To start, beginnings of Associated Press and Reuters reports from mid-morning EDT, both linked to others related to the war. Next, the beginning of an account by Scott Ritter, via Consortium News, chronicling Twitter’s apparent efforts to muzzle Ritter’s writings on the social media platform. — MCM
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Biden: Russia war a ‘genocide,’ trying to ‘wipe out’ Ukraine, by Will Weissert and Zeke Miller | The Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa — President Joe Biden has now said Russia’s war in Ukraine amounts to “genocide,” accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters in Iowa on Tuesday shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. “It’s become clearer and clearer . . . French President Emmanuel Macron declined to take his rhetoric that far in comments today. “I am prudent with terms today,” Macron said. “Genocide has a meaning. The Ukrainian people and Russian people are brotherly people. It’s madness what’s happening today. It’s unbelievable brutality and a return to war in Europe. But at the same time I look at the facts, and I want to continue to try the utmost to be able to stop the war and restore peace. I’m not sure if the escalation of words serves . . . READ MORE . . .
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Some 1,000 Ukraine marines surrender in Mariupol, says Russia, by Oleksandr Kozhukhar | Reuters * Mariupol surrounded and bombarded for weeks * Fall of industrial district would give Russians control of port * Thousands believed killed under near-seven week siege * Kremlin denounces Biden accusation of genocide * Leaders of Poland, Baltic states, in Kyiv for talks | LVIV, Ukraine — More than 1,000 Ukrainian marines have surrendered in the port of Mariupol, Russia’s defence ministry said today of its main strategic target in the eastern Donbas region, which has been reduced to ruins but is not yet under Russian control. If the Russians take the Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, they would be in full control of Mariupol, Ukraine’s main Sea of Azov port, allowing Russia to reinforce a land corridor . . . READ MORE . . .
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Twitter Wars—A Personal Experience in Twitter’s Ongoing Assault on Free Speech, by Scott Ritter | Special to Consortium News | Monday, April 4, 2022: It was, from my point of view, just another day in the life of @RealScottRitter—my Twitter “handle.” I had a phone call scheduled with the editor of a publication I write for where we would discuss topics for a weekly column I was responsible for. I was also under deadline for another article I was writing for a second outlet that published my work, and was preparing a pitch to a third platform for another article. Such is the lot of a freelance writer—it is literally publish or perish. Part of my routine is . . . READ MORE . . .
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TO BE CONTINUED