She transferred the clips . . . READ MORE . . .

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Zelenskiy vows Ukraine will prevail, Boris Johnson promises lasting support, by Pavel Polityuk and Max Hunder | Reuters * UK’s Johnson pledges support, warns of ‘Ukraine fatigue’ * EU summit expected to back Ukraine candidate status * Battle for Sievierodonetsk grinds on * Zelenskiy visits troops in south * More rocket strikes, shelling across east, central Ukraine | KYIV — With a blessing for its European Union ambitions and a pledge of unwavering support from Britain, Ukraine vowed today to prevail against Moscow as its troops battled the Russian assault near a pivotal eastern city and communities were pounded . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia is focusing on 3 key agricultural cities in Ukraine’s southeast. Reported by Peter Granitz | National Public Radio Russian forces are now concentrating their attacks on three cities in Ukraine’s southeast which are key to the country’s agriculture and logistics. Click HERE to listen and, another day, read.

I just came across the essay that begins below and relay it for a number of reasons. This blog began as an accompaniment to a walk across Massachusetts with a friend to promote awareness that the government/media narrative about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is hokum and needs to be challenged. Edward Curtin is a “9/11 truther,” and David Ray Griffin, the author of the book he’s reviewing, is perhaps the best-known of all of us. That “mainstream” media from the New York Times on down refuse to even mention Griffin just how polluted that stream is. I’m not going to read James & Whitehead on Life after Death but I’m delighted Curtin has read it for me. — MCM

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Is There Life After Death?

By Edward Curtin

A review essay of James and Whitehead on Life after Death by David Ray Griffin

Life is entwined with death from the start, for death is the price we must pay for being born, even though we don’t choose it, which may be why some people who are very angry at the deal, decide to choose how and when they will die, as if they are getting revenge on someone who dealt them a rotten hand, even if they don’t believe in the someone.

The meaning of death, and whether humans do or do not survive it in some form, has always obsessed people, from the average person to the great artists and thinkers. Death is the mother of philosophy and all the arts and sciences. It is arguably also what motivates so much human behavior, from keeping busy to waging war to trying to hit a little white ball with a long stick down a lot of grass into a hole in the ground and doing it again and again.

Death is the mother of distractions.

It is also what we cannot ultimately control, although a lot of violent and crazy rich people try. The thought of it drives many people mad.

No one is immune from wondering about it. We are born dying, and from an early age we ask why. Children often explicitly ask, but as they grow older the explicit usually retreats into implicity and avoidance because of adults’ need to deny death or their lack of answers about it that make sense.

David Ray Griffin is not a child or an adult in denial.  He has spent his life in an intrepid search for truth in many realms — philosophy, theology, politics, etc.  He is . . . READ MORE . . .

Here are links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. That will be it for today. — MCM

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As Russia presses assault, Ukraine given possible path to EU. From the Associated Press KYIV — The executive arm of the European Union recommended today that Ukraine be granted candidate status to one day join the 27-nation bloc. The promise of membership in a union created to safeguard peace on the continent holds deep symbolism for the nation at war. But it . . . READ MORE . . .

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Analysis: With record pump prices, Biden hard-pressed to ramp up Russia sanctions, by Timothy Gardner | Reuters WASHINGTON — As the Biden administration contemplates expanding punitive measures on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, a big hurdle lies closer to home: the American consumer. U.S. drivers are embarking on summer vacations with gasoline prices averaging . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S. ambassador to Ukraine: ‘It’s going to be a long, grinding, tough war.’ Reported by Greg Myre, Julian Hayda and Fatma Tanis | National Public Radio The war is nearly four months old and there’s no end in sight. The momentum has swung back and forth, and Russia now appears to have the upper hand in the current fighting . . . Click HERE to listen and read.

First, links to reports heard on National Public Radio and from Reuters and the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. Then, an appeal from Joe Lauria, editor of Consortium News. Next, via CN, a link to a Common Dreams article on a Climate Action Tracker study that shows governments are ignoring “a massive opportunity” to change energy policy to address the realities of climate change. — MCM

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As Russia pushes deeper into eastern Ukraine, some flee on medical evacuation train. Reported by A Martínez and Nathan Rott | National Public Radio President Biden has announced another $1 billion in weaponry for Ukraine, including anti-ship missile launchers, longer range artillery and rounds for mobile rocket launching platforms. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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Ukraine finds itself outnumbered as Russia advances in the Donbas. Reported by Steve Inskeep | NPR “The math problem is very difficult for the Ukrainians,” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview Wednesday with NPR’s Morning Edition. An army gains an advantage when it concentrates more forces at a decisive point than its enemy does. In the war’s early weeks, Russia scattered its forces, attacking multiple objectives at once and failing to capture Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Russia then refocused, withdrawing some forces and placing heavier emphasis on the eastern Donbas region. Milley, President Biden’s top military adviser, told NPR that Russia has massed greater numbers of combat units, as well as more artillery, than the local defenders have. At the time of the interview . . . Click HERE to listen and read.

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EU leaders criticised for tepid support bring ‘message of unity’ to Ukraine, by Natalia Zinets | Reuters * Arms needed to fend off Russian advances in south and east * Ukrainian troops, civilians holed up in Sievierodonetsk plant | KYIV — The leaders of Germany, France and Italy – all criticised in the past by Kyiv for support viewed as too cautious – made a joint visit to Ukraine today, touring a town devastated by Russia’s invasion. “It’s an important moment. It’s a message of unity we’re sending to the Ukrainians,” French President Emmanuel Macron said after pulling into Kyiv on an overnight train along with Germany’s Olaf Scholz and Italy’s Mario Draghi. They were also joined by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. READ MORE . . .

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Germany steps up calls to save energy as Russia reduces gas. From the Associated Press BERLIN — Germany’s vice chancellor is stepping up an appeal for the country’s residents to save energy after Russia’s Gazprom announced significant cuts in natural gas deliveries through a key pipeline. State-owned Gazprom announced on Tuesday that it was cutting gas flows through the undersea Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany by 40%, then, a day later, announced a further cutthat brings the overall reduction to about 60%. In both cases . . . READ MORE . . .

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CN Spring Fund Drive is wrapping up. Joe Lauria of   Consortium News writes on the final day of the drive that it “began with PayPal permanently suspending us in an effort to choke off an avenue for donations. Then we responded to NewsGuard’s charge that CN has published ‘false content’ on Ukraine. This was followed by word that the former head of the U.S. Disinformation Governance Board thinks Consortium News is a bunch of ‘useful idiots.’ Our loyal readers and viewers . . .” Click HERE to read more and, possibly, donate.

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Study Finds Fossil Fuel Gold Rush After War in Ukraine, by Kenny Stancil | Common Dreams Progressives have been urging governments to embark on an accelerated global clean energy transition since Russia’s late-February invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing Western sanctions unleashed chaos in energy markets around the world, but policymakers have opted instead to expand fossil fuel infrastructure. That’s according to researchers from Climate Action Tracker, which released a new report last week warning that this reaction . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

First, links to reports heard on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition,” and from the Associated Press and Reuters; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. — MCM

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High gas prices have people in Colorado changing their travel habits. Reported by Matt Bloom | Colorado Public Radio Skyrocketing gas prices in Colorado have people changing their spending and commuting habits. The record prices are forcing some to reevaluate summer travel plans. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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For pianist Vadim Neselovskyi, Ukraine war adds urgency to his most personal work. Reported by Nate Chinen | WGBO 88.3 FM  During his first few years in the United States, as a virtuoso pianist and composer studying at the Berklee College of Music two decades ago, Vadim Neselovskyi was often asked about his origins. “I would say, ‘I’m from Odesa,’ or even ‘I’m from Russia,’ ” he recalls, “because nobody knew what Ukraine was.” His evocative new solo piano suite, Odesa: A Musical Walk Through a Legendary City, enters the world at quite a different moment. Mostly recorded . . . Click HERE to listen and read the rest.

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Momentum in the war has shifted and Ukraine says it needs more weapons. Reported by A Martínez and Greg Myre | National Public Radio As NATO countries begin talks in Brussels, Ukraine is making its message clear: send more heavy weapons and fast. Ukraine’s outgunned military is losing ground to Russia in the east of the country. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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In Ukraine, mines take lives even after fighting moves on, by John Leicester and Yuras Karmanau | The Associated Press MAKARIV, Ukraine — The truck driver had the radio on, his daughter’s stuffed toy keeping him company, and was bouncing his lumbering vehicle down one of the innumerable dirt tracks in Ukraine that are vital thoroughfares in the country’s vast agricultural heartlands. Then the right rear wheel hit a Soviet-era TM-62 anti-tank mine. The explosion blew Vadym Schvydchenko and his daughter’s toy clean out of the cabin. The truck, and his livelihood, went up in flames. Astoundingly, the . . . READ MORE . . .

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Exclusive: U.S. targets Russia with tech to evade censorship of Ukraine news, by James Pearson and Christopher Bingreuters LONDON/WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has pushed new, increased funding into three technology companies since the start of the Ukraine conflict to help Russians sidestep censors and access Western media, according to five people familiar with the situation. The financing effort is focused on . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

What is really going on? It’s a question applies to a number of events over the years. The essay linked just below may seem to read like a fictional thriller. Accompanied is a video in which someone who has followed developments for decades is interviewed. Visitors can decide for themselves what to think about all of it. The same applies to the next essay linked below, first published on May 31. Both links are from Global Research. — MCM

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It’s Now Crucial to Understand What We’re Up Against. The COVID Pandemic is a Coup d’Etat, a Global Takeover Referred to as ‘The Great Reset,’ by Joseph Mercola | Global Research The Great Reset was introduced by the World Economic Forum, which is tightly coupled to the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Their agenda is to implement a global type of totalitarianism based on technocratic and transhumanist ideologies. Part of that plan also includes reengineering and controlling all life forms, including humans. While the outward expression of technocracy will appear as totalitarianism, the control center is not an individual. Rather than a single person ruling by the decree, technocracy relies on control through technology and algorithm. This is a very important difference. In short . . . Click HERE to read and watch and listen.

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Dear Friends, Sorry to Announce a Genocide, by Naomi Wolf | Global Research I’ve been silent for some weeks. Forgive me. The truth is: I’ve been rendered almost speechless — or the literary equivalent of that — because recently I’ve had the unenviable task of trying to announce to the world that indeed, a genocide — or what I’ve called, clumsily but urgently, a “baby die-off” — is underway. The WarRoom/DailyClout Pfizer Documents Research Volunteers, a group of 3000 highly credentialled doctors, RNs, biostatisticians, medical fraud investigators, lab clinicians and research scientists, have been turning out report after report, as you may know, to tell the world what is in the 55,000 internal Pfizer documents which the FDA had asked a court to keep under wraps for 75 years. By court order, these documents were forcibly disclosed. And our experts are . . . READ MORE . . .