First, links to an Associated Press summary and a Reuters economic analysis; click on the news services’ names for other stories. Then, via Global Research, a link to a report on Henry Kissinger’s advice to Ukraine and the West. Next, via Consortium News, link to a post by Chris Hedges. Then, from Popular Resistance, a link to a John V. Walsh piece on changes at the New York Times regarding the war. Finally, from The Nation, a link to a column by the magazine’s Katrina vanden Heuvel, carried in the Washington Post and other dailies. — MCM
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As Ukraine war grinds, world pushes for way to get grain out. From the Associated Press. KYIV — Russia pressed today for the West to lift sanctions imposed because of its war in Ukraine, claiming without proof that the punitive measures are preventing millions of tons of grain and other agricultural products from leaving Ukrainian ports, exacerbating a global food crisis. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but the war, including a Russian blockade of its ports, has prevented . . . READ MORE . . .
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Russia Prepares To Seize Western Firms Looking To Leave. From Reuters. * Moscow eyes sweeping powers to shield jobs, local industry * Exodus of western companies, sanctions roil Russia * New laws would allow seizure of firms | Russia is advancing a new law allowing it to take control of the local businesses of western companies that decide to leave in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, raising the stakes for multinationals trying to exit. The law, which could . . . READ MORE . . .
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Henry Kissinger Says Ukraine Should Cede Territory for Peace with Russia, by Zero Hedge | Global Research Veteran U.S. statesman Henry Kissinger has urged the West to stop trying to inflict a crushing defeat on Russian forces in Ukraine, warning that it would have disastrous consequences for the long term stability of Europe.“I hope the Ukrainians will match the heroism they have shown with wisdom,” Kissinger warned an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, adding with his famous sense of realpolitik that the proper role for the country is to be a neutral buffer state rather than the frontier of Europe. READ MORE . . .
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No Way Out But War, by Chris Hedges | ScheerPost.com The United States, as the near unanimous vote to provide nearly $40 billion in aid to Ukraine illustrates, is trapped in the death spiral of unchecked militarism. . . . The permanent war economy, implanted since the end of World War II, has destroyed the private economy, bankrupted the nation, and squandered trillions of dollars of taxpayer money. The monopolization of capital by the military has driven the U.S. debt to $30 trillion, $6 trillion more than the U.S. GDP of $24 trillion. Servicing this debt costs $300 billion a year. We spent more on the military, $813 billion for fiscal year 2023, than the next nine countries, including China and Russia, combined. We . . . READ MORE . . .
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New York Times Repudiates Drive for ‘Decisive Military Victory’ in Ukraine, by John V. Walsh | Popular Resistance A week ago, we made note of a May 11 New York Times news article, documenting that all was not going well for the U.S. in Ukraine, and a companion opinion piece hinting that a shift in direction might be in order. Now on May 19, “THE EDITORIAL BOARD,” the full Magisterium of the Times, has moved from hints to a clarion call for a change in direction in an editorial uninformatively titled, “The War Is Getting Complicated, and America Isn’t Ready.” From atop the Opinion page the Editorial Board has declared that “total victory” over Russia is not possible and that Ukraine will have to negotiate a peace in a way that reflects a “realistic assessment” and the “limits” of U.S. commitment. The Times serves . . . READ MORE . . .
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We Need a Real Debate About the Ukraine War, by Katrina vanden Heuvel | The Nation What we have in the media and political establishment is, for the most part, a one-sided, even nonexistent, public discussion and debate. It’s as if we live with what journalist Matt Taibbi has dubbed an “intellectual no-fly zone.” Those who have departed from the orthodox line on Ukraine are regularly excluded from or marginalized—certainly rarely seen—on big corporate media. The result is that alternative and countervailing views and voices seem nonexistent. READ MORE . . .
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TO BE CONTINUED