The Full Belmonte, 3/7/2022
“A Russian military strike hit an evacuation route in a Kyiv suburb yesterday, killing eight people -- including two children -- as they tried to flee the invasion. ‘A family died... in front of my eyes,’ said Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn. Irpin, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, has been the site of intense shelling by the Russia in recent days. The UN said yesterday that more than 360 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia's invasion began, while acknowledging that the real figure is likely ‘considerably higher.’ The UN also said more than 1.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine since February 24. Meanwhile in Russia, more than 4,600 people were detained during protests yesterday, according to an independent monitoring group. Negotiators say Ukraine and Russia are scheduled to hold a third round of talks today, following two previous rounds of talks that failed to yield any major resolutions.” Read more at CNN
“RUSSIA IS KILLING UNARMED UKRAINIANS — You no doubt saw the horrific images of civilians being attacked in Irpin, outside Kyiv, as they tried to evacuate Sunday.
People around the world awoke to this ghastly photograph, taken by Lynsey Addario for the NYT, of a mother and her two children lying dead on the ground while a Ukrainian soldier tried to save a male friend traveling with them. He later died.
‘The shelling,’ the Times reported, ‘suggested either targeting of the evacuation routes from Irpin, something of which the Ukrainian authorities have accused the Russian army after a railroad track used for evacuations was hit on Saturday, or disregard for the risk of civilian casualties.’
The picture was prominently featured on the NYT’s homepage all day Sunday, and then above the fold on A1 today.
NYT’s ‘editors have made an important decision to put the photo by @lynseyaddario on the home page,’ NYT diplomatic correspondent Edward Wong wrote on Twitter. ‘Again, Russian forces fired mortar shells at hundreds of Ukrainian civilians as they fled. A mother and her two children were killed here. This is happening across Ukraine.’
NYT’s Cliff Levy, the deputy managing editor, called the paper’s front page today ‘one of the most important of the war.’
There’s a reason we are witnessing a dramatic escalation of the kind of barbarism Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN demonstrated in Grozny in 1999, when, as PM, he ordered the Chechen city flattened, and Aleppo in 2016, when Russian bombers decimated civilian areas as part of a brutal campaign to save the regime of Syria’s BASHAR ASSAD.
‘Russia answers resistance with firepower,’ notes the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen, who is in Kyiv now and covered the conflicts in Chechnya and Syria. ‘Rather than send in men to fight from house to house and room to room, their military doctrine calls for a bombardment by heavy weapons and from the air to destroy their enemies.’
He added, ‘The depressing conclusion I’ve drawn from other wars in which I have seen Russians in action is that it could get much worse.’
On Sunday evening, a senior Pentagon official sent Playbook an update on the Russian military campaign. The headline: While the Russians try to encircle and choke off major cities in the north and east, such as Kyiv, Kharkhiv and Chernihiv, they ‘are being met with strong Ukrainian resistance.’” Read more at POLITICO
“Oil prices soared to their highest level in 13 years today, raising fears about a further spike in inflation that could damage the global economy. The surge is due to delays in the potential return of Iranian crude to global markets and as the US and European allies consider banning Russian oil imports, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN yesterday. If Russia’s oil exports are cut off, experts say it will put more strain on an already tight oil market, resulting in even higher gas prices across the US. The average price for a gallon of regular gas hit $4 yesterday, the highest level since 2008. There are now 18 states, plus Washington, DC, where the price of gas is $4 or greater. The highest prices are being seen in California, where the statewide average stands at $5.29 a gallon.” Read more at CNN
“Banning Russian oil imports would seem to be an obvious weapon to strike at the heart of Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
But the costs to the outside world would be enormous.
In the U.S, where Russian oil made up about 3% of all crude shipments last year, it appears straightforward: Many U.S. lawmakers are demanding the move, encouraged by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s request during a call with them on Saturday.
The difficulty for Joe Biden’s administration is that such a decision would stoke energy prices and inflation — particularly dangerous ahead of the November midterm elections that could cost the president’s party control of Congress.
Yet it’s Europe that is most vulnerable. The European Union still relies on fossil fuels even as it bids to lead the global fight against climate change. It failed to heed warnings provided by previous supply cuts by Russia, and while clean energy is being built out, renewables are not yet plentiful enough to make the switch.
Any move to block oil would risk provoking Putin to cut off natural gas supplies. With Russia’s export company Gazprom providing at least 40% of Europe’s supply — more than 60% for Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse, in 2020 — that could wreak havoc.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen says the bloc is taking steps to ensure gas supplies and that even if Putin were to halt flows ‘then we are independent for this winter,’ and ‘that wasn’t the case six weeks ago.’
Even so, the impact of the news that Washington is even considering a unilateral Russian oil ban has sent prices soaring on global markets to their highest since 2008.
If it goes ahead, Russia won’t be the only country squeezed — much of the rest of the world will feel the pain.” — Karl Maier Read more at Bloomberg
“Ukrainians in Russian-occupied areas such as Kherson came out for new protests on Sunday chanting ‘Go Home!’ as Russian forces intensified airstrikes and artillery barrages on residential areas in cities around the country. Agreements to evacuate other towns and cities have fallen through again. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are scheduled to hold their third round of talks on Monday.
The head of the Russian military, Sergei Shoigu, modernized the country's armed forces. But the troops failure to quickly seize Ukraine has shown the changes he made didn’t create the fearsome fighting force he touted.
The war has jolted Europe’s slow-moving efforts to wean itself off Russian natural gas, but time is running out, threatening to leave consumers cold and factories idle by next winter. The European Union gets around 40% of its gas from Russia—and that dependence has grown in recent years. This week, as the West sought to hobble Russia with sanctions, the EU was paying as much as 660 million euros—roughly $722 million—a day to Russia, according to the Bruegel think tank. That is triple the level before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Investor anxiety swelled as Russia advanced across Ukraine, upending markets across the globe and sending traders scrambling for assets perceived as safer, such as gold, U.S. government bonds and the dollar. The ICE U.S. Dollar index, which tracks the currency against a basket of others, surged as high as 98.92 this past week, its highest level since May 2020.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Oleksandr, a retired Ukrainian military officer in Bila Tserkva who declined to give his last name and lives in a building damaged by bombing, displays weapons he says he plans to use against Russian troops. (Wojciech Grzedzinski for The Washington Post)
“The Ukrainian military has mounted an unexpectedly fierce defense against invading Russian forces, which have been dogged by logistical problems and flagging morale. But the war is barely two weeks old, and in Washington and European capitals, officials anticipate that the Russian military will reverse its early losses, setting the stage for a long, bloody insurgency.
The ways that Western countries would support a Ukrainian resistance are beginning to take shape. Officials have been reluctant to discuss detailed plans, since they’re premised on a Russian military victory that, however likely, hasn’t happened yet. But as a first step, Ukraine’s allies are planning for how to help establish and support a government-in-exile, which could direct guerrilla operations against Russian occupiers, according to several U.S. and European officials.
The weapons the United States has provided to Ukraine’s military, and that continue to flow into the country, would be crucial to the success of an insurgent movement, officials said. The Biden administration has asked Congress, infused with a rare bipartisan spirit in defense of Ukraine, to take up a $10 billion humanitarian aid and military package that includes funding to replenish the stocks of weapons that have already been sent.
Should the United States and its allies choose to back an insurgency, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be the pivotal force, officials said, maintaining morale and rallying Ukrainians living under Russian occupation to resist their powerful and well-equipped foe.
The possible Russian takeover of Kyiv has prompted a flurry of planning at the State Department, Pentagon and other U.S. agencies in the event that the Zelensky government has to flee the capital or the country itself.
‘We’re doing contingency planning now for every possibility,’ including a scenario in which Zelensky establishes a government-in-exile in Poland, said a U.S. administration official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive security matter.
Zelensky, who has called himself Russia’s ‘target No. 1,’ remains in Kyiv and has assured his citizens he’s not leaving. He has had discussions with U.S. officials about whether he should move west to a safer position in the city of Lviv, closer to the Polish border. Zelensky’s security detail has plans ready to swiftly relocate him and members of his cabinet, a senior Ukrainian official said. ‘So far, he has refused to go.’” Read more at Washington Post
“The confirmed global death toll for the COVID-19 pandemic has surpassed a grim milestone of 6 million. The United States alone accounts for nearly 1 million deaths. It's likely the world hit this milestone a long time ago: Poor record-keeping and testing in many parts of the world has led to an undercount in deaths.” Read more at NPR
“Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are gearing up for a showdown over Covid-19 relief funding this week. House Democrats plan to introduce a massive spending bill as soon as tomorrow that includes roughly $10 billion to help bolster Ukraine, but also tacks on about $22.5 billion in coronavirus relief money that Republicans widely oppose. The move would put Republicans in a tough spot -- essentially daring them to block a package that includes money for Ukraine -- according to a Democratic source familiar with the matter. The pressure is on for both parties to secure a deal before Friday, when government funding expires. If a broad funding package doesn't move quickly, lawmakers may be forced to pass another short-term stopgap funding measure to avoid a government shutdown.” Read more at CNN
“Two top prosecutors leading the criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump and his business resigned last month after the Manhattan district attorney said he was not prepared to move forward with an indictmentagainst Trump, a person familiar with the investigation said. Prosecutors have been investigating whether Trump and the Trump Organization misled lenders, insurers, and others by providing them false or misleading financial statements about the value of properties. Some prosecutors, including the two that resigned, believed there was sufficient evidence to charge Trump, while others, including some career prosecutors, were skeptical that they could win a conviction at trial -- in part because of the difficulty in proving criminal intent, people familiar with the investigation said.” Read more at CNN
Buildings damaged by shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.PHOTO: OLEKSANDR LAPSHYN/REUTERS
“WASHINGTON—Moscow is recruiting Syrians skilled in urban combat to fight in Ukraine as Russia’s invasion is poised to expand deeper into cities, according to U.S. officials.
An American assessment indicates that Russia, which has been operating inside Syria since 2015, has in recent days been recruiting fighters from there, hoping their expertise in urban combat can help take Kyiv and deal a devastating blow to the Ukraine government, according to four American officials. The move points to a potential escalation of fighting in Ukraine, experts said.
It is unclear how many fighters have been identified, but some are already in Russia preparing to enter the conflict, according to one official.
Officials declined to elaborate on what else is known about the deployment of Syrian fighters to Ukraine, the status or precise scale of the effort.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Screenshot: CNN
“Secretary of State Tony Blinken told CNN's Jake Tapper on ‘State of the Union’ from Moldova Sunday morning: ‘[W]e’ve seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians, which would constitute a war crime.’
‘And what we’re doing right now is documenting all of this, putting it all together, looking at it, and making sure that as people and the appropriate organizations and institutions investigate whether war crimes have been or are being committed, that we can support whatever they’re doing,’ Blinken added.
‘They’re very credible. And we’re documenting everything.’
Breaking: The Ukraine exodus is the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, topping 1.5 million in 10 days, the UN refugee agency said today.
‘In the coming days, millions more lives will be uprooted, unless there is an immediate end to this senseless conflict,’ the UNHCR said. Go deeper.
Pope Francis said Sunday in his weekly address to crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square: ‘In Ukraine, rivers of blood and tears are flowing. This is not just a military operation [as Putin described it], but a war which sows death, destruction and misery.’” [Axios] Read more at Reuters
Data: FlightAware. Map: Jacque Schrag/Axios
“The war is turning into a seismic event for aviation, just as the industry emerges from the COVID downturn, Axios' Andrew Freedman writes.
Why it matters: The closure of vast stretches of airspace from North America to Russia has airlines scrambling to determine what routes are still feasible and which flights can be rerouted. Flight times are increasing — along with their carbon footprints.
What's happening: The prohibition of U.S. airlines from Russian airspace is blocking the most efficient flight paths between continents, including for flights between much of the U.S. and South Asia.
The typical flight time between Europe and Asia is about 11.8 hours, and 13.5 hours flying the reverse leg, according to Umang Gupta, managing director at Alton Aviation Consultancy.
‘In a best-case scenario, more than two hours of flight time will be added in each direction,’ Gupta told Axios.
The roundtrip fuel burn would increase by more than 20%, Gupta said — and that's for the most fuel-efficient wide body aircraft flying today, including the Boeing 787-9 or Airbus A350-900.
‘At today's oil prices of around $100/[barrel], this will translate into nearly $25,000 of additional expenditure for the airline round trip.’
To cover costs, airlines would need to increase fares by more than $120 for a round trip ticket.” Read more at Axios
Kyiv Zoo Director Kyrylo Trantin comforts Horace, a 17 year-old Asian elephant, at the Kiev Zoo in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 4. (Heidi Levine)
“KYIV, Ukraine — Horace the Asian elephant is so terrified of explosions that he’s been put on sedatives. The zebras are being kept inside after they panicked at the sound of shelling and ran directly into a fence. And Maya the lemur is so overwhelmed that she abandoned her newborn baby this week — nearly killing him.
Zoos have often been collateral damage in war around the world. And war is now touching Kyiv’s zoo, next to a key military installation and possibly in the path of a Russian push into the capital.
Animals are increasingly exhibiting signs of stress. They cower from the air raid sirens and blasts that ring out throughout the day. Gunfire often can be heard at night.
Fearing the worst — and seeking shelter from attacks in their own neighborhoods — around 50 staff members have moved into the sprawling facility to care for the animals around-the-clock, bringing some 30 family members with them.” Read more at Washington Post
“Florida firefighters were still battling two massive wildfires Sunday that have burned thousands of acres and forced over 1,000 evacuations in the Florida Panhandle.” Read more at USA Today
“A large group of truck drivers who object to COVID-19 mandates drove two loops around the beltway surrounding Washington, deliberately moving slowly to impact traffic.” Read more at USA Today
“Russia's invasion of Ukraine will have ripple effects worldwide. Because the world relies heavily on the two countries for wheat and other commodities, the war may worsen malnutrition and starvation globally.” Read more at NPR
“The New York City vaccine mandate for restaurants, fitness centers, and entertainment venues ends on Monday. With Covid-19 restrictions easing, restaurants are deciding whether to keep masks on the menu. Some owners are still struggling to recruit enough staff to fully run their operations, and worry that relaxing rules could scare off employees fearful about their health.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Mark Meadows gave the address ‘where you physically live’ as a 14ft-by-62ft mobile home’, according to the New Yorker. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP
“Mark Meadows played a key role in supporting and advancing Donald Trump’s lie about widespread electoral fraud in his defeat by Joe Biden, but the former White House chief of staff may have committed such fraud himself.
According to the New Yorker, Meadows registered to vote at a property in North Carolina at which he appears never to have lived.
Meadows resigned from the US House and became Trump’s fourth and last chief of staff in March 2020. He registered to vote in September, the New Yorker said.
Asked for the address ‘where you physically live’, the magazine said, Meadows ‘wrote down the address of a 14ft-by-62ft mobile home in Scaly Mountain’, North Carolina, and ‘listed his move-in date for this address as the following day, 20 September’.
“Meadows does not own this property and never has,” the New Yorker said. “It is not clear that he has ever spent a single night there.”
Meadows did not comment to the magazine. The New Yorker spoke to the home’s former and current owners and neighbors and said that while members of Meadows’ family may have spent time in the property, it was not clear he ever slept there.
The current owner said: “I’ve made a lot of improvements. But when I got it, it was not the kind of place you’d think the chief of staff of the president would be staying.”
Told of Meadows using the address to register to vote, the owner said: ‘That’s weird that he would do that. Really weird.’
Were Meadows to be found to have committed voter fraud, it would not be the first time he had embarrassed the president he served.
In December, the Guardian was first to report that in his memoir, Meadows describes how Trump tested positive for Covid-19 but covered up the result (and a second negative) and went ahead with his first debate against Joe Biden.
The memoir repeats Trump’s claims about voter fraud, lies which stoked the deadly attack on Congress on 6 January 2021.
Meadows initially cooperated with the House committee investigating the attack, then withdrew. The committee recommended a charge of criminal contempt of Congress. None has been forthcoming from the Department of Justice.
As the New Yorker pointed out, it is a federal crime to provide false information to register to vote in a federal election.
Melanie D Thibault, director of the board of elections in Macon county, North Carolina, told the New Yorker she was ‘kind of dumbfounded’ by Meadows’ registration.
She also said he had voted absentee, by mail, in the 2020 election.
Meadows’ old boss has repeatedly attacked voting by mail – despite doing it himself.” Read more at The Guardian
“A dark money group with ties to Democratic Party heavyweights will spend millions this year to try to disbar more than 100 lawyers who worked on Donald Trump's post-election lawsuits, people involved with the effort tell Axios' Lachlan Markay and Jonathan Swan.
Why it matters: The 65 Project plans to begin filing complaints this week and will air ads in battleground states. It hopes to deter right-wing legal talent from signing on to any future GOP efforts to overturn elections — including the midterms or 2024.
The group takes its name from a count of lawsuits that sought to invalidate the 2020 results.
The group is being advised by David Brock, who founded Media Matters for America and the super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, and is a Hillary Clinton ally and prolific fundraiser for Democrats.
Brock told Axios in an interview that the idea is to ‘not only bring the grievances in the bar complaints, but shame them and make them toxic in their communities and in their firms.’
Advisory board members include former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). The project was devised by Melissa Moss, a Democratic consultant and former senior Clinton administration official.
The other side: Some of the lawyers targeted describe the tactics as naked political intimidation.
‘This move is nothing more than a desperate attempt by leftist hacks and mercenaries,’ Paul Davis, a Texas attorney targeted for his presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, wrote in an email to Axios.
How it works: The 65 Project is targeting 111 attorneys (in 26 states) who were involved to some degree in efforts to challenge or reverse 2020 election results.
The group will air ads in battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
It also will push the ABA and every state bar association to codify rules barring certain election challenges.
It plans to spend about $2.5 million in its first year, and will operate through an existing nonprofit called Law Works.” Read more at Axios
Mike Pence greets the crowd during Saturday's Purdue-Indiana basketball game at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. Photo: Nikos Frazier/Journal & Courier via USA Today Network
“Former Vice President Mike Pence's advocacy group plans to spend $10 million on TV ads targeting vulnerable House Dems on energy and Ukraine, Axios' Lachlan Markay and Jonathan Swan have learned.
Why it matters: Pence contrasted himself against Trump last week, slamming the GOP’s ‘apologists’ for Putin. Now he's using the Russian invasion to trash Democrats.
Between the lines: The new ad buy from his group, Advancing American Freedom, shows Pence is spending serious coin to shore up a political brand independent of former President Trump.
The $10 million buy is the most expensive move by a 2024 GOP contender not named Donald Trump.
What's happening: The ads begin airing today. They're targeting 16 House Democrats in competitive re-election fights this year. Pence's name, voice and image don't appear in the spot previewed by Axios.
What's next: Spending on the ad campaign could grow as events in Ukraine develop, a source familiar with the group's plans tells Axios.” Read more at Axios
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to representatives of the flight crew of Russian airlines as he visits Aeroflot Aviation School outside Moscow on March 5. (Mikhail Klimentyev/AP)
“After over a week of devastating war, the race is on to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine. But what world leader could earn the trust of both Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine suggests a paranoid and aggrieved mind-set, and his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, who has made clear he is willing to fight to the end for his country?
When and its annexation of Crimea, European powers France and Germany played that mediating role in what was dubbed the Normandy format. Belarus’s capital became the site of negotiations that eventually led to the Minsk agreements. But the Minsk agreements stalled, in part because Kyiv felt they were unfair because they were negotiated from a position of weakness.
Now, almost eight years later, the idea that Belarus could be a neutral party is laughable; Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, dependent on Moscow after huge protests against his rule in 2020, has allowed Russia to use its territory to stage attacks. Though Ukrainian officials have in the past attended peace talks with Russian counterparts in Minsk, they have insisted this time they be held close to Ukraine-Belarus borders.
Paris and Berlin, meanwhile, are likely to be unacceptable to Putin as mediators. Germany is supplying the Ukrainian side with considerable firepower, including antitank weapons and Stinger missiles. France, meanwhile, has provided defensive equipment and more general support to Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron is the only leader in Western Europe in regular contact with Putin, but he has offered grim signals about the Russian president’s readiness for negotiations.
‘At this point, [Putin] refuses to cease his attacks on Ukraine,’ Macron wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
Could another world leader step in? Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited Moscow this weekend for an unannounced meeting with Putin. Bennett later said Sunday that he was in touch with both Russia and Ukraine and that he hoped to help broker peace.
‘Even if the chance is not great — as soon as there is even a small opening, and we have access to all sides and the capability — I see this as our moral obligation to make every effort,’ the Israeli leader said before a cabinet meeting.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a call with Putin on Sunday. According to a readout from Erdogan’s office, the Turkish leader ‘said an immediate ceasefire will not only ease humanitarian concerns in the region but also give the search for a political solution an opportunity’ and ‘renewed his call of ‘let’s pave the way for peace together,’ according to Reuters.
Turkey has also said it hopes to host both Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers at a diplomacy conference in Antalya that begins Friday. Reuters reports both Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba have accepted the offer, though it is not clear if either will be able to attend.
Both Bennett and Erdogan have attributes that could make them desirable third parties. Israel is a long-standing ally of the United States, while Turkey is a fully fledged member of NATO — but both have sometimes strained relations with other Western allies. Ankara is one of the rare buyers of both U.S. and Russian weapons, much to Washington’s chagrin. Both nations have their own interests in ending the war: Israel is home to large Russian and Ukrainian diasporas, while Turkey’s struggling economy doesn’t want any further disruption for the millions of Russians and Ukrainians that visit each year.
But both Israel and Turkey have had their own differences with Russia, particularly in regard to Moscow’s support for Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria’s civil war. Complicating matters further is the detail that Turkey is the supplier of a type of armed drone being used by Ukraine against Russia’s invading forces.
Even before the conflict, Kyiv’s purchase of the Bayraktar TB2 drone had rattled Moscow, who saw it as another example of a NATO country supplying their foe. Since the invasion, video footage of Turkish-made drones launching devastating attacks on unsuspecting Russian forces has spread over social media, marking another PR win for Kyiv. And despite Erdogan’s outreach to Putin, more drones were reportedly delivered last week.
There are few better candidates, however. Last week at the United Nations General Assembly, there was an overwhelming show of support for a resolution to call on Russia to end the war. Even the Taliban in Afghanistan and the military junta in Myanmar signed on. So did Israel and Turkey.
Only five countries voted against the motion, a motley crew of Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea, Russia itself and Syria — hardly beacons of diplomacy. But a further 35 countries abstained, including powerhouses like India and China that have so far strived to avoid picking sides in the conflict.
India has offered to facilitate peace talks, though as a major buyer of Russian arms many analysts view it as too scared of angering Moscow. But some diplomats in Western Europe, and even Ukraine itself, believe the path for peace could run not through New Delhi but Beijing.
In an interview with the El Mundo published Friday, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that when it came to mediating a peace deal, there was no alternative: ‘It must be China, I am sure of that.’ Borrell told the Spanish newspaper: ‘We have not asked for it nor have they asked for it, but since it has to be a power and neither the US nor Europe can be [mediators], China could be.’
Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, told an online news conference Saturday that he had been assured by officials in Beijing that ‘China is interested in stopping this war,’ adding that the war was against the interests of China and that Chinese diplomacy had ‘sufficient tools to make a difference.’
But even if China holds sway over Russia, it remains at odds with the West over many issues and is rarely a mediator in international conflicts. Some analysts doubted it would support negotiations. ‘They’re not in a neutral position,’ John Delury, a professor of Chinese studies at Yonsei University in Seoul told the Financial Times. ‘They’re much closer to Russia.’” Read more at Washington Post
“President Biden is privately debating a trip to Saudi Arabia this spring to help unleash more oil more quickly to pull down gas prices, officials tell Axios' Hans Nichols.
Why it matters: The Saudis dismembered a Washington Post journalist. But the kingdom has lots of oil. Hence, the moral dilemma, which extends to Iran and Venezuela.
Between the lines: Foreign policy is often a choice between poisons. Now Biden is choosing between some awful formulas. He knows he needs to stop buying Russian energy — but fears U.S. gas prices going much higher, Axios' Jonathan Swan and Dave Lawler report.
High prices at the pump are already harming Democrats ahead of November's midterms. So Biden's advisers are debating which other unsavory regimes they can turn to for energy.
Will it be Saudi Arabia's ‘Mr. Bonesaw’ — the autocrat Biden promised to treat like a ‘pariah’? (Though Biden's aides have privately been trying to warm up the Saudi relationship in the past six months).
Or will it be Nicolás Maduro's regime in Venezuela? The U.S. led the world in shunning Maduro in 2019 for rigging elections and cracking down on his opposition. But the White House is in discussions with his aides about easing sanctions to allow for more oil exports, The Washington Post reported yesterday.
What we're watching: One factor keeping oil prices from spiking even higher is anticipation that the U.S. will soon seal a deal with another adversary, Iran. That would allow Tehran to begin to ramp up oil exports — and, to the chagrin of Iran hawks in D.C., refill the national coffers.” Read more at Axios
“In a speech to Republican donors in New Orleans, Donald Trump said the US should put the Chinese flag on F-22 jets and ‘bomb the shit out of Russia’ in retribution for its invasion of Ukraine.
The Washington Post reported the remarks, which were made on Saturday night.
To laughter, the paper said, the former president said: ‘And then we say, ‘China did it, we didn’t do it, China did it,’ and then they start fighting with each other and we sit back and watch.’
According to the Post, Trump also called Nato a ‘paper tiger’, said the US military had won ‘skirmishes’ against Russian troops while he was president, and claimed to have been tougher on Vladimir Putin than any other US leader.
Trump has faced severe criticism for praising the Russian leader since the invasion began. He has also said the invasion was wrong.
In his speech to ‘about 250 of the Republican party’s top donors at the elite Four Seasons’ hotel, the Post said, Trump echoed GOP talking points against Joe Biden, claiming Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he, Trump, had still been in power.
‘I knew Putin very well,’ Trump said. ‘He would not have done it. He would have never done it.’
Russia interfered in the 2016 US election to benefit Trump. The investigation of that interference produced criminal convictions of Trump aides and extensive evidence Trump may have attempted to obstruct justice.
As president, in Helsinki in July 2018, Trump deferred to Putin in public and met with him in private, without close aides.
In 2019, Trump held up military aid to Ukraine in an attempt to get dirt on Biden, resulting in the first of two impeachments.
‘Nobody has ever been tougher on Russia than me,’ Trump said in New Orleans.
The Post reported that Trump also praised Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, for having ‘total control’ of his country.” Read more at The Guardian
“SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The race between South Korea’s two leading presidential candidates has seen unprecedented levels of toxic rhetoric, mudslinging and lawsuits.
How bad is it?
‘Hitler,’ ‘beast,’ and ‘parasite’ are some of the choicer insults leveled by both camps. Some are even calling it ‘The Squid Game Election,’ in reference to Netflix’s megahit survival drama where people are killed if they lose children’s games.
And the stakes? There’s widespread speculation that the loser will be arrested.
‘It’s a dreadful presidential election when the losing contender faces prison. Please survive this dogfight in the mire!’ senior opposition politician Hong Joon-pyo wrote on Facebook.
Just days before Wednesday’s election, Lee Jae-myung from the liberal governing Democratic Party and Yoon Suk Yeol from the main conservative opposition People Power Party are locked in an extremely tight race.
Their negative campaigns are aggravating South Korea’s already severe political divide at a time when it faces a battered, pandemic-hit economy, a balancing act over competition between its main ally, Washington, and its top trading partner, China, and a raft of threats and weapons tests from rival North Korea.
Opinion surveys show that both candidates have more critics than supporters.” Read more at AP News
Soccer players and fans on the pitch at the Corregidora stadium after clashes left dozens injured on Saturday.PHOTO: STRINGER/REUTERS
“MEXICO CITY—Mexicans were shocked by a brutal brawl that turned a first-division soccer match into a battlefield between rival fans which left several dozen people injured, a number of them seriously.
The fighting broke out Saturday at the Corregidora Stadium in the central city of Querétaro, where the local team was playing against Atlas from Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state.
Querétaro state Gov. Mauricio Kuri said Sunday that 26 people—24 men and two women—required hospitalization. He said three were in critical condition, and 10 in a delicate state early Sunday.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Five years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party won big in India’s most-populous state thanks in part to so-called low-status voters who endorsed his economic vision. Now they’re showing signs of looking elsewhere. As Bibhudatta Pradhan reports, soaring prices, joblessness and health complications from a wave of delta-fueled Covid-19 infections last year are high on the minds of voters in Uttar Pradesh, the most crucial of five states that will reveal election results this week.” Read more at Bloomberg
Modi during a campaign rally in Varanasi on March 4.
Photographer: Sanjay Kanojia/AFP/Getty Images
“85% — Percentage of Brazil's fertilizers that are imported, with about a fifth of those imports coming from Russia. The country is searching for new fertilizer suppliers as the war in Ukraine threatens to cut off shipments to one of the world’s breadbaskets, with potential ripple effects on already high global food inflation.
$687 million — Annual economic impact generated by Major League Baseballd that year, and 52% were from out of state. The labor standoff between players and owners could cost the spring training havens of Arizona and Florida more than $1.3 billion, studies show.
14 — Separate sets of remains that were exhumed from unmarked graves and are being examined as part of an investigation reopened in 2018 to find victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. Researchers are asking possible descendants of victims to submit DNA samples to help identify the remains.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Lives Lived: Walter Mears, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press reporter, became ‘moderately famous’ (his words) thanks to ‘The Boys on the Bus,’ a 1973 book about campaign correspondents. He died at 87.” Read more at New York Times
Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz in "The Batman." Photo: Jonathan Olley/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP
“Warner Bros.' ‘The Batman’ became the second film in the pandemic era to cross $100 million in its domestic box office debut this weekend, giving the theater industry a much-needed boost of optimism early in the year, Axios' Sara Fischer writes.
Why it matters: ‘It's another brick in the foundation for movie theaters coming back,’ Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian told Axios.
The release — the largest since ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ had a $260 million domestic opener last December — shows that superhero movies really have drawing power,’ Dergarabedian added.” Read more at Axios