First links to reports from National Public Radio, the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Tass, and Agence France-Presse; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, three pieces of commentary from the Strategic Culture Foundation and Consortium News dated April 10, 16 and 17 respectively, on the leaked Pentagon documents. Finally for today, commentary from The Grayzone about the International Criminal Court’s warrant for the arrest of Russian President Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights. — MCM
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USAID will invest millions to boost the oversight of Ukraine’s management of aid. Reported by Joanna Kakissis | NPR Ukraine relies on billions of dollars in aid from the U.S. to keep services running during the war. The way Ukraine spends the money is strictly monitored. The U.S. wants to bolster that transparency. Click HERE to listen and read.
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Putin rallies his troops with 2nd Ukraine visit in 2 months, by Adam Pemble | AP KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin visited command posts of the Kremlin’s forces fighting in Ukraine, officials said today, as the warapproaches its 14th month and Kyiv readies a possible counteroffensive with Western-supplied weapons. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the visits took place Monday. The trip . . . READ MORE . . .
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Macron wants China’s help to bring Russia, Ukraine to the table, by Ania Nussbaum and Alberto Nardelli | Bloomberg News French President Emmanuel Macron has tasked his foreign policy adviser Emmanuel Bonne to work with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, to establish a framework that could be used as a basis for future negotiations, according to people familiar with the plans. The French strategy envisions . . . READ MORE . . .
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Russian assets to remain immobilized until Ukraine conflict resolution – G7 statement. From Tass. KARUIZAWA, Japan — Russian sovereign assets that are currently in G7 countries’ jurisdictions, will remain immobilized until there is a resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, G7 foreign ministers said in a joint statement passed on Tuesday following their meeting in Japan’s Karuizawa. “We are determined, consistent with . . . READ MORE . . .
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Russia says repels Ukrainian incursion attempt. From AFP. Russia said Monday it had repelled an “illegal” Ukrainian attempt to infiltrate Russian territory in the southern border region of Bryansk, 11 days after reporting a similar incident. “The intruder stepped on a mined . . . READ MORE . . .
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The Pentagon leaks charade, by Pepe Escobar | Strategic Culture Foundation The script reads like a spoof straight out of legendary Mad magazine 1960’s cartoon “Spy vs. Spy”: Secret Pentagon Documents Fall in the Hands of Malign Russia. Well, actually in the hands of millions accessing Twitter and Telegram. So here, at face value, we have a major leak essentially detailing . . . READ MORE . . .
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Pentagon leaked papers are probably fake. So who’s behind them? by Martin Jay| Strategic Culture Foundation Are the authors trying to underline Ukraine’s lack of hardware? And if so, for what purpose? How can we know this data is even accurate? More likely it is cunning begging letter to western elites which someone in Kiev thought . . . READ MORE . . .
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Leaks spelling the end for Ukraine, by Joe Lauria | Consortium News A Washington Post headline last week was a bombshell for someone who has only been reading about the Ukraine war in The Washington Post and other Western media: “U.S. doubts Ukraine counteroffensive will yield big gains, leaked document says.” The story admits that Western media audiences have . . . READ MORE . . .
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ICC’s Putin arrest warrant based on State Department-funded report, by Jeremy Loffredo and Max Blumenthal | The Grayzone / Educate! On March 17, the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, introduced an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Llova-Belova. It them of conducting the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children to a “network of camps” across the Russian Federation, and inspired . . . READ MORE . . .